By DIANE LEDERMAN
dlederman@repub.com
The Republican (Mass., USA)
LEVERETT - The monks at the Cambodian Temple here will continue celebrating the life of Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda, called the Cambodian Gandhi, with ceremonies today and tomorrow.
Ghosananda, a monk who played a key role in rebuilding Buddhism in Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, died on Monday at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.
Cambodian monks elected Ghosananda - his monastic name - as a supreme Buddhist patriarch in 1988. He helped begin the temple here, said Elaine Kenseth, of Amherst, who worked with him. He also created temples all over Europe and North America, she said.
He spent three years here and frequently returned, said Bunna Keo, a Cambodian native who lives in Greenfield. She said her father in Cambodia worked with the leader when they were young. Keo was offering prayers for the leader at the temple here yesterday with a handful of others. Kenseth expects larger crowds today and tomorrow.
Ghosananda lived in exile between 1975 and 1979, when the Khmer Rouge denounced Buddhism and killed nearly two million people through starvation, disease, overwork and execution. Ghosananda was one of the first monks to return to Cambodia and train new Buddhist leaders after Pol Pot's regime was toppled by the Vietnamese in 1979. Ghosananda was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize for leading peace and reconciliation marches in Cambodia in the 1990s.
"He was a very independent monk," Kenseth said. He did not have an institutional structure to support him.
Keo said she believed that Ghosananda's body is at a temple in Pelham and said the people of Cambodia are hoping that he will be returned there.
"Most people would just pray when the time is right for his body to go back to Cambodia," it will go back, Kenseth said.
The main thing she said now "is celebrating his life." And she said by celebrating, they are "helping his journey to the other side."
"He was such a follower of the peaceful path," Kenseth said.
She was with him when he met with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader. "It was such light in the world ... when they were together," she said. He also met with South African leader Nelson Mandela among other world leaders.
"He helped his people immeasurably with his teachings and his guidance." she said
"He was as much a father, grandfather, patriarch, brother, uncle. At the same time, he was a spiritual leader."
She mentioned his forgiveness of the Khmer Rouge, who killed his entire family. She said he felt, "It's not that it's difficult to forgive; it's more difficult to live without forgiveness."
Prayer services begin both days at 10:30 at the temple on Cave Hill Road, Kenseth said, and will continue throughout the day. She said a huge celebration is being planned for Phnom Penh.
Ghosananda, a monk who played a key role in rebuilding Buddhism in Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, died on Monday at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.
Cambodian monks elected Ghosananda - his monastic name - as a supreme Buddhist patriarch in 1988. He helped begin the temple here, said Elaine Kenseth, of Amherst, who worked with him. He also created temples all over Europe and North America, she said.
He spent three years here and frequently returned, said Bunna Keo, a Cambodian native who lives in Greenfield. She said her father in Cambodia worked with the leader when they were young. Keo was offering prayers for the leader at the temple here yesterday with a handful of others. Kenseth expects larger crowds today and tomorrow.
Ghosananda lived in exile between 1975 and 1979, when the Khmer Rouge denounced Buddhism and killed nearly two million people through starvation, disease, overwork and execution. Ghosananda was one of the first monks to return to Cambodia and train new Buddhist leaders after Pol Pot's regime was toppled by the Vietnamese in 1979. Ghosananda was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize for leading peace and reconciliation marches in Cambodia in the 1990s.
"He was a very independent monk," Kenseth said. He did not have an institutional structure to support him.
Keo said she believed that Ghosananda's body is at a temple in Pelham and said the people of Cambodia are hoping that he will be returned there.
"Most people would just pray when the time is right for his body to go back to Cambodia," it will go back, Kenseth said.
The main thing she said now "is celebrating his life." And she said by celebrating, they are "helping his journey to the other side."
"He was such a follower of the peaceful path," Kenseth said.
She was with him when he met with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader. "It was such light in the world ... when they were together," she said. He also met with South African leader Nelson Mandela among other world leaders.
"He helped his people immeasurably with his teachings and his guidance." she said
"He was as much a father, grandfather, patriarch, brother, uncle. At the same time, he was a spiritual leader."
She mentioned his forgiveness of the Khmer Rouge, who killed his entire family. She said he felt, "It's not that it's difficult to forgive; it's more difficult to live without forgiveness."
Prayer services begin both days at 10:30 at the temple on Cave Hill Road, Kenseth said, and will continue throughout the day. She said a huge celebration is being planned for Phnom Penh.
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