Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

154 Thick

ThongPhup

'l'hcn. in

July

2007.

I

attended aretreat I had

co-organilcd

withothers

at

Glcnbarr.

a

Uniting

Church

campsite

near

Strathalhyn

intheAdelaideHills.

It

is

a

beautiful

placeespecially

inmid-winterwhen

everything

islushand

green.

Three

days

beforethe

retreatafewofuswenttoGlenbarrtofinalizethe

arrangements.

The

lady

whoisthe

contact

person

forthecentrearrivedtoshowusaround.One

ofthe

buildings

isthe

original

nineteenth-century

homeol‘the

family

whodonated

the

property

tothechurch.

Itisstillfurnishedinthe

style

ofthe19205.Aswewere

standing

inthe

hallway,

I

noticedawooden

shepherd's

crookandremarkedonits

beauty.

The

lady

tookitoffofits

hookandhandedittome.Itfeltso

powerful

to

hold.Iaskedher

why

shehad

put

itin

my

hand.‘ltlookslikeit

belongs

with

you

in

your

robes.‘

Thesetwoincidentsawakenedwithin

methesensethat

althoughmyprimary

taskasaBuddhistmonkis

my

meditation

practice.

tobe

really

trueto

mysell’l

hadalsotohea

pastor.Interestingly

Ihadbeen

accepted

intoacourseinclinical

pastoral

education

(CPE)

atthe

Repatriation

General

Hospital.

whichstarted

just

alterthissecondincident.CPEisa

process

of

reflectiveadult

learning

basedinthe

pastoralsetting

inwhichtheindividualworks.

One

ofmygoals

fortheCPEcourse

was

to

explore

andclaim

my

authentic

identity

as

pastorthroughmy pastoral

relationships

with

people

atFlinders

University,

Ofcourse.

I

must

recognize

that

theideaof

pastor

or

shepherd

isnot

obviouslypresent

inBuddhism.However.

I

considerthebodhisattvaaBuddhist

equivalent

tothe

pastoralarchetype.

Like

Avalokiteshvara

Bodhisattva,

asa

pastor

onehas tolisten

deeply

andwithout

judgement

in ordertoalleviatethe

sufiering

oftheworld.

That iswhatIendeavourto

do,

panicularly

whenotherssuffer

ambiguities

inherentto

being

aBuddhistinthewestFor

instance.once

I was

sitting

with

another

chaplain

andastudentatFlinders

University,Ayoung

man

ofAsian

origin

walked

by

and

weinvitedhimto

join

us.He

introduced

himselfas

Mickey.

He

spokeperfect

Australian

English

andwasaBuddhist.HeaskedmehowIfound

outabout

Buddhism.

soI

toldhim.Whilehedidn‘t

practise

Zen.hedid

say

that

hewasattractedtoit.What

unfolded

veryquickly

inourconversationwasa

story

quitetypical

of

manyyoung

Asian

BuddhistAustralians.

Essentially,

itisthe

story

ofconflictbetweenthe

youngperson

andtheirfamiliesandbetweenthe

temple

andthe

youngperson.

Thisisdue

largely

to

living

betweentwoworlds.Thefirstis

theworldoftheir

family

andtheir

faith.whilethesecondistheworldintowhich

they

haveeitherbeenbornorhavebeen

thmstdueto

immigration.

and thatisthe

largely

secular.

individualisticAustralian

culture.

Mickey

toldmehowthemonksandhis

youthgroup

had

disagreed.

The

youth

group

had

beenthrownoutofthe

temple

by

an

angry

monk: ‘I

thought

monks

weren't

supposed

to

getangry.

atleastthat‘s

what

theysay.

Buthedid.

I

don‘t

likethe

way

thosemonksbehave.

They

don‘t

behave

according

toBuddhism.‘

We

talked

fora

whileabouthowmonksare

people

too.This

experience

was

impacting

on

hislifewithin

his

family.

Itwas

clearly

a

very

emotionalissue

for

Mickey

as

his
eyes

filledwithtears.I

askedhimwhathe

lovedabout

being

a

member

ofhis

ethnic
community.

He

struggled

hardtofindmuchbuthedidlove

beingpart

of

it.Idecidedto
help

him:‘IfIwas

from

your

cultureIwouldbeso

proud

of

my

Being

all

nfwho

Iam ISS

determined

people.

