Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Rugged Interdependencyon Memorial Day, at Hendy Woods, Philo. The good Geraldine is the Dharmahost.The interest in ritual and devotional practices continues to develop, oftenmingled with other traditional forms. Joseph Goldstein hosted a day called Devotedto Emptiness at Spirit Rock as a fund-raiser for the Forest Refuge – the main featurewas the Hindu bhajans of Jai Uttal [www.JaiUttal.com].Jack Kornfield continues to develop ritual in his role as teacher and mentor, formany events such as the graduation of his teacher trainees, with men’s groups andevents based upon racial and ethnic diversity.We have added a few more chants to our repertoire at Abhayagiri, e.g. theBrahma Vihāras, The Discourse on the Highest Blessings and The Splendors of the Buddha– we still lead pūjās morning and evening on our retreats in Pāli and English. TheMonastery mails out as many chanting CDs as it does those of Dhamma talks, andthe audio and text files of our chanting are constantly being downloaded from thewebsite.The Zen Center Hospice, that was in its early years when The Golden State waswritten, has continued to be a bright light for many people. They have their ownfacility at 283 Page St, San Francisco, as well as continuing to be the main part ofthe hospice facility at the Laguna Honda Hospital.Frank Ostazetski has stepped down, after 20 years in the saddle, and theorganization is now being led by Marion Gruzalski, a long-time friend of ours anda student of Ajahn Sumedho. The numbers training as volunteers and the numbersof the dying who are being helped continue to stay high. [www.zenhospice.org].Frank was even on the Oprah Winfrey show one day, as was,incidentally, Tara Bennet Goleman, after the publication of Emotional Alchemy[www.emotionalalchemy.com].The range of service activities in the Buddhist community has now spreadto include numerous programs for youth, conferences and retreats to promoteracial and ethnic diversity, and many Buddhist meditators have now trained inMindfulness based Stress Reduction (the program devised by Jon Kabat‐Zinnin Massachusetts [www.umassmed.edu/cfm/mbsr/], and teach this in hospitals,prisons, schools and businesses throughout the USA.There is a large network of people providing Dharma teachingsall over the country for America’s massive prison population[www.prisondharmanetwork.org]. There is a great demand for written teachingsbut also many people are now actively involved in regularly teaching meditation125