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'THE
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Hillside
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The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast for Sunday 14 January 2001
This program is called: Our Australia Day celebrations in this Centenary of Federation Year.
A Canadian Buddhist observed that the consumer society is moved by people who are in flight. How do you stop this? To practise Buddha Dhamma effectively requires leisure time with few duties and a non-fatigued mind. Few countries have been so violently subjected to change as Australia. That change continues to bring Australia out of isolation and into harmony with our trading partners, the world community. In no other country does the responsibility of preserving knowledge of the past rest quite so heavily upon its citizens. The difficulties of the first European settlement in Australia in a seemingly empty and comparatively harsh land were tremendous and of such magnitude that it was doubtful at times whether the planned occupation could be carried on. Carefree Australians today are apt to forget that at the time of first entry, their land produced no orthodox food and its soils had never been cultivated and that the abundance of foods produced within its boundaries today all have their origin overseas. The provision of food, storage of water, and the development of communication constituted the first duties of the pioneers. Within half a century of entry this land was carrying millions of hoofed animals where not a single specimen had existed before. New trees, new crop and new insects were rapidly introduced - all prospered with a fecundity that brought the country fame and fortune. All the diligent cultivation of the land by our ancestors has enabled the present generation to enjoy a rich, broad and nutritious diet. It is Right View for the present generation to develop the infrastructure for the nutrition of the future beings. Friday 26 January 2001 CE is the celebration of Australia Day in this, the centenary year of the federation of many States into the Commonwealth of Australia. When we study how nations become politically and culturally stable we often find that many good persons took rebirth and helped lay down the codes of conduct needed to inspire future generations to look after the nation. Such a person was Shotoku Taishi (572 to 621 CE), considered as the founder of Buddha Dhamma at a government level in Japan. He was the second son of the Emperor Yomei. He showed great compassion. Gratitude is the root of great compassion. It is the gate to open up good deeds and to be beloved by others according to the Mahaprajnaparamita-sastra. According to Shinjikwan-gyo (Mulajata-hridaya-dhyana-sutra), there are four kinds of gratitude: To parents, to other beings, to rulers, to the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha). On Australia Day we wish to show gratitude to our rulers. How do we show gratitude to our rulers? One Perfection which was added to the original six Paramita of Mahayana practice is called Upaya. This could be translated as skillful means or device or accommodation or expediency. In Japanese this is called Hoben. We will generate Upaya for this purpose. This is done as follows: know the law of change applies equally to things of the mind. Know there is no principle in an individual which is immortal or unchanging. Know no one owns the life that flows in us anymore than the electric light bulb owns the current that gives it light. Know as a consequence of becoming, we could be born in any country in future times depending upon the causes that we make. The fact that we are in Australia and many of our Members were born here, needs to be acknowledged. The skillful means starts with the knowledge that for the time being, in this life, Australia is more than likely to be our home. We are very happy with gratitude that Australia provided enough wealth and leisure so our Founder could establish our Hall of Assembly at Upwey, Victoria, decades ago. Over many decades our Teacher has been able to maintain our Hall of Assembly as a suitable location for our individual religious practices. These practices include Vandana chanting, Triple Gem chanting, sutta readings, recitation of puja, (such as long life puja arising from Pure Land practice), the provision of reading opportunities in a comprehensive Buddha Dhamma library and the provision of suitable images and stupas to pay respect to, as connected with the doctrine. In addition, the skillful means of our Teacher has provided us with the intellectual stimulus we need to learn and practice the various practices to enable us to learn how to bring wisdom and love into living form, how to learn the Dhammas that improve a persons lifestyle, how to serve all the Buddhas with practical deeds, and how to meditate upon our vows we have taken till we can live them. Among the skillful means our Teacher has provided for us is the notion that we ought to put goods and services back into Australian society at least equal in dollar terms to those which we have taken from it. The purpose of this broadcast is to make causes to be born in a suitable location to practice in future lives. In some sense, only by doing this locally might we be thought of as forming a correct social relationship with others in Australia because we vow to use our correct energies to help other Australians. But the wealth of Australians depends upon trade with other nations. So we must extend a sense of gratitude to our trading partners. Everything great starts with one good example well done and then repeated many times. When we have helped one person to improve their lifestyle by skilling them in the workforce attitudes that they need for this present age, we know that person shares their skills with others and it can go on and on to improve the workplace practices that lead to wealth for this country in the new economy. This script might be called a form of social Buddha Dhamma which we can do now in Australia. But