{"id":5987,"date":"2019-01-24T11:45:56","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T10:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/?p=5987"},"modified":"2019-01-24T11:45:56","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T10:45:56","slug":"ernie-buck-an-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/ernie-buck-an-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"ERNIE BUCK: AN INTERVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"\" When and how did you first discover Buddhism?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Oh heavens!\u00a0 In a conventional sense I would say by accident.\u00a0 I started doing TM in about the early nineties or late eighties.\u00a0 I had a quite stressful job at Bradford Chamber of Commerce; lots of squabbles and small \u2018p\u2019 politics, that sort of thing. \u00a0I got into TM as a totally secular thing.\u00a0 It worked fine.\u00a0 The mantra I used to do \u2013 a couple of times a day, twenty minutes \u2013 it did what it said on the tin.\u00a0 It was very effective for me.\u00a0 I did it for about a year and then \u2026 you gradually get out of these things.\u00a0 So that all finished.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Fast forward to about the early nineties now.\u00a0 I got a phone call from an ex-colleague of mine from the chamber of commerce days.\u00a0 \u201cYou used to meditate, didn\u2019t you?\u00a0 It worked for you.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And I said, \u201cI did.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

She had seen meditation classes advertised in the Bradford Interfaith Centre.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want to go on her own.\u00a0 Would I go with her?\u00a0 Along I went.\u00a0 It happened to be Buddhist.\u00a0Having been brought up Roman Catholic, and spending some 5 years in the Middle East as both soldier and civilian, I was pretty much au fait with Christianity and Islam but I knew nothing about Buddhism at all.\u00a0 So, that got me into it.\u00a0 And that was with the New Kadampa Tradition.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Again, I got very interested in that to the point where I became connected to their new Losang Dragpa Centre in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. In the end I bought a derelict cottage which was in the grounds of Dobroyd Castle \u2013 the original name of the Centre.\u00a0 Because they\u2019d overstretched themselves with the initial borrowing, the bank made them sell it.\u00a0 I bought it freehold for \u00a335k (the independent surveyor\u2019s valuation) and sold it for \u00a3150k a few years late so I made a bit of money on it.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Things I learned while I was travelling in Dharamsala and Bodhgaya about the setup of the NKT in the UK made me think, \u201cWell, perhaps we had to part company.\u201d\u00a0 There was all the dorje shugden thing that you\u2019re familiar with.\u00a0 There was this split with the Dalai Lama and so on.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t really comfortable with it.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Came back from my journey.\u00a0 A friend of mine was coming up to Samye Ling for Christmas\/New Year.\u00a0 This was in 2007, I think, and I came up with her.\u00a0 Ken Holmes was the course teacher.\u00a0 I was very impressed.\u00a0All though my experience so far had been with Gulugpa Tradition\u2019s teachings, it wasn\u2019t a subject that was new to me….\u2026.but all the lineage stuff is the same or similar in the Kagyu Lineage.\u00a0 But he was a really, really good teacher.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what kept me coming to Samye Ling and finally prompted me to move here when I retired.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What was your first impression of Samye Ling?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Samye<\/b>\u00a0Ling, this was much more established than what I\u2019d been used to.\u00a0 The usual friendly atmosphere, but being a bit long in the tooth I knew that, if humankind is involved, it\u2019s not all sweetness and light.\u00a0 But it was very positive.\u00a0 Put it that way.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What made you decide to come here to stay?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00a0I\u2019ve got family connections but I\u2019m free, single:\u00a0 my family\u2019s down in England in various places.\u00a0 I was retiring\u2026past retirement age so I thought, \u201cWhy not settle near Samye Ling?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u00a0How did you come across the property that you decided to renovate?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Again, from a conventional point of view, by accident.\u00a0 On the last half day of the Samye Ling 2012\/13 Christmas\/New Year course, three of us went for a walk and we wandered up to Garwald; a mile and a half up a forestry track.\u00a0 We met someone who was known as Irish Tony living in a cottage, part of what could be described as a little hamlet \u2013 all owned by Samye Ling, as we subsequently discovered. We had what was quite a surreal conversation with him.\u00a0 Within about 20 minutes, the couple that I was with, and me, decided we would like to renovate a row of derelict barns; they would use two thirds of the row as a family home, and I would use the other third as a single person\u2019s dwelling.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We rushed back to Samye ling and breathlessly related all this to the Abbot\u2019s Assistant, Ani Lhamo.\u00a0 She said, \u201cWell put it in writing\u201d, which we did.\u00a0 That\u2019s how it all started.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What was your very first action concerning the property?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A couple of days after arriving home, I received a phone call from the couple saying that they\u2019d had second thoughts and decided to back out. They lived on the south coast of England and didn\u2019t want to move so far away from friends and family.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Through Ani Lhamo I organised an official interview with Lama Yeshe (Abbot) to get permission for the build, which happened in February 2013.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To be honest, when I went in to see Lama Yeshe with my kata in hand, because of the enormity of the original row of barns project, I was half hoping he would say \u201cNo\u201d.\u00a0 I felt it would probably be too much for me, both physically and financially.\u00a0 Lama Yeshe is a very wise old guy.\u00a0 He pointed me in the direction of the site where I\u2019ve subsequently built.\u00a0 That\u2019s how it got going.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How long did it take to finish the project?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

