Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

66

Sally

McAra

(the

patriarch

oftheUnited

VietnameseBuddhist

Congregation

inAustraliaand

New

Zealand).

Having

people

with

high-level

connections

helps

to

gain

media

attention.TheDalai

Lama‘svisitisthebest

example

ofthis.Hisvisitalsolendsthe

project

Further

legitimacy

insofaras

peoplerespect

him.Aslan

says.

‘tohaveHis

Holinesscomehereis

really

likethefinal

stamp

of

approval'

(Nexusn.d.).

With

currency

not

only

in

theTibetanBuddhistworldbut

alsointhe

eyes

of/tustralian

mediaand

Bendigo

elites.whowere

impressed

by

theoccasion.Char/2n

5114sz

Edition.the

project‘snewsletter,

documents

thesevisitsandtheirstatementsof

support.

along

with

thoseof

importantlocal,

nationalorinternational

figures.

for

instance,

various

Bendigomayors.

state

membersof

parliament,

andadirector

fromthe

Taipei

EconomicandCulturalOfficein

Melbourne.

Cosmo-multiculturalism

WhenI talkwith

tertiary-educated,

urban

Australiansaboutthe

stupaproject.

they

ofienexclaimin

astonishment:

‘WhyBendigo?‘

For

instance,

Idescribed

the

stupa's

scaleandcostto

‘William’,

the

schoolteacherhusbandofa

Melbumian

colleague.Noting

that

hisincredulous

response

wasan

echoofnumerous

others

fromurban

Australians.

I

askedhim:‘Whatisit

about

Bendigo

that

makes

you

say

that?’His

understanding

wasthat

Bendigo

isa

conservative

place

andthatto

builda

stupa

there,

rather

thanin

Melbourne,

seemedoutlandish.

Presumably.

he

thought

thatTibetanBuddhism

wastoo

cosmopolitan

forasmall

city

like

Bendigo

orthat

multiculturalismis

primarily

a

big-cityphenomenon.

White

Australianstaketwo

distinct

managerial

stancesVissi'IvVlS

immigrants

(Hage

199d:

20]

).

Thefirstisthatof

White‘cosmo-multicultuialists'.alsoreferred

to

as

‘white

cosmopolites'.

who

considercultural

diversity

as

something

that

enrichestheir

lives.These

people

constitutea

hitheno

unrecognized

‘national

type‘

that

represents

themulticulturalcra

(”age

[998:

200).

incontrastwith

those

whomliteratureon

Australiannationalismidentifiesin

relationtoearlier

periods"

This ‘white

cosmopolite'

type

is

implicit

indiscoursesof

whitemulticulturalism

(Hage

l998:

ml)

andthese

people

are

'pically

urbananddetachedfromtheir

rooisxbut

withBritishor

European

on

usandamiddle-or

upper-class

hahiius

that

disposes

themtowards

‘appreciating

and

consuming“high-quality"

commod-

itiesand

cultures.

including

“ethnic"culture.‘

Whitemulticulturalists

envisage

themselves inthe

centreofthisnew

diversity

that

immigmnis

have

brought.

The

othersideofthisisthat

they

considerthesuburbsand

regional

citiesand

towns

tobedeficientbecause

they

lack

that

diversity,

henceWilliam'sattitudetowards

Bendigo.

Whilewhitemulticulturalismconsidertheir

own livesenriched

by

the new

minoritygroups.they

sharecertainfeatureswith

thosewho

oppose

immigration

becauseboth

categories

considerthemselvesastheones

whoshoulddetermine

how

much

immigrationthey

will tolerateand. asa

corollary.

howmuch

the

newcomers

may.metaphorically

or

literally.change

the

existinglandscape.