unless we practice excellent work skills with our own I.T. systems within our Hall of Assembly and use our superior library collection to write material for our local and global broadcasting and publication programs, Members will not be skillful enough to maintain our eight Internet sites with rapid response to educate and help many Australians with superior knowledge. This week, two of our webmaster Members trained three key Members in web site development, to operate, upload material, to use the different types of software, to learn what protocols are needed to enter material onto our eight different websites and so on. All this training occurs within Australia and we can count ourselves fortunate that we can disclose this information because Australia has not so far followed the European approach to privacy. If we had excessive privacy laws, we could not record the skills (or lack of them) our Members have. As David Poulton, a media Lawyer, has pointed out there is no inherent right to privacy in Australia. In recent years, some privacy legislation has been developed, and public sector privacy has been implemented in a limited way. It is true that accurate knowledge of training done, influences our choices of who to train in the future. Because we receive no government funding, we are not obliged to train all persons. What the current and proposed legislation focuses on is the way in which government and other organisations should deal with people’s personal information. We do not keep intensive case studies of our Members qualifications. We do not keep case studies on how they vote at elections or what they think of government policies at any given time. We have to collect some personal data by law for the Australian Securities and Investment Commission each year. But we do insist that they abide by the laws of the land and to show some respect for the fact we have been flying the Australian flag at our Centres flagpoles for decades. We also fly a Buddhist flag with our Dhamma Chakra flag that shows our logo alongside the national flag. On occasions, we may fly other nations flags out of respect for senior Ambassadors who come to visit us. We expect visitors to show respect for our national flag. This year, our Members will be celebrating Australia day with a special ceremony for the Deva of Australia to be held at our Centre. We seek the protection of our national Deva. As part of the celebrations, we are encouraging each of our Members to erect two flag poles in their homes. One will fly the Australian flag and the other will fly our Buddha Dhamma Chakra flag on this important day of national celebration. We expect members to purchase their own Australian flag but will give them our locally produced Buddha flag as a gift. Protocol means the Australian flag must be higher than our logo flag and it must be illuminated at night. If it is not illuminated, the Australian flag should be lowered and raised again the next morning. A flag is usually but not always, oblong and attached by one edge to a staff or halyard. The part nearest the staff is called the hoist; the outer part is called the fly. Flags of various forms and purpose are known as colours, standards, banners, ensigns, pendants (pennants), pennons, guidons and burgess. Originally used mainly in warfare, flags were, and to some extent remain, insignia of leadership, serving for identification of friend or foe and as rallying points. The origins of flags recognizable as such, were the invention, almost certainly of the Indians or the Chinese. It is said that the founder of the Chou dynasty had a white flag carried before him; and it is known that in 660 CE a minor prince was punished for failing to lower his standard before his superior. It was a crime to even touch the flag bearer and the fall of the flag meant defeat: and the King would rarely expose his flag and his person together, the flag being normally entrusted to a general. Flags had equal importance in ancient India, being carried on chariots and elephants. The flag was the first object of attack in battle and its fall would mean confusion if not defeat. The flag over the centuries has developed many special uses. Since World War 2 interest in flags has expanded beyond their creation and use. Political scientists, historians, sociologists, and others recognise them as artifacts expressive of the cultures of certain times and places. (1) Our Centre is a Regional Centre of the World Fellowship of Buddhists. At the opening ceremony of the 21st General Conference of the WFB in Bangkok Thailand last December, the delegates of each country were led into the ceremony behind the national flags of their country. The flags were then displayed on the stage of the Thai National Convention Centre, where His Excellency the Prime Minister of Thailand opened the conference. Our Teacher read a message of congratulations from the Hon. Prime Minister of Australia to the conference opening. We have used our logo flag publicly on many occasions. One such grand occasion was when we were on the opening float for the Moomba River Pageant - Opening Ceremony, on the Yarra River in Melbourne, on 8 March 1993. The Moomba ceremony is an annual Melbourne cultural festival viewed by an estimated 100,000 people. It is generally opened with a street parade through the Melbourne City. That year the opening took place along the Yarra River, Melbourne. It brought together the concept of a Grand Parade to create over a kilometre of pageantry. A celebration barge was made available to our Centre to follow the theme of tradition and simplicity. The barge was decorated with our Chinese Calligraphy showing the word Buddha, Buddhist flags and our Dhamma Chakra Logo flags of our Centre were along the sides of the barge. Also persons in small speedboats carried our flags. Members of the Ch'an Academy of our Centre arranged the evening opening ceremony on the barge which was highly illuminated. Our Members and others on the barge placed about 750 lighted candles into the waters of the Yarra River. These floating candles were