'THE CAMBODIAN GHANDI': The body of the Venerable Maha Ghosananda lies in state at the Trairatanaram Buddhist Temple in North Chelmsford on Wednesday as the Venerable Khon Sao Dhammathero stands watch. The body has been under 24-hour guard. SUN / DAVID H. BROW03/30/2007
By Michael Lafleur,
mlafleur@lowellsun.com
Lowell Sun (Lowell, Mass., USA)
CHELMSFORD -- The preserved body of the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, an internationally acclaimed Buddhist monk and friend to the Dalai Lama and the late Pope John Paul II, now is the object of a global tug of war.
Maha Ghosananda died March 12 at a Northampton hospital near where he had lived for 27 years. His body was preserved by a Northampton funeral home and brought to the Trairatanaram Buddhist Temple on Quigley Avenue in North Chelmsford on March 18.
The monk, whose religious work and peace endeavors won him accolades as "the Cambodian Ghandi," now lies in state in the temple's main hall Maha Ghosananda's body is also under 24-hour guard.
The U.S.-based Buddhist monk organization that owns the temple and paid for Maha Ghosananda's care is scheduling a two-day ceremony in his honor, April 7-8. Afterward it plans to bring his body to Pelham, where it can be the focal point of a world peace center to be built in his honor.
PAYING RESPECTS: Sok Sam, 60, meditates during prayers near the body of the Venerable Maha Ghosananda at the Trairatanaram Buddhist Temple. SUN / DAVID H. BROW
HONORING A LEADER: Samang Oeur, of Lowell, with her granddaughter, LeeLee Kao, 4, meditates Wednesday as the Venerable Maha Ghosananda lies in state at the Trairatanaram Buddhist Temple. SUN / DAVID H. BROW
A rival group from Canada also wants Maha Ghosananda's body for transport to Cambodia.
In an interview from Montreal, the Venerable Hok Savann said he has the blessing of Cambodia's former king to bring the monk's body to his native country.
Because "more people can participate officially" there, Cambodia is a more appropriate location to display his body, Hok Savann said.
"We will let people in America conduct the service they have and after it is done, we should do another memorial service for him in Cambodia," he said.
The Canadian monk said he is willing to negotiate with members of the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks Inc., which owns about 70 other temples across the United States in addition to Trairatanaram Temple.
The Venerable Natha Pandito -- secretary general of the Maha Ghosananda International Buddhist Peace Foundation, which is planning the Pelham center -- questioned Hok Savann's story. He said earlier this month that Hok Savann's supporters went to the Northampton funeral home and tried to claim Maha Ghosananda's body.
"That caused us a lot of headache and confusion here," Natha Pandito said. "It's a very sad situation here."
Hok Savann denied the accusation.
He said Cambodian government officials would be contacting the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia to officially request that Maha Ghosananda be shipped to Cambodia.
That claim could not be verified yesterday.
Michael Ahearn, director of the Ahearn Funeral Home in Northampton, which prepared Maha Ghosananda's body, said no one tried to claim the body besides the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks.
"I'm the only one at the funeral home they would deal with, and that never happened," Ahearn said. "I think what's happening is there is just so many people involved between the different monks."
Maha Ghosananda was born in Takeo, Cambodia. Published reports last week stated he was in his late 70s. Other sources, and monks at the Chelmsford temple, said he was born in 1913, and was 93 at the time of his death.
The U.S. monks said Maha Ghosananda had been a U.S. citizen since the late 1980s. They said the yearly peace walks he led throughout Cambodia from 1993 through 2002 were never supported by the Cambodian government.
"He was not welcome in Cambodia with his hard work for peace," Natha Pandito said. "They never honored his work and they were afraid of him and his influence. Now when he is dead, they act like they respected him. It's all untrue."
The Venerable Khon Sao, president of the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks, said he has not received an official communication from anyone in the Cambodian government.
"If the government of Cambodia wants him back, they must talk with us," he said.
Khon Sao said Maha Ghosananda based his international mission from Leverett, a small town in western Massachusetts, and in Providence, R.I.
Natha Pandito said the international center, located on a large tract owned by his organization, would contain a library of Maha Ghosananda's writings and serve as an educational institution for speakers on international peace issues. He said the United States is the most appropriate location for such a facility.
"Here is a free country, and in Cambodia, you cannot do anything," he said. "It would be a very strong base for us to go back and help our own country."
From 1975 until 1979, Cambodia was ruled by the brutal Khmer Rouge Communist regime, whose radical reign is blamed for the deaths of an estimated 2 million to 3 million Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge outlawed the Buddhist religion and killed all but about 3,000 of an estimated 60,000 monks in Cambodia.
Maha Ghosananda was the foremost architect of Cambodian Buddhism's rebirth from that low point.
