妙友法師 Ven. Miao You
2024-05-10
On May 10, 2024, Venerable Miao You, a monastic of Nan Tien Temple in Wollongong, was interviewed by Venerable Jue Fang at the Nan Tien Institute. The interview follows Venerable Miao You's personal journey of growing up in Singapore, migrating to Australia, her encounter with Buddhism, and her role at the Nan Tien Temple and Nan Tien Institute after becoming a monastic.
Venerable Miao You recounted her early years of growing up in Singapore and later migration to Australia in her 20s in 1978. After decades of working and progressing in her career as an immigrant in Sydney, an accidental encounter with Buddhism redirected her life to a different yet extraordinary path. Venerable Miao You described the sense of belonging she immediately felt when first set foot in Nan Tien Temple, where she was provided the opportunities to discover and explore her roots as a Sinagporean-Australian with Asian heritage. This eventually led her to be ordained as a monastic at the Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan at the age of 48.
Being ordained at an older age and facing language barriers, Venerable Miao You overcame many challenges in her training to become a monastic and began serving at the Nan Tien Temple when she returned to Australia in 2003. She was extensively involved in community events, leading excursions, and teaching Tai Chi and meditation retreats.
Venerable Miao You highlighted two major projects she was involved in at Nan Tien Temple: the establishment of the Nan Tien Institute and the construction of the bridge. To localise the Nan Tien Temple in Australia, the founder of Fo Guang Shan, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, aspired to establish a higher education institute. Venerable Miao You was instrumental in realising this vision. She vividly recounted the challenging and prolonged process of establishing the institute, her involvement in the construction of its building, and the transformation of a once unusable land into a functional space. She also acknowledged and thanked the many contributors who made this possible.
The subsequent construction of the bridge connecting the temple and the institute also faced numerous challenges. Venerable Miao You explained the difficulties encountered and how they were overcome. As the first secular higher education provider based on Buddhist wisdom in Australia, she emphasised the significance of the institute and the bridge in serving as physical and symbolic connections between East and West, tradition and modernity, and the Nan Tien community and mainstream Australian society.
Venerable Miao You's personal journey and her experiences as a monastic at Nan Tien Temple provide a unique perspective on the temple's role in Australian society from the viewpoint of an Asian immigrant who found a sense of belonging and a connection to her heritage through the temple, and who herself worked as a facilitator between the temple and the wider Australian society. The challenges she faced at the Nan Tien Temple, particularly in communication between different cultures, reflect the reality of everyday living in a multicultural, multi-faith Australia. Yet, Venerable Miao You's story is also one of resilience and compassion, where challenges are frequently overcome as people from various walks of life come together and support each other in creating peace and harmony within themselves and for the wider society.