offered to help the wellbeing of the citizens of Melbourne. The ceremony opened with John D. Hughes sounding a Tibetan thigh bone Tantric trumpet and then sounding several gongs and a woodblock which had been presented from the Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn. We chanted blessings. The ceremony was on television. We welcome 26 January as Australia Day each year. We hope that this 26 January becomes a historical and meaningful day for more Australians. This day gives involved Australians, regardless of their ethnic origin, an opportunity to reflect and celebrate what it means to go to sleep each night beneath the gaze of the Southern Cross. We would all agree that Australia was a model of successful multiculturalism in the past. The word “multiculturalism”, is out of favour with some writers at the moment. Australians needed workers to visit many times over the last 200 years and were united by the concept of immigration as a way of national life when unemployment was below one per cent. Australia has welcomed more than four million workers as settlers from other lands to work in Australia since 1945. In 1986-87, nearly 115,000 newcomers from some 200 countries settled here. It is just over 200 years since the eleven ships of the First Fleet set sail on the longest migration in human history. There is agreement on all sides of the Australian political spectrum that immigrants still play a vital part in shaping Australia's future society and workforce. A continuing vigorous immigration program is needed to bring skilled workers into Australia, because there is increasing concern over the graying of Australia’s skilled professional workforce. In some new economic areas, labour shortages are appearing. Perhaps as many as 150,000 new persons are needed with IT skills. What is important for the present and future prosperity of Australians is that we make the effort to develop & practice Right View of migration, its causes and its advantages to our nation. Right View in the sense of what we can do to make Australia a great nation. A great nation not only blesses its local inhabitants but indeed is a role model for the world. Therefore, reflecting on what it means for us to live and work and contribute to Australia’s wealth should not be something that we just do only on Australia Day, but everyday. We help increase the power of the minds of our Members of the workforce as 15% of Australians now practice meditation for this purpose. The simplest way of conveying information in an emotional context of some of these things to the uneducated mind is to fly the Australian flag. We consider in our Centre that it is skillful to see the flag as the symbol of being an educated Australian with social Buddha Dhamma. In saying this, we are not intending to disparage uneducated persons. The flag is one form of social Buddha Dhamma that is likely to be clearly understood by our neighbours who may not have sufficient education in the benefits of Australian mores to be favourably disposed to the notion of religious freedom as something that educated Australians respect. It is prudent to recall to mind that the USA rights and privileges of religious tolerance allowed religious groups to enjoy prosperity in the USA today as a result of the striving of countless beings of the past generations. We believe in giving a “fair go” to those who worked for this country whatever their religious viewpoint. Unfortunately, as Australian listeners know, there have arisen some followers of a party that opposed the notion of multiculturalism in Australia and, at one point, obtained 25% of the country votes in one of the States of Australia. Apparently racist statements were made by that party who attacked unemployed persons. This may cause them to mobilise. The leaders of that party seem to ignore recent history. Following the second World War, the United Nations, in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, included the guarantee of protection and security in the event of unemployment (articles 23 & 25). This was in large part a response to the belief that the rise of Hilter in Germany and of extreme political movements in general have been facilitated by the presence of widespread unemployment and disaffection. Various countries, including Australia, introduced a welfare safety net to cover everyone, including unemployment benefits as a conditional right for the able-bodied. The need to make unemployment as unpleasant as possible within the humane limits of society was thought to be necessary to maintain a subdued and obedient workforce. In order to preserve work incentives, unemployment benefits had to be kept at low levels. As a result, Doctor Sharon Beder (2000) has observed that those receiving such benefits in most English-speaking countries tend to live in poverty. The World Health Organisation (WHO) (1975) stated: The poverty and frustration caused by unemployment debilitates, predisposes to fatigue and apathy, engenders despair, and increases not only psychological and bodily illness, but also crime, violence, drug abuse and other forms of deficient behaviour to which people resort when they reject society or are rejected by it. From a Buddha Dhamma perspective we see, it is a great blessing to live in Australia as Australia is a peaceful land with a well developed social, political and economic infrastructure. From time to time in the past, we motivated some unemployed persons to study and to get to work. To encourage them to a work ethic they helped us at our Centre. There is a satisfaction in Right Livelihood even if it is unpaid. Right Livelihood is a part of the Buddhists Noble Eightfold Path. We think all Australians, if they are willing to apply themselves wisely and develop Right Livelihood can enjoy a fulfilling life which means that you can view your life without regret before you pass away. In our experience the development of Right Livelihood takes about 10 years of regular training in being kind to other persons. Some persons cannot learn. In the development of wisdom each must for