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(Originally published in Abe
Wade Ata (Ed.) "Religion and Ethnic Identity - An Australian Study" Vol.3,
1990, Richmond, Vic., Spectrum Press.)
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ORIGINS AND TEACHINGS
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| In the year 563 B.C., on the border of modern day Nepal and India, a prince
was born to a ruler of a minor kingdom, the Sakyan. His name was Siddhartha
Gotama and, at the age of thirty five, he attained, after six years of struggle
and through his own insight, full enlightenment or Buddhahood. The term
'Buddha' is not a name for a god or an incarnation of a god, despite Hindu
claims to the contrary, but is a title for one who has realised through
good conduct, mental cultivation and wisdom the cause of life's vicissitudes
and the way to overcome them. Buddhism is, perhaps, unique amongst the world's
religions in that it does not place reliance for salvation on some external
power, such as a god or even a Buddha, but places the responsibility for
life's frustrations squarely on the individual. The Buddha said: |
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By oneself, indeed, is evil
done; |
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By oneself is one defiled.
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By oneself is evil left
undone; |
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By oneself, indeed, is one
purified. |
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Purity and impurity depend
on oneself. |
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No one purifies another.
(1.) |
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His teaching can be summarised
as: |
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Not to do any evil, |
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To cultivate good, |
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To purify one's mind, This
is the Teaching of the Buddhas. (2.) |
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THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM |
| Today, Buddhism is almost extinct in India, the land of its birth. It
fell victim to the Arab (Muslim) invaders, led by Muhammad Kasim, in 712
A.D. |
| 'His soldiers slaughtered a large number of 'samanis' (sramanas) who 'shaved
their heads and beards'.---- Toward the end of the 8th century the Arabs
swooped down upon the prosperous monasteries of Gujarat and destroyed the
Buddhist University at Valabhi on the sea coast.' (3.) |
| However, during the reign, in India, of Asoka (273 - 276 B.C.) Buddhism
spread outside India to Sri Lanka and, possibly, Burma (Myanmar)*. It was
later adopted by Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. These countries constitute
the stronghold of the Theravada or the orthodox school of Buddhism. Another
major school, the Mahayana or reformed school, which had its roots in India
in the fifth century B.C. spread to China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, during
the early centuries of the current era. An offspring of the Mahayana school,
the Vajrayana or Tantric school took root in Tibet in the seventh century
and later spread to Mongolia, parts of China and currently has pockets of
followers in Korea (Chingak and Chongji sects) and Japan (Shingon sect). |
| *' According to the tradition preserved in the Ceylonese Chronicles,
two Buddhist Monks, named Sona and Uttara, were sent by Emporer Asoka to
preach Buddhism in Suvarna-bhumi, which is generally identified with Burma.
There is, however, no reliable evidence to show that Sona and Uttara were
actually sent as missionaries by Asoka, and the location of Suvarna-bhumi
is also not beyond dispute. For, while some identify it with Burma, others
place it in Siam or take it to denote, broadly the whole of Indo-China.
Barring the story of Uttara and Sona there is no other evidence that Buddhism
flourished in Burma before the fifth century A.D.' (4.) |
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MAJOR
SCHOOLS |
| The essential teachings of the Buddha are accepted as pivotal to all schools
of Buddhism, however, they differ mainly on the emphasis that they place
on certain aspects of the teaching and in their interpretation of the rules
(Vinaya) governing the conduct of the clergy (Sangha). The Theravada school
claims to adhere strictly to the original teachings of the Buddha as contained
in the Pali cannon (scriptures) and it emphasises the goal of personal salvation
(Arahant ideal) for the individual follower. The Sangha of the Theravada
is expected to observe to the letter the 227 rules laid down in the Vinaya,
which includes eating only prior to midday and refraining from handling
money. Four of these 227 rules, if broken, entail expulsion of the transgressor
from the monastic order. They are: killing a human being, sexual intercourse,
stealing and falsely claiming supernormal powers. |
| The Mahayana school is less rigid in its interpretation of
the Teachings and emphasises the importance of the follower's becoming a
Buddha for the salvation of all living beings (Bodhisattva ideal). The Sangha
observes strict vegetarianism (unlike the Theravada where vegetarianism
is optional) but eat in the evening. This change of eating rules became
necessary when the Teaching spread to colder climates. The post-midday meals
are regarded as medicine. The rule prohibiting the handling of money has
been seen by the Mahayana Sangha as impractical in today's world, and it
has been reinterpreted as not amassing wealth, whilst a transgression of
the celibacy rule entails only demotion in some sects of the Mahayana. Other
Mahayana sects, notably in Korea and Japan, admit married priests. |
| The Vajrayana school is essentially the same in its interpretation
of the Teachings as the Mahayana but it stresses the importance of the K
Iacceptance of a personal Guru (teacher) who initiates his followers into
the, so-called, secret teachings (Tantra). Neither the Theravada nor the
mainstream Mahayana schools accept that there are such things as 'secret
teachings' in Buddhism. The Gelugpa sect of the Vajrayana is the only Tibetan
sect that insists on the celibacy of its clergy. |
BUDDHISM COMES TO AUSTRALIA |
| Apart from the traditional Koorie (Aboriginal) religion, which has existed
on Australian soil for at least 40,000 years, it is suggested, by some anthropologists,
that Buddhism may have been the earliest non-indigenous religion to reach
our shores. Between 1405 and 1433, the Chinese Ming Emporers sent an armada
of sixty two large ships under the command of Cheng Ho, to explore the south.