He was in the midst of a long period of meditation in rural Thailand during the Khmer Rouge period. His entire family died in the Killing Fields. He rose to prominence by ministering to refugees who fled to United Nations camps in Thailand.
Maha Ghosananda later publicly forgave the Khmer Rouge regime and met with their remaining leaders, who had fled to the jungles of northwestern Cambodia after being chased from power by an invading Vietnamese army.
His famous Dhammayietra Walks for Peace and Reconciliation in Cambodia led him through minefields and strongholds controlled by various warring factions in Cambodia.
He met with world leaders, including the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II, and was a prime mover in the Cambodian peace process that ultimately led to United Nations-backed parliamentary elections in 1993.
In 1988, Cambodian monks and lay people in Paris elected Maha Ghosananda the supreme Buddhist patriarch of Cambodia.
Maha Ghosananda was initiated into the Cambodian Buddhist Order in 1943, according to published accounts. He spoke 15 languages fluently.
"He is far beyond the nationality, the borders of nations," Natha Pandito said. "He's beyond a particular religion. He is an international figure. We should honor him and support his legacy here."
Maha Ghosananda died March 12 at a Northampton hospital near where he had lived for 27 years. His body was preserved by a Northampton funeral home and brought to the Trairatanaram Buddhist Temple on Quigley Avenue in North Chelmsford on March 18.
The monk, whose religious work and peace endeavors won him accolades as "the Cambodian Ghandi," now lies in state in the temple's main hall Maha Ghosananda's body is also under 24-hour guard.
The U.S.-based Buddhist monk organization that owns the temple and paid for Maha Ghosananda's care is scheduling a two-day ceremony in his honor, April 7-8. Afterward it plans to bring his body to Pelham, where it can be the focal point of a world peace center to be built in his honor.
PAYING RESPECTS: Sok Sam, 60, meditates during prayers near the body of the Venerable Maha Ghosananda at the Trairatanaram Buddhist Temple. SUN / DAVID H. BROW 
HONORING A LEADER: Samang Oeur, of Lowell, with her granddaughter, LeeLee Kao, 4, meditates Wednesday as the Venerable Maha Ghosananda lies in state at the Trairatanaram Buddhist Temple. SUN / DAVID H. BROW A rival group from Canada also wants Maha Ghosananda's body for transport to Cambodia.
In an interview from Montreal, the Venerable Hok Savann said he has the blessing of Cambodia's former king to bring the monk's body to his native country.
Because "more people can participate officially" there, Cambodia is a more appropriate location to display his body, Hok Savann said.
"We will let people in America conduct the service they have and after it is done, we should do another memorial service for him in Cambodia," he said.
The Canadian monk said he is willing to negotiate with members of the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks Inc., which owns about 70 other temples across the United States in addition to Trairatanaram Temple.
The Venerable Natha Pandito -- secretary general of the Maha Ghosananda International Buddhist Peace Foundation, which is planning the Pelham center -- questioned Hok Savann's story. He said earlier this month that Hok Savann's supporters went to the Northampton funeral home and tried to claim Maha Ghosananda's body.
"That caused us a lot of headache and confusion here," Natha Pandito said. "It's a very sad situation here."
Hok Savann denied the accusation.
He said Cambodian government officials would be contacting the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia to officially request that Maha Ghosananda be shipped to Cambodia.
That claim could not be verified yesterday.
Michael Ahearn, director of the Ahearn Funeral Home in Northampton, which prepared Maha Ghosananda's body, said no one tried to claim the body besides the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks.
"I'm the only one at the funeral home they would deal with, and that never happened," Ahearn said. "I think what's happening is there is just so many people involved between the different monks."
Maha Ghosananda was born in Takeo, Cambodia. Published reports last week stated he was in his late 70s. Other sources, and monks at the Chelmsford temple, said he was born in 1913, and was 93 at the time of his death.
The U.S. monks said Maha Ghosananda had been a U.S. citizen since the late 1980s. They said the yearly peace walks he led throughout Cambodia from 1993 through 2002 were never supported by the Cambodian government.
"He was not welcome in Cambodia with his hard work for peace," Natha Pandito said. "They never honored his work and they were afraid of him and his influence. Now when he is dead, they act like they respected him. It's all untrue."
The Venerable Khon Sao, president of the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks, said he has not received an official communication from anyone in the Cambodian government.
"If the government of Cambodia wants him back, they must talk with us," he said.
Khon Sao said Maha Ghosananda based his international mission from Leverett, a small town in western Massachusetts, and in Providence, R.I.
Natha Pandito said the international center, located on a large tract owned by his organization, would contain a library of Maha Ghosananda's writings and serve as an educational institution for speakers on international peace issues. He said the United States is the most appropriate location for such a facility.
