Today I traveled a bit south of where I live to the campus of the Tzu Chi school which I have visited numerous times. First we had a vegetarian lunch–they are Taiwanese Buddhists who advocate a vegetarian, plant based diet as better for the environmental future of Earth. Then all the visitors, who were mostly parents of the children, went to the gym for the program. Various ages wore headdresses to represent the various signs. Some of the youngest children wore dragon headdresses. This is the year of the dragon.

The children sang and danced.

Parents were very enthusiastic about taking photos.

Then after all the students of varying ages finished all their performances, including older students who made a circle around the room and sang plus danced with perfect synchrony, out came the dragon.

It was so much fun to see all the children performing; it was obvious they had worked very hard to accomplish this. It was also enjoyable to see so many happy, enthusiastic parents.

Note: I work with this Buddhist Center teaching character education at local public schools.