Paper short abstract:

Deprived of the ability to receive Buddhist pastoral and spiritual care because of their migration status as well as general travel restrictions, this paper discusses the resourceful fall-back on experimental and virtual religious services among the new Bhutanese migrant community in Australia.

Paper long abstract:

Bhutanese in Australia are among the newest the newest migrant communities. The 2016 Australian national census records 5,953 people with their birthplace as Bhutan. It is expected that the population has at least doubled even though exact figures are not available. Migration for a newly mobile people involves dislocation, disorientation, disillusionment, and a breakaway from everything familiar. Importing native social structures and practices are not practicable among these new migrants who juggle multiple competing priorities like education, work and caring responsibilities. Therefore, Buddhism, which is known to be a fluid, dynamic and highly adaptable religion able to transcend time and space, has given the Bhutanese living in loosely organised communities across major Australian cities a sense of anchor and stability. My paper proposes a preliminary survey of the emerging practices through which the Bhutanese living in Australia organises Buddhist religious activities as a means of bringing a sense of normality, homeliness, and solace. It relies on available public records from registered Buddhist centres, around six, to make sense of these evolving practices. This paper also foregrounds my own experience over the last seven years as an organiser of Buddhist centres and foundations in Canberra. As the pandemic has restricted travel opportunities, particularly among temporary residents and international students, such emerging phenomenon take even more pre-eminence as demonstrated in the recent case of a death in the Bhutanese community, whose last rites according to Buddhist traditions could not be conducted causing much pain and suffering for the family and friends.