Oneness - Working as One
Oneness, Exercise 2: Working as One
This is a two-part exercise with a game and a story.
Begin by playing the old-fashioned game Knots. For this game you need more than two children. The children make a circle then each child reaches in their right hand and grabs the hand of another child. They then reach in their left hand and grab a hand of another child different from the first. The objective is to unknot themselves. They may not let go. It is best not to give them much further instruction and see what unfolds. You will likely see tugging, falling, giggling and irritation. You may also see success.
After they have attempted the game, say, "I see that you may need some help with this game. I will tell you a story." This story should be told, face-to-face, heart-to-heart, not read, not recited from memory, but remembered and retold as stories always have been among people (see my post about Storytelling with Children).
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| Bhutanese painted thangka of the Jātakas, 18th-19th Century Phajoding Gonpa, Thimphu, Bhutan. Source. |
When you have finished telling the story, play knots again. This time it is OK to coach a little, saying, for example, "be gentle, be kind, be wise." You may find, as I did, that this time they very easily unknot themselves and make a circle, working as One.
For more ideas in play to use One Mind for kids, see these ideas from Amber Bombar.
With love~ Karen
With love~ Karen
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The King of Birds
a retelling of a Jātaka Tale from Goodnight Stories
"Today I have seen a marvelous thing, " he said. " In the lowlands there are fields full of seeds just waiting to be eaten. It is foolish to spend so much time searching for food in the hills when it is waiting to be picked up in the fields. "
"Let's all fly to the lowlands, " twittered the birds in great excitement.
"Stay here, in the highlands, where you are safe, " said the King of Birds, who was King because he was wise. "There will be men guarding the fields. You will be captured."
But the birds were so excited they wouldn't listen to his wise counsel. "We will fly in a flock," they said. "There is always safety in numbers."
Nothing the King said would make them change their minds and off they flew. When they reached the rice fields, they swooped down and with a deafening chorus of chirps and cheeps and began to eat as fast as they could. "The King was wrong and we were right," they said, between mouthfuls.
But how wrong THEY were and how RIGHT the King was. The men who had planted the rice needed it for their families and they were determined that birds should not have it. They had prepared a trap. The birds had never seen a net before. They did not know that a simple looking thing could be so dangerous.
Suddenly there was a shout. Men and boys jumped from hiding places in the field and sprang the net. The birds were captured. Every single one. They fluttered and they struggled but the net was strong and held them tightly.
"The King was right and WE were wrong," they said sadly.
Up in the Highlands, the King was scanning the sky anxiously. His subjects had been gone a long time. Too long. Something must have happened. He decided to go to the lowlands himself.
"It is the King," chatted the birds when they saw him. "It's the King....oh please help us."The King of Birds, who was King not only because he was wise, but because he was kind as well said, "I can only help you if you do exactly as I tell you.
"We will...we will... "twittered the birds eagerly.
When the King of birds was sure everyone was listening, he said, "When I give the signal you must all beat your wings at the same time and rise into the sky together."
"We are ready...were are ready..." twittered the birds.
"NOW!" commanded the King of Birds, who was King not only because he was kind and wise, but because he could command as well. Up flew the birds. UP UP UP in a great flutter cloud. As they rose into the sky, the net that surrounded them on all sides rose into the air with them. They were still trapped.
"Fly!, Fly! Fly! Follow me home to the highlands," ordered the King of Birds as his subjects began to panic.
What a strange sight it was to see a net full of birds flying across the sky. They reached the highlands safely. But they were still not free.
Are we to stay in this net forever?" they asked one another.
"I will get help," said the King of Birds. He called upon his friend the mouse. "Please come at once," he said.
What can a tiny mouse do against such a big net?' asked the birds sadly when they saw the tiny scampering creature sniffing round the edge of the net. The mouse scampered away and they saw a chance of escape, even if it was small disappear.
"Please come back...we didn't mean to offend you, " they chirped. "The King was right before. Maybe he is right again. Maybe you CAN help us."
They had no reason to worry. The mouse had gone to fetch his relations. What one mouse can do in an hour, a dozen mice can do in a minute. What did they do? They nibbled and gnawed at the strands of the net. One by one the strands snapped. Soon there was a hold large enough for even the largest bird to slip though without damaging his tail feathers.
One by one they soared into the sky and spread their wings.
"The King was right," they sang. "The King was right."
The net lay empty and forgotten on the ground.
How good it was to be free. How lucky the birds were to have a King who was kind enough to forgive their foolishness and wise enough to find an answer to a problem that seemed to have no solution.
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The Quarrelsome Quails
Interpreted by Noorunissa Inayat-Khan. Source.
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| https://en.oum.ru/literature/buddhism/the-fowler-and-the-quails-sammodamana-jataka/ |
Hark to those painful cries which pierce each day the silent forest! Alas, they are the cries of six thousand quails. Poor little birds! Each day a man comes from the village and casts a net over them as they land on the ground. After throwing the net, he pulls it together, catching hundreds of quails which he takes to the village to sell.
Now one day King Quail said: “Cry no more, my little ones. If you heed your King’s words you will never be caught. When the net is thrown over you, put your heads through the holes, and all together fly up, lifting the net through the air. If then you land o the top of a thorny hill, the prickles will hold the net above the ground and you can escape from under it before the villager reaches the hill. Do as I say, and you will all be saved. But if one day quarrels arise, and you should begin to fight one with another, alas! That day you will be caught and you will never see the woods again”.
The quails did as their King advised, and when the net was thrown over them they flew up to a hill with it and escaped. And the villager returned each day without a penny, and his wife was very, very angry.
“Do not worry”, said he one evening to his wife. “Those naughty quails will fight together one of these days and then they will be easily caught”. And it happened one day that a quail stepped on the head of another. “I will give you what you deserve!” cried the injured quail in anger, jumping at the other, and knocking his wing. “Away with you, away with you”, he cried.
King Quail, seeing the quarrel, said to the others: “Let us not stay here. These two unhappy birds will surely come to a bad end”. And he flew off with those who heeded his warning. And while the two quarrelsome quails went on fighting, a strange dark cloud came over their heads. It was the net!
Many others were caught with them and taken to the village to be killed. But the wise King Quail, and those who heeded his counsel, were never caught. And in the silent little forest they all lived happy ever after.
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