Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

5

Changes

and

challenges

to

Vietnamese

Buddhism inAustralia

TuongQuang

Luu

This

chapter

will

examinethe

development

oftheUnited

VietnameseBuddhist

Fongregation

in

light

ofthe

growth

oftheVietnamese

Buddhist

community

inAustralia.Itwill

identifychallenges

faced

along

the

way

andcurrent sues

that

this

organization

mustnowovercome.Fromits

very

modestanddifficult

beginning.

the

congregation

cameto

maturity

asa

religiousbody

withina

relatively

short

period.

butwhetherits

leadership

team can

renewitselt‘to

stay

relevanttothe

youngergeneration

ofVietnamese

Australiansremainsto

beseen.

Historical

developments

Very

fewVietnameselivedin

Australiauntilthelate[9505whenVietnam

joined

theColomboPlan.Inthe 19605

and

19705,

many

thousands

ofyoung

Vietnamese

were

sponsored

underthe

Cnlomho Plan to

pursue

their

tertiary

education in

Australia.

They

were

among

the

bestand

brightest

ofVietnam's

youth.

chosen

tobetrainedoverseasas

technocratsforitsfuture

development.

However.

before

1975.

a

permanent

Vietnamese

community

inAustralia

hardly

existed.

apart

from

a

few

hundredwhohadsettledin

Australiaas

spouses

or

throughadoption.

When

Saigon

fellin

April

l975,

several

hundredVietnamesestudentswerestranded

andallowedtoremaininAustralia.A

year

aftertheFallof

Saigon.

there“ere

2427 Vietnamese-bum residentsof

Australia

(Department

of

Immigration

and

MulticulturalAffairs

2000),

However.

this

newlydeveloping

community

wasfacedwith

significant

issues.

FourierVietnamesestudentswere

divided

among

themselvesduetotheir

political

allegiances.

Thosewhochoseto

support

thenew

power

backhomewerereluctant

to
beinvolvedinthe

growing

Vietnamese

refugeecommunity.

Othersformed

pan

of

the

educated

component

ofthe

early

socialstnictureofVietnameseAustralians

in

thelate

19705,

suchasDrTran

My-Van

fromtheAustralianNationalUniversity

tn

(Fanberra,

then later in

Darwin,

or Phan

Dong

Bich and

Tran Tan

Tai.

engineeringgraduates

fromthe

University

ofNewSouthWalesand

the

University

of
Adelaide,
respectivelyThey

undenook

voluntary

work

alongside

Australian

friendsfrom

non-govemmentorganizations

toassist

the

newly

arrived

refugees'

culturalreorientation.

Challenges

(a

VietnameseBuddhism

135

The Vietnamese-loom

population

increased

dramatically

and

continuously

through

thefour

subsequent

censuses:41,096

in

1981.

83.028in 1986. l21,813

in 1991 and150.941

in1996.

In 1996 therewere

also

46,756second-generation

Australians

of Vietnamese

background (Department

of

immigration

and

Multicultural

AlTairs

2000).

Substantial

changes

toAustralia‘s

immigration

and

refugeepolicies

inthe 19905

sawa

rapid

decline

inVietnamese

arrivalsfrom 1996

onwards.

The

community‘s

growth

inthe

subsequent

decade

wasdue

mainly

to

the

Australian-born

secondand

subsequentgenerations

ofVietnameseBuddhists,

who

liaie

fundamentallychanged

not

only

the

demographics

of

theestimated250.000-

strong

VietnameseAustralian

community.

butalsoits

spiritual

needs,

after

only

threedecadesofrescttlement.

Difiicultfirst

steps

anditdecadeofachievements

The

presence

ofVietnamese

Buddhist

monastics and

temples

evolved

slowly.

Before 1980 there was

not a

single

Vietnamese monk

residing

in Australia.

letalone a Vietnamese

Buddhist

temple.

Dr

Hoang

Khoi recalls that,

as a

postgraduate

student at

the

University

of

New SouthWales,

heand

hisfellow

Buddhistadherentsheld

meditationand

prayer

sessions

in

private

and

sometimes

celebrated

major

Buddhist

eventssuch

asVesakatan

innersuburbThai

Temple

|hat

practised

Theravada

Buddhism

Thiswasnot ideal

as mostVietnamese

are

Mahayana

Buddhists.

Theneedfora

Vietnamese-speaking

monkand

aVietnameseBuddhist

place

of

worship

and meditation

became

moreacute

asVietnamese

refugeesbegan

inarrivein

greater

numbersafter

1975. In 1980

asmall

group

ofVietnamese

Buddhistswelcomed

thefirst

VietnameseBuddhist

monktoAustralia

froma

refugeecamp

in

HongKong.

Senior

Venemble

ThichTacl’huoc.

Hehadbeen

a

high-ranking

memberoftheUnified

BuddhistChurch

ofVietnam

in

Saigon,

which

wasbanned

by

thenewcommunist

authorities

after1975.Another

refugee

monk

whocamefrom

Malaysia,

Senior

Venerable

Thich

Htiyen

Ton,

soon

joined

himin

Melboume.Athird

monk,

VenerableThich

Bao

Lac,

camefrom

Japan

and

settled

in

S_\dne}

in

February

1981.

The

growing

Vietnamese

Buddhist

community

realized

quickly

that

building

a

place

of

worship

would

prove

farmore

difficultand

complicated

than

origi-

nally

thought,

'l‘oday's

seemingly

well-established

l’huoc

llueand

i’hap

Bao

monasteriesin Western

Sydney

and other

similar

Vietnamese

temples

in

Brisbane,

Canberra. Melbourne.

Adelaide

andPerth.

disguise

the

problems

0f

neighbourhoodprotests.

landuse

zoning

and local

govemmeni

bttilding

tegulations

thathadtobeovercome

when

locating

house-temples

in

residential

areas.‘Buddha

worship

in

a

garage‘

was

the

description

givenby

the

Sidney

Morning

Heraldtothe

very

modestbrick

veneerhouse

thathoused

thefirst

l’liuoc Hue

Temple

in the

working‘class

suburb ofFairfield.

New

South

Wales.

inthe

early

19305,

Theissues

faced

by

house-temples

in

residential

areasremain

basically

unchanged

three

decadeslater

(Skennar

2005:

seealso

Skennar,

this

volume).