From moving up there with a motorhome in April 2013, I moved in three years later in May.\u00a0 So, it was basically three years.\u00a0 That\u2019s everything.\u00a0 That was to get the planning permission sorted, get the building warrant, get hold of an architect and then literally do the work.\u00a0 During this time, I lived in the motorhome.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As a rough estimate, how much would you say was your expenditure?<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It\u2019s hard to give you a straight answer.\u00a0 I must sound like \u00a0\u00a0a very bad accountant.\u00a0 It was difficult because I had some savings when I came up and I thought I\u2019d have that stretched to the limit.\u00a0 But as I paid my way month after month some of it came out of my pension income so I wasn\u2019t exhausting my savings so quickly.\u00a0 I\u2019d discounted any sort of income when I planned the job.\u00a0 So, putting all things together I think it was about \u00a365k.\u00a0 That\u2019s everything\u2026fitting it out, kitchen, decorating, furniture, etc, the lot.\u00a0 That\u2019s not just the bricks, mortar and so on.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What happens to the property now?<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I have a lease agreement with Samye Ling which gives me that piece of land and the house until I die and then it is bequeathed to Samye Ling which was the original intention; that\u2019s what made it a good idea for me at the beginning.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Is there still an opportunity for others to develop a property in Garwald?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Yes, there is.\u00a0 There are three barns which, at the moment have bits and pieces stored in them.\u00a0 I was going to say derelict barns, but they are watertight presently and in fact, we\u2019ve just renewed the guttering on them. The exterior is usable and they would make good single-person living properties with an open-plan living area downstairs and a sort of a mezzanine type bedroom.\u00a0 So, there are three options there.\u00a0 And there\u2019s also that long row of derelict barns which I was talking about earlier.\u00a0 So, there\u2019s plenty of options to do what I did.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What advice would you give to someone who in interested in developing a barn?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Think carefully.\u00a0 It might not be for everybody.\u00a0 You might not want to do it the way I did.\u00a0 Apart from the exterior stonework, I virtually did all of the rest of it myself.\u00a0 Luckily, I\u2019m reasonably fit.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have a building background but gradually accumulated a wealth of experience.\u00a0 So, I was able to do that \u2013 and I had a really good architect.\u00a0 If you\u2019re the sort of person who sees self-build as a project management<\/em> situation it would cost a bit more than it did me.\u00a0 But it would still be doable.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Physically what would they do? Would they go and meet Lama Yeshe first?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I would advise anyone to do what I did.\u00a0 See someone in authority in Samye Ling.\u00a0 The people I\u2019m thinking of are Ani Lhamo or Lodro Dorje. \u00a0Probably, they\u2019d point you in the right direction.\u00a0 I\u2019m assuming that it would then be the same process as I experienced.\u00a0 An interview with Lama Yeshe or Katin Lama perhaps and get permission to do it.<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Did you have to take out some kind of insurance for this job?<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Yes, I did.\u00a0 I took out building insurance\u2026a conventional \u00a0self-build policy.\u00a0 I got the details from my neighbour Steve Kent, the only other person who\u2019s done this at Garwald and he built his house about six or seven years before I arrived.\u00a0 And I used the same insurance company as him.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t too expensive.\u00a0 I took out eighteen months of cover and renewed it as necessary.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As far as the facilities were concerned, did you have any problem with electricity or anything else?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

