Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

—

too DiumrCausz’ns TheBuddhistCouncil

of

Victoria lo!

Corrections Victoria

7

a

state

government

body

that

manages

the

prison

FederationofAustralianBuddhistCouncils

(2009)

‘Constitution oftheFederationof

sector

7

pays

Buddhist

teachers

(including

monks and

nuns)

tominister to AusmlianEuddhistCouncils‘.Availableonline:wwwhuddhislcouncilorgau/fcd/xoops/

theneedsofBuddhist

prisoners.

Otherincidental

expenses

suchasmeditation

m0d“l‘fs’ani”lES/lfldelt-Phfltatiid:I

(accessed

24

May

2009).

. ‘..

cushions.

rosary

beads. Buddhistbooksand

images.

are

providedby

donation

‘Sanghadlsesn

r

Wlktpttaka (2009)

V5.Availableonltne:

www,tipttaka,Wtkta.com/Wlkr/

andthereare

never

enough

to

go

around. MostBuddhist

prisoners

arefroma

Sanghadlsesa

(accessed

4

February

201”

non-English-spcakingbackground

and

deeply

valuethe

presence

ofanordained

person

fromtheir

own

language

groupcoming

toseethemand

utTeringsuppon.

Thereisalsoameditation

program

alteredtothose

recently

arrestedand

awaiting

trialwhoareinthe

MelbourneRemandCentre.These

prisoners

aremoreoften

notfromanethnic

Buddhist

background

and

may

or

may

not

identify

asBuddhist.

The

placement

of

prisons

inremotelocationsacross

country

Victoriahasmade

itdifficulttoreach

Buddhist

prisoners,

asmost

temples

arelocatedinthestate's

capitalcity,

Melbourne.In

addition,

many

monksandnunsdonotdriveandhave

tobedrivento

prisonappointments

However.

prisonChaplaincy

isactiveand

ongoing

andhasbeenin

place

since2000.

TheVictorianstate

government

is

planning

tofundmulti-faith

chaplains

in

hospitals

andthis

initiativecouldbe

implemented

from2010.At

presenthospital

chaplains

are

nearly always

Christian. The

presence

of

funding

for

hospital

chaplains

will

help

to

develop

robust

structures,

asa

dependence

onvolunteerscan

undermine

programs

in

the

longterm,

when

people

runout

ofgood

willorhave

othercommitments.Other

stateBuddhistcouncilsarealso

implementing

initia<

livesinthesefields.

The BuddhistCouncil

ofVictoriahas alsocontributed tothe

improvement

of

palliative

carein

thestate.In 2004 I

puttogether

abooklet

called,

‘Buddhist

care{orthe

dying‘(Cousens2004).

The

printing

ofthebookletwas

principally

sponsored

by

theYun

Yang

Temple

ofNarre

Warren,

aswellastheVictorian

Multicultural

Commission.TheVictorianMulticulturalCommissionalsofunded

thedistributionofthe

booklettoall

hospitals,prisons,nursing

homesandmedical

teaching

establishmentsinthe

state.Istill

regularlyspeak

onthe

subject

aldiverse

places including

Melbourne

City

Mission.theAustin

Hospital

and forums

on

ageing.

ln

sum.

in

the 2006 census

Buddhistsnumbered

419,000,making

it

the

largest

non-Christian

denomination.Across

Australia.therearehundreds

ortemplcs

and

centres.Stateand

federal

governments

are

working

withtheBuddhistcommunity

to

providesupport

andresourcestoassist

culturallyspecific

Buddhist

needsin

many

contexts.Itis

allthemore

surprising.

then,thatBuddhism

isnot

yet

recog-

nizedasa

religion

in

Australiaand thatthis

hinges

onthe

extraneousissue

of

marrlagel

References

BuddhistCouncilofVictoria

(2009)

'Buddhist

educationfor

Victorianschools

program:

Availableonline:

[http://www.bcvic.org.au/education/index.htm(accessed](http://www.bcvic.org.au/education/index.htm(accessed)

24

May

2009),

Consens,

D.

(2004)

‘Buddhist

careforthe

dying'i

Availableonline:

wwwbcvicorgau/pdf/

huddl-list,carc_for‘dying_hooklet.pdf(accessed

24

May2009).