[Buddha-l] Is Australia a Buddhist Country?

[Timothy Bovee/DayPoems]

> Subject: Is Australia a Buddhist Country?  

I wonder if it's reasonable to ever describe country X as a worldview
Y country? For surely, if you find a spot on the globe with 26 people,
you will have worldviews A through Z, and with 27 people, beyond Z
(whatever that is), since all causes and conditions are unique.

Assuming the English alphabet, of course.

Tim
-- 
tbovee at gmail.com/www.daypoems.net

On 7/1/05, Eric Nelson <esnels at gmail.com> wrote:
> Buddhism Spreads Down Under as Asians Change Australia
> by Andrew Lam, Pacific News Service, Jun 30, 2005
> Once oriented toward Europe, Australia today describes itself as part
> of Asia, a change reflected in many Australians' embrace of Buddhism,
> the second-largest religion in the country. But tensions resulting
> from Asian immigration remain.
> 
> SYDNEY, Australia -- In West Sydney, the smoke one sees drifting over
> from a neighbor's fence may not be the shrimp sizzling on the old
> barbie, but drifting incense. Buddhism is rising fast here in the land
> Down Under, and is now the second-largest religion after Christianity.
> 
> Immigrants can constitute up to half of the population in certain West
> Sydney districts. Citywide, more than 50 temples dot the landscape,
> and in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, there are
> more than 150. They range from the enormous Chinese Mingyue temple
> that sits on three acres to the tiny, converted private residence that
> is now the Vietnamese Thien Hoa Nunnery. Buddhism is changing a
> country whose compass had once steadfastly pointed toward Europe.
> 
> In the posh Mingyue compound, which boasts a handful of the largest
> temples in the southern hemisphere, the visitor gets the feeling of
> being in Beijing or Taipei. Golden statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva
> line the walls, while throngs of worshippers bow and chant in Chinese
> amid drifting incense.
> 
> In the Cambodian or Vietnamese temple, on the other hand, one is
> surrounded by children's laughter and old folks cooking in the
> courtyard. It's typical of immigrants' temples, doubling up as a place
> where children come to study, do their homework, learn temple music,
> dance and speak their own language.
> 
> According to Cuong Le, an Asian Art expert for the Liverpool
> Powerhouse Art Center, which will curate the exhibition "Buddha in
> Suburbia" for the Fall 2006, there's a tour "mostly for Australians"
> that visits Buddhist temples in West Sydney, because so many have
> sprung up so quickly there. "I myself keep finding more temples, more
> variations, and the exhibition is getting much bigger than I'd
> expected," Le says.
> 
> Australia, once a homogenous Western country founded by convicts sent
> from England in the late 18th century, had traditionally kept its
> doors closed to immigrants from Asia. But in the mid-1970s, the doors
> slowly opened to Asian immigrants as trade with Asia increased. These
> days, the continent publicly describes itself as "part of Asia." Asian
> immigrants now make up 10 percent of the population of 22 million.
> Asians are expected to reach a quarter of the population in 2020.
> 
> Buddhism is an inevitable outcome of the demographic shift. Yet, not
> all is well in the country whose favorite line is "No worries, mate!"
> Fear of Asianization has caused some political leaders to have second
> thoughts about Australian hospitality toward Asia, and hate crimes are
> not unknown here.
> 
> According to the documentary "Over the Fence," shown on public
> television recently, Buddha is apparently not welcome in every suburb.
> Some neighbors of a Cambodian Buddhist temple complained that the
> chanting was frightening their horses. In another neighborhood,
> residents called the police because the Buddhist chanting was too loud
> and the number of cars on weekends was creating traffic in the small
> street.
> 
> While the government is still committed to cultural diversity, there's
> a growing backlash fueled by the fear that multiculturalism will put
> an end to Australia's national identity.
> 
> For instance, Pauline Hanson, a one-time independent member of
> Australia's parliament, vaulted into the international limelight by
> delivering anti-immigrant diatribes. "I believe we are in danger of
> being swamped by Asians -- if I can invite who I want into my home,
> then I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my
> country," she once declared.
> 
> But for isolationists, perhaps it's too late. The influx of Asian has
> changed Australia radically, and according to some, for the better. In
> a recent article on Buddhism in Australia, art historian B.N. Goswamy,
> wrote: "The number of distinguished Australians -- scholars, members
> of the business community, bureaucrats -- who are not only drawn
> towards Buddhism, but are practicing Buddhists, comes, at least to the
> outsiders, as a surprise."
> 
> Yet, Buddhism first came to Australia not through recent Asian
> immigration but a via Dutch migrant named Leo Berkeley, who came into
> contact with a Sri Lankan monk and was instructed into the Dharma --
> Buddhist teachings -- 50 years ago. Berkeley went on to found the
> Buddhist Society of New South Wales, which continues to flourish
> today.
> 
> Cambodian monk Achang E, at Wat Khemarangsaram, says there's no real
> problem with the temples' neighbors. "When we have big events, we go
> around the neighborhood to ask permission and to ask them to join in.
> I find people are generous and tolerant in general."
> 
> It also helps that non-Asians are converting en masse. John Brown, an
> artist, has been a practitioner of feng shui and Buddhism for 15
> years. "I love everything about Buddhism. From ceremonies to the idea
> of enlightenment to the idea of being compassionate to others and all
> living beings," he says.
> 
> Perhaps Buddhism, a traditionally non-proselytizing religion, is
> thriving in places like Australia because it is, in many ways,
> compatible with the needs of living in an increasingly global society.
> Barrie Unsworth, former premier of New South Wales, once addressed the
> Buddhist community thus: "As followers of [Buddha's] Path, you bring
> to your new life in New South Wales that same spirit of tolerance and
> gentleness and kindness that has continued through more than two and a
> half thousand years of your culture. That spirit is entirely
> complementary to the path of multiculturalism that I see as the future
> of this state."
> 
> But for Cuong Le, who hails from Vietnam and is himself a Buddhist,
> the "Buddha In Suburbia" exhibition has proved anything but calming.
> "It's been exhausting trying to coordinate with all the monks and
> artists."
> 
> Still, Le has plans for something that seems obvious but potentially
> explosive as a follow-up exhibit -- the influence of Asian culture on
> Australia. "We'll call it 'All Things Asians Are Becoming Us.'"
> 
> Andrew Lam is a PNS editor and the author of "Perfume Dreams:
> Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora," forthcoming from Heyday Books
> this fall.
> 
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