Evidence exists that several ships of this armada landed on the Aru islands,
480 kilometres north of Arnhem Land, but whether they set foot on the mainland
is not confirmed. Professor A.P.Elkin seems convinced that certain Koorie
practices such as the belief in reincarnation, psychic phenomena and mental
cultivation can only be explained in the light of early contacts with the
Orient. Unfortunately, no hard evidence exists to support his hypothesis.(5.) |
| In 1882, a ship called the "Devonshire" arrived in Mackay, Queensland,
where two hundred and seventy five Sri Lankans were landed. Two days later,
another two hundred and twenty five Sri Lankans disembarked at Burnett,
to be met by an angry group of 'Anti-Coolie Leaguers' who pelted stones
at them. This violence was met with retaliation by the Sri Lankans who drew
knives to protect themselves. This racist encounter later came to be known
as the 'Battle of Burnett'.(6.) A certain Bastion Appo is recorded as having
sworn an oath on a 'Buddhist Bible' when bringing assault charges against
an Australian in a Mackay Court in 1885. This 'Buddhist Bible' is thought
to have been a Buddhist textbook which the Sri Lankans had brought with
them. (7.) |
| During the 1890's, almost five hundred Sri Lankans, mainly pearlers, settled
on Thursday Island and established the first Buddhist temple in Australia.
It is thought to have occupied the site where the post office now stands.
All that remains to remind us of this Buddhist community are two Bodhi trees
(Ficus religiosa) descendents of the original tree under which the Buddha
sat, when he attained Enlightenment, more than 2,500 years ago. Despite
his minor flirtation with Buddhism, it was Alfred Deakin who introduced
the Immigration Restriction Bill in 1901 which was the forerunner of the
notorious White Australia Policy. (8.) This heralded the decline of Buddhism
in Australia for the next fifty years. |
In November, 1960, a lineage holder in the Chinese Cha'an
(Zen) sect arrived in Sydney, where he stayed until the end of 1971. He
was the famous master Hsuan Hua. (9.) He gained the impression that there
were no Buddhists among the local Chinese community as he was largely
ignored and, was, at one stage, on the verge of starvation due to the
lack of support. At the end of 1961, he left for California, where, with
the support of his many followers he established a monastic centre known
as the 'City of Ten Thousand Buddhas'. |
| It was not until the 1970's and 1980's that true ethnic Buddhism
made its appearance and became firmly established in New South Wales. |
THE ETHNIC BUDDHIST COMMUNITIES
OF NEW SOUTH WALES |
| The Burmese |
| In 1987, Sydney's small Burmese community rented a cottage
at North Parramatta to serve as a temporary Buddhist Vihara (monk's residence
and place of worship) as the first step towards establishing a permanent
Burmese temple in the Sydney area. The Abbot, Venerable Sayadaw U Zagarabhivamsa,
took up residence there in January, 1988. He is a highly respected teacher
and scholar, being formerly a professor at Nalanda Buddhist Institute in
India. In 1989, larger premises were purchased by the Burmese Buddhist Society
at Merrylands, also in the Parramatta district from where it currently conducts
its activities. Many of the local Burmese community are middle class professionals,
some of Chinese ethnic background, who were expelled by Ne Win during one
of his purges of non-ethnic Burmese. |
| The Chinese |
| On January 23rd, 1972, Eric Liao, a Chinese businessman, formed
the Chinese Buddhist Society of Australia. Initially, he invited Venerable
Somaloka to conduct services in a garage adjacent to his home. With the
assistance of Bill Jong, another businessman, he acquired more central and
suitable premises in Dixon Street, in Sydney's Chinatown district. This
newly established temple in Dixon Street was later named "Prajna Temple".
