mobilehermitage

A GWV Mobile Hermitage

At this time the GWV has no resources to speak of other than its website and other web resources that are all free due to the generosity of Yahoo Groups and the VOL communit y. The purpose of this project is to acquire both a living space and a vehicle for the founder of the Great Western Vehicle, so that the GWV can continue to be an effective and growing vehicle of Buddhism and a support for the Western ecstatic contemplative.

An RV-like living space could be such a vehicle. It has three significant advantages: 1) it is of course transportation; 2) It is also a living space for the founder; 3) And, it is a means by which the founder can travel to promote the GWV and Ecstatic Buddhism, as well as to make that very important personal contact with the membership of the GWV and the community of ecstatic contemplatives.

This means an RV-like living space is a least-cost means whereby the founder can travel from city to city, making contact with the far-flung community (sangha) of the ecstatic contemplative community and the membership of the Great Western Vehicle. We recommend a diesel vehicle because then this RV-like living space could also be very inexpensively fueled on recycled vegetable oils supplied by generous restaurant owners across the country, many of whom are Asians, who are generous supporter of Buddhism in the West. It might be also worth pointing at that at this time restaurants must pay to have their tallow bins empties, so they have an additional incentive to allow someone to empty it for them at no cost.

While an RV would be very nice to own, they tend to be quite expensive. We suggest acquiring the least expensive diesel powered vehicle that is large enough to convert to an RV-like living space. If the vehicle is diesel powered then there will be minimal fuel costs by fueling it with recycled vegetable oil. In addition to recycled vegetable oils being very inexpensive, by using this biodegradable, and nontoxic, fuel source the vehicle will also be virtually non-polluting, and thus conform to right livelihood.

The plan is to shop around for the best buy on a used commercial vehicle that can be converted to an RV. So far the 10 year-old UPS Step Vans have been the least expensive vehicles found at approximately $2,000. While box trucks have considerable advantages over a Step Van, they tend to be about $5,000. There is also a small commuter bus, which has the advantage of having many windows. All three vehicles are in about the same size range of being about 14 feet long and providing a living space of about 8 feet by 10 feet, or 80 square feet. While 80 square feet of living space may seem terribly small, it would be a profound improvement over the 28 square feet that the founder is living in at present.

The plan is to acquire the vehicle, then convert it to a living space. Conversion would entail insulating the container with about 2” to 4” of foam insulation then building out a series of storage compartment, a bed, a kitchen area, and a shower. Two 55 gallon barrels or an auxiliary fuel tank would be needed to accommodate acquiring and processing recycled vegetable oils while traveling.

Processing of the vegetable oil is rather simple. All it really needs is to filtered the recycled vegetable oil down to 5 microns by passing the oil through a series of filters. For this processing a pump and filter manifol d could be constructed.

With so little funding available for the Great Western Vehicle it seems to only make sense to acquire a vehicle that requires so very little expense to operate. It will provide needed living space for one full-time servant of the Great Western Vehicle.