Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Part IVSan Francisco – Portland – Seattle – Larch Mountain– Still Meadow – ChicagoJune 1 stAn easy morning passes at Marc’s house.As a busy practicing ophthalmologist (he is a world-renowned expert in glaucoma)he has been hard at work setting up a new office in San Francisco beforegoing to Tibet for five weeks for another eye-camp. His comings and goings havethus been even more of a blur than usual but his spirits are good. This morning hedoesn’t have to go out until 10:00 a.m. but the hours before then are jam-packedwith phone calls and cheque writing and payrolls.The dining room table has now become an extension of his office (the papersliterally 18” thick on every horizontal surface there) and the phone rings day andnight. Of the latter, there are also many calls for his son Michael, who will graduatefrom Lowell High School this week, and for us – stray bits of Monastery businessand news that need attending to.Anagarika Michael heads off to the airport to pick up Ajahn Pasanno, wherehe should be arriving back from visiting family in Canada. Marc remains hunchedover his bits of paper, I settle myself in a corner to flip through some books untilthe next major phase of the day unfolds. There is a little scramble at the airportbut eventually the right parties meet up; Debbie Stamp, another of the foundingmembers of Sanghapala, arrives at Marc’s house and we all are gathered for amoment or two.Ajahn Pasanno and I start to go through news exchange and the handing overof the baton, noting amidst the flurry of information that today is the second anniversaryof the opening of Abhayagiri. We pause to go for the meal at a new Thairestaurant on Church Street and 29 th where the owners have expressed interest tomeet us. Back at Marc’s the exchange continues – matching up calendars, reportson progress, the extended low-down on Bhante Dhammavāra’s return to Stockton,plans for summer building projects at Abhayagiri and the Use Permit process.By 2:00 p.m. we’re pretty much done. Arthur Martin drops by to collect themanuscript of Where are You Going? the tale of the 1000-mile pilgrimage on foot tothe Buddhist holy places of India, made by Ajahn Sucitto and Nick Scott in the early‘90s. Arthur had done much legal work for the Sanghapala Foundation throughoutits early days. Now, however, having had to retire from law because of ill health(and thus forced into a three-year hiatus), he had found himself delighted to befree of the litigatory world and was considering going back into book publishingagain. The manuscript is a rich and vivid description of the glories and horrors ofthe pilgrim’s way and, hopefully, a publisher will be found who wants to put it intothe broader public eye.81