These Buddhist nuns in Perth saw coronavirus coming – and took action

On a bustling highway in Perth’s eastern suburbs, the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple towers over the passing traffic.

The imperial architectural design makes it one of the city’s most recognisable religious icons, and one of its busiest.

Hundreds of followers of the Fo Guang Shan order of Chinese Buddhism file into the temple’s grand meditation hall each week – its walls intricately detailed with ornamental statues of Sakyamuni Buddha.

But for the moment, the temple is empty and the statues sit alone.

 

In January, the first whispers of the newly-discovered novel coronavirus began circling among the community. Most of the people that come to the temple are native Mandarin speakers with connections to Taiwan.

“Because of the past that our religion’s leaders had with the SARS outbreak, they knew how bad coronavirus was going to get and that steps needed to be taken,” Fo Guang Shan spokeswoman and temple volunteer Grace Collins told SBS News.

With advice from Taipei and the order’s Australian headquarters in Wollongong, the Perth branch of Fo Guang Shan took action. The temple closed its regular services in February, more than a month before the Australian government announced a ban on large gatherings and social distancing measures for daily life.

 

Prayer cushions were removed from the great halls and surfaces were disinfected daily. Elderly people were asked not to attend and people returning from overseas were asked not to come to the temple for 14 days.

The Western Australian Government didn’t declare a state of emergency until mid-March. “We started earlier. In February, we put hand sanitisers at the door. Even now we have the thermometer to test every visitor that comes in,” says Reverend Miao Bo, the venerable abbot of the temple. “We tried to minimise gatherings because that would help everyone to protect themselves.”

Turning to webcams

After the temple was soon emptied, the threat of coronavirus and home isolation reached Australia. Reverend Bo and a core group of volunteers began thinking of ways to adapt to social distancing. “We still continue the dharma service, but we do it via Facebook Live,” she says.

“Our devotees can stay at home but continue to have the dharma service. We think this is important for them because during this outbreak there is a lot of panic. The dharma service can provide them calmness.”

The temple relies on Whatsapp chat groups to share Buddhist lectures, sutras, and the link to their Facebook Live streams. “They just click from their iPad, tablet or phone and they have dharma service at home,” Reverend Bo says. “The feedback is pretty good because this is new for them. Especially the elderly devotees. We try to educate them, and teach them how to use it.”

 

Born in Malaysia, before being assigned to monasteries in Taipei, Manilla and Melbourne, Reverend Bo became leader of the Perth temple just 18 months ago.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, she made the difficult decision to cancel the Buddha’s birthday celebrations, an annual event that draws up to 40,000 Western Australians over two days.

That decision was made weeks ago, which the abbot says was contrary to state government advice at the time.

“Definitely, people are suffering now. But from the Buddhist perspective, everything is impermanent in this world. Disasters we can’t control, or a virus.”

While the temple is closed to large groups and services have been cancelled, the doors remain open.

Around 20 people come in at separate times each day. Many wear surgical masks and they have their temperature checked and maintain a two-metre distance from anyone else inside.

They light a candle, say a prayer, and then leave.

“Even if you are not a victim [of coronavirus], we need to have compassion,” says Ms Collins, who has been volunteering at the temple for 20 years.

“Maybe we can come out of this crisis as better people than before. Our belief is that we can relieve the suffering of others and, eventually, be liberated.”

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