EXCERPT FROM AN INTERVIEW
R: When we heard the name Adhisthana something historic happened in us because we thought it meant, ‘Bhante’s place or our teacher’s Adhisthana’ but later on we understand it’s a different meaning more, bigger than that. That it’s blessings. In India, we say Adhisthana is a mark. Like the Buddha has made his mark in Buddhagaya. It has a sense of place but not just place.
G: Meaning that something precious and important has started in that place. When we heard about it we thought this is what Bhante meant it be. Because we are scattered and he made a mark for us – now this is Adhisthana. There is the presence of your teacher. This is our teacher’s place. The burial mound gives you the kind of freedom to see Bhante, to meet Bhante. When he was alive you had to ask to see him but now you can just go, at midnight, at 12 o’clock. He is ready to see us. There is nobody between him and me.
R: He is not only in his room now, he is everywhere. So he is occupying every corner so you can feel him, you can see him everywhere very well.
G: It is like breaking the barriers of the physical world. It’s open now.
R: And we are not feeling that he is no more, that he died but we feel that he is still there, in our hearts. We are are trying to practice what he taught us so he is alive in us, in that way. So this place really gives us a way to understand that. This is our teacher’s place. We don’t feel like a guest. It is like going to Buddhagaya you don’t feel like a guest there. You don’t feel like a pilgrimage, because we are part of that place.
G: Adhisthana is where we are rooted. All Buddhists are rooted in Buddhagaya. And where we are rooted is here. All Bhante’s disciples are rooted here.
This blog is an excerpt from the Tenth Anniversary book which can be viewed online or bought from Adhisthana.