There had been many changes to Australia since Malcolm Fraser became its 22nd Prime Ministe. During his leadership of 7 years and 4 months (11/11/1975 to 11/03/1983) with the implementation of multi-cultural promotion policies that enhance human rights, compassion and social justice, 56,000 Vietnamese boat people became Australian residents. The number has increased, leading to a community of 300,000 Vietnameses up to now.
While Vietnamese people were happily preparing for the 40 years of our residence (1975-2015) in Australia, our benefactor Malcolm Fraser passed away. This is sad news for the Vietnamese community. It had been planned that in October 2015 Mr. Malcolm Fraser would have been present at the Victoria Parliament during an introduction of a book about 40 years of residence by Vietnamese in Austrlia, commenting on the contribution and achievements of Vietnamese Australian during the past 40 years. The book was written by a historian, Former Colonen Bruce Davies and Laywer Luu Tuong quang, Former Director of SBS radio. However, the joy has faded as Malcolm Fraser has been brought into another world as part of the Law of Impemanence. Nevertheless, what he had done for Australia and Vietnamese refugees has become invaluable legacy in Australia’s modern history.
As the matter of fact, Mr. Malcolm Fraser (1930-2015) has been considered as a great “father” by Vietnamese refugees in Australia. He passed away peacefully in early Friday, March 20th, 2015, enjoying a life expectancy of 84 years, leaving the endless mourining for his wife Mrs. Tamie Fraser, 4 grown-up children and thousands of Australian, including Vietnamese refugees.
Mr. Malcolm Fraser was born on May 21st, 1930 at Toorak, Victoria. After graduating from Oxford (England), majored in Phylosophy, Politics and Economics, in 1952, he came back to Australia to work. In 1955, he was elected into the Parliament at the Wannon county and from then he had held many key positions in the Liberty Party. From 1975 to 1983, during his 8 years of tenure, Former Prime Minster Malcolm Fraser introduced and applied many policies in relation to the Aboriginals’ land rights, the establishment of family court and Federal Court. In terms of world affairs, he contributed to the co-operation of countries in the Commonwealth to protest against the racism in South Africa. He helped with the organization of Commonwealth Olympics that enhanced the human equality, and establishment of the Advisors’ Committee for the Refugees. Thanks to his generosity that many Vietnamese had a chance to become permanent residents in Australia. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is really our great benefactor so we should express our gratitude to Him. The Executive Committee of Viectoria Free Vietnamese Community conducted the Community Memorial Service to pay tribute to Him in front of the Parliament of Victoria at 6pm on March 27th 2015. Particularly, Quang Duc Monasty branch in Fawkner set up an altar for him and had a ceremony to honour the memory of Him on Sunday March 23th, with many local Buddhists attending.
Our Vietnamese ancestors have a saying: “Drink water in the memory of the source, eat fruit in the memory of the growners”. It’s true that without PM Malcolm Fraser’s Boatman Support Policy, our Vietnamese Community would not be as it is today. I kindly appreciate the work and credits earned by The Executive Committee of the Victorian Branch of the Free Vietnamese Community that initiated the idea of collecting 500 “cans of gratitude” to raise fund among Vietnameses to support Royal Children Hospital on Friday April 3rd, 2015 (Good Friday Appeal), as the expression of our deep gratitude to Australia for its great assistance to Vietnamese refugees. The target set is to raise AUD500,000 for RoyalChildrenHospital. There have been many entertainment, cultural and sports events for fund raising held by the Community with the support of mass media, entrepreneurs, the aged’s associations, churches and temples, and other indivituals so hopefully the target will be achieved. Quang Duc Monasty has been trying to get fund from local followers for the 10 cans received from the Programme Board.
On this occasion, I would like to briefly talk about how Buddhism has come to Australia.
Australia is located at the Southern Hemisphere. Its capital is Canberra. Its territory area is 7.7 million km2 (ranked the sixth after Russia, Canada, USA, China and Brazil), consisting of 6 state (Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, West Australia) and 2 territories (Australian Capital Territory, Canberra; Northern Territory, Darwin). Population is 23.1 milion (statistics dated 21/3/2014, according to abs.gov.au); average life expectance: 76.6; level of secondary school education:: 99%; Politics: constitutional monarchy; average income per capita: $44.598 (World Bank 2012). Australia is rich in natural resource such as gold, bauxite, iron, zinc, copper, diamond, coal, uranium, industrial oil, tin stale urine. In addition, the soil and weather are favourable for agricultural development. Australia ranks the sixth in the world for having skilled labour force, number of IT experts, financial and mechanical potential.
Buddhism is one of the four largest religions in Australia, including Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism. Buddhism was introduced to Australia in 1848 (the 19th centery), when the Asian and Euroupean rushed to find gold in Ballarat, Victoria. Some of them were Buddhists so they built a temple with some temporary material. The temple did not last but its statutes did so we can work out the time when Buddhism was first known in Australia.
