Sunday, December 31, 2006

Equanimity would be supremely great in partisan Patriarch

Letter to the Editor
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 26, December 29, 2006 - January 11, 2007

Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong's views on political parties and people power in his interview published in the Post of December 15, 2006 did not reflect well on his erudition in and practice of Buddhism.

He was too much attached to and continued to defend the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) which he belonged to and served. He named this party "the older party or host party" and the other political parties "the younger or guest parties" and "requested" the latter parties "to limit their opposition." Furthermore, Tep Vong had a dislike for "people power" as it could lead to "strikes, demonstrations, terrorism and coups d'etat," and he would use religion to cooperate with the government to curb this power.

To Tep Vong, the older party or host party, the CPP, would rule Cambodia for ever. By entertaining this idea he ignored the law of impermanence (anatta), which is one of the key tenets of Buddhism. He was very much Buddhist when he disliked terrorism and coups d'etat as these acts entail the use of violence. But his dislike of strikes and demonstrations, when they were peaceful, had no Buddhist character at all.

Strikes and demonstrations are but assemblies of people to voice their opinions and concerns on issues affecting their groups or their nation as a whole. They are very much part of people's participation in the national affairs, participation that is the first two of Buddha's seven teachings in governance for the country's prosperity: "First, people should assemble often to discuss political affairs, and to provide for national defense. Second, the people of all social classes should meet together in unity to discuss their national affairs." (See Society for the Promotion of Buddhism, The Teaching of Buddha, Tokyo, 1966, page 456.) The Khmer version of this book is available at the Buddhist Institute's library and at Hun Sen Library, Phnom Penh).

Furthermore, people power already existed in Buddha's days and Buddha himself accepted it with grace when it affected him personally. As told in the book Moha Vesandor Cheadok, Book II: Kann Hemapean, Buddha, then King Preah Bat Srey Vesandor of Srey Pireast country gave as charity his elephant to the people of Kaloeung Reastr country. But his own people held the elephant to be their country's sacred animal of blessing that he should not have given away at all. They were very angry with him. They exercised their people power and went to protest en masse to King Father Preah Bat Srey Sanchey against Buddha's gift of the elephant to the people of Kaloeung Reastr country. They held that the gift was a crime and at first demanded death for Srey Vesandor for this crime. But after negotiations with Srey Sanchey they settled for Srey Vesandor's exile. Srey Vesandor, Buddha, willingly accepted his people's verdict and went into exile with all his family in the Hemapean Forests.

Considering his position and status, Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong could and should provide spiritual leadership and a leading source of morality in Cambodian society. Unfortunately, his leadership and authority are ineffective and are not much felt. Morality is very low in Cambodian society. This society has many political and social problems. It is consumed in materialism. Immoral and unethical means, including abuse of power and corruption, are used to acquire material gains. Tension between political parties, killing of political activists, strikes, demonstrations and protests, and violent crackdowns on these expressions of people power continue to occur.

It is highly probable that his closeness and attachment to and protection of his favorite political party, and his prejudice and bias against the younger or "guest" parties and people power is a major obstacle. He could and should, however, overcome this handicap.

To start with, he should show in words and deeds more of the four sublime states of minds or the four immeasurables or Prum Vihearth (in Khmer) or Brahma -vihãra (in Pali), that is, lovingkindness (mettã), compassion (karunã), sympathetic joy (muditã) and equanimity (upekkhã), as taught by Buddha and as Cambodia's greatest king, Jayavarman VII, a Buddhist, symbolized in the form of the four faces at the top of the many towers of his Bayon temple in Siem Reap.

At this particular juncture of Cambodian society which is characterized by pluralism and conflicting demands, what would be most required from our Great Supreme Patriarch is his practice of equanimity, free of bias, attachment and anger, if he wishes, as he did in his interview, to use Buddhism to contribute to consolidating peace and stability in Cambodia.

Lao Mong Hay - Senior Researcher, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

this guy Tep Vong is a communist puppet.. He will go to hell for using Buddhism as an avenue of his true belief.

Tep Vong is a lier the ghost of the killing field will haunt him to his grave.

Anonymous said...

Very true analysis, Mr Monhay.

Morality in Cambodia especially that of current Cambodian leaders are very very low even Tep vong himself. Tep Vong in his capacity as the top leader of Buddism in the country, has a bias view on people and has idea of deviding people into different groups and layers in the same society. How can he assure neutrality in society where his position as supreme patriarch is supposed to do?