Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

The Golden StateThis is the first of two pieces which describe a visit made by members of the Sanghafrom Amaravati to the United States in the spring of 1990. This first part covers thebroad spectrum of spiritual life which was encountered there.Part IA Fertile SeaIt is said that in the past – before the Europeans came – the San Francisco Bay Areawas so thick with wildlife that the sky would be darkened by flocks of birds as theyrose “with a sound like that of a hurricane.” Streams were filled with silver salmon;the hills were covered with forests of oak and berries, fields of flowers and bunchgrass; seals, grizzly bears, foxes, bobcats and coyotes abounded. It was a land ofinexpressible fertility. In the last 150 years of civilization, much has changed. Butby some strange alchemy the fertility of the area persists: transmogrified from therich life of local tribes and that of soil and beast, into the inner life, the hearts andminds of the people who now live there.The USA, a land of opportunity, grew out of a revolution against Europeanvalues. It was to be a country of freedom and equality. This ideal still pervadesAmerican society and probably nowhere more so than on the West Coast, wherethe majority of free spirits have gravitated. Here especially is a place of freedom ofexpression, where dreams of all kinds are pursued.•In May of 1990, Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, Sister Sundarā, Sister Jotakā andmyself were invited to the USA to lead some retreats, participate in a conference onmonasticism, and to give Dhamma talks to a number of groups on the West Coast.The invitation came from two groups: Insight Meditation West (IMW), founded topromote vipassanā meditation, mostly in the form of silent retreats and local sittinggroups; and Sanghapala, whose aim is to help establish a Monastery in Californiaunder the guidance of Ajahn Sumedho. These two groups represent, to a largeextent, the main sources of interest in our presence in the USA.The two aspects of our life which they embody – serious meditation practiceand traditional monastic form – are in fact closely linked, although the latteris less widely appreciated. It was to help people in the Bay Area have a fullerunderstanding of monastic practice, its methods and its results, that Jack Kornfield,the principal meditation teacher with IMW, convened the conference The Joys ofMonastic Life which we attended.The practice which Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho have advocated involvestaking Vinaya – the monastic code of discipline – as the basic life style, and fromthat foundation learning to appreciate whatever you are with. Putting this teachinginto practice, we actually found ourselves able to feel at ease in a bewildering