By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer
The Providence Journal (Rhode Island, USA)
Chhim Sarun, of Warwick, center, attends a memorial ceremony for Buddhist monk Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda at the Cranston Cambodian Temple.The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson
CRANSTON — Until he died this month, Buddhist monk Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda left footprints of peace wherever he traveled, and invited others to join him. He led annual Dhammayietra peace walks across Cambodia’s killing fields. He led children on meditation walks in Providence’s poorer sections.
Yesterday, mourners said blessings for the humble monk, who two decades ago settled in a Providence West End tenement, where he helped found the Rhode Island Cambodian refugee community’s first Buddhist temple.
From there, Ghosananda continued a peace mission that led to his receiving the 1998 Niwano Peace Prize in Japan, the 1982 Rafto human-rights award in Norway, and six nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize for the Dhammayietra walks — pilgrimages of truth — that continue in Cambodia to this day. He was considered a Supreme Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism.
“If there is such a thing as heaven and enlightenment, I have no doubt that he is there now,” said Pich Chhoeun, a spokesman for the Cranston Cambodian Temple (Wat Tha Dhamagosnaram), on Plainfield Pike, where yesterday’s ceremony was held.
“I can’t think of a leader who spoke so little and taught so much. He was a very simple man who had so much impact on this world,” said Chhoeun.
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts honored Ghosananda before the ceremony, and Cicilline declared yesterday “Maha Ghosananda Day” in Providence. State Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence; Allen. W. Fung, former Cranston mayoral candidate; Rhode Island Corrections Director A.T. Wall, and former Attorney General James E. O’Neil also attended.
Born in 1924 in Takeo Province in Cambodia, Ghosananda (meaning “Great Joyful Proclaimer”), was one of only an estimated 2,000 monks — out of 62,000 — who survived the Khmer Rouge holocaust in the 1970s.
In that era of the killing fields, the Khmer Rouge slaughtered, starved or tortured to death several million Cambodians. They also sacked Buddhist temples or turned them into pigpens, and forced monks to marry or worked them to death.
At yesterday’s ceremony, nearly 100 people chanted in unison, bowing toward a framed picture decorated with lights, of Ghosananda, and a photo collage that included his meetings with world religious leaders.
Candles and incense burned on an altar set with Buddhas — some larger than life-size and decorated with gold-spangled robes. Next to the altar, cellophane-wrapped gift baskets contained a monk’s bare necessities: sugar, tea, toothbrushes and condensed milk.
Afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, Ghosananda died in Amherst, Mass., on March 12. Yesterday his body was displayed in a glass coffin in Lowell, Mass., one of the largest Cambodian communities in the country. Other memorial services are planned worldwide, according to local Cambodian leaders.
Sarin Rath, president of the Cranston Cambodian Temple, first met Ghosananda in 1982 at the original Cambodian Buddhist Society of Rhode Island, on Hanover Street in Providence.
“His face never showed anything angry. He smiled all the time,” Rath said. “He told the people [have] peace all the time.”
According to Chhoeun, when Ghosananda was asked why he led his annual peace walk in Khmer Rouge strongholds, where heavy fighting continued, Ghosananda would say, “That is where peace is most needed.”
kziner@projo.com
Yesterday, mourners said blessings for the humble monk, who two decades ago settled in a Providence West End tenement, where he helped found the Rhode Island Cambodian refugee community’s first Buddhist temple.
From there, Ghosananda continued a peace mission that led to his receiving the 1998 Niwano Peace Prize in Japan, the 1982 Rafto human-rights award in Norway, and six nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize for the Dhammayietra walks — pilgrimages of truth — that continue in Cambodia to this day. He was considered a Supreme Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism.
“If there is such a thing as heaven and enlightenment, I have no doubt that he is there now,” said Pich Chhoeun, a spokesman for the Cranston Cambodian Temple (Wat Tha Dhamagosnaram), on Plainfield Pike, where yesterday’s ceremony was held.
“I can’t think of a leader who spoke so little and taught so much. He was a very simple man who had so much impact on this world,” said Chhoeun.
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts honored Ghosananda before the ceremony, and Cicilline declared yesterday “Maha Ghosananda Day” in Providence. State Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence; Allen. W. Fung, former Cranston mayoral candidate; Rhode Island Corrections Director A.T. Wall, and former Attorney General James E. O’Neil also attended.
Born in 1924 in Takeo Province in Cambodia, Ghosananda (meaning “Great Joyful Proclaimer”), was one of only an estimated 2,000 monks — out of 62,000 — who survived the Khmer Rouge holocaust in the 1970s.
In that era of the killing fields, the Khmer Rouge slaughtered, starved or tortured to death several million Cambodians. They also sacked Buddhist temples or turned them into pigpens, and forced monks to marry or worked them to death.
At yesterday’s ceremony, nearly 100 people chanted in unison, bowing toward a framed picture decorated with lights, of Ghosananda, and a photo collage that included his meetings with world religious leaders.
Candles and incense burned on an altar set with Buddhas — some larger than life-size and decorated with gold-spangled robes. Next to the altar, cellophane-wrapped gift baskets contained a monk’s bare necessities: sugar, tea, toothbrushes and condensed milk.
Afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, Ghosananda died in Amherst, Mass., on March 12. Yesterday his body was displayed in a glass coffin in Lowell, Mass., one of the largest Cambodian communities in the country. Other memorial services are planned worldwide, according to local Cambodian leaders.
Sarin Rath, president of the Cranston Cambodian Temple, first met Ghosananda in 1982 at the original Cambodian Buddhist Society of Rhode Island, on Hanover Street in Providence.
“His face never showed anything angry. He smiled all the time,” Rath said. “He told the people [have] peace all the time.”
According to Chhoeun, when Ghosananda was asked why he led his annual peace walk in Khmer Rouge strongholds, where heavy fighting continued, Ghosananda would say, “That is where peace is most needed.”
kziner@projo.com
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