AndIwouldlovethatIam

fromsuchanancientcultureand

thatI

spoke

suchabeautiful

Ianguage.‘

‘lt'snot

always

bearrtil'ul'.

he

replied.

‘The

foodisso

good',

Iadded.‘Isometimes

getreally

sickofitand

just

wanttoeat

Australianfood'.he

complained.

‘So whatdo

you

loveabout

being

Australian?‘

Iasked.Thisseemedmrrch

easier. ‘Ilove howinAustralianfamilies

you

aremuchfreer,

My

friendscan

disagree

withtheir

parents

and

you

don't

havetouseallthatformal

language

to

speak

to

your

relativesand

your

elders.

You

cancallthem

by

Lheirfirstname.‘It

then

began

to

emerge

that

Mickey

feltlikeabad

person

becausehewasdifferent

finmhis

peers

inhis

community

andwasstillunableto

forgive

themonks.‘Iam

scaredthiswillnever

change'.

hesaid.Wetalkedaboutthe

inevitabilityol‘change

towhichhe

responded:

‘Nothingstays

thesamebutIwantitto

change

now.‘He

hadalso

begun

to

loseinterestinhis

religion

andwasafraidthathewould

loseit

altogether

and

thereby

losehis

way

inlife.‘Do

you

haveconfidencein

your

own

Buddha

nature?‘,

Iasked.‘Have

you

taken

refuge

andtheFive

Precepts'!‘

Hehad.

‘Remember

you

can

always

fallbackontheFive

Precepts

to

guideyour

lifeeven

if

you

wanttohavea

holiday

fromBuddhism,‘Hewasnotcertain.Iinvitedhim

tocallonme

anytime

andhesaidhewould.hutIwasconcernedthathr:was

only

saying

thatto

keep

me

happy.

However,

Istillseehim

quite

oftenandorrrContact

iswarmand

friendly.

In

listening

as

deeply

asIcouldto

Mickey.

I

recognized

his

disappointment

Withthemonksathis

temple

andthe

impact

ofthatonhisfaith.Therewashis

internal

conflict.

living

between

twocultures.Hefeltlikeabad

person

anddidnot

accept

himself.Hewasalso

impatient

withthe

processol‘change

withinhimsclliI

understoodthatsometimes

thereisaneedforamonkornunoutsidethecultureto

encourageyoung

ones

tobeAustralianBuddhistsandtomove

patiently

towards

reconciliationwith

theirfamiliesandtheirculture.Ihavealsoidentifiedtheneed

formetounderstand

more

deeply

theissuesthat

face.

in

Mickey‘s

case.

young

menabouttheirinherent

goodness

andtheneedto

accept

themselvesas

they

are

in

spitr:

ofthenatural

rchclliousnessthatisottcnthere

forthem.

Finally.

thereis

alsotheneedto

support

Asianfamilieswith

respect

tothe

challenges

that

living

in

Australia

brings

them.

especially

whentheir

cultureisso

strong

andsoditt‘erent

fromthedominant

culture.Inthe

spirit

of

Avalokiteshvara

Bodhisattva.

Ioffered

Mickey

listening.

warm

acceptance

andaffirmation

ofhisBuddhanature.

In

my

CPE

group

all butmewere

practising

Christians.Weall

agreed

that

understanding

and

compassion

were

trulypresent

intheencounterIhave

just

related.

Although

Istrovetoauthenticate

mypastoral

careasBuddhist

byreferring

tothe

BodhisattvaAvalokiteshvara.

my

view

isthat

understanding

and

compassion

are

what

they

are

regardless

ofthe

religious

categories.

Thereisn‘t Christian

compassion

as

opposed

toBuddhist

compassion.

Doesitthenmatterifwecall

ourwork

‘pastoral

care’

steeped

intheChristian

language

ofthe

gospels

orcare

Sharing

inthe

spirit

oftheBodhisattvasand

steeped

inthetraditionofthesutras?

The

question

remains

open,

.

The

lifeof

a Buddhist

universitychaplain

is. however,

moredrffuse

thana

concern

withdirect

pastoral

encounters.

ABuddhist

chaplain

in

Sydney

has.

for