Buddha today: does he have email?

By Laura Epstein

The Nan Tien Temple offers classes in the ancient power of meditation, the old art of calligraphy, and traditional Buddhist cuisine. For more information, simply turn to the Internet or get in your car and drive to the temple.

Indeed, Nan Tien is all about balance. Ancient arts and modern conveniences meet at this Berkeley temple where faithful monks chant alongside tourists and a modern auditorium sits among antique Buddhist shrines.

Nan Tien – the largest temple in the southern hemisphere – is easy to spot heading south out of Wollongong. Its tranquil buildings and peaceful gardens are only a few minutes’ drive from the frantic pace of the Southern Freeway. The temple houses a state-of-the-art 190-seat conference room, an auditorium with audio-visual facilities for 330, a modern dining hall serving Buddhist vegetarian food, and even a lodge for visitors, complete with television in each room.

The image of altruistic Buddhist monks ready to denounce materialism seems to have shifted. But don’t let the conveniences fool you. Age-old traditions prevail at Nan Tien – even the laypeople who work at the temple are expected to follow the first five precepts of Buddhism: no lying, no stealing, no killing, no sexual misconduct, and no intoxicating substances.

Despite the modernisations, "the teachings are very traditional," says Reverend Miao Shih, who has been at the temple since its opening in 1995. "We have to catch up to the community, to the level of technology now."

She says that providing television in the guest rooms simply shows the type of society we live in now. Shunning it only because it is a piece of modern technology would be similar to denying other advances, such as smoke detectors and telephones.

"You need to bring the Buddhism to a younger generation now," Reverend Shih says.
In the March issue of the Nan Tien Monthly, the balance of new and old is explained: "In order for Buddhism to progress with the rapid pace of the modern era, we need good facilities to teach and share the Dharma, so that people can get the most benefit from it."

Does all this modernisation defeat the whole point of going to the temple for a few hours, days, or weeks of peaceful meditation? Some scholars say that while Buddhism teaches people to accept what we have, all this technology leaves us wanting more. The faith emphasises human connection, yet now we can communicate more with less human contact.

Rev. Miao Shih: "You need to bring the Buddhism to a younger generation now."

Reverend Shih agrees that direct human contact is valuable, but she notes that the Internet can "help a lot because sometimes [people] don’t have to travel all the way down to the temple to talk to a reverend."
The temple’s website takes visitors on a virtual tour, provides a schedule of upcoming events, and supplies an email address to contact the women living at the temple. (Traditionally men were not allowed, but that, too, has changed with the times).

"All religions are about communicating, so naturally you use every possible form of communication," says Tony Hampson, member of the Buddhist’s Light International Association’s Wollongong chapter and contributor to Nan Tien’s recent book, Entry Into The Profound: A First Step To Understanding Buddhism. "Basically you’ve got to use all the modern equipment that you can."

The updates at Nan Tien mirror those of the rest of the world. Bhutan, a Buddhist nation, has recently embraced television and the Internet. And monks at the well-known Shaolin Temple in China – the birthplace of kung fu – have just trademarked the Shaolin name.

Buddhism has been tiptoeing into Western culture for years with books like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Zen Golf drawing on the metaphoric tendencies of the Zen school of Buddhism to parallel modern lives.

Indeed Nan Tien balances the old and the new. Amidst the pagoda and temple structures are signs asking visitors to refrain from rollerblading. The schedule of Buddhist classes reads more that that of a local gym, where "aerobics" is replaced by "meditation" and "Eastern awareness." Like many churches, the main temple room has swapped the candles adorning the 10,000 small Buddhas with electric lights.

Buddhism is adapting to modern life without losing the faith. Among all the modernisations, one inhales an unmistakeable feel of something deeper, something more ancient. Use the Internet to find the temple, but once there, turn off your mobile phone and ignore your email.

Breathe. Reflect. Meditate. Cleanse your body with the vegetarian food and your soul with silence.
No, that’s not the air conditioning you feel on your skin. It’s the touch of enlightenment.