Earlier this year, a new lay organization called Buddhacare was formed in Australia, to fulfill two main objectives: firstly, to act as an umbrella for Australian lay Buddhists, and secondly, to promote Engaged Buddhism as an integral part of Australian daily life. Buddhacare draws inspiration from the belief that Buddhist practice cannot be divorced from social engagement, as exemplified by the Buddha's life.
Buddhist organizations helping Sa Pa mountain children in North Vietnam. From Thuy Le
The Australian Sangha Association (ASA) acts as the umbrella organization for ordained sangha members, but to date no organization specifically takes care of the various needs of lay practitioners. Although lay practitioners are generally well looked after at their individual temples and associations, Buddhacare hopes to serve as the first official Australian lay Buddhist organization.
This project is the brainchild of two long-time Buddhists, Vince Cavuoto from Melbourne and Henry Dang from Sydney, who is also the current secretary general of the Buddhist Federation of Australia. According to Mr. Dang, Buddhacare will work closely with the ASA and other lay Buddhist organizations in various countries around the world.
One such organization is the International Lay Buddhist Forum (ILBF), which began as a lay Buddhist movement in South Korea in 2007, initiated by the Chongji Order of Korean Buddhism. In 2012, the ILBF held its first gathering outside Asia at a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in southern Spain. At the seventh gathering of the ILBF in Tokyo held from 23–29 April this year, Mr. Cavuoto made a presentation entitled “Building a conceptual framework for an engaged Buddhist organization: Buddhacare,” which strongly emphasized the need for Buddhism as a whole to be more engaged in worldly activities such as education, medical research and practice, politics in general, and important decision-making regarding the welfare of all sentient beings, both locally and internationally.
In his introduction to the presentation, Mr. Cavuoto stated: “My first encounter with Buddhism goes back to the early 1980s. It helped me make sense of my life and my relationship with the world and therefore could help others do likewise. Consequently I became very enthusiastic about promoting Buddhism. I could see the big potential for Buddhism to help develop not only individuals but also society. However, this early enthusiasm was quickly tempered by the realisation that the type of Buddhism I had been introduced into was mainly concerned with liberating the self and was not concerned with the welfare of society at large.”
Organizations such as Buddhacare and the ILBF see an urgent need for Buddhists to engage the Dharma actively in society as one antidote to suffering and to improve the welfare of all living beings. They hope to demonstrate that the Buddha Dharma transcends all imposed labels and differences among living beings.