Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

HR

Tt/Urtg

gating

Ll/tt

sangha

and

theBuddhist

community‘s younger

members

appears

tohavebeen

partly

uddre dwithsomesuccess.For

instance,

at

Phap

Bao

Temple

inNew

South

Wales.

thesecond

abbot.

VenerableThichPhoHuanisa

young

manwho

completed

hiseducationinVictoriabefore

receivingin-templetraining

in

Sydney

forl6

years.

Heis

very

keento

keep

touchwiththe

young

andoldnot

only

by

l'aee—tn-l'acc interactionsbtttalso. withhis

laptop

in

hand.

through

modern

technology,

At

Quang

Mirthin

Melbourne‘

SeniorVenerableThichPhuoc

Tan,

\\ll0cametoAustraliaasa

refugee

minor.

isnowa

bilingual.

hiculturalabbotwho

isactiveinInterfaith

dlalogttc

and

youth

matters.Another

example

isVenerable

NguyenTang. Deputy

Abbot at

Quang

Dttc. Hewas trained in Vietnambut

successfullyre-qualilied

atLaTrobeUnivers

y.

Heisthewebmasterofoneof

the

better

designed

Vietnamese

temple

websites.

In

gender

terms.however.theratiobetweenabbotsandabbessesisaround

|0:|.

reflecting

the

historically strongly

male-dominated Vietnamese

satlgha.

The

gender

imbalancewithinthe

sangha

willtakea

long

timeto

change.

lfever,

dcsptte

the

lncreasing

numberofnuns

entering

theUnitedVietnameseBuddhist

Congregation.

Stillintheirlate 305 or

early

40s.SeniorVenerablePhuocTan.andVenerables

NguyenTang

andPhoHuanare

among

thesecond

generation

ofBuddhist

leaders

who

represent

thebest

hope

forrenewaland

growth

ofVietnamese

Buddhism,

Not

only

are

theyre-activating

theconnectionwiththe

youngthrough

thetradi-

ttonal

way

ofthe

BuddhistYouth

Falnily'.

but

they

arealsoable

tocommunicate

Buddhism

asa

living

and

evolvingreligion

todifferent

groups

of

people

7

those

\\l’ltluereandremain

Buddhists.thosewhoare

lapsed

Buddhists

andthose\lhtl

are

let

tobeinterestedin

Buddhism.

Conclusion

VietnameseBuddhismhassharedthesame

testing

problems

ofothernon-Christlan

religions

initseffonstoestablishitselfina

predominantly

Christian

country.

Thanks

to

strongsupport

fromthe

refugeecommunityduring

their

early

resenleinenl.the

congregation

“asable to

expand

in a

timely

manner

throughout

Australia

1“

meetthe

'piritual

needsof

mainlyfirst»generation

Buddhists. However.asthe

demographicsamong

VietnameseAustralianshave

changed.

the

congregation

has

tomoveforwardtoattract

younger

Buddhists.

Numerically.

the

congregation

is

well

equipped

with 50 monasteriesand

house»temples

inAustralia.butitssecond-

generationleadership

7

smallinnumberandimbalancedin

gender

atthis

stage

7

IS

still

findingways

to

engage

withthe

young.

bicultural,

technologically

literateand

English-speaking

VietnameseAustralians.

References

Department

Of

lmmtgrattort

andMulticulturalAffairs.

(2000)Commimrn-Pmfllex

«10%

Census),

VlelmlmBarn.Canberra:citinniiinwealili(if/\ustmlia.

Luu,

TiiuiigQuang,

Chuc-Thanh.and

Ngoc—Han

(eds)(l99l)

The

Untiedltamunmr

C

hullt'rrgex

toVietnameseBttdtlhixm

13‘)

Buddhist

Congregation

af/tm'lra/ia

andNewZea/and

[98/7/99].

Sydney:

l’huocllue

Mommy..

Skennar,

J.

(2005)‘Sydney,

a

citygrowlng

within:

theestabltshment

ofBuddhistcentres

inWestern

Sydney'.

in

Buddhainsiiburhin:

GremerlVerimi

sir/ti )dne‘y.

Tasula

Powerhouse

AnsCentre.

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