Buddhism and society

Every evening after chanting the Bhavana Society has some program, either a Dhammma talk by one of the senior monks, a sutta presentation by a community member, a discussion about the Dhammapada, Pali study or a book report. Last night I volunteered to give a sutta presentation. Instead of reporting about one sutta I decided to discuss the topic of stream-entry, or the first stage of enlightenment, as it is discussed in the suttas. There is some interesting information in the suttas and I wanted to get Bhante G’s opinion about some of the material. He is in California right now, so Austin and I gave a talk about the pilgrimage instead.

It was good for me to talk about the pilgrimage, as yesterday we decided not to wait until July 5th to make a decision about the walk. Ajahn Punnadhammo and I spoke on the phone and he is very enthusiastic about my returning to Arrow River and said as long as I can carry my own water and spilt my own firewood he saw no problem with my coming to stay. So Austin and I are in the process of looking into what to do after June 22nd, which is when we will be leaving the Bhavana Society.

It is ironic that we decided to end the walk one week after mentioning we were at the midpoint between March 1st and August 20th (the day the pilgrimage had to be completed). We still have about five or six weeks before we plan to reach Thunder Bay and I anticipate continuing to write about our experiences until we get there.

If my health is still not improved Dr. Jerry invited us to come stay with him in Lafayette, Indiana and he will run a series of tests on me. From Lafayette we might take a train to Minneapolis, Minnesota and stay with a meditation group in the area. Father William will be away until July 5th, and we want to end the pilgrimage with a visit to St. John’s Abbey. Father William has offered to drive us to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

It is interesting to me that on the day we finally decided to end the walk, the batteries in my L.E.D. flashlight finally died. Those were the batteries that I installed in the lamp back in mid-February right before leaving Thunder Bay.

When we left New Orleans I had fifteen contacts along the proposed route. Austin had a few more. Today as I look at my address book I count fifty-eight, and that doesn’t count the dozens of people who wrote just to express good wishes! We certainly were blessed with support.

I like the way Father William summed up my explanation about exploring the sadness of facing the end of the pilgrimage. Here is what he wrote, “They weren't at all the events you anticipated, but they have, in their own way, been moments of great grace. The last words of Georges Bernanos' novel, The Diary of a Country Priest, say it all. "Tout est grâce." Everything is grace.

Touche!