"Here is a free country, and in Cambodia, you cannot do anything," he said. "It would be a very strong base for us to go back and help our own country."
From 1975 until 1979, Cambodia was ruled by the brutal Khmer Rouge Communist regime, whose radical reign is blamed for the deaths of an estimated 2 million to 3 million Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge outlawed the Buddhist religion and killed all but about 3,000 of an estimated 60,000 monks in Cambodia.
Maha Ghosananda was the foremost architect of Cambodian Buddhism's rebirth from that low point.
He was in the midst of a long period of meditation in rural Thailand during the Khmer Rouge period. His entire family died in the Killing Fields. He rose to prominence by ministering to refugees who fled to United Nations camps in Thailand.
Maha Ghosananda later publicly forgave the Khmer Rouge regime and met with their remaining leaders, who had fled to the jungles of northwestern Cambodia after being chased from power by an invading Vietnamese army.
His famous Dhammayietra Walks for Peace and Reconciliation in Cambodia led him through minefields and strongholds controlled by various warring factions in Cambodia.
He met with world leaders, including the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II, and was a prime mover in the Cambodian peace process that ultimately led to United Nations-backed parliamentary elections in 1993.
In 1988, Cambodian monks and lay people in Paris elected Maha Ghosananda the supreme Buddhist patriarch of Cambodia.
Maha Ghosananda was initiated into the Cambodian Buddhist Order in 1943, according to published accounts. He spoke 15 languages fluently.
"He is far beyond the nationality, the borders of nations," Natha Pandito said. "He's beyond a particular religion. He is an international figure. We should honor him and support his legacy here."
15 comments:
We understand the feeling of the buddhists in USA wanting to keep the body of Prah Moha Ghosananda there, but please understand also that Prah Moha Ghosananda is also respect by millions of people in Cambodia as well. One thing that has to be done before the PMG's body can move to Cambodia is a plan of what the RGC has for the PMG. Until the plan to do with the body of PMG is satified by the people that the body should be transferred to Cambodia.
Why are these guys are so attached to impermanence of physique?
That man of greed and hypocrisy Sao Khon ,an inner Khmer Rouge circle and families, is milking welfare recipients for a bourgeois lifstyle.He needs to cut the craps and stops being a jerk for a change.What else he wants free housing ,food,free world trips, luxurious lifestyle out of the money he never sweated for.... Bunches of looser in one location.
Let the dead be in peace and return his being to the earth.
Afterall these so called Buddhist monks of USA are no more than the hoodlums in robes.
Cut the craps men and try having a sensible life,best keep own hands in own pockets for a change.
i understand that the body should go to cambodia, but i don't fully understand the situation with the monk in canada. seemed like he's doing on behalf of the cambodian gov't. if the body is going to cambodia only for a few cambodians anyway, why go. unless the gov't is organizing an even in his honor, then it's worth it.
It's all about power; one can do to another, Hun Sen will gains politic power in Cambodia if he can
bring the monk body to Cambodia. There are many people will do for money and power.
Everyone thinks about honour, respect,and the perfect place for his burial.Im sure Preah Maha Ghosanada would wish to return back to his homeland at one time either before death or after death. If you're Cambodian born in Cambodia, would you want to be buried back in Cambodia after you pass away? For me, absolutely i'd be honored to be buried back home, no matter what kind of ceremonial anybody would perform for me as long as i get back home. So im sure Preah Maha Ghosananda would want the same thing. If man would not care whether he gains or lose in anything, as long as he serves his country and the people no matter what kind of benefits he gets. So everyone must bring his body back to homeland Cambodia for the proper burial, excluding any benefits. If any world leaders truly serve for world peace, they would go anywhere for that thirst of enlightment no matter what kind of place it is. So why is it matter, according to the monks in the U.S, for a burial in the U.S in order for the recognition of PMG? You should think of your own benefits, such as Cambodian community's in the U.S, Buddhism in the U.S, or any other benefits. So no matter who brings PMG, is a matter of Cambodia's choice. Any Cambodian should return back to Cambodia either dead or alive, then you are Cambodian and not some brainwashed high-living styles and forget about where you come from! So think about it, anybody who tries to benefit from world peace leaders for your own sake. The person who does the job should always benefit in his rightful manner and for the sake of the country of his origin. The end
If it is any consolation,I rather be back in Cambodia while living in order to pay back to my root in doing something meaningful for the living ones.
What good can one be after death?For Buddhist, there was nothing say one must be in this or that rite after death. Buddhists do not worship ancestrial or dead ones only Confucious and/or chopstick progenitors would do that.
Buddhist and Confucious is two different things.
To 10:00 pm
Speaking for yourself and for putting words in other people mouth!
