ratnadevi

LUISE HOLTBERND

bodhi eco project

The Bodhi Eco-village Trust www.bodhi-eco-project.org.uk  email:  info@bodhi-eco-project.org.uk

The Vision

At the heart of the Bodhi Trust, a not-for-profit organisation, lies a vision for ‘mindful living’, in harmony with others and the earth, fuelled by meditation, and the creative arts. The project was initiated by myself and my partner, Larry Butler, in 2000, and has now a membership of 60 people. We are working towards building an eco-village in Scotland, with people who meditate and live according to the 5 precepts.

The vision includes vegetarianism, growing some of our own organic food, generating minimum waste and carbon emissions, renewable energy systems, and a variety of different style eco-homes, both owned and rented affordably. We want to combine the practice of ethics with aesthetics, encouraging the practice and enjoyment of the arts, including studio, exhibition and performance spaces.

We hope the village will attract people with a wide variety of skills and lifestyle choices, ranging from solitary artists/hermits, families, to people who live in communities. It is important to us to interact with the wider community, through work, teaching facilities and celebratory events. One arm of the project will be a charity, that aims to demonstrate the potential of a sustainable lifestyle, and to disseminate the results of our learning.

Foundations

Projects like this are often started by charismatic and/or wealthy individuals, or small groups of likeminded friends who put their resources together and buy some land. There are pitfalls in either approach - difficult power issues and limited scope for development. We want to lay the foundations for a model eco-village with legal and social structures that allow a process of organic growth on the basis of shared ethical principles. Our favoured legal model at the moment is that of a community trust that owns the land, and individuals either owning or renting their own accommodation. We would expect that residents will give an agreed amount of time to the collective project.

The beginning of a process

The building of the village is a slow process, involving at this stage many committee meetings, much research, fundraising, and a gradually expanding membership, getting to know each other on ‘Bodhi’ (community building) events. Maybe we would go about it differently if we had enough money to buy land now, but we don’t. For me, it all started when Larry and I were forced to move out of nice rented accommodation in Glasgow for the third time, by landlords who were selling their property for profit. We started to seriously consider working towards creating a sustainable living situation for us and others, a situation that would not just give us a secure place to live, but at the same time address some of the pressing issues of 21st century living, such as pollution, climate change, social isolation, loss of ethical values, etc.

It is all too easy to go passive in the face of the scale of the problems, but perhaps one pays for that inner contraction with a kind of low level, smouldering depression. Helping to build a community like the Bodhi ecovillage feels like a challenging, inspiring and growth-promoting task, and it is greatly supported by the response from many people who share our vision. At present we have about 100 people on our database who have expressed an interest, and 60 members.

Bodhi Building

Last year we managed to secure some grant money for this research and development phase of the project. It enabled us to undertake a feasibility study and organise some “bodhi building” events for our membership. These have included a residential permaculture course, an NVC (non-violent communication) event, a residential weekend to develop our vision, and a meditation day retreat. This year we hope to put into action some of the recommendations of the feasibility study (which included an extensive questionnaire to all our members and existing eco projects). We hope to identify the land we want to buy, commission a site specific feasibility study, a business plan and start a major fundraising campaign. The areas we are interested in are Argyll and Bute, South Ayrshire, Scottish Borders, Perth and Kinross. Among our short term goals we are building connections with local planning authorities and exploring possibilities of partnership with housing associations.

Mindful Living

Similar projects to ours already exist, and in a way it would perhaps be easier to just move into one of them. We would find likeminded people in the areas of ecology and the arts; but what about spirituality? My past experiences of communal living and working have convinced me that without a shared set of spiritual values the enterprise will lack elements essential to me: a certain depth, harmony and clarity. One of the main topics of debate has been the question of how ‘Buddhist’ the village is going to be, and the views range from wanting only members of one particular Buddhist tradition, to opening it to anyone. Personally I would like to see a high percentage of people who are practising according to Buddhist principles, aligned with any school; but how to safeguard such a preference I am not clear at present, other than trusting the power of modelling my beliefs.

One of the greatest challenges will be to insure both a strong cohesive vision and diversity. ‘Mindful Living’ seems to be a motto we all can agree with. For me, this stands for many things: a dedication to living in the present moment, supported by the practice of meditation. Continuously clarifying and expanding one’s view of the world to align oneself with the true nature of how things are, i.e. impermanent, insubstantial and unsatisfactory. Including the earth in one’s ethical responsibilities; acting according to the truth of interconnectedness, aware of the law of mutual causality. Practising kindness in a thousand different ways, towards oneself, animals and other people, with particular care in the area of speech. Letting go of attachments of various kinds, including views about what the Bodhi eco village should be like.

Paying attention to the details of a beautiful environment. Having been involved in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist communities before, I know what I am looking for, and I know that it is not necessarily to be found in a community of card carrying Buddhists. But I’d like to see Bodhi as an embodiment of the Bodhisattva spirit, which means consciously working with the tension of self - other in many ways.