Photo of temple at Nachi-san, Japa by Tom Vining, Unsplash
Buddhist Council of Victoria Policies
- Buddhist Council of Victoria Protocol on Organ Donation
- Human Rights and Buddhism
- Buddhist Climate Change Action Kit
- Policy on Managing Sexual Abuse and Harassment BCV
At the Annual General Meeting of 2020, the BCV adopted the above Protocol on Organ Donation with agreement from Ven. Thich Phuoc Tan, Abbot of the Quang Minh Temple, Braybrook, then President of the Buddhist Council of Victoria, Former President of the Australian Sangha Association
This Protocol was reaffirmed by President Dinesh Weerakkody in 2023 and add the following texts;
BCV Protocol on Organ Donation 2023
Find out more about the Australian Organ Donor Register
“Instead of a language of rights, Buddhism proposes a holistic view of an interdependent world where everybody matters. Everyone has the same aspirations for happiness, the same experience of suffering …”
writes Dr Diana Cousens, is Secretary of the Buddhist Council of Victoria and is a member of the Victorian Government’s Multifaith Advisory Group. She has a PhD in Himalayan Studies from Monash University and publishes on Engaged Buddhism and the Tibetan treasure tradition. She is the Founding President of Sakyadhita Australia (2016-2017), an organisation representing Buddhist women, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Catholic University.
Download the full paper published in Zadok 148m Spring 2020 journal
Buddhist Climate Change Action Kit
Climate change is the defining issue of our time, and religious and spiritual leaders have a key role to play in tackling this issue and spreading compassion and care for our environment with all the myriad of sentient beings dependent on a functioning healthy ecosystem. Inspired by the quest to see things how they really are, Buddhism equips its followers to accept the confronting science of climate change.
Download the Climate Change Action Kit
At the Annual General Meeting of 2014, the BCV adopted a policy on managing sexual abuse and harassment and provided it to temples as an optional protocol. This policy was reaffirmed by President Dinesh Weerakkody in 2023. The policy notes that all sexual contact with children is a criminal offence, that abuse must be reported to the police and that concealing crimes or failing to provide information may be criminal offences. We advised temples to have a documented reporting process to handle allegations but not to run an investigation.