Triratna News

Sangharakshita’s Diary, May 2012

On Sat, 2 June, 2012 - 06:18
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lokabandhu
Vidyaruci, Sangharakshita’s secretary, writes with his usual monthly update of the highlights of Sangharakshita’s diary, saying -

“After a quiet period last month, Bhante has returned to receiving visitors most days. There are as many requests for meetings with him as ever, but he doesn’t have the energy to see as many people as before, so it is becoming increasingly difficult to fit everyone in. Other than visitors, Bhante’s main focus at present is doing a final edit of Living Wisely, which he hopes to finish in the next month or two. I would like at this point to correct an error of mine. In a previous diary I referred to the Precious Garland seminar transcripts on which Living Wisely is based as having been edited for book form by Vidyadevi, when it fact it was mainly Jinananda who did this work.

Last month Paramartha read to Bhante The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography, and this month the two of them have gone through two more books from the same series:Augustine’s Confessions: A Biography by Garry Willis, and The Book of Mormon: A Biography by Paul C. Gutjahr. Bhante thinks it a very interesting series and looks forward to having further volumes read to him as they are published. Meanwhile, Bhante has again wanted to refresh his memory of one of his own books, and I have read him The FWBO and Protestant Buddhism: An Affirmation and a Protest. He considers this one of his most important works (as well one of the most neglected) and he hopes all Order members will read it.

The audio book service has sent The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, which Bhante had read many years ago in India (as mentioned in In The Sign of the Golden Wheel) and which he considers a masterpiece of short fiction. Also, Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor, which Bhante recommends to all those who think that in the Triratna Buddhist Community we talk too much! Lastly, he was impressed by Christ Stopped at Eboli, a modern classic by Carlo Levi, which he felt was well worth reading.

Bhante has been keeping well. His vision has now stabilised and he has been tested for new spectacles, which he will have received by the time you read this diary”. Vidyaruchi
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