Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

70

Sal/y

McAru

the

pagoda

and

stupa

willbeabetter

way

to

‘putBendigo

ontheworld

map'

and

‘leavea

legacy

forfuture

generations‘by

attracting

internationaltourists.

The

stupaprojcct

isanunusual

example

of

changes

toAustralia's

religious

landscape

becauseit

brings

anunfamiliar

architectural

style

as

immigrantreligious

minorities

sometimes

do,

butin thiscase

its main

proponents

arethemselves

part

ofthe

ethnic

majority.

Further,

many

AustralianFPMTmembers

belong

to

professional/managerial

classes in which

these white multicultumlists. the

consumers

at thecentre ofthediscourse

of

multiculturalism,

arefound. [his

positioninggave

thema

particular

advantage

intheformofanaccumulationof

social

capital

in

negotiations

withthe

wider

societyduring

the

planningappli~

cation

phase.

At thesame

time.Tibetan Buddhismhas.

among

certainliberal.

middle»classsectors

internationally,acquired

acertain chic

(see,

for

example.

Lopez

1999:

Congdon2007)

that

gives

itcultural

capital

inthecontextof

public

negotiations

aroundthe

stupa.

atleast

among

thosewho

belong

tothe

demographic

inwhich

Buddhismhasa

positivepublic

image.

lndeed.the

majority

ofTibetan

Buddhism‘s

newwestemadherentsand

sympathizers

comefromthe

very

same

mostly tertiary-educated.

professional

middleand

upper

classeswho

aremost

likely

to

panicipate

inorinfluence

city

council

decisions.

Bendigocity

councillorsandothersin

leadership

roleswouldliketheir

city

to

hemore

prosperous.

more

cosmopolitan

andmoremulticultural.Further.some

while

cosmopolites

findcertain

expressions

ofBuddhism

attractive.

for

instance,

appreciating

theaesthetic

qualities

of

Buddhist

art,

or

becoming

whatTweedcalls

‘Buddhist

sympathizers'

whoread

booksonBuddhist

teachings

withoutcontact

»ithdhanna

teachersor

organiIations

t

l

999).

This

brings

metoafurthertom

of

cultural

capital

involvedinthe

stupaproject.

Tibetan Buddhism‘sattractiveness

among

certain

sectorsof

upper—

andmiddle—class

Anglo-Australiansociety

works

infavourofthe

stupa.

In

Australia,

thesame

people

whoadvocatemulticulturalism

also

speak

aboutBuddhism

in

positive

terms.Theirdiscoursestresses

religious

and

intercultural

tolerance,

varying

from‘Buddhismiswelcomebecauseitisa

peaceful

rcligion'.

to‘Buddhismisless

threatening

thanlslam'.

Bywayofexample.

in

May

2003 iattendedtheBuddhist

Society

of

Victoria's50th

Anniversary

celebration

atBox

HillTownHallin

Melbourne.

an

occasionthatillustratedhow

people

link

the

concepts

of

multiculturalism.

toleranceand

Buddhismasa

peacefulreligion.

For

instance,onestatememberof

parliament.

ChristopherStrong.

saidthatnew

immigrants

in

Victoriahave‘enrichedourlive.‘

sing

theclassic

discourseof

enrichment

,

‘ourlives‘

refers.

as

Hage

would

say.

tothewhiteAustralians

at

thecentre.

Strong

characterized

Buddhismas ‘not

aggressive.

exclusive.

and

intolerantofotherfaiths‘

stating

further

that‘wecan'talTordfaithsthatareintol-

erantof

others'.Atthesame

event,

Ajahn

Brahmavamso.an

English

Buddhist

monkordainedin

theThaiForest

Sangha

tmditionandabbotofz

monastery

near

Perth,

saidthatthere‘has

neverbeenawar

fought

inthenameof

Buddhism',

8

key

refrainthatBuddhistsand

Buddhist

sympathizers

useoften.

