Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

136

TuringQuang

ern

Theacuteunmetneedsofthefirst

generation

ofmoremature

Vietnameseinan

English-speaking

and

predominantly

Christian

country

motivated

groupsofyoung

andactiveBuddhistsinAustraliatobeinvolvedinthe

temple-buildingprojects

of

the

early

1980s.

Hoang

Khoi.whowasa

driving

forceforthe

Phap

Bao

Pagoda

project.

recalls:

‘My

motherwasadevoutBuddhistinVietnamandherein

Sydney.

shehadnowhereto

go

forherfaith

SeniorVenerablesTzrc

Phiroc.

Huyen

TonandVenerableBao

Lac,

together

with theVietnamese

Lay

BuddhistAssociationsin

Adelaide.

Brisbaneand

Perth. resolvedat their

inaugural

conference in

April

1981 in

Sydney

to

establishtheVietnameseBuddhistFederationofAustralia

(the

federation

~

TongHat).

Thefederation‘saimswere tocoordinatedharmaactivitiesand

further

development

acrossAustraliaandNewZealand

(Luu,

Chuc-Thanhand

NgocJIan

1991).

In 1987

theFederationbecametheUnitedVietnameseBuddhist

Congregation

(the

congregation

r

Gian

Hui)

inAustralia and New

Zealand.

and Most

Venerable

ThichPhuocHue

(formerly

knownasSeniorVenerableThichTac

Phuoc)

was

electeditsfirst

president.

VietnameseBuddhisminAustralianthen

experienced

twodecadesof

development

fromthe

early

|980$onwards.

Newly

sponsored

monks from

refugeecamps

inSouth EastAsiawere

appointed

to

head

new

projects.

VenerableThich

Quang

BawenttoVanHanh

Monastery

in

Canberra,

VenerableThichPhuocNhontoPho

QuangPagoda

inPerthand

Venerable

ThichNhatTanto

PhapQuangTemple

inBrisbane.The

congre-

gation

also

extendeditsdharmaactivitiestoAucklandand

Wellington

inNew

lealand.

ln19K2the

congregation

anditsNewSouthWalesbranch

beganpublishing

the

Buddhist

magazines.

Phat-GinoVial-Namand

Phap

Baa,

asameanstoreacha

wideraudience.Botharestillin

circulation

today.

Priortothe

age

oftheintemct.

thistraditional

way

ofcommunication

wasessentialasalinkforthe

budding

Buddhist

community.

Another

development

ofnotewastheetTortstore—activate

the‘BuddhistYouth

Family‘(Gia

DinhPhat

Tu)

concept

ineach

temple

from 1983

onwardsIn

pre-l975

Vietnam.

thiswasa

strong

national

Buddhistmovement

under the

auspices

ofthe Unified Buddhist

Church

of

Vietnam:

‘Properly

motivatedand

led.

itis

potentially

aneffective

way

for

generational

renewal

for

the

lay

Buddhist

community

in

Australia'.

says

Phap

Loi.

aBuddhist

youth

leader

with

trainingexperience

bothinVietnamandinAustralia.As

lay

Buddhistleaders.

heandothers

guided

theBuddhistYouth

Family

during

its

formative

years

in

the

19805 and

early

19905.

The

congregation

became known

nationally

and

internationally through

us

membership

oftheAustralianBuddhist

Federation.

theWorld

Sangha

Council

andtheWorld

Fellowship

ofBuddhists.

By

the

early

1990sVietnamese

Buddhists

could

frequent

theirown

temple

for

worship

anddharrna

Ieaming

in

Canberra

and

allstate

capital

cities

except

Hobart,

although

asmall

community

inDarwinhadto

rely

on

sporadic

visits

by

monks

residing

inthesouthernstates.

However.

in 1999

the

congregationsplit

andtwo~thirdsorits

membershipjoined

a

newly

created

second

organization.

————————

L‘hullengar

toVietnamese

Buddhism 137

Engagement

with

subsequentgenerations

United Buddhist

congregations

and individual

temples

inAustraliaunderstand

theneed

to

engage

with

youngpeople

inthe

community.

their

ability

to

change

themselves

andtotrainandnurture

anew

generation

ofBuddhistleaders

will

determine

theirfuturesuccess.

Whenthecurrent

leadership

wa kedto

identify

theirmost

difficult

challenges.

invariablythey

identified

the .,uesofcommuni-

cation

withthe

young

Australian-bom

generation

andthe

temples

relevance

to

the

youths'

aspirations.

Some

oi"the

strategies

utilized

tomeetthese

challenges

areas

thllous.

...

Temples

have

sponsored

young

monks and

nuns from Vietnam

to

_|0|n

Australian—trained monks

and nuns.

Locally

trained monks of

Vietnamese

background

whoare

younggraduates

wouldbe

ideally

suitedto

replace

their

first

generation

elders. Butan

‘ideal'solutionisofien

elusive.This

sponsorship

has

had

twodrawbacks:

1 Ittakesa

long

while

for

young

monksand

nunsto

adjust

themselves

tothe

Australianculturalandsocial

environment.

especially

when

they

are

notfluent

in

English.

2 Retentionislow.Senior

Venerable

Quang

Ba

estimatesthatsome

50

per

cent

ofthe

sponsored

returnto

secularlifewithin

five

years

ofarrival.

Vietnamhasa

good

trackrecordinthefieldof

religioustraining.through

combi-

nationof

in-templelearning

and

practice

with

full-timeattendanceatan

advanced

institute ofBuddhist

Studies. Before 1975

Van Hanh Buddhist

University

in

Saigon

wasa

major

learning

centrefor

lay

Buddhists

andtraineemonks

andnuns

alike.

even

though

the

university‘s

admission

criteriawerenon-denominational.

MostVenerable

BaoLacand SeniorVenerable

Quang

Bawere

graduates

from

the

Saigon-based

Hue

Nghiem

and

Nhatrang»based

llaiDucAdvancedinstitutes,

respectively.

whileMostVenerablePhuoc

Hueusedto

manage

Buddhistschools

inthe

Mekong

Delta.

Discussions

regarding

the creation of

an Overseas Vietnamese

Advanced

InstituteofBuddhistStudies.

locatedinAustralia.

havetaken

place

intermittently

during

thelast

twodecades.butsucha

schemeremains.atbest.

aspirational.

Anambitious

expansion

ofPhuocHire

Monastery

inNew Smith

Waleswould

haveincluded

anInstituteofBuddhistStudies.

butthe

plan

failed

tomaterialize.

Instead.retention

of

sangha

membershas

hecomcanissuc.At

leastthree

young

and

academically

inclinedmonkshaveleft

Phuocllueforsecular

lifewithin

five

years

oftheir

formal ordination.Thosemonks

whoare

academically

succe

'ful

and

stay

as

serving

membersofthe

sangha

haveollentaken

amoretraditional

role

elsewhere.

SeniorVenerableThichPhuocArt.

for

example.

isnowabbot

ofa

VietnameseTemple

in

Auckland.

NewZealand.

The

majority

ofthe 50 Vietnamese

monasteries and

house-temples

located

across Australia

and New Zealand are

still

managed by

the

first-generation

monksand

nunstrainedinVietnam.However,

the

generational

gap

between

the

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