Washington
21 January 2008
Cambodia’s moral climate has suffered under war and lawlessness, but the re-teaching of care and compassion can bring it back, a revered monk said Monday.
Venerable monk Hok Sovann, a Cambodian Buddhist leader in Montreal, Canada said the five moral disciplines—not to kill, steal, engage in irresponsible sex or adultery, lie or consume alcohol or drugs—have eroded in Cambodia.
Murder, prostitution, the sale of babies and children, deceit and substance abuse are all a part of the Cambodian social fabric, thanks to a lack of morality, he said.
These come from a weakening of the mental state and of social consciousness, in a country ravaged by war and now plagued by lawlessness and impunity.
To counter it, Hok Sovann said, teachers, monks and parents must focus on moral principals: on caring, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.
Venerable monk Hok Sovann, a Cambodian Buddhist leader in Montreal, Canada said the five moral disciplines—not to kill, steal, engage in irresponsible sex or adultery, lie or consume alcohol or drugs—have eroded in Cambodia.
Murder, prostitution, the sale of babies and children, deceit and substance abuse are all a part of the Cambodian social fabric, thanks to a lack of morality, he said.
These come from a weakening of the mental state and of social consciousness, in a country ravaged by war and now plagued by lawlessness and impunity.
To counter it, Hok Sovann said, teachers, monks and parents must focus on moral principals: on caring, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.
5 comments:
For moral renewal, we need more than care and compassion. I find the following remark on the decline of morality in the Roman Republic more than 2000 years ago very relevant to our society and useful for the development of any policy and strategy for moral renewal:
"As soon as riches came to be held in honour, and brought glory, imperium, and power, virtue began to grow dull; poverty was seen as disgraceful, innocence as malevolence. Therefore because of wealth, our youths were seized by luxury, greed and pride; they stole and squandered; reckoning their own property of little worth, they coveted other peoples'; contemptuous of modesty and chastity, of everything divine or human, they were without thought or restraint."
The senator and historian Sallust, writing in the late forties BC.
(The Conspiracy of Catiline)
French version:
Quand l'argent commença à être à l'honneur et eut procuré la gloire, l'autorité, un pouvoir sans limite, la vertu alla s'affaiblissant, la pauvreté fut honnie, le désintéressement passa pour malveillance. L'argent livra la jeunesse au luxe et à l'avidité, en même temps qu'à la volonté de dominer ; on se mit à piller, à tout dépenser, à tenir pour rien ce qu'on possédait, à convoiter le bien d'autrui, à n'avoir pour la réserve, la pudeur et toutes les choses divines et humaines indifféremment, ni considération ni ménagement.
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
So what would the the solution to this problem in a material world?
Dr. Lao I fail to see the practicality in Senator Sallust's speech in a modern world where competition is survival. To lay culprit to wealth and riches as the cause of these immorality, then we will say to fix it would be to decrease wealth and fortune which really goes down to not competing, striving, and working.
So in the end, the best solution for people in the modern world is still the buddha's teaching or religion. To have care and have compassion. When people have those, they don't don't need to feel guilty about becoming rich, or getting wealthy because they learn to care for others with their fortunes. And those that are not already there will work harder and live their live with equanimity.
Buddhism, still in my opinion, is relevant to social problems of today like it was over 2500 years ago.
Mr.10:AM
Please allow me to foolishly suggest that, based on my little knowledge of the life of Buddha and on present day thinking in Cambodia, Buddha himself was a fool. He was born to rule and had all the riches and all forms of entertainment. Yet he abandoned all that to live a miserable life. He achieved more as a poor and powerless man: enlightenment. Since then hundreds and hundreds of millions people, from generation to generation, have worshipped him.
Please read Sallust's remark again. Perhaps his thinking is not much different from the three poisons of life that Buddha discovered: greed (craving), anger(hatred) and delusion (ignorance) (lobha, dusa and muha).
LAO Mong Hay, Hong Kong
People have worshiped and revered the Buddha because he gave us a good example to live our lives. You are right that in a sense he was a fool, a man who gave all his material wealth to achieve enlightenment. But if his enlightenment gave birth to morality of the minds of millions of his follower then he is a foolish man for the sake of millions. He is a sage, a guru, as great as Jesus Christ himself as man.
Relegious poeple is easy to talk to, so please don't get out of subject. It is about morals not Buddah vs. Jesus. I have learned that every religion has its own faith and if you are a religious man, stop acting like fool. The Cambodia needs helps to restore morals so that her people can live with peace.
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