Morning Movement with the Harmonious Friends

Ages: Early Education (ages 0-4), Primary/Elementary School (ages 5-12)

Duration: 6 minutes

DOWNLOAD: Updated Google Doc Version of this lesson

Introduction

This activity was developed as a morning icebreaker at the Middle Way School of the Hudson Valley. Adding movement to this part of the famous Four Friends story is a fun way to get students energized and synchronized. This activity familiarizes the students with the characters and opens the door for further exploration of the deeper levels of the story. There are some wonderful lessons on respecting elders embedded in the larger story. 

Activity

Gather the students in a circle. Show them an image of the 4 Harmonious friends (see below). Tell the story while guiding through the movements described below in bold italics. 

The Story

There was once a beautiful bird who couldn’t fly.  (optional: What kinds of birds can’t fly? invite children to  answer, e.g., peacocks roosters, penguins…) This bird really loved the fruits of one special tree and would stretch up to eat the low hanging fruits.

Stretch high up in the sky, reaching as far as you can

but once those low fruits were eaten up the rest were  too high and the bird couldn’t reach anymore. So the bird looked left and right and left and right

Eye exercise: Look as far left and and then right as you can 2 X

and what did she see? A rabbit!

Hop like a rabbit 

And the kind rabbit said, I’ll help you! You can step on my back and then you can reach. And so the bird stepped onto the rabbit and stretched high up and collected a fruit and she gave the first fruit to her friend the rabbit.

Reach up high as if collecting from the branches then stretch down to the toes as if giving them to someone below

Then she got one for herself.

Reach up high to collect and pretend to gobble it up.

But again the rest of the fruits were too high and the bird couldn’t reach them anymore. So the rabbit looked up and down and up and down…

Up down eye exercises 2 X

and what did she see? A monkey!

Side stretches – move like a monkey swinging

The kind monkey said to the rabbit, “Step on my back and then you can reach.” And so the rabbit, with the bird on her back, stepped up onto the… (optional: Let students fill in the gap in the story: “monkey”) 

…and the bird stretched high up and collected a fruit and gave the first one to her friend the rabbit who gave it to her new friend the monkey and so on until everyone had a fruit.

Reach up high 3 x; and stretch down 2x

But again the rest of the fruits were too high and the bird couldn’t reach them anymore. So the monkey looked up and down and up and down

Circular eye exercises 2 x

and what did she see? An elephant!

Forward bend with hands clasped, move like an elephant

And the kind elephant said, I’ll help you! You can step on my back and then you can reach.

And so the monkey, with the rabbit and the bird on her back, stepped up onto the elephant …and the bird stretched high up and collected a fruit and gave the first one to her friend the rabbit who passed it to her friend the monkey who gave it to her new friend the elephant and so on until everyone had a fruit.

Reach up high 4 x and stretch down 3 x, gobble the last one

And everyone was quite satisfied! The four harmonious friends then agreed to keep helping each other whenever they could.

Close by inviting students to move like the animal they feel most connected to that day as they transition to their next activity.

Resources/Images

For more on the Four Friends:

• Four Harmonious Friends from FMTP
• Four harmonious animals – Wikipedia
• The Four Harmonious Friends Thangka Painting | TheThangka.com
• “Four Harmonious Friends” Art Board Print by TenzinShikha | Redbubble

Another version of the story: 

https://www.thezengateway.com/culture/the-story-of-the-four-harmonious-friends

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche references this story in his talk on Harmony with the Middle Way Community

This is a short excerpt, please listen to or read the entire talk for the full context.

Q: Do you have any anecdotes or stories about harmony?

Okay, I think the mundane language is “teamwork.” There is a Buddhist anecdote, a story I think you guys are using— about the elephant, monkey, rabbit, and bird. This is kind of an important story actually. It’s important in many ways. The fact that there are four animals that are very different all together — size wise, looks wise. You know monkeys, they speak a different language, they look different, their size is different, their color is different, birds fly, elephants don’t, so on and so forth. This is an important piece of the story because it mean each one has their own selfishness. Each thinks differently. Somebody wants to eat your finger; someone wants to paint something else on your window. So they’re all different but we all want to have the fruit, right?

These four animals, they are trying to pick some fruit. This is the story. So let’s do it together. You know… Okay, elephant, you have a big body. You be the ground, you be the foundation and then the monkey, and so on and so forth. So I think that is quite a good story because it’s almost like we are accepting that we are all different but we can do something together. That story would not have worked if the four animals were all monkeys. Then that anecdote would have failed. But because four animals are four different kinds of animals it’s kind of important. Please ask me questions later if you need.