The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

I feel blessed that I got to tag along with Robert as he gave a ride for Ajahn Amaro on the way out of the Monastery last week. Ajahn Amaro is the big cheese for Western Theravada Buddhism in the tradition of Ajahn Chah and the Thai lineage. He is moving to England soon to be the Abbot of Amaravati Monastery - the center branch of this school of Buddhism. He is incredibly highly regarded amongst monks and lay people alike. Robert referred to him as one of the best "monk trainers" around, and having met the monks he has trained, I'd have to agree.

Ajahn Amaro needed a ride to Novato, with a quick stop at The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas on the way out of town. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas ("The City") is the largest Buddhist monastery in all of North America! Cool! Who knew I would get a chance to visit! It's from the Chinese lineage of Master Hua who developed quite a following in his lifetime. There are a couple hundred permanent residents in the city, about a third of whom are monks and nuns.

Ajahn Amaro was giving the keynote address at the graduation ceremony for Developing Virtue Boy's Secondary School. The City runs 5 different schools for a few lucky children who get an education based on virtue and goodness more so than book smarts and the ability to pass a test. From the brief glimpse of the graduating class, it did look like these boys had been instilled with virtue. The City is bilingual (Mandarin and English) which seems to cause some challenges of communication, but it still seems to be thriving, and one of the speakers at the graduation was an successful alumni who still comes back to give his time to The City.

Inside the main Dhamma Hall of The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas - you guessed it - Ten Thousand Buddhas! If you look close at the photos, the walls are stacked with small Buddha statues, each one carved by Master Hua himself. Ten thousand in all, believe it or not. The property itself used to be a home for the criminally insane, and the Dhamma Hall is actually the old gymnasium for the insane asylum. Once you walk inside, all of that is forgotten, and the peace and sense of community is immediately apparent.

Some buildings are a bit creepy still, but spiced up a bit with cute street names like "Joyous Way."

Ajahn Amaro's talk was inspiring and to the point. He made a cool suggestion that might be good for young boys (or for any of us for that matter.) His suggestion: If you can't keep up your 2 hours of chanting and meditation each morning, take on something more bite-sized. Try just to spend at least an hour per day doing only one thing. Not skyping while texting while emailing while listening to music while tevo-ing while eating chips, etc... Rather, if you're emailing for an hour - just do your email - and nothing else. Brilliant! Mono-tasking! I don't know if it would sell on Wall Street, but who cares.

The car ride back with the Ajahn was also fun as we had a chance to talk casually about some other topics of life. I don't remember much of the conversation, but I do remember him as a very enjoyable and wise man. May he have safe travels to England and a smooth transition into his new position there.