Buddhism in Australia
Sometime after I published Zen in Brazil (2006), Michelle Barker (JCU) invited me to edit a book on Buddhism in Australia with her. This edited volume is groundbreaking because we divided it in two parts – one for academics analyses and another for Buddhist leaders to tell the challenges they faced in establishing Buddhism in this country (Routledge 2011).
I am presently working with Anna Halafoff (Deakin University) and Venerable Juewei and Sioh Yang Tan (Nantien Institute) on a project on Buddhism in the Pacific.
Both projects consider the particularities of Australia’s geographical location close to Asia, and how the Buddhism in this country was influenced by flows of Asian migrants, particularly on the Northern Territory, as well as ideas of modern Buddhism coming from the US and Europe.