SPEECH: Theravada New Year ( Buddhist) 11th April 2017

HANSARD CHAMBER GREEN

Theravada New Year (Buddhist)

I extend Labor's best wishes to all Buddhist communities in Australia celebrating Theravada new year. Theravada new year is a Buddhist festival celebrated by followers of the Theravada doctrine, translated as 'school of the elder monks'.

Theravada teachings encourage and promote discipline, knowledge and critical reasoning through deep reflection. Some of the most powerful traditions and practices of Theravada come from the oldest recorded Buddhist text, the Pali Canon.

The seven stages of purification form the foundations of the Buddhist path, some of which include the purification of conduct, the mind and knowledge that lead to the attainment of nirvana, a transcended state of peace and the ultimate goal in Buddhism. Values and principles of peace, self-reflection and virtue are part of modern multicultural Australia and cultivate our sense of pride in the diversity of our nation—the beauty of which lies in myriad cultures, beliefs and people who together call Australia home.