No more problems than anybody else in a remote area.\u00a0 In fact, the infrastructure, the lines up the valley have been refurbished very recently.\u00a0 Whereas, we used to get power cuts every week it\u2019s a reasonably rare occurrence now.\u00a0 To be honest, Scottish Power were brilliant with me.\u00a0 I submitted a plan to have electricity on to the property which had meters put into one of the barns temporarily.\u00a0 I had to move somebody else\u2019s meter which was serving another place about a quarter of a mile away up the valley.\u00a0 I made my application.\u00a0 When the surveyor came, he was very, very helpful and he said, \u201cLook you can do this temporarily much more simply than putting it in this barn.\u201d\u00a0 And that helped me a lot.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a standard meter box which was literally stood temporarily on a couple of cement blocks and is now embedded in the finished wall.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Did you have any problem getting materials up there?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

No, I didn\u2019t actually.\u00a0 I had accounts with Keyline and Jewson, nationally known builder\u2019s merchants, and various other organisations.\u00a0 Samye Ling regularly use them.\u00a0 The Garwald track is not the best in the world but passable.\u00a0 I got to know the delivery guys and it worked extremely well.\u00a0 There was hardly ever a weather situation when they couldn\u2019t deliver up there.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ve absolutely no regrets and I\u2019m really pleased with what I\u2019ve done and I\u2019ve been living in it now for eighteen months.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tea or coffee?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tea.\u00a0 A preference by taste is coffee but it scours me out.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

TV or radio?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A bit of both.\u00a0 I like radio 4 but I like BBC television.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Meat or veg?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A bit of both but very little of the first. Once a week perhaps.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Folk or rock?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Well, given my hearing disability, probably folk.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

White bread or brown?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Brown.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Bath or shower?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Shower.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t got a bath.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Rain or snow?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Snow for the aesthetics.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dogs or cats?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Dogs<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Summer or winter?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

That\u2019s difficult.\u00a0 Spring.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Zips or buttons?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Zips.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Phones or mobiles?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Landline.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Cycling round the world or building a home?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

[Laughs] With hindsight, I think cycling round the world was easier.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t seem like that in people\u2019s minds but it was more straightforward.<\/strong> \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

\"\"
The motorhome accommodation at Garwald which served as ‘home’ for three years; situated about 30 metres from the building site.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
\"\"
The first two scaffolding bays erected at the rear of the site and boards being prepared prior to knocking out most of the unsound existing wall in order to ‘rebuild’.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
\"\"
A skyline shot of the blockwork centre part of the walls up to roof height, showing the concrete lintels above the upstairs windows.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
\"\"
This shows a section of the ground floor open-plan living area – giving a flavour of the finished interior.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
\"\"
Ernie Buck is 68 years old and has lived in various parts of Yorkshire for the last 30 years. A continual commuting cyclist, he has done a number of long distance solo expeditions within the UK, but dreamt of cycling to India and beyond for years.\u00a0<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  When and how did you first discover Buddhism? Oh heavens!\u00a0 In a conventional sense I would say by accident.\u00a0 I started doing TM in about the early nineties or late eighties.\u00a0 I had a quite stressful job at Bradford Chamber of Commerce; lots of squabbles and small \u2018p\u2019 politics, that sort of thing. \u00a0I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[162,7],"tags":[138],"class_list":["post-5987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-personal-stories","tag-ernie-buck"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nERNIE BUCK: AN INTERVIEW - Many Roads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/ernie-buck-an-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Albert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/ernie-buck-an-interview\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/ernie-buck-an-interview\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Albert\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d65113da84d62fbc945e6ee35f823e2a\"},\"headline\":\"ERNIE BUCK: AN INTERVIEW\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-24T10:45:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/ernie-buck-an-interview\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2141,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/ernie-buck-an-interview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/IMAG10051-169x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ernie Buck\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\",\"Personal Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/ernie-buck-an-interview\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/ernie-buck-an-interview\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/ernie-buck-an-interview\\\/\",\"name\":\"ERNIE BUCK: AN INTERVIEW - 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Currently \\\"recovering\\\" from culture shock from having re-entered the UK after travelling for the past year in various countries. 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