Dharma Reflections

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(1-2 pages)

Each month we will provide you with a short story or teaching to be used as a basis for a personal reflection paper. The practice of reading, reflecting and writing on these stories has a number of functions. These include developing skills of personal reflection, becoming familiar with teaching stories that they remain readily at hand to be used in any number of varied situations, and to help develop the ability to imagine different perspectives that different people have toward the same event.

Read the dharma story a number of times. Spend time thinking about the story, perhaps even visualizing it. Consider what some of the expressions of the Dharma may be contained in the story. Do not settle for your first reactions or thoughts but return to the piece a number of times to see if you can approach it from a number of different perspectives.

Do not explain the story itself.  The assigment is to describe your thoughts, feelings, and musings that the story illicit in you.

Imagine yourself as different characters in a story. Also imagine how people in different circumstances might experience or hear the story. You might share the story with friends to learn how they understand it.
After you have lived with the story for some time write a 1-2 page paper of your reflections on the story. This is not an explanation of the dharma within the story. Rather, it is an expression of your thoughts and feelings and associations about the story. This is like a personal journal, and need not need be polished or carefully structured.

DHARMA STORIES
TENDING THE SICK
CRYING WITH
THE WOMAN AT THE WELL
THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
ANGULIMALA
THE WOMAN IN SAMADHI
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT