{"id":1260,"date":"2022-07-10T20:42:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-10T19:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/?post_type=project&#038;p=1260"},"modified":"2023-03-07T22:47:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T22:47:00","slug":"akasasuri-ive-lived-in-community-for-30-years-now-but-i-still-can-find-myself-walking-past-the-sink-thinking-im-not-going-to-wash-up-its-somebody-elses-turn-and-as-soon-as-i-think-t","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/project\/akasasuri-ive-lived-in-community-for-30-years-now-but-i-still-can-find-myself-walking-past-the-sink-thinking-im-not-going-to-wash-up-its-somebody-elses-turn-and-as-soon-as-i-think-t\/","title":{"rendered":"Akasasuri: &#8220;The first mett\u0101 bhavana I was completely blown over, and that was it. I thought \u2018If that is a way of living, I&#8217;d quite like to live that way.'&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; disabled_on=&#8221;on||&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_row column_structure=&#8221;1_2,1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_post_title author=&#8221;off&#8221; date=&#8221;off&#8221; comments=&#8221;off&#8221; featured_image=&#8221;off&#8221; admin_label=&#8221;Quote Title (Desktop)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.2&#8243; title_text_color=&#8221;#ee7600&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Order Name (Desktop)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.2&#8243; text_font_size=&#8221;16px&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#annals\">Read speaker annals<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Talk Description (Desktop)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.2&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><em>Interview recorded in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_code admin_label=&#8221;Audio (Desktop)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.4&#8243; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/playlists\/1456877503&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true&#038;visual=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/thebuddhistcentre\" title=\"The Buddhist Centre\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">The Buddhist Centre<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/thebuddhistcentre\/sets\/fifty-years-fifty-voices-akasasuri\" title=\"Fifty Years, Fifty Voices: Akasasuri\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">Fifty Years, Fifty Voices: Akasasuri<\/a><\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_code][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_divider color=&#8221;#f4a732&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;Divider (Desktop)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; height=&#8221;0px&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=&#8221;2_3,1_3&#8243; module_id=&#8221;annals&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_3&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Annals Title (Desktop)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.4&#8243; text_font=&#8221;|||on|||||&#8221; text_font_size=&#8221;16px&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>AKASASURI&#8217;S ANNALS:<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;OM Annals (Desktop)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.4&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 1967 I was 13 years old; a happy child in a little village in the South of Holland, near the Belgium border. I was attending secondary school in a nearby city 10 miles away. I had a lot of friends and was regularly send out of the classroom due to great unstoppable fits of laughter! At 15 I told my father that I was no longer going to (Catholic) church as I didn\u2019t believe in God. He didn\u2019t like it and said that I was a heathen.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>In 1977 I was studying Psychology at university, still having a lot of friends, living as a lodger in 1 room together with my boyfriend. I hadn\u2019t found the transition from rural Holland to the big City easy. Three years later I did my Masters and started work as a psychologist.\n<\/li>\n<li>In 1987 I was dissatisfied with how mental health institutes were run and what they prioritized: performance rather than the quality of human relationships between \u2018patients\u2019 and workers. I started training in Gestalt therapy and Psycho synthesis, where I met Vajrayogini, co-founder and one of the main teachers of the institute. That meeting changed my life completely. I moved to El Bloque in Spain (near Guyhaloka) where she was living part of the year. And that is where I met the guys from Guhyaloka, Samata, Surata and Subhuti. A few years later I moved to London and worked at the London Buddhist center together with Maitreyabandhu: managing the reception, cleaning and making the shrines!\n<\/li>\n<li>In 1997 I was living in Manchester and fully absorbed in the \u201cThree C\u2019s\u201d ([Buddhist] Centre, Community, Co-operative [business]), including setting up an <em>Evolution<\/em> shop together with my dear friend Maitrinandi. I had moved to Manchester from Taraloka where I had lived for 5 \u00bd years during which time I got ordained (1993).\n<\/li>\n<li>In 2007 I was living in Amsterdam, lodging at Khemasiri\u2019s house. I was fully absorbed in trying, with the help of many others, to get a retreat center established for the Low Countries, which finally opened its doors in 2012 under the name Metta Vihara.\n<\/li>\n<li>In 2017 I am living in Amsterdam in a women\u2019s community and being supported full-time by the Sangha\u2019s in the Low Countries (Holland and Belgium).