Land of Beautiful Vision Making a Buddhist Sacred Place in New Zealand

Abstract

First and foremost I wish to express my gratitude to Christine Dureau and Karen Nero, who supervised theMAthesis from which this book originated and patiently helped me to give shape to my research findings. Christine, especially, has read and commented on endless reworkings of the book manuscript. I would also like to thank two anonymous readers: my external thesis examiner and the first reviewer of an early draft of the manuscript gave helpful feedback; the second reviewer, Franz Metcalf, also gave especially detailed feedback and kind encouragement. When I embarked on this research, I made contact with people through e-mail after reading their work in the online Journal of Global Buddhism and other Internet sources. Although I never met them in person, Sandra Bell, Michelle Spuler, Martin Baumann, and Daniel Capper all took the time to read my early writings and share their work with me. Kitsiri Malalgoda, Michael Radich, and Adrian Croucher have all read and given invaluable feedback on different drafts of the manuscript, while Tracey McIntosh and Cristina Rocha provided guidance on specific chapters. I wish to thank the many people in the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) who have allowed me to look over their shoulders, engaged in lengthy discussions about their activities, and provided practical help. There are three Western Buddhist Order members who have been most vital to my book: Prajñalila, who compiled the photograph albums and newsletters that have been so important to this study and made helpful comments on two different drafts; Taranatha, who provided examples of his own writing about Sudarshanaloka Buddhist Retreat Centre and commented on sections of the book; and Satyananda, the manager of Sudarshanaloka, who answered many questions and commented on my writing. I should mention that the excellent FWBOresources such as newsletters, photograph albums, and literature disseminated through books and Web sites greatly enriched the research. Purna, Jayarava, and others helped me locate facts and figures on the FWBO. I warmly acknowledge the encouragement and help of others in the FWBOin New Zealand, especially Akasamati. Among Order members in Britain, I thank Vishvapani and Vajrasara of the FWBO communications office in London, as well as Vessantara and Nagabodhi, who provided invalu able information; special thanks to Lokapala for tape-recording and mailing to me an all-important talk that Satyananda gave at the North London Buddhist Centre. The photographs reproduced in this book are a mixture of my own and those of various unnamed photographers who gave their pictures for the Sudarshanaloka albums. I would also like to thank the staff and graduate students of the anthropology department at The University of Auckland for engaging discussions and feedback and for technical support provided by the Department of Anthropology, Library and Student Learning Centre. This book would not have been possible without the financial support I received in 1999–2000 when researching and writing my MA thesis: The University of Auckland Faculty of Arts Masters scholarship, the Anthropological Society of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s Kakano fund, and Anthropology Department Grants-in-Aid. I was fortunate enough to have the support of my department to finish the manuscript while also working on a doctorate in a related area, and I am especially thankful for a departmental PBRF Funding Award, which helped offset costs involved in producing the manuscript. My apologies if I have omitted anyone. Over the years I have been fortunate to receive endless support from friends and family. Besides acting as a copy editor, providing feedback on writing strategies, and producing excellent renderings of my diagrams and maps for this book, Adrian has also been a wonderful support person to come home to throughout the nine-year journey that became this book. I especially wish to thank my parents for instilling in me a love of learning. This book is dedicated to the memory of my grandfather Ed McAra, whose calling as a writer was cut short by his death in Crete in 1941. My grandmother’s typescript of his beautifully written wartime letters to her is the only way I know him.