Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Rugged Interdependency– it as been open (in this location) only since 2002. However, Ajahn Sona has beenliving as a monk in Canada (after five years in Thailand) since 1994 when he andVen. Piyadhammo established the first Western Theravāda forest monastic site inCanada, in what came to be known as the Shack Monastery.After four years at the Birken River near Pemberton, Ajahn Sona set up a moreformal monastic community called Birken II, near Princeton. It then moved againand its current incarnation, at Smith Lake, is known affectionately as Birken III.There was a third place on the continent, a branch of Birken Monastery, thatwas being founded in the mountains of Vera Cruz province in Mexico. It had itsofficial opening in November of 2004, with Tan Thitapuñño as the senior monkthere, however he decided to leave the robes soon after and the Monastery hassince closed.Cloud Mountain has been through a few changes but is still a strong andvibrant place [www.cloudmountain.org]. David Branscombe and Laura are stillfaithfully guiding and managing its care and development, although NorthwestDharma Association (originally the support group for Cloud Mountain) havebecome an independent organization [www.nwdharma.org].The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, despite extensive and sterling efforts toconnect with the Caucasian American population, in particular through translationof talks and scriptures, still finds itself heavily dominated by interest from theAsian community. The Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, headed by Rev. Heng Sure,has made something of a change in this pattern, drawing numerous students fromthe University and other Berkeley locals; and, at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhasitself, the opening of their vegetarian restaurant to the public (best vegetarianfood in Mendocino County, take it from me!) has created a very popular avenueof connection – few of the diners, however, take the opportunity to look in thebookstore or the 10,000 Buddha Hall.In the late ‘90s Brother David Steindl-Rast spent three years living at EsalenInstitute, invited there to develop community integration and to boost theirdimension of spiritual presence. He now lives alone at a small hermitage in upstateNew York [www.gratefulness.org].I have not been back to Esalen since late 1997 – it had become too commerciallyoriented (e.g. $2135 for 7 days, in a standard single room in 2004) and, by my lastvisit there, I felt my time was largely being wasted [www.esalen.org]. Nevertheless,it should be acknowledged that that last occasion enabled me to meet JonathanBirks, a young South African on the staff there; he eventually joined our communityin England and was ordained as a novice, Sāmanera Appamāno, in New Zealand.He became a bhikkhu at Aruna Ratanagiri Monastery, in Northumberland[www.ratanagiri.org.uk], however he too has recently returned to lay life.128