Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Rugged Interdependencymeditation is served by very few. Jim Cameron still staunchly keeps the Centergoing; his leg injuries are still somewhat troublesome but he has more help withcaring for the place these days. Blossom the pig passed on.Georgette and Maxwell are still happily ensconced in their rural retreat inSussex, New Jersey.Gina Sharpe and John Fowle bit the bullet and sold their lovely home, to moveto a smaller house but on 23 acres of Westchester woodland. When last seen, Johnwas in his element trudging the leafy paths in his wellies, pondering the manywonders that the land might conjure forth.In the summer of 1998, having been ably guided and represented by GeraldineRose, Abhayagiri Monastery was granted a Change of Use Permit by MendocinoCounty, allowing us to function and develop ourselves as a forest Monastery. Theconstruction of the new buildings in April 2006 signaled the completion of Phase Iof the four-phase plan we agreed on with the County. Phase II allows us to houseup to 24 residents on the land.Geraldine also nursed the planning applications of Rangjung Yeshe Gomde[www.gomdeusa.org]., SF Zen Center’s Paul and Melody Haller, the Vipassanācommunity of Goenka-ji [www.manda.dhamma.org] and the City of Ten ThousandBuddhas through their various stages of development – three-quarters of thesewere successful.In February of 2004 the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas received final planningapproval to construct their International Institute for Philosophy and Ethics –an 800-person facility, comprising 332,000 sq. ft. of buildings – to be their mainmonastic training center and the new home of Dharma Realm Buddhist University.They are already the largest Buddhist institution in the USA – with a monasticcommunity of about 90 and a lay community of about 150 persons – this newdevelopment is indicative of their continued flourishing, however, as of 2005, theproject has been put on “indefinite hold.”Their senior and junior girls and boys schools are well-attended and so highlyregarded that the head of the Ukiah school district sent his own children thererather than to the institutions he administers.There are many Buddhist groups, monasteries and centers in MendocinoCounty now (22 at the last count) despite its small human population (84,000). Anannual multi-lineage Buddhist picnic Dharma Under the Trees is often held, usually124