VISION AND OBJECTIVES

Our Vision

Our vision is for a “Dharma Community with Open Arms”.

Buddhism varies in its practice from country to country, from tradition to tradition, and from teacher to teacher. The Buddha himself recognised that the vehicle for his Dharma teaching would adapt and change over time and in different places.

A Dharma Community brings all Buddhist traditions and schools together. While respecting the distinct value and heritage of each tradition, a Dharma Community emphasises the essence of the Buddha’s teaching which is common to all Buddhist schools and traditions.

The Buddhist Council of NSW therefore encourages all Buddhist groups, temples and societies to come together to appreciate each other through the essence of the Dharma itself.

To have Open Arms is to be open to everyone in the general community, to build bridges of understanding and to act compassionately towards all humanity, whether Buddhist or non-Buddhist.

Our Objectives

The first primary function of the Buddhist Council of NSW is to serve its member organisations, which include Buddhist temples, Buddhist societies and other Buddhist organisations.

If a member organisation needs assistance or advice, the Buddhist Council will try to assist. For example, a member organisation may require help to improve its governance, financial management, administration, or they may need preliminary advice in dealing with government agencies.

Our Golden Rules

(1) We try to find ways to spread the understanding and practice of the Dharma, without duplicating what our member organisations are doing.

(2) We work for the Dharma, not for ourselves.

(3) We are mindful of all our other responsibilities, so that whatever we do for the Buddhist Council of NSW is the practice of the Middle Path.

(4) We use the Dharma in our work for the Buddhist Council of NSW, so that whatever obstacles face us, we can endure and overcome as part of our Dharma practice.

The spirit of our Vision

"This brings us to an extremely important point, a point directly affecting the nature of the Buddhist movement not only in this country but throughout the Western world. Buddhism has a long history. It has flourished in the East for 2500 years, and during this time, in India, china, Japan, Tibet, and elsewhere, numerous sects and schools have sprung up … These schools present a picture, or pattern, of unity in diversity, and diversity in unity. All aim at the attainment of Enlightenment, or Buddhahood. At the same time they approach it in a number of ways and from many points of view. They are either predominantly rationalist or predominantly mystical, inclined to activism or quietism, situating their teaching in in a historical or mythological context, and so on. These schools, or at any rate some of the most important of them, are now in process of being introduced into the West … They at first present, to the Western student, a spectacle of unmitigated difference, not to say disharmony. But we should not allow ourselves to be misled by appearances. Despite their apparent differences, even mutual opposition, we should study and learn to appreciate them all, thus making ourselves acquainted, as far as possible, with the whole vast range of Buddhist thought and practice. Only in this way will it be possible for us to obtain a balanced picture of Buddhism. Otherwise we might commit the mistake of identifying Buddhism with one or another of its expressions, maintaining that this, and this alone, was the true embodiment of the Buddha’s teaching. Such a course would be unfortunate as it would mean, in effect, adopting an attitude of sectarian exclusiveness which … is quite foreign to the spirit of Buddhism." - Sangharakshita, 1965.