Buddhism in Australia Traditions in Change

1

Educating

forwisdom

and

compassion

mind

Patricia

Sherwood

Ihave

taught

forover

30

years

intheAustralian

university

sectorandhave

a

deep

commitmenttoeducation

asa

process

for

creating

skilfulsuites

withinindividuals

andcommunities.

In[986Imoved

fromPerth

to

Bunbury.

to

becomeafoundation

memberofthis

regional

campus

ofEdith

Cowan

University.

I

taught

many

humanservicecourses

including

theworld's

great

religious

traditions.

I decided

thatforeachtradition

Iwould

give

oneacademic

lectureand

Iwouldinvite

one

practitioner

ofthe

traditionto

give

onelecture

froma

practitioner's

experience.

When Icametoteach

Buddhism.

thematerial

was

immediately

familiar

and

Iread

deeply.

including

theentire

l’ali canon.

when

Ajahn

.lagaro

and

Ajuhn

Brahm,

theThai—trained

Theravada

teachers

fromtheWestern

Australian

Buddhist

Society

visitedthe

classtolecture

onBuddhism.

a

deep

silence

opened

into|he

soundofbell

ringing,

I wasawakened

by

the

peacefulness

oftheir

presence,

as

werethestudents.

Nothing

disturbed

themind

statesof

thesemonksand,

as

they

walkeddown

the

university

corridors,

a

quietness

descended

around

them.Atthat

moment.I

knewitwasthis

stateofmind

thatenabled

wisdomand

compassion

to

be

cultivated,

freefromfears.

irritations.

anger,

aversion

anddesire.

Iwantedto

acquire

that

stateofmindso

that

I,

too.

Couldbeabeacon

of

peacefulness

inthis

sometimestroubled

world.

Attheend

ofthe

course,

52

per

centof

thestudents

intheclass

votedBuddhism

asthe

worldview

they

wouldbemost

interestedin

understanding

moreabout.

Itwasclear

Buddhism

provided

a

range

oftoolstodeal

withour

day-today

stressfttl

mindstates.

andtoolsto

transformthem

intoa‘clear

forest

pool'

from

which

wisdomand

compassion

could

arise.I

was

inspired

by

Ajahn

Chah's

visionofthisstill

forest

pool:

Allkindsof

wonderful.

rarecreatures

willcome

todrinkat

the

pool,

and

you

willsee

clearly

thenature

ofall

things.

Youwill

see

many

strange

and

wonderful

things

comeand

go

but

you

willhestill.

Thi

happiness

ofthe

Buddha.

This

wasthebirthof

the

impulse

to

develop

education

programs

for

cultivating

the

peaceful

mind.

Through

the

EdithCowan

University

community

education

progams

forthe

public,

Iran

aseriesof

programs

on

Buddhism

which

proved

immenselypopular

andfollowed

this

up

byestablishing

the

Bunbury

Buddhist