Similarly.

in

Bendigo,

Rod

Fyt'e

(the

Bendigomayor

in

2003)

told

methatthe

stuparepre-

sented

peace

and

compassion

andthiswasmore

important

tohim

personally

than

the

economicbenefits.

Underlying

such

representations

are

implicit

comparisons

r?—

Buddhr'fying

Atlslru/r'rr

7 l

with

stereotypes

aboutIslamicfundamentalism‘s

violence.Thisdiscourse

says.

‘Buddhismis

peaceful”,giving

the

stupaproject

more

symboliccapital

thana

mosque.

becauseit

represents

Buddhism

asmore

compatible

with

‘Ausiralian'

valuesoftolerancethanthe

purportedly

fanaticalIslam.These

ways

of

thinking

and

talking

aboutthe

project

asbeneficial

to

Bendigo

areeffectiveincircles

where

the

religious

discoursesofthe

power

ot'the

holyobject

arenot,

Multicultural

capital

Atthesametimeasthe

stupaproponentspossess

certain

advantages

through

their

membership

ofthedominantethnic

group.

their

project

alsobenefits

from

TibetanBuddhism‘s

religiousminority

statusin

Australia. [hisisa

deployment

of‘multicultural

capital‘

that

helps

to render

the

stupa

more

intelligible

and

acceptable

inthe

region.

Inthisidonotmeanthat

anyparticularmanipulation

is

involved.

Rather,

the

point

Iwishtomakeis

thatthebuddhifieutionofAustralia

depends

onmorethanthe

missionaryimpetus

oitheconvertsandtheirteachers;

italso

depends

ontheextenttowhichthe

project's

proponentsparticipate

inand

align

themselveswith

hegemonic

discourses

aboutBuddhismandabout

cultural

diversity.Mayor

Rivendell's

speech,

whichmaintainsthatthe

project

fitswiththe

city'scommunityplan.

demonstrates

the

alignment.

A

further.

related

pointpertains

tothe

stup

's

appearance.

Despite

the two

objections

cited

earlier.

the

alleged

‘inconipaiibility'

ofthe

stupa

project

wiihAits

niral

Victorian

setting

is

itselt‘a factorin

accruingsupport.

BoththeNailTien

temple

thatWaindiscus.

sinthisvolumeandthe

stupaproject

benefitfromthe

factthat

their

city

councils,

inlinewith

governmental

discoursesofmulticultur—

:ilism.now

regard

cultural

diversity

as

enriching

in

bothculturalandeconomic

terms.

Having

this

structureasalocallandmarkcontributes

to

attempts

tomarket

Bendigo

as

a

culturally

diverse.

vibrant

place.

Thediscourse

ofculturalenrichment

represents

the

stupa

not

only

asa

significant

touristattraction.

butalso

something

thatwill

help

the

city

tobecomemoremulticulturaland

cosmopolitan.bringing

the

peaceful

exoticism

ofTibetanBuddhismto

Bendigo

without

(lo-centeringexisting

potter

relations.

Notes

I This

chapter

isbasedonresearchthattundertookbetween 2003

and

2007. 
      

including

six

monthsof

residence

in

Bendigo.My

methodsentailed

participant

observationandtheuse

oisourccssuchas

tnlcl’Vlcws,

informalconversations

andletterstothelocal

newspaper,

TheTaiwanese»based

Fokuangshan's

NariTien

temple

in

Wollongong,

NSW(Want.

this

volume),

is

promoted

as'the

largest

Buddhist

temple

inthesouthern

hemisphere

(Rala

lntemational

[995).

Despite

some

opposition.

the

templeplans

wonfavour

withthe

Wollongongcity

councilbecause,asWaitt

suggests.

local

government

already

wished

torcbrandtheir

city

as

culturally

diverse

and

vital.

toattractvisitorsandtheir

money

to

the

region.

3

Flitcsrefersheretothe

people

in

leadership

roleswhose

position

empowers

themin

makecrucial

decisions

about

society

(Shore

2002:

4).

Their

accesstovariousformsof

capital

enablesthemto

gain

andmaintainsuch

positioning.

to