Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Rugged InterdependencyGood question… However, it was just this happenstance touching of all the familiarnodes of our Dhamma family web that was the reason.In 1997 Dr. Martin Verhoeven (formerly a monk at the City of Ten ThousandBuddhas and now a teacher at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley)had introduced me to Professor Richard Hughes Seager, an academic historianat Hamilton College, New York, and author of Buddhism in America (ColumbiaUniversity Press). The professor had read The Golden State and was enthusiasticin his praise for its unique perspective – not only in coming from a monastic butalso from a non-American’s point of view. He fervently encouraged the penningof more such reviews of the American Buddhist landscape, and the result, dearreader, is now part of what you hold in your hands, or at least are looking at on ascreen.Like The Golden State, this extended travelogue is not intended as some kind ofopinionated set of judgements on Buddhism in America, more it is intended to be aslice through the fragrant American pie of Buddhist life – to let us take a look, andsmell and taste for ourselves what has been cooked up here in recent years.Needless to say, if any persons or institutions mentioned in this book seem tohave been represented in an unfavorable light, the author begs for your generosityin forgiveness; what is written here is solely in the light of personal impressionsand perspectives. It has been my intent simply to open the pie up without addingtoo much of my own embellishment but sometimes that’s a tricky maneuver toaccomplish.Enjoy!