[Buddha-l] Jinapanjaram

[Joy Vriens]

Hi Joanna,

Last Thursday I spent with some Buddhist friends, among which an old
friend who founded the Marseille Tibetan Buddhist Center in the
seventies. Since then she got involved in the Forest tradition of
Ajahn Chah. I said I didn't think whe had the right mentality any more
in Europe to have mendicant monks begging for food in the street, but
she said that one of Amaravati's monks (may have been ajahn Sucitto)
travelled through Britain this ways and that his experience wasn't
that negative. Perhaps I am too pessimistic about the modern Western
human nature.

The way the most important Buddhist centres have developed in France
was mainly through buying property, building a temple, stupas, housing
etc. Many of those centres seem to have financial problems. I believe
in small scale projects, where it's easier to feel concerned. That
being said, at the same time I see that we have approximately twenty
different Buddhist groups in Marseille, One Laotian/Cambodgian
community, two Vietnamese communities. Many of the groups have their
own place, with rent, plumbing and heating as you write, and their own
circle of Buddhists. Among friends we made a plan to try and have one
place for all Buddhists. A place where ceremonies could be held,
teachings be given, where classes could be given in pali, sanskrit,
tibetan, chinese, where sutta and sutra studies could be organised
that would allow us to have access to different views on the same
sutras. Meditation classes with access to different (?) forms of
meditation. And for exchanges. If the project goes through it will
only be possible because of the particularly open position of the
monks leading the Laotian/Cambodgian and Vietnamese communities. Both
have given their initial agreement for a confederation to start with.
We have all the same teacher, the Buddha they say. What I see as one
of the greatest advantages is that this bigger identity, simply
"Buddhist" could help us/some of us to overcome a smaller  Buddhist
identity/atta that only causes kilesa.

Joy