himself or herself clearly understand what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. To hear what is what we consider the Buddha’s teaching in the Sutta, The Discourse of Right View, when he taught on the difference between Wholesome and the Unwholesome states of mind. “When, friends, a noble disciple understands the unwholesome, the root of the unwholesome, the wholesome, and the root of the wholesome, in that way he is one of right view, his view is straight, who has perfect confidence in the Dhamma, and has arrived at this true Dhamma. “And what, friends, is the unwholesome, what is the root of the unwholesome, what is the wholesome, what is the root of the wholesome? Killing living beings is unwholesome; Taking what is not given is unwholesome; misconduct in sensual pleasures is unwholesome; false speech is unwholesome; malicious speech is unwholesome; harsh speech is unwholesome; gossip is unwholesome; covetousness is unwholesome; ill will is unwholesome; wrong view is unwholesome; this is called the unwholesome. “And what is the root of the unwholesome? Greed is a root of the unwholesome; hate is the root of the unwholesome; delusion is the root of the unwholesome; this is called the root of the unwholesome. After considerable training, many millions have learnt that this means that the major premise in the logic of life turns out to be keeping the five precepts: - Refraining from destroying living creatures - Refraining from taking what is not freely given - Refraining from wrong conduct in sexual pleasures - To refrain from false speech - To refrain from taking distilled and fermented intoxicants which are the occasion of carelessness Without them they cannot apply what they have learnt. Once these things are known and practiced the person is teachable in good work practices. Because we need highly trained persons to help us globalise our mission statement, we know we need to encourage our Members to improve their business and human resource management qualifications. But first they must learn morality (Sila). Human resource development is more than logical processes applied in a supply chain of reasoning; it is action within the supply chain of having a clear understanding of what working conditions can be generated within the capitalistic system under which we operate will be good only if morality is kept. We propose to offer ,over the next two years, a global work training system on Internet. Overall, the working conditions look as if for better workers have decreased resistance to company authority, and a fuller sense of involvement and belonging. The advantages of participation are needed because group pressures are so relentless that, regardless of personal convictions, conformity to a group decision has to be virtually guaranteed by the educated workforce if the next level of capital works is to be invested in. We develop ethics suitable for application in the global business world. So instead of having one business plan for Thailand, one business plan for Sri Lanka, one business plan for European countries, one business plan for the United States of America, as well as one business plan for each state of Australia, we develop an overall ethical framework that can be applied to other things than merely getting a living. We develop a system that is much better than some of the existing systems, where persons are killing themselves with work, busyness, rushing around, and trying to rescue puny performance causing burnout of workers. The best test of the quality of a civilization is the quality of its leisure, and how it treats its young persons and its old persons. The large increases in productivity in Australia since 1945 have not provided increased leisure time for full-time workers as was once predicted. Those who have full-time jobs still work at least 40 hours a week, but a significant proportion of them work even longer hours. There is in fact much evidence that persons in English-speaking countries such as the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia are working harder than they have for decades. As we have said, to practise Buddha Dhamma effectively requires leisure time with few duties and a non-fatigued mind. In the early 1990s, the average full-time American worker was working 140 to 163 more hours a year (equivalent to an extra month a year) than in the 1970s. One in four full-time workers works 49 hours or more per week; one in eight spends 60 hours or more working. We train our Members to get better income per hour with a view that they will work less hours than average but make more money than average. The most effective way of achieving this desirable state is to become self-employed or a consultant. Until there becomes time planning to limit work hours and develop the quiet, wake up, uncluttered time to develop oneself, there can be no realization of Buddha Teaching. We have many accounts on record of how Australian workers describe their average work day. While other addicts are stigmatised, workaholics are often admired and praised as the ones who are bound to succeed. For some years now in Japan, karoshi, or death from overwork, has been a recognised pathological condition. Families have successfully sued the companies that their husbands and fathers have worked for to win compensation for their deaths. When we talk a work ethic, we do not encourage Members to feel guilty if they are not engaged in some paid, productive activity. Persons who work too much and are constantly busy have little time to contemplate because anxieties are suppressed and critical thought is inhibited. Work, like other addictions, enables persons to cope with their fears and problems by ignoring them, not facing up to them. At our Centre, we train persons to have high income, freedom from stress, and awareness that the information available on our web sites is one of the best resources available for them to consider when they are planning the next four steps on their life plan. In both the USA and Britain, worker participation tended to be illusory. Companies were