Introducing the Cooroona-Opal Sangha of Australia

One of the most inspiring elements of Buddhism lies in its development over the course of the two and a half millennia since the passing of our founder, Gotama Shakyamuni, or Buddha, "The Awakened One".

As the Buddha's dharma, or "way/teaching", passed from India and into China, Korea, Indo-China, Japan and ultimately the West, it has always found a way to adapt itself to the culture and needs of the people it has encountered.

Such a development has been inspiring because Buddhism has managed to adapt and evolve constantly, maintaining its basic principles, and keeping to one of its most basic tenets; that of detachment - detachment from form, from ritual, and from the limitations of cultural prejudices and beliefs.

Buddhism encountered Confucianism and Taoism as it entered China, and birthed Ch'an (better known as "Zen" in the West) as a result of this mingling of influences. What we know as Tibetan Buddhism, or Vajrayana was similarly the result of the interaction of Indian Buddhism with the shamanic practices and beliefs of the local inhabitants. In like fashion, Buddhism's expansion into Korea, Japan and Vietnam followed a similar path of meeting with the reality of life and people as they were and finding the most harmonious and appropriate way in which the teachings of the Buddha might be presented and further developed. This process has allowed a flowering of Buddhism, and demonstrated how each culture, and even each person, can in their own way enhance, and be enhanced by, the Buddha's dharma.

In the wake of the Communist revolution in China, the great Chinese Ch'an master Hsu Yun sent his foremost disciple Jy Din to Honolulu in 1956 to further establish the dharma in the West, continuing the long tradition of the expansion of the Buddha's teachings in far and foreign lands. Since the arrival of Buddhism into America it has had to adapt to very different and extremely unfamiliar conditions. Arguably, the "turning of the dharma wheel" that led Buddhism to the West has provided the most daunting challenges of all in its continued development and expression. The secular world of the modern United States provided, at least on the surface, few opportunities for sharing and developing common ground, common understanding, and common language.

And yet, as the decades have passed, Buddhism has indeed flourished in the West and influences from psychotherapy, feminism and humanism, philosophy and neuroscience, among others, have provided new insights into the Buddha's teachings, and new ways of expressing old truths.

In 1997 Jy Din, in collarboration with his new Western students, founded the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun. Jy Din was excited about the prospect of using the internet as a new way of further adapting Buddhism and the teachings of Ch'an to a new world; the fascinating world of cyberspace! And yet, typical of the adage that there is nothing new under the sun, this new development was really not so new at all. Especially in China, there has always been a respected and venerable Ch'an tradition of teaching and communicating the dharma via correspondence. This was necessary due to the fact that so many of the great Chinese masters used to wander from place to place, often seeking out the most far flung and isolated areas in which to further their own practice. With the advent of the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun, that which is old has become new again, and the ancient traditions of Ch'an have found a new expression in a new technological era.

In each new country, culture and environment that Buddhism has found itself, it has managed to adapt and evolve, simultaneously respecting and challenging the environment in which it has found itself. It is in this light of both respect and challenge that one priest of the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun has established the Cooroona-Opal Sangha to continue the mission to disseminate the teachings of Cha'n and Hsu Yun in Australia.

Sangha is the original Sanskrit term for "assembly", or "collection" and is a traditional word to denote a community of followers, or a group of Buddhists who come together to practice the dharma. Cooroona is an Australian Aboriginal term meaning "place of welcome", and Opal refers to the national gem of Australia which is noted for its sparkling, beautiful colours - indeed, there is an Aboriginal myth that says that the opal was created when the rainbow fell from the sky and landed on the earth!

These combined terms suggest a meeting of different and varied people and communities coming together for a shared purpose, and it is in this suggestion that the Cooroona-Opal Sangha represents a reflection of the Australian experience - but also a challenge.

Australia, like the United States of America, is a young country founded upon waves of immigration, of often-displanted European communities in a strange and distant land. Australia has enjoyed the fruits of mass immigration, first from Europe and then from the surrounding region of South-East Asia in particular. Australia's national and multi-cultural character is a direct result of this intermingling of culture and race under one national identity.

However, it would be dishonest and naïve to consider that Australia has not at times struggled with this multi-cultural adventure. Undeniably, on occasion her history reveals a xenophobia, fear and often unwillingness to accommodate the reality of her location, far from her European roots, tucked away beneath the southern tip of the Asian continent, upon an ancient land inhabited for tens of thousands of years by (almost) equally ancient indigenous kingdoms.

In such an environment, Ch'an Buddhism again finds itself in a unique situation, with its own particular challenges and history. But as the Buddha himself said, one can only begin following the path from where one is. Buddhism has been present in Australia for a long time, particularly since the wave of Chinese immigrants that arrived on these shores with the "gold rushes" of the 19th Century, and it has had time to acclimatise to the conditions of this land, bearing witness to its opportunities and challenges.

The Cooroona-Opal Sangha will reflect the same journey each follower of the Buddha-way must take. It will share, express, learn and develop the dharma in its own unique way, in the environment it finds itself, in a spirit of reverence and respect, awake to the challenge and the reality of life and society, here and now. 
 

Amitofo
Rev. Fa Gong Shakya, OHY
Feb. 2, 2007