Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Golden Highways Revisited: 1998itation community, to put some of the information about the richness and varietyof Buddhist practices, and her reflections on them, out into the public arena.It was a three-way interview and was done over the phone. Both Jack and Ihad a few questions that we had conjured up on reading her book and, throughone means or another, contrived to get her response to all of them. It was a slightlystrange experience (I had never interviewed anyone before) but, once the mediumof contact had become somewhat normal, our conversation flowed easily along.Again, it will be interesting to see what comes out in print once it’s all been editeddown.The afternoon took us to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and a meeting withRev. Heng Sure, Peter la Rivière and Heng Hsien at Bhante’s residence. Variousstresses and strains had been manifesting around his treatment, the relationshipof the carers, where he should stay, etc. etc. so this was an occasion to cool everythingdown and all get on the same page.A few other disciples of his, including Chrissy from Virginia, had shown upby now and so there were even more irons in the fire, or storms in the teacupthan before. Bhante was in fine form however and so, despite the increasing complexitiesof his ailments and treatment, one felt all was actually supremely simple– which of course it was.Weary by the end of the day – the last hours march easily by – climbing the hillto my log cabin home in the skySweet closure to some rich rich days.May 20 thQuiet day of sun and rain – catching up on the correspondence and phone callsand starting to see the community one by one: Ajahn Visuddhi and Don. We practicethe chanting for Anita’s upcoming Eight Precept ceremony. How beautiful tobe in the simple rhythm of Monastery life.May 21 stThe morning is bright and warm – Ajahn Vajiro and I take a walk up Tomki Roadto the place where the blacktop runs out and Cave Creek crosses the road.Glorious day: we climb the hill and chatter back and forth, exchanging whatevernews and impressions have been left unsaid so far. All around us the springflowers are in full flush – wild peas sprout thick and crimson purple; Californiapoppies wag their heads in little conferences of egg-yellow orange; little stars andspires of royal blue and scarlet, clouds of daisy sprays form in patches and clustersalong the banks; at the crest – as if it were some special alpine region – a fewpink gentian types sit low to the ground, modest for all their rarity and delicatebeauty.We walk in a realm of heavenly grace. Passers-by wave in warm greeting.Ed Mirabito, our neighbor to the east, stops and introduces his brother. We windthrough the gulches and shoulders as the road climbs upward until we rest at thecreek’s edge – too broad to cross without wetting our feet. Sunlight sparkles and76