Fo Guang Shan in Frankfurt, Germany, held the 2024 “Three Good Children’s Art Camp” on July 13. It aims to teach school children to understand the three good and four benefits through painting, tea art, etc., and at the same time cultivate their meditation and concentration. The event attracts people from Frankfurt and surrounding areas 24 Chinese and German schoolchildren participated.
The art camp begins with teaching Chinese ink painting. This year’s event specially invited Teacher Fangyuan, the founder of Beijing Dalin Aesthetic Education (Children’s Art Education), to explain the materials and different classifications required for Chinese painting, and demonstrate painting techniques, to guide the students step by step in coloring, writing, and shaping. , while understanding and appreciating the charm of Chinese painting, improving their composition aesthetic ability, and cultivating their interest in Chinese painting.
Dunhuang, the choke point of the Silk Road in modern times, was the Mogao Grottoes and an important stop in the eastward spread of Buddhism. The Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, known as one of the most unique in the world, has a history of more than 1,600 years. Guo Zijian, an art teacher living in Germany, uses the Dunhuang Feitian art short film to show schoolchildren the world’s largest and best-preserved Buddhist art treasure house. The richest part of the grottoes are the various murals related to Buddhism. In the one-day camp, the teacher selected the nine-color deer and flying patterns and asked the children to use their imagination to color the pictures. Schoolchildren who have a foundation and interest in painting can also draw the image of Feitian in their own minds.
Before the start of the “Little Tea Zen Master” course in the afternoon, Master Jueyan of the Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Frankfurt led the students to meditate, allowing each student to calm down and calm down while running and having fun during the free activity period. Xu Yifan and Liu Yilin, young people from the Fo Guang Youth League in Frankfurt, are responsible for teaching tea meditation classes. The students who were making tea for the first time were full of curiosity. Some chanted “Amitabha”, while others said “You are so kind!” and followed the instructor’s steps to brew golden and bright tea soup step by step. Not only taste it yourself, but also share your results with your neighbors. Moreover, every child asked for a second brew, and when parents came to pick up their children, they were all delighted to drink the tea that the children had carefully brewed. Whether it is fruit tea or flower tea, they are all sweet and fragrant in the praise of “saying good things”.
Master Jueyan expressed the hope that by holding the “Sanhao Children’s Art Camp” before summer vacation every year, children can increase their knowledge and gain concentration from learning painting. Many schoolchildren also participated for the second time. Each time the learning content is different, children are encouraged to actively learn the “Three Goods and Four Givings” and implement them in their daily lives to share their joy with those around them.
