Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Golden Highways Revisited: 1998April 19 thA morning full of reintegrations and reminders. We played Heng Yin’s Songs forAwakening during the morning sit and filled the crew with more encouragementto stay until the end. It seems that many had heeded the advice and most that didleave, did so with sincere apologies. One or two incorrigibles slipped through anda few that life necessitated.By the end of the morning ceremonies and the postprandial goodbyes (theremust have been 30–40 people squashed in the yoga room) my jaw was aching withall the smiling and goodwill expressions. For a moment it seemed that anotherinfinity of questions had started and I wondered if we were ever going to escape.None were leaving and more were arriving – finally we moved the gears and thefarewells began. It may have just been the size of the retreat but there seemed tobe a huge number of very heartfelt eulogies. We finally hit the road at 3:00ish, withJaya, Libby, Sandra, Perrin, Buzz and Tan Punna in attendance.The journey to New York was with Gina Sharpe, her husband John Fowleand their friend Jill Satterfield (all of whom had been on the retreat) and largelyretraced the Highway 85 route from Sussex, NJ. Along the way John plied me witha stream of enquiries about the Amarahistory and my life as a monk. I was blinkingand worn with facial fatigue by the time we arrived in Westchester County.It was hard to get much of a sense of the locale as it seemed very like the forest/lake/freeway pattern all the way through this region. However, as we pulled offthe highway around Bedford and Mount Kisco It was clear that this was a verywell-heeled area. John insisted that, at 4,000 sq. ft., their house was a very smallone for the area (the record stands at 37,000 sq. ft., for a family of five, being builtat present).Nevertheless their house was a delight to the eyes as we rolled in, and an everunfolding set of treats as I was shown around. Famous for being the former homeof Sir Stephen Spender and Gian Carlo Menotti, and Samuel Barber, it had alsohoused JFK and Jackie overnight on some remote occasions.Star magnolia and flowering cherries, bright forsythias and purple azaleapunctuate the walks. Tall, well-groomed pines stretch up from the lawns, and arock garden with a Buddha-image and a waterfall tumble down from the hillsidebehind. Everywhere in the house the eye falls upon thangkas, scroll paintings andBuddha-rūpas – like some latter day Pure Land, countless Tathāgathas spread in alldirections – the rooms are also framed by huge banks of windows and skylights,merging the inner and outer geographies together. A land of devas devoted to theBlessed One – what a delight to roam their halls.46