Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Golden Highways Revisited: 1998May 23 rdThe evening passes quietly – Rick Williams arrives – and we merge into Saturdayand the Sanghapala Board meeting. All the while I am trying to find time topolish up the Pātimokkha chanting and shake the dust out of my memory cells– Ven. Kataññuto will still be with us for the New Moon day so we will have aquorum for the recitation of the monks’ rule. It will be Tan Karunadhammo’s firsttime at this most ancient of monastic ceremonies so the heart dearly wishes tomake it a suitably full and sincere one – these things can get perfunctory if one isnot careful.The Board meeting slides by easily – an afternoon spent among good friendsdiscussing all that is suitable to be done – despite a 24-item agenda, everything getsattended to and delegated appropriately. While we are meeting, Jonathan Westphaland Ñanamuni are off obtaining computer parts and, by 7:20 in the evening, itsguts are out all over the table and the surgeon is somewhat distressed: the newhard drive is not doing what it ought to…Knowing full well that these machines, like many others, were actually inventedby Māra to arouse emotional states that would otherwise remain unknown, I tryto look on benignly and end up spending more time consoling Jonathan than worryingabout the machine. As it happens, by midmorning of the next day all is welland our new engine is safely in place, purring happily and ready to speed out ofthe blocks when necessary.In the evening we have quite a crowd gathered, to watch us give the EightPrecept ordination to Anita Wenninck. She has been a bit overcharged and nervousabout the chanting but, come the big moment, she pushes through to a clear space.The Dhamma talk resolves itself around the act of renunciation – Going Forth inall its dimensions – also around how the 227 Precepts of full monastic ordinationare contained in the Eight, the Eight Precepts in the Three Refuges, these containedin “Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammā-sambuddhassa,” and this all finally beingcontained in Namo! – Homage. It is the essential gesture of unselfishness: there issomething in this world, and beyond it, worthy of being looked up to.May 24 thHow many Sundays do you get with no special event going on? Nothing evenremotely scheduled? The openness of the day, draped in rain cloud and waves ofshowering leaves, carries a mellow and gentle mood into the air.We hear that Bhante Dhammavāra is due to be moved back to Stockton todayand so, with Peter la Rivière, a crew of us heads over to the City of Ten ThousandBuddhas. As we walk in Bhante greets us with an immeasurably warm and twinklingsmile – he is fine – but he never ceases his scratching of the body. Intensedebate goes on as to the nature of the ailment: scabies? parasites? poison? Whoknows? He is fine… When Ven. Sarin scolds him for scratching he simply holdsout his hand and gives him the eye: “OK then, YOU scratch it!” He then returns tohis action with deliberate exaggeration and a wicked smirk.78