Welcome to
Sakya Dolma Choe Ling

Tibetan Buddhist Society of Sydney

PO Box 3709, Marsfield NSW 2122, AUSTRALIA
Phone/fax:   61 2 9874 7942   Email:  SakyaDolmaChoeLing@bigpond.com

Words of Wisdom


AUSTRALIA – THIS IS OUR COUNTRY!
by Julia Williams and Ian Delaney
Amongst the seeming chaos of this so-called “modern and progressive” society, the necessity for a valid, practical, relevant and effective form of inner work is increasingly important.  Many decisions appear to be out of our control and it appears more and more that truth, compassion and kindness are not reflected by the powers that are running this country.

The influence and practice of religion (the literal meaning of which is to re-join) in Australia has diminished and appears to have been replaced by “image is everything” mentality.  Advertising urges us to engage in an almost war like competition to be the winner. If one believed the advertising, it does not matter what happens to others, as long as we get what we think we want.  It is put across that the content of our hearts, our thoughts and our actions is irrelevant as long as we get away with it, look good and consume.

Everywhere we look there is sadness, sickness and suffering. As a direct result of this consumer society, it is easy to blame external forces for this, hence avoiding responsibility for the state of the world as well as for our physical, emotional and spiritual health. 

Maintaining an inner positive spiritual direction is certainly challenging in this setting!  There are so many things in this climate that distract us from trusting inner pathways or obscure them altogether. Those of us who have found teachers to whet the seed of our innate spirituality and those who sincerely pray that all beings be truly happy are able to add energy to the strength and value of this inner direction.

When reflecting on experiences from the recent pilgrimage to India and Nepal, the pilgrims spoke of wishing the Dharma to further spread in Australia.  Inspired by the deep devotion of Tibetan people, who spent hours every day circumambulating stupas in prayer, we imagined an Australia in which the many different spiritual practices were able to join together. Perhaps we can build on the multi-cultural opportunities that we already have in Australia. Imagine a public place of beauty having some kind of collective symbolic focus, which would encourage us to invoke the spiritual passions of our diverse community. This could take the form of a beautiful garden, into which was placed representational symbols of all the faiths.

Conflict between different religions (which is surely the antithesis of their core values) is currently threatening the peace of the world.  Working together to build a place that has sacred value to all faiths would encourage us to focus on similarity rather than difference. Would it not be divine for this to happen for the sake of world peace? After all, we all wish to be truly happy.

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