Vietnamese refugees started to come to Australia in late 1970s. Approximately 300,000 Vietnamese people live in this country now. There are 12 weekly Vietnamese newspapers 10 radios and 2 TV channels. There are 4 different Vietnamese Buddhist Associations in Australia: World Linh Sơn Buddhist Association (established by Senior Venerable Thich Huyen Vi, France); World Vietnam Buddhist Association (established by Senior Venerable Thich Tam Chau, Canada); Vietnamese Sangha Bhikshu Buddhist Association (established by Senior Venerable Giac Nhien, Ameria); especially United Vietnam Buddhist Association in Australia and New Zealand, established in 1981 by Senior Venerable Thich Phuoc Huệ, Senior Venerable Thich Huyen Ton, by Senior Venerables Thich Nhu Hue and Thich Bao Lac, first monks coming to Australia. This later Association has been operating for 15 years, through many ups and downs with the persistence to make the True Dharma take rook and spread in this country. Only up to December 1995, the Association’s activities were suspended due to the internal conflicts. In September 1999, the majority of members held a conference at PhapBaoTemple in New South Wales, in order to put the Association back into operation. The Conference last for 3 days on September 10th, 11th and 12th 1999, with many monks and nuns and Buddhists from more than 23 temples from all over Australia and New Zealand (nowadays, the number of members has increased to 35 temples). The name of the Association was changed to United Vietnam Buddhist Association in Australia and New Zealand. According to the media, the Conference was successful thanks to the support of all the Buddhist adherents from all over these two countries.
In general, Vietnamese Buddhism has been gradually integrated and developed in Australia. Vietnamese temples with typical Asian curved roofs coming into existence are good images as real and undeniable contribution by the Vietnamese community to the Australia’s multi-cultural and multi-national heritage. There are now about 100 monks and nuns in more than seventy temples all over Australia and New Zealand. (See the statistics at the end). By the view of the local people, Vietnamese Buddhism is different and richer in forms, compared with Buddhism practiced by other nations. That is the special combination of 3 different schools of Mahayana, Theravada and Bhikshu, and Meditation and PureLand as well. Another characteristic is that the temples have the society called Buddhist Family, currently numbering 12 with 1050 heads and members. Some have a BodhiVietnameseLanguageSchool that helps young children born in Australia to learn and preserve our language and culture.
There are some stages of development for Buddhism in Australia: First stage can be countered from the beginning to the early 1960s when Buddhism has not been widely recognized but practiced by some Asian and even European communities. Another stage is from when a great number of Asian refugees came to Australia in the early 1980s of the 20th century when the history of Buddhism in Australia was turned to a new page with the number of followers ranked second after Christianity. Another source of statistics in Australia in 2011 revealed a number of 529,000 Buddhist followers.
Obviously there are more Australian adherents for Buddhism and this is good news. However, English-speaking Australian have difficulties in understanding and practicing Buddhism due to the differences in language and culture. To overcome these, they should come to relevant religious associations to work with other culture partner associations. These are major concern for religious leaders in Australia. The United Vietnam Buddhist Association in Australia and New Zealand will have to take the responsibility to work out the better way for promoting the Buddha’s teachings to other cultures, not just to our own people.
On the occasion of the Australian Vietnamese celebrating 40 years of living in Australia, we monks and nuns, and all Vietnamese Buddhists in Australia, would like to extend our gratitude towards Australia and the Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Thank you to federal, state and local governments with supportive multi-cultural, multi-raced, multi-religious policies that that greatly promoted the freedom, equality and compassion. Thanks to this, our Vietnamese community have good opportunities to resettle in Australia. We have considered Australia our second homeland and have led happy and successful lives.
I would like to wishing the Vietnamese community good development and success to continue their contribution to the prosperity, wealth and peace of this multi-cultural nation.
Homage to Amitabha Buddha
Written at Quang Duc Monasty in April 2015
By Thich Nguyen Tang
Translated into English by Hoa Chi
List of Vietnamese Temples in Australia
1. PhapHoaTemple
2. Quan Am Temple
3. Bac Linh Monk and Nuns’ Place
4. Minh Quang Zen Monastery (Adelaide)
5. PhapBaoTemple
6. Da Bao Monastery
7. PhapBaoZenTemple
8. HuyenQuangTemple
9. TrucLamTemple
10. Thien An Temple
11. A Di Da Temple
12. Minh Quang Zen Monastery (Sydney)
13. MinhGiacTemple
14. Minh Giac Monastery
15. Nguyen Thieu Monastery
16. HungLongTemple
17. LienHoaTemple
18. Minh Dang Quang Zen Monastery
19. LongQuangTemple
20. Bao An Temple
21. BaoVuongTemple
22. ThienDucTemple
23. Quang Duc Monastery
24. LinhSonTemple
25. BaoMinhTemple
26. KimCangTemple
27. GiacHoangTemple
28. HueQuangTemple
29. Tu An Monastery
30. PhatQuangTemple
31. Dieu Am Temple
32. An Lac Hanh Pure LandTemple
33. Bo De Temple
34. Van Hanh Monastery
35. PhapQuangTemple
36. LinhSonTemple (Queensland)
37. Quan The Am Temple
38. Minh Quang Zen Monastery (Perth)
39. GiacNhienTemple
40. TriDucTemple
41. PhuocHueTemple(Temples numbered 41 and onward are not members of the United Vietnam Buddhist Association in Australia and New Zealand)
On 7 July His Holiness the Dalai Lama continued with his preparatory prayers for the Kalachakra initiations and was also welcomed in the United States Congress by Speaker John Boehner and congressional leaders from both the Republican and the Democratic parties... His Holiness said that after coming to India as a refugee in 1959, he began democratization process. By 2001 we already achieved elected political leadership, he said...