A tragic fire destroyed the premises on November 14th, 1985. All that remained
after the fire was the statues of Sakyamuni Buddha, Kwan Yin Bodhisattva,
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and approximately one thousand books, including
the Tripitaka (Buddhist cannonical literature). The abbot of the temple,
Venerable Sik Chee Ming, and his supporters later re-established the temple
at Hornsby, a northern Sydney suburb. In 1989, premises in Dixon Street,
vacated by the Chinese See Yup Society, were acquired and the central Chinese
community, again, has a place of worship. |
| The form of Mahayana Buddhism followed by most Chinese and,
indeed, the Vietnamese, is a fusion of Cha'an (Zen) and Pure Land (Messianic
Buddhism). As Paul Croucher (10) observes: |
'The elemental Chinese religion is, of course, a kind
of nature polytheism, onto which aspects of Confucianism, Taoism, and
Buddhism have been grafted. The Chinese brought with them a syncretic
blend of beliefs and practices in which the demarcations were ill-defined
and the influence of Buddhism only mild. As in China, those who identified
themselves with Buddhism probably amounted to no more than one per cent
of the population. Most were content to wear 'a Confucian crown, a Taoist
robe, and Buddhist sandals', and when pressed had some difficulty in describing
the religion they practised.' |
| Although a small number of the Chinese Buddhist community in
Sydney is very devout, the greater number is quite pragmatic regarding religion
and regard it as solely of use in rites of passage.A monk who eschews non-
Buddhist practices amongst his congregation is Venerable Tsang Hui, who
arrived in Australia from Taiwan in 1977. In 1979, from a rented house in
Redfern, an inner city suburb, he established the Hwa Tsang Monastery. Being
a qualified school teacher as well as a Buddhist monk, he employed the 'skillful
means' of attracting young people to the Monastery by conducting classes
in academic subjects. The monastery later moved to Greenacre, where regular
religious services were conducted and later to a second location at Homebush,
where a new monastery has been built. In addition to conducting religious
observances, the monastery continues to attract many high school students
to its daily classes in Buddhism, chemistry, Chinese language, English,
general science, physics and mathematics. Due to these special classes,
many of the students gained places at Sydney's universities and have later
graduated to the professions. As an outcome of these Buddhist students attending
the universities, joined by overseas students studying in Australia, university
Buddhist societies were formed in the early eighties. The first student
society was the University of New South Wales Buddhist Society, also known
as UNIBUDS, which was founded, in 1981, with Venerable Tsang Hui's support.
It was followed a year later by the formation of the Sydney University Buddhist
Society.The proposed development for the recently opened Hwa Tsang Monastery
at Homebush, in the Strathfield Municipality, created a furore among some
of the older Australian residents of the district. Although figures are
not available for the Strathfield Municipality alone, the 1986 Commonwealth
Census reveals that in the Inner West Region of Sydney, of which the Strathfield
Municipality forms a part, 10,513 residents are of Asian ethnic background
- a not insignificant number. (11) An intensive letterboxing campaign under
the names of H.J.Heath and Marie Heath J.P. (next door neighbors of Ven.Tsang
Hui) stated: |
If this type of development is allowed
in A2 Class residential area your street may be next, or even the back
garden next door. The value of your home, your most valuable asset will
be eroded. What some people or organisations would like to put in our
garden suburb!!! It WAS called "Oasis in the West" in our Council's Centenary
year JUST three years ago!!! I know that most of us have worked all our
adult life to own a place of our own to relax in, in the evening of our
life. Not to be faced with a fight to maintain our peace and tranquility
and protect our landscape and view, and the sight of native birds feeding
in our garden and nestled in the many trees, that would be affected by
this proposed development. Please act now, you have only until 4 p.m.
