ABSTRACT
In late 2009 people driving down one of Sydney’s busiest roads, stopping when the lights turned red, could look up in the sky to see the Dalai Lama looking down at them from an oversized billboard on top of a building. Next to him stood the question: ‘Our Future: Who is Responsible?’ This was an advertising campaign carried by the Dalai Lama in Australia organization that was managing his teaching events and his participation in the annual ‘Mind and Its Potential’ conference in Australia. The campaign erected nine large billboards in key city sites for five weeks that stayed lit up all night. The same image also circulated on about 30 buses for the same period; smaller posters were put up in many cafes and on light poles and bus stops. This was the Dalai Lama’s seventh visit to Australia; the first one had been in 1982. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Lynn Bain (general manager of the Dalai Lama in Australia organization) observed: ‘You don’t have to be Buddhist to connect to His Holiness is what we’re trying to say’ (Harvey 2009). Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, the Dalai Lama’s popularity has enabled Tibetan Buddhism to reach a much larger audience in the Western world. This is particularly so because of the Dalai Lama’s emphasis on general, positive values such as happiness, harmony with the environment, and compassion. This is enhanced by the fact that the international media have been enthusiastic in embracing Buddhism generally as trendy and exotic (Baumann 1995; Baumann and Prebish 2002: 1; Rocha 2006: 130-4). This is equally the case in Australia. When the Dalai Lama arrived in Australia he gained much media coverage. As for previous visits, large audiences flocked to his talks. The Dalai Lama’s visits illustrate one aspect of the Australian encounter with Buddhism. Buddhism in Australia is best described as pluralistic, as a substantial number of Buddhist traditions, schools and lineages have taken root. In 2006 Buddhists accounted for 2.1 per cent of Australia’s population, almost doubling the 1996 figures, and making it the fastest growing religion in Australia. The number of Buddhist adherents in Australia has grown due both to large-scale Asian immigration and the interest of Anglo-Australians. However, Australia’s close geographical proximity to Asia has meant that the development of Buddhism in Australia is somewhat different to the growth of Buddhism in other Western countries. This volume seeks to explore the Buddhist experience in Australia, with
particular focus on those elements that differentiate this experience from those of other Western countries. In this context, Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in Change has two objectives. First, it gathers scholarly papers analysing the inception of Buddhism in Australia. Second, it presents analyses by both monastics and teachers of the challenges of spreading Buddhism in Australia to provide a more rounded picture, giving voice to members of the Buddhist community who have been fundamental in making this process possible. This volume is unique in giving an account of the challenges of Buddhism in Australia through academic viewpoints and community representations. Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in Change adds to the knowledge basis of the adaptations and challenges in disseminating Buddhism in a country in which very little has been written on the subject.1 This volume endeavours to fill this gap. It addresses several aspects of the localization of Buddhism in Australia, such as changes to the landscape of cities and rural areas due to construction of temples and stupas, the ordination of women, the contribution of engaged Buddhism, the role of temples as sources of support for first and second generation migrant communities and the ways in which aboriginal spirituality interacts with Buddhism in Australia. Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in Change also contributes to comparative analyses on the spread of Buddhism in the West as some of these aspects have also been identified as relevant in the development of Buddhism in other Western countries. To this end, the chapters in this volume strive to emphasize that the development of Buddhism in Australia does not happen in a vacuum, but is part of an intense flow of ideas, teachers, students, practices and material culture between Australia and other countries. This introduction provides the historical, political and social background to enable understanding of the specifics of the development of Buddhism in Australia, in addition to the similarities shared with other Western nations. This chapter begins by detailing the history of Buddhism in Australia and, subsequently, Australia’s relationship with Asia. This is followed by a discussion on how the policy of multiculturalism has resulted in power inequalities between Anglo and Asian Buddhist Australians. This chapter ends with a discussion of the similarities and differences between Buddhism in Australia and the West.
