Cattāri Brahmavihārā

Technically I should have entitled today’s post Cub Scouts and Buddha Dhamma but I’ve always been partial to alliteration. My son had been wanting to join the scouts for some time and my wife finally found a troop nearby and took him a few weeks ago. For whatever reason I now find myself in the position of lead parent here and have had to do some reading and writing in order participate.

One background check and safety training certification later and we’re off to figuring out how this whole thing works.  My son is of age to be a Wolf rank scout and one of the things he needs to complete to move up is a badge called Duty to God. In case you weren’t aware, the BSA is a quasi-religious organization with a theistic bent. Now, I actually like that it emphasizes morality and the development of virtues but the God tub seemed to be a real stumbling block at first. But, upon further reading, I discovered that they allow you to fulfill the requirement according to your own religious beliefs. We could have gone with Islam but since I’m the lead on this we choose Buddhism.

I have sent in the application to begin the process for him to get his Metta Badge and I am interested to see what it will entail.