Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

34 David

Biihna-Lilieand

Wininn

Higgins

learneda

strong

lessonin

just

how

imponanl

the

principles

ofassnciation

under-

pinning

thcir

spiritual

lifeand

practicereally

are.

Although

these

points

arenow

reasonably

clear

intherear-vision

mirror.there

can

henosenseinwhich

Australian

layinsight

meditatorsandtheir

organizations

havereachedsomesortof

temtinusafiera

period

of

pioneering

tran

on.On

the

contrary.

thereis

every

reasonto

regard

existingarrangements

as

intractably

tentative.

evenif

they

area

llttlelessnaive

andmakeshiftthan

they

weretwo

decadesearlier.Butthen

again,

ashuman

beings

weliveandbreathe

‘contingency’

in

the

dependentarising

of

eventsand

conditions,

whichhave

given

risetothe

unique

unfolding

ofBuddhist

institutions‘down

under'.

Notes

l In

particular,

weneedto

exercisecare

aroundBaumsnu'suseof

theterms“traditional'

inthi,

nntexi.forit

implies

thattheBuddhism

ottheother

stages

is

non-traditional

7

a

usage

that

suggests

thata

traditionis

necessarily

something

hidehound.

Many

ofthe

inntlvattunswedcitlwithin

this

chapter

aretraditional

ina

perhaps

moreuseful

sense,

one

derivedfrom

Maelntyre(”85),

He

conceptuallzes

a

living

(as

opposed

toa

dead)

tradition

asan

intergencratiunal

‘cenvcrsation‘

whose

participants

remain

awareofthe

tradition‘s

original.generative

questions

andhow

questions

andanswers

haveevolved

fromthe

beginning

Inthis

sense.

many

oi

today's

Buddhistinnovators

especially

Intheir

enthusiasmfor

retrieving

the

original

canon

a

aremore‘tmdiliontll'thantheir

conservativeeri‘t s.

2 Thisterm

'

edincontrastto

moralbeliefsand

reflectstheauthors‘

suspicion

otmuml

reintiv

nt,

h

.edontheviewthat

morality

shouldbean

cfiieient

guide

toconductin

the

pursuit

it the

dharrntt.

3 In

expressing

the

moralconflictin

this

way.

we

adopt

the

widespreadassumptions

of

eoniernpntury

or

moral

philosophy.

thatmoral

knowledge

needstohecuntt‘xtualin‘d

ina

particular

cultureandtimeand that

moral

sensittvttydevelops

overtime:

sec.

for

instance.

IiiyltirU989.

introduction).

WhileBuddhis

assuch

adopt

the

original

precepts.

weneed

[0avoid

essentiatiring

Buddhist

morality

asifitwere

something

exhaustivelyexpressed

inthose

precepts

andthus

treating

later

moral

specificattons

as

optionalextras.

as

lnet'sential’value

preferences‘.

References

Batchclur.s.

(2005i’Tltclifeanddeathor

SiddharthaGotumn',Availableonline'www.

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