Tuesday 6 February 2018

Buddhist Monasticism In The Solar Commonwealth And In Britain

At the beginning of Mirkheim, Adzel has spent three years as a lay brother in a Buddhist monastery in the Andes Mountains but he returns from retirement when his former employer, Nicholas van Rijn, reassembles the original trade pioneer crew of David Falkayn, Chee Lan and Adzel for one last diplomatic/intelligence gathering mission.

This week, I will spend Friday and Saturday nights at Throssel Hole Buddhist Priory (see here) but that will be enough monasticism for me for a while. As another member of the Lancaster meditation group said, from behind her lap top in the Gregson Centre with her earphones on, "There are things that I want to do that I would not be able to do there!" 

I will, of course, be off line and incommunicado from Friday afternoon until maybe Sunday evening.

3 comments:

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

Christian monks can be found in Poul Anderson's works as well. Manse Everard tells us, near the end of "The Year of the Ransom," that Don Luis Castelar became a monk in the later years of his life.

Sean


S.M. Stirling said...

I thought it was rather amusing to start a Buddhist monastery in Sun Valley because there was a Buddhist convention there...

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Dear Mr. Stirling,

I remember that from your Change books. Another example of how some very able unexpectedly found themselves becoming local leaders as the Change crashed down. And the example they set tended to inspire and influence the survivors who gathered around them.

I thought of the Christian example you gave, the Benedictine monastery of Mt. Angel, something very similar happened there, in an even more dramatic way, to what happened in Sun Valley.

Sean