Hage‘s

critical

point

isthatwhitemulticulturalism

entailsanethosthatcelebratestheideal

ofcultural

diversity

whilein

pracliceenabling

urban

whiteAustralianstoretain

• 
  

Buddhifyirlg/iustralia

67

their

‘governmental position

through

a

process

of

incorporating

Australia's

multicultural

realityby

constmcti

iintoa

reality

ot‘iamed

ethnicitiesstructured

around

a

primary

Whiteculture‘

(Hage

1998:

209).

Aspects

ot‘these

pro—

and

anti-multiculturalist

discourses

canbediscernedin

public

responses

tothe

stupa

project.

Outofcharacter

withthearea?

The

planningapplication

forthe

stupa

wasfiledin

April

1999.

underthecouncil‘s

categories

of

‘place

of

assembly/worship‘

and‘touristestablishment.‘

The

appli-

cation

passed

withtwo submissions

against

iiandone

infavour.Thecouncil

minutesfor

the

meeting

thatdiscussed

the

stupaapplication

recordthat

approval

was

granted

and

concludethatwhile

the

stupa

willhave‘some

localvisual

impact'

and

generate

traffic,

itwillbeof

‘major

economic

importance

tothe

Municipality.

asitwillattract

visitorsandtourists

to

Bendigo

fromaround

Australiaand

the

world'.

The

countryside

aroundAtishriCentre

is

primarilypastoral

farmlandwithareas

ofstateforest.

Apart

fromthelow

hillssuchasthoseon

whichthe

monastery

and

stupa

sitearesituated.

thenear

flat

landscape

andtrees

allownowide

vistas,

meaning

that

the

stupa

will

mostly

not

bevisiblefromafar.

Both

objections

came

from

couples

wholivedonblocksofland

withinafewkilometres

ofthe

proposed

stupa.

Onenoted

thatthe

stupa

would

be

‘very

vividinits

culours‘which‘wouldbe

detrimentalto

thenatural

surroundings

ofthisarea.’Toreinforce

this

argument.

the

authorsadded

that thecouncil

required

them‘to

paint

our

zincalumeshedsamuted

colourand

screenwithtrees.A

building

suchasthis

.

pa

being

so

high

would

he

impossible

toscreenfromthe

neighbours

insuch

a

way

Thesecond

objection

maintained

thatthe

stupa

would

be‘outofcharacter

withthe

area'.becoming

the‘dominant

visualfeature'

inthe

neighbourhood,

and that

‘[a]building

based

ona

design

fromlSth

century

Tibet

hardly

fits

appropriately

intoa20th

century

semi

ruralVictorian

setting.‘

This

objection

also

expressed

concemabouttraffic.

security(includingunspecified

undesirable

people

who

might

cometothe

Buddhist

centreandthenintrude

on

neighbouringproperties)

andtheremovalof

nativeflora.

Thislast

point,they

maintained,

‘fiiesinthe

faceofthe

general

thrust

ofeducation

towardsconservation

ofnaturalenvironments.

Beneaththe

points

the

objectors

made

liesanother concern

arising

outof

resistancetothe

dominantdiscourseofmulticulturalism.

Those

opposing

the

stupa

intermsofits

alleged

cultural

incongruity

seemtofearthat

they

have

lostcontrol

ofthcnationand

are

beingincreasingly

displacedbymigrants

and

Aboriginals

using

what

Hage

callsa‘discourse

of

Anglo

decline~

(Hage

l998:

20).

I

spoke

tooneofthe

objectorsbytelephone.

whotoldmethatsheand

herhusbanddid

notwanttosee

the

stupa

overthe

treetops

fromtheirhouse

andasked:

‘Why

don't

theyput

itintownnearthe

ChineseMuseum‘l‘Forher,

themuseum

(the

most

prominent

markerof

Bendigo’s

Chinese

heritage)

andthe

stupa

wereboth

‘Asian'and‘cxotic'

andtherefore

belongedtogether.

Withtheother

stupa

critics

discussedhere.7

sheconsidereda

Tibetan-stylestupa

tobe

incompatible

withhow