In the course of it His Holiness briefly addressed the audience about the background of his relation with the Kalachakra Initiations... His Holiness shared with the audience an “interesting dream” that he had at the conclusion of the initiation in Dharamsala.
Asoka, grandson of Chandragupta, was one of the first royal patrons of Buddhism. The first was, perhaps, Bimbisara, who lived at the time of the Buddha. Asoka's legend is recorded in a second century book called the "Asokavadana" which was translated into Chinese by Fa-ch'in in 300 A.D. He is also known from his edicts written on rocks and pillars throughout India. In his youth. Asoka was known as Canda Asoka, the fierce Asoka, due to his aggressive nature. As a prince, he was appointed governor of Vidisa (modern Bhilsa) where he married a rich merchant's daughter. On hearing of his father's impending death, he hurried to the Capital, Pataliputra,
His Holiness the Dalai Lama left Minneapolis on May 9, 2011 for his next leg of his program in Dallas, Texas, receiving an honorary degree from the SouthernMethodist University and giving a talk on democracy... His Holiness said that all human beings were the same and that difference in faith, race, language, culture, etc., was secondary.
His Holiness begins his programs on May 3, 2011. During this trip His Holiness is participating programs in five universities in the states of California, Minnesota, Arkansas, and Texas as well as other events in New Jersey.
For many Americans, the dramatic photo of the Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation in 1963 constitutes their most enduring memory of the Vietnam War. In June of that year, as the Buddhist rebellion against Ngo Dinh Diem gained momentum, the elderly monk sat in a lotus position on a busy Saigon street and set himself on fire.
Kyabje Khensur Kangurwa Lobsang Thubten Rinpoche (1925-2014), or simply Rinpoche as his thousands of students around the world affectionately call him, is a Buddhist Monk and also the founder of TBI.
He was born in December 1925 to a farming family in the small village of Rinda in a mountainous valley of eastern Tibet (Kham) in what is now the Kartse (Ganzi) Prefecture of Western Sichuan. This area was the birthplace of many great lamas of contemporary times, including Khensur Rinpoche Urgyen Tseten, the late Geshe Ngawang Dhargye and the late Geshe Rabten
How do people manage spiritual practice with a busy working life? This was one of the questions that were put to Dr. Alan Molloy, long-time resident of Tara Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Alan has witnessed the growth of Buddhism in Australia from the late 1970s to the present and, during the interview, shared some of the highlights of his 17 years as a Buddhist.
Nguyện đem công đức này, trang nghiêm Phật Tịnh Độ, trên đền bốn ơn nặng, dưới cứu khổ ba đường, nếu có người thấy nghe, đều phát lòng Bồ Đề, hết một báo thân này, sinh qua cõi Cực Lạc.
May the Merit and virtue,accrued from this work, adorn the Buddhas pureland, Repay the four great kindnesses above, andrelieve the suffering of those on the three paths below, may those who see or hear of these efforts generates Bodhi Mind, spend their lives devoted to the Buddha Dharma, the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Quang Duc Buddhist Welfare Association of Victoria Tu Viện Quảng Đức | Quang Duc Monastery Senior Venerable Thich Tam Phuong | Senior Venerable Thich Nguyen Tang Address: Quang Duc Monastery, 105 Lynch Road, Fawkner, Vic.3060 Australia Tel: 61.03.9357 3544 ; Fax: 61.03.9357 3600 Website: http://www.quangduc.com ; http://www.tuvienquangduc.com.au (old) Xin gửi Xin gửi bài mới và ý kiến đóng góp đến Ban Biên Tập qua địa chỉ: quangduc@quangduc.com , tvquangduc@bigpond.com
Chúng tôi sử dụng cookie để cung cấp cho bạn trải nghiệm tốt nhất trên trang web của chúng tôi. Nếu tiếp tục, chúng tôi cho rằng bạn đã chấp thuận cookie cho mục đích này.