Australia's Buddhism

Regarding leadership - the Dalai Lama is very much in the news these days, but it would be incorrect to think of him as some kind of authoritative head of Bhuddhism. He refers to himself as just a simple monk who leads the Tibetan school.

Not at all like the Pope who is venerated as the head of the Roman Catholic faith, much as the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Queen, is deemed to control the Church of England.

I suggest that one of the appeals of Buddhism to Australians comes from their egalitarian nature; they don't like their poppies too tall, particularly religious ones, and the Buddhist tradition has no ascending orders of hierarchy, unlike regimented religions.

Nor does it suffer from the radicalism of some faiths.

The humanistic Buddhist order to which I belong has, as one of its goals, the aim to live as an energetic, enlightened, and endearing person who strives to help all sentient beings liberate themselves.

It focuses on issues of the world rather than on how to leave the world behind; on caring for the living, rather than the dead; on benefiting others, rather than benefiting oneself, and on universal salvation, rather than cultivation for only oneself.

It is based on the fundamental awareness of the interconnectedness of self and others, a state of enlightenment which overrides distinctions between human beings - and focuses on their core "oneness", their humanity.

In Australia this particular group, like many others, has created ways by which our communities can be helped practically by providing Buddhist cultural information about customs, language, by creating and sustaining charities, and assisting the understanding of philosophy, psychology, and spirituality.

Therefore with these intents in mind, recently we opened a massive university to benefit education in the Wollongong region. At heart of all this is the concept of furthering education worldwide on temporal as well as spiritual matters, and the humble act of giving, not taking.

I trust that our everyday lay Buddhists will continue to harmonise with ordained monks, bringing to bear enormous professional and business skills in the furtherance of our Order's ambitions and keeping our massive organisation running smoothly, both here and in the many overseas nations in which we function.

I doubt that our local core movers will not fall for the ready distractions of the economic and political pressures of our advanced society. We have remarkable professional, business, management, scientific and accounting skills within our Australian community. In fact, one of our Asian-born reverends served as a senior inspector with the Taxation Department before her decision to renounce the commercial lifestyle, and train to become an ordained monk. She speaks fluent Mandarin, Vietnamese, and English (and is an enormous benefit as a teacher of English-only students!)

I think that the tenets of Buddhism are so completely a part of our local member's lives, that there is not a great likelihood that practices would slide into the hunger for power and authority which has characterised so many of the world's religions. At least, I hope this is continues to be the case.