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For Buddhist Kids (and Their Friends Who Wonder "What in the World are They Saying?")
by M. LaVora Perry
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From
LaVora: Adults,
teens and kids, feel free to 
your own questions and answers for this Web page. (Kids, please ask your parents for
permission to send email). You may have something to add
that will help others. My answers to these questions are my views and what I might say to my own
children. I have practiced and studied Nichiren
Buddhism since
1987.
Kids, If you have questions, please ask your parents for the answers. Or ask a friend
whose Buddhist faith and practice you trust and respect. If you are not happy
with the answers you get, please keep chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, studying
Buddhism and asking people questions. Please keep doing these things until your
questions are completely answered and you feel satisfied.
Sincerely,
LaVora
Q: What does Dependent Origination mean?
Okay,
So no one really asked me this question, but I'm going to answer it anyway...
-LaVora 
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A:
Let's think of dependent origination as a story about butterflies,
basketball and lamps...
Meteorologists
study weather. Mathematicians study math.
Dr. Edward Norton Lorenz is a meteorologist and mathematician. He was born in
the
Here is how it works: On a continent, a butterfly flaps its wings. The flapping causes small changes to happen. These changes travel. Bigger and bigger changes happen from place to place. In time, the flapping wings change the weather around the world.
Buddhism teaches an idea that is like the Butterfly Effect. This idea is called Dependent Origination. Dependent Origination means everything is part of everything else. Take a basketball net, for example. If you tug on one thread of it, the whole net moves. It is the same with people. What happens to one person touches everyone. We are all connected.
“If you light a lamp for another, your own way will be lit.” These are Nichiren’s words.* Nichiren said sharing Buddhism is like turning on a light for someone. Imagine being in a room with people. By turning on the light for them, you see better too.
Chanting
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (Nichiren
Buddhist prayer) lights up our lives. By chanting, we see how great we are.
When we share Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
with others, we help them and ourselves.
***
*The quotation “If you light a lamp for another, your own way will be lit," is from The Complete Writings of Nichiren Daishonin [Japanese, Gosho Zensho], p. 1598). This book is not available in English yet.
-LaVora
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