Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Rugged InterdependencyHuge numbers of people now “virtually visit” Abhayagiri and downloadaudio Dhamma talks and chanting, texts and books from the website. Similarlymany individuals and groups have made large amounts of Dhamma books, Suttatranslations, talks and pictures available through their own free websites, linksand chat groups.The Abhayagiri Upasika community, a group of some of the most committedfriends and supporters of the Monastery, even have a virtual Uposatha Observancethrough the Upasika chat list on the nights of the lunar quarters.Michael Lieberman graduated from the University of Texas, in Austin, andChris Morray-Jones quit his professorship at UC Berkeley, teaching ReligiousStudies; they both then joined Berkeley University’s Boalt Hall School of Law.Michael graduated from there in 2006 – having also managed to acquire a Master’sin International Relations from Tufts University at the same time – and has nowmoved to Washinton DC. He works in a legal consultancy there (“… earning moremoney than I’ll ever see,” quoth his father, Dr. Marc) and is keen to enter thepolitical arena.I met Father Kevin Hunt once more at Gethsemane II, a Buddhist/Christianinter-monastic dialogue, held at Father Thomas Merton’s Monastery in Kentucky, inthe spring of 2003. Ajahn Sundarā, Rev. Heng Sure, Joseph Goldstein and NormanFischer were also there, along with 70 or so other bright lights of the Americanmonastic world. Brother David was invited but chose to stay in his hermitage.Rachel Mend Ropp had a beautiful baby in 2001 – Simone Marie – and anotherone, a boy, in 2005. She and her family have been living on Native Americanreservations for some years where her husband, Andy, works as a physician.Edwin Kelley resigned from his position as Director at IMS; Myoshin Kelley isnow one of the main resident teachers at the Forest Refuge – Edwin is reckoningon taking it easy (workwise) for a few years.In the first few years after Abhayagiri was founded we saw very few Thaipeople. As the name has become more well-known, and as Ajahn Pasanno hasbecome more famous in Thailand, the numbers of Thai visitors has greatlyincreased.One of the main things he became well-known for was counseling Jay Siripongs,a Thai man who was executed in San Quentin in February of 1999, over the lastdays and hours before his death. More than 100,000 copies of the book describingthat encounter have been printed in Thai.Incidentally, Helena Havelock, the limo driver mentioned in the above journalentry in for July 2 nd , spoke to me about Jay’s case as we drove in the car that day;129