Friday 19th August, to protest in writing. You may view the plan and model
as suggested in the letter (from the Council), but your own intelligence
will paint in your mind's eye this hideous development to a back garden
landscape. (12) |
The Strathfield Municipal Council, noted as one of the
most conservative councils in Sydney, despite receiving 890 individual
letters and a petition contaning 840 signatures supporting the application
and a petition, organised by the Heaths, containing 273 signatures opposing
it, unanimously rejected the Monastery's development application, so an
appeal was lodged with the Land and Environment Court of N.S.W.. Venerable
Tsang Hui stressed that should the Buddhist community accede to the Council's
decision without putting up a fight, the door would be open to all other
Councils to reject development applications for religious premises from
the minor religions. Mr.Justice Cripps of the N.S.W. Land and Environment
Court ruled, on June the first, 1989, in favour of the Monastery's development
application. He stated in his judgement: |
| It became plain that the intensity of the opposition to
the subject development was, in some instances, influenced by the circumstance
that the religious institution was a Buddhist monastery. All residents were
at pains to volunteer that their views were not "racist" and I accept their
assessment of their objections. |
The question of what does or does not qualify as "racism"
was not explored in the proceedings but because the word was bandied about
during the course of the hearing, I feel bound to express my opinion that
I do not think any objector is a "racist" just because he or she objects
to a Buddhist temple functioning next door or in the near vicinity. It
was stated explicitly by some and was implicit in the evidence of others
that the opposition would not have been so intense had a comparable Christian
establishment been proposed. By way of illustration, none of the residents
seems to be duly concerned about the activities of the Lutheran church
(nearly opposite) .--------------------------------------- It is made
clear by the evidence, there is a need for the monastery in the sense
that there are many people who wish to congregate as Buddhists. The subject
land is zoned residential but churches and educational establishments
are permissible in residential areas. There are many churches in residential
areas in Sydney, some of which have functions and undertake activities
more intrusive than the subject proposal. It is, of course, not possible
to speculate on the attitude Mr. and Mrs.Heath will have to the development
if it proceeds. I am, however, confident that most other people who have
expressed hostility to the concept will, with the passage of time, accept
the monastery in the same way they presently accept the Lutheran church.
(13.) |
Paul Zammit - Former N.S.W. State M.P., now
Federal M.P., who opposed the Hwa Tsang Monastery application
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Reluctant to accept the umpire's decision, the Heath's
formed an organisation called 'Strathfield Overdevelopment Saviours (S.O.S.)'
which enlisted the support of the local State Member of Parliament, Paul
Zammit, who possibly saw political mileage in siding with racists. He
requested the Council to seek further legal advice in the hope that an
appeal could be lodged against the judgement. In a letter to the Town
Clerk, he wrote: |
| I therefore respectfully request Council to urgently call
an extra-ordinary Council meeting to discuss this matter in the hope that
a second legal opinion be obtained with the full knowledge of certain inconsistencies
and possible moral turpitude that have come to light. Should Council decide
to proceed to hold this meeting I strongly urge that S.O.S., on behalf of
the residents, attend this meeting. (14.) |
A copy of this letter was circulated to the local residents.
When Ven.Tsang Hui's solicitor queried Zammit regarding his allegation
of I'moral turpitude', he suggested that he suspected that the signatures
on the Monastery's petition were faked. He withdrew this comment after
it was suggested that a defamation action could result unless he did.
The Town Clerk wrote to the N.S.W. Minister for Local Government and Planning,
Mr.Hay, requesting that he overturn the Court's decision. The Minister
replied: |
I have noted the Council's views on the development,
however, the council has presented its case to the Land and Environment
Court and I have no power to overrule decisions of the court. It is
therefore inappropriate for me to meet with the council to discuss the
issues. Should the council wish to pursue the proposal further within
the court, it should seek further legal advice. (15.)
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| The Council's 'further legal advice' was that there were no
grounds for an appeal. Many councils and citizens of Australia still seem
slow or resistant to accepting the policy of multi- culturalism. This causes
much hurt, not to mention expense, in our new citizens and causes them to
feel that one law applies to old Australians whilst the new have a constant
battle for the acceptance of their lifestyles and culture. |
| The Hwa Tsang Monastery is not alone in facing trials and tribulations
with Councils and local residents. The Taiwan based Fo Kwang Shan organisation,
is currently constructing a huge multi-million dollar complex on a ten hectare
site at Wollongong, south of Sydney. After a minor battle with the Wollongong
City Council over its increasing the originally agreed price for the land,
(16.) a bitter newspaper debate ensued in the 'Letters to the Editor' collumn.
Fortunately, they had the support of the then Lord Mayor, Alderman Frank
Arkell, who was also the local State Member of Parliament, so they are currently
proceeding with the project which will comprise three prayer halls, two
meditation halls, twenty classrooms, a dining hall for 500 people as well
as sleeping quarters. Fo Kwang Shan also maintains centres in Hong Kong
and in Los Angeles. This latter centre was the venue for the 16th Conference
of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in 1988, the first time that it was
held outside Asia. Another ethnic Chinese religious group, whose members
are mainly refugees from the Indo-Chinese countries, has constructed a temple
at Bonnyrigg, west of Sydney, which is one of the largest in Australia.
This is the Confucianist, Buddhist cum Taoist lay organisation, the Australian-Chinese
Buddhist Society. Future plans involve the construction of a school for
the young and a retirement village for the elderly. This temple is one of
the few serving the Indo-Chinese community which is completely privately
funded. |
