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AUSTRALIA IS HAVING PER CAPITA BUDDHISTS THAN ANY OTHER WESTERN NATION AND IT IS THE FASTEST GROWING RELIGION IN THE COUNTRYBy Walter JayawardhanaThe 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. 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:- "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. "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. "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. |
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