Great Enlightenment

My friend G. and I drive out to Montague this morning for the open house at the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Academy, brought to us by the same group that’s taking over 186 Prince Street. Here’s the map we were presented with on arrival:

Everything was held in tents set on in the front yard of what once was the Lobster Shanty; it’s a beautiful spot overlooking the Montague River and, as I heard several times, The Irish Rovers used to play there.

Each of the tent was staffed by volunteers and covered a different part of the involvement of the Great Enlightenment Buddhist on Prince Edward Island, or of Buddhism in general; there was a great emphasis on vegetarianism and organic agriculture as well as on Chinese culture.

Everyone was incredibly friendly and somewhat earnest on their comportment, and attitude not uncommon to strong believers in, well, anything (see also Apple staff at the booth when the company used to display at MacWorld).

There was a free lunch of noodles, spring rolls and pineapple cake provided by the Splendid Essence, a lecture tent with speakers covering, well, I’m not sure, as it seemed to involve something called “OMAK” that I couldn’t make out the definition of.

I can’t say as though I left with a profound understanding of Buddhism, but I met some nice people, had a meal, and count the visit as a positive one.