Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

30

DavidBzrbnu—LiticaridWinter:

Higgins

Layinsightpractitioners

andother

progressivelaysupportersthereupon

aban-

doned thecentre. Adozen

lay teachers,

all membersofthe

recently

formed

Insight

Teachers‘CircleofAustralia

(ITCA).

published

astatementonthe

insight

communitywebsite,saying

that

they

couldno

longer

teachat

WBD,

given

the

genderimplications

ofthe

change

and

thedemocraticdeficititrevealed.Theaffair

brought

hometo

manyinsight

practitioners

forthefirsttimeboththe

incongruities

intheircommunionwiththe

Theravadininstitutionsthathadtrainedso

many

of

their

teachersandthe

inescapableorganizationalrequirements

of

layinsight

practice.

Thisconflictoverbasic moral

values

suddenly

lefl

layinsightpractitioners

around

Sydney

withouttheiraccustomed

institutionalbaseandretreatcentre.3

A

fewmonthslater

they

foundthemselves

alienatedfromtheirmost

important

inner

urbanbaseas

well,

theBuddhist

Library

andMeditation

Centre,

alsobecause

of

the

incongruity

betweendefactostatusasa

voluntary

association,

ontheone

hand,

andanauthoritarian

power

structure.

onthe

other,

It

too.hadbeena

lively,

well<resourced

meetingplace

forAsianand

western

Buddhists,

although

hereaswell

(to

referbackto

Numrich)

intersection

tended

tooccur

withoutinteraction.

Nonetheless.

the

library

hadthe

physical

capacity

tohostits

many largegatherings

and

introductory

coursesonmeditation and

Buddhism.aswellasthe

weeklysittings

ofseveral dharrna

groups,including

insight

groups.

Several

of

Sydney‘sinsight

teachers

taught

thereforanumber

of

years

andwrotefor

its

quality

newsletter,

DharmaVision.Butits

governance

structure

operated

as

essentially

thatofa

private

businesswithlittle

transparency,

underthedirectionofits

largest

benefactor:In

mid-2005,

thelatter

imposed

an

autocratic

managementstyle;

theBuddhist

Librarythereupon

cameto

exemplify

the

widespread

commodificationofthedharrnathat

Carretteand

King

analyse

(2005).

Feeling

intimidatedand

demoralized,

theentire

staff

offive

resigned

together

in

September

2005 Atthesame

time,

the

layinsight

teachersdecided

they

couldno

longerjustifyworking

withaninstitutionthatshowedsolittle

respect

for

people.

and their

sittinggroups

Iettwiththem.

Although

the

problem

here

was

quasi-corporate

rather

thanmonastic

authoritarianism.

therefusalofnormal

civicassociational

principlesproduced

thesameresultof

disrupting

the

pattern

of

‘parallelccngregations‘.

Inthewakeofthesetwocrisesin

2005.theinstitutionalbaseslefito

a

large

numberof

practitioners(not

leastthosein

Sydney)

were

sparse.

However,

the

onethat

already

existed

grewrapidly

andnewones

soon

began

to

emerge.

In

2000 asmall suburban

insight group.

the

Bluegum

Sangha

had

begun.

and

has

experiencedexponentialgrowth

since

2005.

withseveral

long-term

practi-

tioners

takingupteaching

rolesinit.In 2004the[TCAwasformedandwithits

cunent
membership

oflo

insight

meditationteachersfrom

Sydney.

Brisbane.thc

Northem
Rivers,Perth.Adelaide.

Alice

Springs

andCairns

(including

theformer

Phla

Khantipalo.

now

Laurence

Khantipalo).

itisthe

largestgroup

of

lay

Buddhist

teachersinAustralia.

Butin

Sydney

the

big

issuewashowto

replace

WBDas

themain

insight

retreat

centre,
especially

initsroleof

inviting

in

visiting

teachers.Outofaseriesof

Emergence

ofreculurinsightpractice

31

crisis

meetings

ofWBD

activistsin

2005,

anew

organization

—

SydneyInsight

Meditators

(SIM)

e

arose

totakeoverits

organizational

services

tothe

insight

tradition.Inotherwords.

itaimedtoinvite

local,

interstate

andoverseasteachers

to

give

talksandlead

retreatsand

workshops

around

Sydney

onasustainable

scaleTheinstitutional

lessonsoftheWEBcrisiswereforemost

inthefounders‘

minds:theirdocuments

insiston

gender

inclusiveness,

progressive

modernvalues

(including

ones

appropriate

todemocraticassociational

lite)

andasecularorien-

tation.Forthese

purposes,

the

organization's

foundersundertook

the

discipline

of

an

incorporatedvoluntary

association

underNewSouthWales

legislation

Inan

implicit

tributeto

‘global

Buddhism’,

SIMalso

consciously

followedthe

precedent

oftheSantaFe

Vipassana

Sangha

innot

tying

itself

to

anypanicttlar

teacher.

group

ofteachersor

approach

to

practice.

Itactsasanumbrella

organiz-

ationforanumberof

layinsight

sanghas

in

Sydney.starting

withthe

Btucgum

Sangha;

butnowforthree

timber

groups

7

theTortoise

Mountain,

GoldenWattle

andBeaches

sanghas.

Atthe

timeof

writing.

itsretreatandcourse

offerings

have.

insizeand

frequency,effectively

replaced

WBD‘searliercontribution

to

insight

practice.

Rethinking

doctrine.reworkingpractice

The

implications

of

thatwatershed

year,

2005,

speak

totwo

importantaspects

of

newlyemerging

variantsofdhanna

practice,

One

concerns thenature and

sourcesof

spiritual

authority;bymovingaway

from

thetraditionalinstitutional

authority

structures

ofthe

Theravada,

the

question

arises

astowhatdharrnictexts

shouldbe

regarded

asauthoritative.The

BluegumSangha's

response

hasbeento

distanceitselffrom

thecommentarialtraditionand

instituteasutra

studyprogram.

An

important

shiftin

emphasis

inthelatterwas

a

teaching

tour

byStephen

and

MartineBatchelor

inlate 2004 andthefarmer’scritical

viewoftheTheravadin

commentarial

tradition and

approaches

to

insight

meditationbascd on it

e

as

against

the

Buddha‘sown

teaching

inthe Fall

canon.An

important

sourceof

Batchelor's

scepticism

isNanaviraThera's

midAtwentieth-centuryunderground

classic.

Clearing

thePath

(1987).

Thatauthor

puts

thematter

bluntly: having

nominatedthe

very

fewPalisources

7

including

the

"thaylls

(themed

collections

ofsutras)

e

that

canclaim

authenticity.

headds:

'[N]o

other

Palibookswhatsoever

shottldbetaken

as

authoritative;

and

ignorance

ofthem

(and

particularly

ofthe

traditional

Commentaries)may

becounteda

positiveadvantage,

as

leaving

lessto

beunleamed'

(Nanavira

1987:

5).

The

BluegumSangha

choseasitsfirsttextbooksthefirstsutra-based

biography,

The

Lifeofthe

Buddha,

by

Nanavira'sclosefriend.Nanamoli

(1972).

Totheir

surprise,

some

Iong»time

insight

students have foundthemselves

not

simply

leaming

the

art

ofreading

sutras,

butalso

acquainting

themselves

witha

radically

differentsenseof

thefounderhimself.

Religious

Buddhism

hastendedto

ignore

hermeneutic

questions

andhastreated

theBuddha’s

teachings

asthetimelessrevelationsofatranscendent

beingwholly

removedfrom

anyearthly

historical context. Inthis

way.they

follow

another