[url]http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=49,4360,0,0,1,0/url]
Buddhism is Australia's fastest growing
religion
By Walter Jayawardhana, Lankaweb, June 22, 2007
Australia is having per capita buddhists than any other western
nation and it is the fastest growing religion in the country
Sydney, Australia -- The Dalai lamas recently concluded visit to
Australia that also included a meeting with Australian Prime
minister John Howard has once again drawn the attention not only to
the fact that Buddhism is the fastest growing religion in Australia
but also that there are more Buddhists in the continent per capita
than anywhere else in the Western world.
A Voice of America report said since 1996 the number of Buddhists
in the country have gone up almost 80 percent and now there are
about 350000 followers of the religions first brought to the
country by Asian immigrants not only during recent times but also
in the not so recent past like 100 years ago.
The Voice of America report said Buddhism was now moving beyond the
Asian immigrant communities and spreading as a mainstream religion.
The report said, Experts who study religious trends in Australia
say many converts to Buddhism found the teachings of some Christian
churches too rigid and intolerant of questions about the
faith.
Converts say Buddhism gives them freedoms they have never had
before.
Renate Ogilvie is a German-born teacher at a Buddhist institute
here in Sydney.Quoting him the report said, "In Buddhism you are
allowed to ask questions and actually you're actively encouraged to
doubt and to discuss and so on," Ogilvie said. "The Buddha said
don't just believe because I'm very famous, don't just believe
because many people believe what I teach. Be like the goldsmith,
you know, apply the acid to the gold to test it and the acid being
your mind, your intelligence. So in that sense it's a manifesto of
intellectual freedom which is very, very appealing."
The Diamond Way retreat facility in Sydney is typical of many small
Buddhist centers around the country and it has 140 members and like
many other groups here it follows the Vajrayana tradition from
Tibet, seen as the third main branch of Buddhism alongside the
Theravada and Mahayana, the report said.
The following is the rest of the report Phil Mercer broadcast for
the Voice of America:-
Phil Carlisle is the host of the Diamond Way gatherings.
"I think that Buddhism really suits people who have independent
thinking and are maybe discouraged or had enough of religions where
they're told what to believe rather than being given an opportunity
to see how something fits for them. Aussies are notoriously averse
to authority figures," Carlisle said.
Anthony Hickson is a recent convert. He was brought up in a strict
Catholic family.
The 27-year-old video editor has been attending meetings at the
Diamond Way center since the start of the year and believes
Buddhism is showing him a new way to live.
"I guess from coming here I don't think there's one truth" Hickson
said. "I think there's [are] many truths. My brother's pretty
active in the Catholic Church and that works really well for him
and I've seen him grow and change a lot. So I think for me it was
just a different path and a lot of the teachings made sense to me
before I'd come here and coming here it was just being around
people. There's a good energy, there's a good vibe. Things make
sense."
The nuns offer a prayer asking for long life for the Dalai Lama,
Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader. The Nobel Peace Prize winner
lives in India as the head of the community of Tibetans who have
fled Chinese rule of their homeland.
His visit to Australia over the past several days created much
excitement among Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Large crowds greeted
him everywhere he went. Even Prime Minister John Howard met with
one of the world's most recognizable religious figures.
For Buddhist nun Robina Caulton, the enthusiasm surrounding the
Dalai Lama's visit shows how her faith has developed in
Australia.
"The Dalai Lama has an enormous kind of following here. I mean I've
observed that traveling around the world - now based in the States,
right," Caulton said. "Australia's half the population of
California and there're probably more Tibetan Buddhist centers and
more flourishing ones than even actually in, say, the United
States.
When he's in the States people in one other state
wouldn't even know he's there but whenever he's in Australia the
whole country knows so it's kind of interesting."
Despite such enthusiasm, Australia remains a very Christian country
- with more than 75 percent of the population of 20 million
belonging to a Christian church. Some Anglican leaders have said
Buddhism has little community spirit but relies heavily on
individual happiness. Buddhists disagree. Many Buddhist communities
have charitable operations, and they say that a community's
happiness depends on the lasting happiness of ndividuals.
