Henry: Bringing Dharma to the Classroom

Imagine having a classroom of 30 kids. You’re up there trying to teach, but you can’t get a word out, because, all of a sudden, they are all screaming, and also running back and forth, and there’s a physical altercation happening in one part of the room…and you’re in the middle of it, trying to give a lesson.

How do you not lose it in that moment?

I teach middle school, and what’s difficult about this age is that they need to understand boundaries. They’re going to push boundaries, and they need structure. And so you have to get “angry” with them, because that’s what makes them see the boundary: ‘Oh, Mr. Green is angry!’ The challenge is to show the face of anger, but not to be angry.

So my job manifests for me as an opportunity to develop patience.

For me, bringing my students into my meditation practice has been key. Meditating on kindness, for instance, and bringing it into the classroom. I try to be that smile, to be that love for them, because a lot of these kids don’t get that anywhere else. And I think of that as the love of the Buddhas coming through.

I also see them as being very kind to me. Even though they are acting difficult, I think: they are teaching me patience.

And in the hectic moment itself: I always go to my heart.

Refuge has been so important, so fundamental: having this internal space to go to, this internal protection. The more I go there in my meditation practice, the more I can create this space in my mind that I become familiar with, so in the moment when things get tough, I can think: Refuge. And go there. And from there I can connect to my Buddha Nature, my potential for great patience. Because Buddha was incredibly patient. So I try to tap into that patient energy coming from Buddha at my heart.

I wish I could do it every time. I do get angry sometimes. But that’s the practice, right? If we can do it once, we can do it twice. If we can do it for one week, we can do it for two weeks.

Everywhere we look, we see the need for Dharma. And I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to spread Dharma now in Queens, with the new branch class I’m teaching. We’re developing a new mini-sangha there. Everyone’s welcome.