Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Rugged Interdependencyworld travel as she goes to visit their multifarious homes. They were last spottedin Thailand, where Bee traveled to visit them, in January of 2006.Tan Nipako returned to lay life after a few years as a monk.My mother, who made brief appearances at the start of the journal and again atAmaravati, passed away peacefully in 2003, in her own bed, in Sherborne Dorset.She was 82 years old.Our neighbors at Casa Serena, Peter La Rivière and Mary Curran, both alsopassed away in recent years: Peter of lung cancer in the spring of 2000 and Maryof abdominal cancer in 2002. Just before her death Mary, with extraordinary yetcharacteristic generosity, donated her house to the Monastery thus giving usanother 30 acres and a beautiful four-bedroomed amenity for women residentsand guests.Debbie Stamp continues to live and work with unstinting selflessness at theMonastery; she has been on the Board of Directors of Sanghapala since the late ’80s.She dwells in a cabin that was built for her in 1999, and she has been a much lovedand helpful resident throughout this time.Various members of the nuns’ community, particularly Ajahns Jitindriyā,Sundarā and Thānasantī have come and gone, spending a few months to a fewyears at Abhayagiri. It is planned that one day an autonomous nuns’ Monasterywill be founded somewhere in the area.The Spirit Rock teachers are still a strong and cohesive group: the only onesto leave the area have moved on to warmer and slightly less expensive locations(Robert Hall has gone to Baja, Mexico, while Anna Douglas has moved to Tucson,AZ) although Anna still regularly teaches at SRMC and Robert from time totime. New members have joined the circle, namely Sharda Rogell, Sally Clough,Phillip Moffat, Mark Coleman, Diana Winston and Donald Rothberg; othergenerations are also on their way through the teacher training process with Jack.The Center also becomes evermore multifaceted as the years progress; therange of workshops, retreats, events and classes now includes: Dharma for singles;painting retreats; teen vision quests and solstice rituals – the term Vipassanā isbecoming proportionally more inclusive in its anglicized range of meanings.Ajahn Jumnien comes every year to teach there.San Francisco Zen Center continues to be a stable and strong presence inthe area. Their model of shared leadership – a collaboration of co-abbots forthe three main centers but no one fixed to a single place – has served them very120