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_3&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_image align_tablet=&#8221;center&#8221; align_phone=&#8221;center&#8221; align_last_edited=&#8221;on|desktop&#8221; admin_label=&#8221;Supplementary Photos (Desktop)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; disabled_on=&#8221;|on|on&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_margin=&#8221;-40px|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_row column_structure=&#8221;1_2,1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_post_title author=&#8221;off&#8221; date=&#8221;off&#8221; comments=&#8221;off&#8221; featured_image=&#8221;off&#8221; admin_label=&#8221;Quote Title (Mobile)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.2&#8243; title_text_color=&#8221;#ee7600&#8243; title_font_size=&#8221;30px&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;||-10px|&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_code admin_label=&#8221;Audio (Mobile)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.4&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/playlists\/1456877503&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;show_comments=true&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=true&#038;visual=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/thebuddhistcentre\" title=\"The Buddhist Centre\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">The Buddhist Centre<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/thebuddhistcentre\/sets\/fifty-years-fifty-voices-akasasuri\" title=\"Fifty Years, Fifty Voices: Akasasuri\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">Fifty Years, Fifty Voices: Akasasuri<\/a><\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Talk Description (Mobile)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.2&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><em>Interview recorded in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_2&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_margin=&#8221;-40px||-40px|&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_divider color=&#8221;#f4a732&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;Divider (Mobile)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; height=&#8221;0px&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=&#8221;2_3,1_3&#8243; module_id=&#8221;annals&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;2_3&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Annals Title (Mobile)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.4&#8243; text_font=&#8221;|||on|||||&#8221; text_font_size=&#8221;16px&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>AKASASURI&#8217;S ANNALS:<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;OM Annals (Mobile)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.17.4&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 1967 I was 13 years old; a happy child in a little village in the South of Holland, near the Belgium border. I was attending secondary school in a nearby city 10 miles away. I had a lot of friends and was regularly send out of the classroom due to great unstoppable fits of laughter! At 15 I told my father that I was no longer going to (Catholic) church as I didn\u2019t believe in God. He didn\u2019t like it and said that I was a heathen.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>In 1977 I was studying Psychology at university, still having a lot of friends, living as a lodger in 1 room together with my boyfriend. I hadn\u2019t found the transition from rural Holland to the big City easy. Three years later I did my Masters and started work as a psychologist.\n<\/li>\n<li>In 1987 I was dissatisfied with how mental health institutes were run and what they prioritized: performance rather than the quality of human relationships between \u2018patients\u2019 and workers. I started training in Gestalt therapy and Psycho synthesis, where I met Vajrayogini, co-founder and one of the main teachers of the institute. That meeting changed my life completely. I moved to El Bloque in Spain (near Guyhaloka) where she was living part of the year. And that is where I met the guys from Guhyaloka, Samata, Surata and Subhuti. A few years later I moved to London and worked at the London Buddhist center together with Maitreyabandhu: managing the reception, cleaning and making the shrines!\n<\/li>\n<li>In 1997 I was living in Manchester and fully absorbed in the \u201cThree C\u2019s\u201d ([Buddhist] Centre, Community, Co-operative [business]), including setting up an <em>Evolution<\/em> shop together with my dear friend Maitrinandi. I had moved to Manchester from Taraloka where I had lived for 5 \u00bd years during which time I got ordained (1993).\n<\/li>\n<li>In 2007 I was living in Amsterdam, lodging at Khemasiri\u2019s house. I was fully absorbed in trying, with the help of many others, to get a retreat center established for the Low Countries, which finally opened its doors in 2012 under the name Metta Vihara.\n<\/li>\n<li>In 2017 I am living in Amsterdam in a women\u2019s community and being supported full-time by the Sangha\u2019s in the Low Countries (Holland and Belgium).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=&#8221;1_3&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221;][et_pb_image align_tablet=&#8221;center&#8221; align_phone=&#8221;center&#8221; align_last_edited=&#8221;on|desktop&#8221; admin_label=&#8221;Supplementary Photos (Mobile)&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Read speaker annalsInterview recorded in 2018.AKASASURI&#8217;S ANNALS: In 1967 I was 13 years old; a happy child in a little village in the South of Holland, near the Belgium border. I was attending secondary school in a nearby city 10 miles away. I had a lot of friends and was regularly send out of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[100,200],"project_tag":[],"class_list":["post-1260","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-all-voices","project_category-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/1260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1260"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/1260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1509,"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/1260\/revisions\/1509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=1260"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuddhistcentre.com\/stories\/50voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=1260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}