Caveat: I love kids’ art

So.  I’ve been kind of sick, lately. This low grade infection feels like it’s floating around my head. Sometimes it’s a sore throat, sometimes it feels more like a tooth ache, then it’s an ear ache.  It’s like some colony of something-or-other is migrating around my head. It makes me very sensitive to spicy food when it’s in its sore throat phase – like the capsaicin stings. So I made curried lentils and potatoes last night, but I went light on the red pepper flakes, and it was horribly bland. I suppose it was healthy, though.

I have a student Yun-jae who is in third grade, but she’s in my most elementary, lowest-level class, which is otherwise a bunch of first grade boys. I think she resents being there, but she’s actually kind of a co-teacher for me because she keeps the boys in line.

I do this thing sometimes where I tell a story, and tell them to draw a picture to accompany the story. This is fun for the lower grades and the lower ability levels. Yun-jae is an expressive artist. Here’s what she drew.

picture

Don’t ask what the story was – I have no idea. Maybe you can figure it out. It’s got a kind of rebus feel to it, or like a free-form manga (Asian-style comic book). I was really impressed with it – if an old guy with an art degree drew this exact picture, he could sell it at a gallery.

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Caveat: 101) 부처님. 저는이 세상에 가난이 없기를 발원하며 절합니다

“Buddha. I bow and pray not to be destitute in the world.”

This is #101 out of a series of 108 daily Buddhist affirmations that I am attempting to translate with my hands tied behind my back (well not really that, but I’m deliberately not seeking out translations on the internet, using only dictionary and grammar).


99. 부처님. 저는 모든 생명이 평화롭기를 발원하며 절합니다.
        “Buddha. I bow and pray to exist harmoniously with all life.” 
100. 부처님. 저는이 세상에 전쟁이 없기를 발원하며 절합니다.
           “Buddha. I bow and pray not to be at war with the world.” 
101. 부처님. 저는이 세상에 가난이 없기를 발원하며 절합니다.

I would read this one hundred first affirmation as: “Buddha. I bow and pray not to be destitute in the world.”
I would only add that poverty is in part, at least, a state of mind.  Not that I deny real causes and inequalities – as a lapsed marxist, I must allow them.  But beyond the most basic needs of food and shelter, most of our needs are manufactured for us by our culture.  Hence true destitution is starvation and exposure to the raw elements – that’s something worth praying against.

On a lighter note, here’s a handy happiness diagram I found online.  

picture

Observe its truth, in your own life, today.

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