reluctant to make any real changes or restructure either the company organisation or the decision making hierarchy. One academic who studied the company system decided the aim was to get the workers to accept what management wants them to accept, BUT to make them feel they made or helped to make the decision. According to Peter Drucker, most of human relations reforms are a means of busting the unions... they are based on the belief that if you have good employee relations the union will wither on the vine. Our version of training has no place whatever for greed from unions or elsewhere since everything we do is done by volunteers who freely give their time and skills to our organisation when they can. We have good physical working conditions of clean air, good light and so on. because we have good merit and can get adequate resources. We track Occupational Health and Safety issues because they are the law of the land. Many companies provided company magazines to workers in an effort to communicate and create a sense of belonging. We use email, the Brooking Street Bugle, and many paper handouts and position papers about the cost of doing business to keep our volunteers informed of what they actually consume as we train them. This creates a sense of balance of input output costs. We use about $400,000 of IT equipment and plant on an average day to train our Members on and off site. The equipment is de-centralised. We use about $1million dollars equivalent per annum to provide training skills from our websites. If our webmasters worked at commercial rates they would cost about $750,000 per year. Our equipment costs for serving our local area network (LAN) account for the rest of the cost if it was provided at commercial rates. Consumables are not inexpensive. The cost equivalent of training one of our key executives amounts to about $40,000 a year in plant and equipment costs. They supply up to three times that amount in goods and services to other Members costed at professional rates ($120,000) for 100 regular Members per year. We do not issues qualifications in any form. This is equivalent to $12,000 dollars per year training cost per Member which is about one third of the actual cost of equivalent training at a university under graduate level. The commercial equivalent therefore, of specialised training the average Member receives, is about $36,000 dollars a year of current business know how. Some of our training is equivalent to post graduate training. It is small surprise that Members quadruple their commercial income over three or four years of becoming a Member of our organisation. This is why we are so selective in inviting persons to become Members. We cannot afford to train everyone. We are not inclined to squander our resources on persons who do not wish to learn good things and use them for the benefit of many Australians. We do not issue formal qualifications to Members for the training they receive. The overheads would be too high. Members are encouraged to undertake formal qualifications at a University or other tertiary institute after we train them. We estimate we save half a million dollars per year by not issuing qualification certificates or formal qualifications. We cannot see value in this because more and more employers test their job applicants for “can do” skills. Our Members sila training is the edge. Although the Buddha did not arrive at the truths by logic, but by direct insight, they do withstand the simple tests of logic up to eighth order. For a person to be born in or immigrate to Australia is a result of good deeds performed in previous lives whereby because having practiced sufficient generosity (in pali, Dana) and sufficient morality (in pali, Sila) and other good things, this life in Australia, is possible. For those persons with more merit, they can hear Buddha Dhamma; for those with larger merit they can practice what they hear, and a few persons may be able to practice trust in complexity of analysis by use of tantra this life. In addition, that person who had contributed in past lives to the prosperity of Australia and become born here or had immigrated here this life will find a good livelihood here. As the Buddha taught, everything can be linked to Causes and Effects, or in Pali “kamma” and “vipaka”. Hence, we work to contribute to the prosperity and wealth of Australia which is our home today, knowing that contributing to the prosperity of our country creates the conditions to be reborn in a suitable wealthy location in future lives. To be in a suitable location, is one of the highest blessings. When members have the Australian flag and our logo flag flying on Australia Day, they will be visited by the Deva of Australia. If you raise the Australian flag on Australia Day it may be possible that the Deva of Australia will visit your home as a result of our practice. May you be well and happy! This script was written and edited by: John D. Hughes, Pam Adkins, Julian Bamford, Tim Browning, Leanne Eames, Lisa Nelson and Pennie White. Disclaimer:
As we, the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., do not control the actions of our service providers from time to time, make no warranty as to the continuous operation of our website(s). Also, we make no assertion as to the veracity of any of the information included in any of the links with our websites, or an other source accessed through our website(s).
Accordingly, we accept no liability to any user or subsequent third party, either expressed or implied, whether or not caused by error or omission on either our part, or a member, employee or other person associated with the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
References: 1. Britannica: Micropaedia Ready Reference No.4 15th Edition Chicago 2. Beder, S (2000), Selling the Work Ethic Scribe Publications, Australia, pp.152 to 155 3. History of the Institute, accessed at http:/home.vicnet.net.au/~pmi1nc/history.htm
For more information, contact the Centre or better still, come and visit us. |
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