"Literary work, old and new, has been the main theme of the last month. Bhante's series of 'Reveries and Reminiscences' is now coming to the end of its fourth instalment (the third appears in this month's Shabda), and the writing, dictating, checking, correcting and revising of this is a daily task. Bhante has had me read to him from quite diverse material related to the writing, either to check some fact, or to stimulate his imagination. Bhante has been pleased to see the new, revised edition of A Guide to the Buddhist Path released at last, and hopes it will see a good circulation.
"He was also pleased to see a review of his Ambedkar and Buddhism by Yoginder Sikand, sent to Bhante by Lokamitra. It was a long review and Bhante thought it did justice to his book.
"Though Bhante has not been listening to many audio books, he has greatly enjoyed hearing a CD of Satyadaka reading his own translation of Heine's The North Sea, and described it as 'an impressive piece of work'. Satyadaka was inspired to attempt translating the poem after reading the first part of Bhante's 'Looking Back' series, published in Shabda last year. In his account of his time with Paramartha in Ipswich searching for traces of his Lingwood ancestors, Bhante mentions his long-standing admiration of Heine's poem in the course of describing the visit they made to Felixstowe, to see the sea after which the poem is named.
"Bhante and I have continued following Sudhana's adventures in the Gandhavhuya Sutra, and as the hero has finally reached Vairocana's tower, there is good reason to think we may finish in the next month. I also read him Sulak Sivaraksa's book The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century, which he thought an inspired sermon on the need for a society more in accordance with Buddhist ideals."
Vidyaruchi
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