You are in no position to suggest anything, least of all to Cambodian-Americans identity. Most Cambodian-Americans, whether born in Cambodia or in the state, know exactly who they are and what they are about as well as what they wanted.
Burying their bodies in Cambodia is the least of their concern. Your logic and assumption about what Cambodian-Americans want is entirely flawed. Unlike you, who world view is the producted of patron base system, and of a dyfunctional social system, Cambodian-Americans does not depend on the Good wills of other to live. The live and live well because they do not fear of their own shadow.
Brainwashed Cambodian-Americans?... Sure..say what you want, but clearly if one is freed from fear to excise his life and live in matters that please him, including a "high life", what is wrong with that? Is this not what Cambodians in Cambodia are striving to achieve?
Oh...PMG...? Surely a man who loves peace and freedom deserve better than what Cambodia has to offer currently?
What the fuck? If American is as
poor as Cambodia, Ah Khmer-
Americans wont be alive today. So
don't tell us that they don't
depend on other to live. They are
nothing but scums of the planet,
as simple as that.
It is useless to argue wth the whore's offspring.
Send the dead body back to his native land where he's belong.
hmmm ey kor pibak mles te ah chuncheat chomkuot nis....
First of all, I would like to poit out Moha Gosanada should be 93 years old when he passed away. I met him many times at my father-in-law residence in the 70s. He was older than my father-in-law who already passed away in 1983 when he was 63.
Secondly, I'm really sad to see people who posted their comments and insulted each others because of differences of opinions. We should act like civilized men. Express your opinion, explain your point of views; but don't expect everyone to agree with you. No need to call each others "NAMES", it sure doesn't show that you are a democrate or a "man of peace". If foreigners happen to scan through these postings, they will sure shake their head and laught at us... Please keep "PEACE" and be cool...
Thanks!
While some scum tried to take advantage of his death to their own political interest and power one thing one should be considered, his legacy and preaching can reach far more in the Cambodian community in Cambodian than in the US where his body rest is less important, his advocation for peace should be remembered and remembered well, where else can his legacy be served to the benefit of Cambodian future? People respect him mean they will endeavored his teaching, it's an opportunity he could not achieve in his life time, let's full fill his dream bring his teaching and his peace mission to the land of the poor, it could help arouse and encourage more understanding of the humanity to Cambodia.
Preamble:
We are all Somdech Preah Maha Ghosananda's students and followers around the world of both Cambodians and non-Cambodians are regret and shocked that our beloved gentle spiritual leader, Maha Ghosanada, passed away at the age of 91 in Massachusettes, USA. We understand that one day, our beloved spiritual leader would be disappeared from our sight, but in this moment we still cannot stop tearing.
We all together share condolence and heartfelt gratitude to Somdech!
We will inscribe the benevolent attribute of Somdech in our heart forever!
We will remember the teachings of middle path and step by step of Somdech forever!
We will practice the teachings of middle path of Somdech until we reach enlightenment!
Though Somdech passed away physically, but the teachings and good sample of Somdech still in front of us and in our sight days and nights, in moment of our breathing!
Important Teachings of Somdech:
"Our journey for peace begins today and every day.
Each step is a prayer,each step is a meditation, each step will build a bridge."
The suffering of Cambodia has been deep.
From this suffering comes great Compassion.
Great Compassion makes a Peaceful Heart.
A peaceful Heart makes a Peaceful Person.
A Peaceful Person makes a Peaceful Community.
A Peaceful Community makes a Peaceful Nation.
And a Peaceful Nation makes a Peaceful World.
May all beings live in Happiness and Peace.
Our Suggestions:
To honor Somdech's virtue during his lifetime, the Somdech body should be kept as long as possible.
The King of Cambodia should host the commemorating ceremony or remembrance ceremony.
The Cambodian government should host the commemorate ceremony for Somdech.
The Cambodian Sangha Order should take one day to commemorate and pay respect (Vatta Pathipatta) in every temple throughout the country.
The Cambodian communities and associations throughout the world should host the commemorating ceremony accordingly.
The body of Somdech should be delivered to Cambodia as Somdech always wanted to pass away there.
The government should sponsor to build a public stupa to deposit Somdech's body or remains for public common good and worship.
Somdech's step by step book should be reprinted and redistributed again as much as possible.
Somdech's name should be inscribed in national's book as the hero of Cambodia in struggling with violence, discrimination, suffering and ignorance of the twentieth first century.
http://www.ghosananda.org
i just wonder how he survive during polpot'era?
"He is far beyond the nationality, the borders of nations," Natha Pandito said. "He's beyond a particular religion. He is an international figure. We should honor him and support his legacy here."
Enough said! Wow..and a total of 17 diff languages he can speak, too. Truly an amazing figure. RIP Lok Ta..you'll be truly missed by all Khmer and non-Khmer around the world! ;(
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