Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Rugged InterdependencyThe constant drift toward commercialism in the Buddhist world also continuesto create its opposite: that retreat at Great Vow was run solely on dāna (freewilldonations) and even all the food and drink used was donated, prepared and offeredby the retreatants. All Abhayagiri retreats are now done on dāna and groups inSanta Fe, Bellingham WA, and the monastic retreats at Spirit Rock and IMS are nowall done on a dāna basis too.Gil Fronsdal and his many students in the Palo Alto/Silicon Valley/StanfordUniversity area, opened their own center in 2002 as a branch of Spirit Rock. Itsclasses are currently brimming and the new facility is already being pressed forspace. Known now simply as the Insight Meditation Center, all their events are runsolely on dāna moreover, Gil and his family have no other source of income [www.insightmeditationcenter.org].Shasta Abbey and its branches are still going very strong, even after the deathof their founder and teacher Jiyu Kennett Roshi in 1996. Their community has putconsiderable effort into connecting with the wider Buddhist world in recent yearsand they too are appreciative of the cross-fertilization and mutual support that hascome from contacts with the Chinese Ch’an tradition, Tibetan monastic orders andwith Theravāda [www.shastaabbey.org].Their community has by far the largest number of Western monastics who havebeen ordained for 15 or more years – probably 20 of the 35 monks living there.Since 1994 there has been an annual conference held in California, for ordainedcelibate Buddhist monastics living in the West. Abhayagiri first got involved in theautumn of 1998 when it was held at Shasta Abbey; previous gatherings had beenat Land of Medicine Buddha and Vajrapani Institute. Subsequent ones have beenat the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, Vajrapani and Land of Medicine Buddhaagain, and at Bhavana Society.About 30-40 nuns and monks of all major lineages participate each year for thisdelightful and informal get-together; it has proved to be invaluable as an occasionfor sharing the joys and sorrows of monastic life and learning valuable lessonsacross traditions about how to live most skillfully as a monastic in this currentera.San Francisco Zen Center never got an Eight Precept standard going atTassajara. However, in 2000 a small hermitage called No Abode was set up closeto Green Gulch, to be a celibate monastic residence in their lineage, largely on theinitiative of one sincere and dedicated priest, Luminous Owl.There were many struggles involved, particularly: how do you run a celibatemonastic community as a subset of a lay priesthood, especially when 100% of themain teachers of the community are married or in relationships?132