Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Golden Highways Revisited: 199816 th Century Spanish crucifix and a 2 nd Century Roman wellhead – antiquities andpriceless treasures litter the place. Holy knick-knacks that had accrued over theyears so copiously that Fr. Kevin scarcely noticed them any more.Many of the brothers seemed agèd but the abbot was a man of perhaps 50 andhad only been in office a couple of years – Fr. Thomas Keating, now in Snowmass,Colorado, was his predecessor. Fr. Basil Pennington is also one of the 80 or so officialresidents although he is on the road a lot these days. The resident communitynumbers about 65 – 70 (without guests) with a sprinkling of 20- and 30-somethingsamongst them.We were all very impressed by the similarities of our lifestyles – apparently,when Sazaki Roshi came there to visit he said, “If you just changed the color ofthe robes it would be the same as our monasteries.” Their ordination procedures,novitiate, etc. all bore a striking resemblance to ours – their livelihood programs,however, were a very different scene. Their Trappist Preserves operation fills a warehousethe size of IMS’s meditation hall with jams and jellies. We were stunned.Their farming had almost ceased, we heard, apart from Fr. Raymond’s few sheep,it no longer being economical to run. They also had a department doing vestmentproduction – not a big market you might imagine – but they seemed to make quitea tidy profit from it and 16 monks and some lay women helpers are kept at the jobfull-time.The place was constructed very closely to the classical Cistercian model andhad the feel – despite its newness – of having been dropped there from medievalEurope onto the New England landscape. It felt like a vibrant community and thesimplicity and integrity of their lifestyle was impressive. It being Holy Week everyonewe encountered was on their way someplace – usually to the next rehearsal– so we did not have a lot of sit-and-chat time. Also, as is well known, the Trappistsare not noted as conversationalists, unless there is some pressing cause to speak.Bright weather has settled in and the afternoon was spent curled up with TheStory of the Stone – revisiting Vol.I before passing it on to Ajahn Sumedho. Hoursdrift by – last details to sort out with Taraniya and Libby, including giving Taraniyathe Eight Precepts and putting her in white again.Come 8:30 and the ship is launched – maybe 70–80 people on board. I madean appeal not to have any weekenders so we will be able to keep a more consistentroutine, and have less shifting.It feels good to be back in the saddle again: some familiar faces from last year,some quite new. Rachel Ropp is front and center, and Sandra, Perrin, Dorotheaand Jaya are close by. There is a bold and beaming energy in the air and the EightPrecepts are taken with considerable vim – both surprising and gladdening tosee.Saturday slides by, marked only be a chance encounter with Joseph Goldsteinon the path and a bout of hay fever in the afternoon. We hit it with a vigorous blastof Vitamin C and antihistamines and by the evening pūjā it had gone into retreat.Tan Punna kindly took up the reins and gave a fine talk – including a piece on diligenteffortlessness, a close cousin of the undistracted non-meditation of Tsoknyi41