Biography of Achar Hem Chiev, a National Hero - ព្រះបាឡាត់ឃោសនាគ ហែមចៀវ វីរបុរសជាតិ

ឆ្នាំងបាយលោកសង្ឃ គឺនៅនឹងប្រជាជន បើប្រជាជនវេទនា អត់បាយ ប្រជាជនគ្មានសិទ្ធិសេរីភាព បើប្រជាជននៅក្នុងឋានៈ ជាខ្ញុំកញ្ជះគេ លោកសង្ឃក៏ទទួល អំណោយផលអាក្រក់ដែរ។ ដូច្នេះ លោកសង្ឃមានភារៈ ប្រោសសត្វលោក គឺត្រូវស្តីប្រដៅ ធ្វើឲ្យមនុស្សមានស៊ី មានស្លៀក មានសេរីភាព ក្នុងប្រទេសឯករាជ្យ និងសន្តិភាព ដ៏បរិបូណ៌។

ទឹកភ្នែកប្រជារាស្ត្រ គឺទឹកភ្នែកព្រះសង្ឃ

- ទឹកចិត្ត ព្រះអាចារ្យ ហែមចៀវ -
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The monks’ rice pot remains with the people, if the people are miserable, have nothing to eat, if they have no freedom, if they live as slave, monks will also feel the hardship pinch. Therefore, monks whose duty is to save the humans, must teach and encourage people to find food to eat, to find clothes to wear, to find freedom for their country, to find independence and total peace.

Tears of the people are those of monks.

- View by Preah Achar Hem Chiev -

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Biography of Achar Hem Chiev

 Posted originally by M. P.

Hem Chiev was born in 1898 to a modest farmer family in Oudong. At the age of 12, his father took him to study at Wat Ounalom under the guidance of Monk Chuon Nath who is one of his father’s friends. Young Hem Chiev studied well while serving monk Chuon Nath until the age of 16. Under his parents request, the young Hem Chiev decided to take the vow and became a monk at Wat Ounalom where he further expanded his knowledge of Buddhism under the guidance of monk Chuon Nath still.

At the age of 20, monk Hem Chiev was ordained as Bikkhu at Watt Langka. He then went on to pass the exam to enter the Buddhist Institute in Phnom Penh.

According to Martin Stuart-Fox (2006), “[t]he Buddhist Institute did encourage Buddhist studies, but it also stimulated wider studies into culture and history, folklore and language, which rekindled cultural pride that fed into the rising tide of nationalism. The failure of France to protect either Laos or Cambodia from losing territory to Thailand in 1940-41 had a similar effect. Monks took the lead in opposing clumsy French attempts to introduce romanised forms of Cambodian and Lao scripts. In Cambodia, the monk Hem Chieu, a leader in this opposition movement …”

Achar Hem Chiev encouraged his students to study hard to liberate themselves from the yoke of the French colonial rule. He also started the movement to preach Buddhism in Khmer rather than in Pali.

As a member of the French opposition, Achar Hem Chiev kep contact with other Khmer nationalists at the time, among them: Pach Chhoeun, Son Ngoc Thanh, Chum Moung, Nuon Duong, and Sim Var. They all worked to find ways to free Cambodia from the French rule.

Meanwhile, Achar Hem Chiev kept on his Buddhist preaching, among the most notable principles he preached are:

• Do not be a man of burden to the world (i.e. be useful in life).
• We must bring well-being to the present first because if we now have well-being, there will be well-being in the future as well.
• You must work, do not wait for fate.
• You can cross hardship only if you are determined.
• You can only depend on yourself (i.e. self-reliance).
• You must not frequent bad friends, you should not frequent friends with low life, you should frequent good friends, you should frequent people with high ideals.
• Unintelligent people will bring you actions that should not be brought up, they always bring you chores that are not of concern, they are people who are difficult to teach and bring back to the right path, when they are told about good behaviors, they become angry, they do not know about rules, if you do not meet them, or see them, it is best that way.
• You should not depend on someone else to feed you in life.

At a preaching session where he spoke about independence, one man told him: “We want independence from France also, but we don’t know what to do.” Monk Hem Chiev told him back: “It is easy, as Lord Buddha told us: ‘The union will bring well-being in everything’”.

On July 17, 1942, under the instigation of French spies, Achar Hem Chiev was arrested and unceremoniously defrocked. He was then thrown in jail by the French colonial regime working under the occupation of Japan.

On July 20, 1942, a demonstration asking for the release of Achar Hem Chiev was organized by Pach Chhoeun. He was joined by about 1,000 demonstrators including several monks. In the melee which ensued, Pach Chhoeun was pushed inside the perimeter of the French Resident compound. French agents took this opportunity to close the door behind Pach Chhoeun and arrested him on the spot. Seeing this arrest, the monks started to fight against French police agents and their Vietnamese agents using their umbrellas. Meanwhile, the civilians who were present at the demonstration started to throw rocks against the French. The demonstration idea originated from Son Ngoc Thanh who wanted to show the Japanese (who then occupied Cambodia) the displeasure of Cambodian people against the arrest of Achar Hem Chiev by the French agents of the fascist Vichy regime, he would then ask the Japanese troops for intervention and obtain the release of Achar Hem Chiev. However, the fight and the arrest of Pach Chhoeun changed all Son Ngoc Thanh’s plan. Following the demonstration, several important Cambodian nationalists were arrested by the French after the demonstration.

Accused of sedition (KI-Media Note: Villagers in Kratie who resisted forced evictions are currently charged of secession), Achar Hem Chiev and several other Khmer nationalists were sentenced to life in prison by the French colonial court, and sent to jail in Poulo Condor (Con Son Island) also known in Khmer as Koh Trolach jail. It was there that Achar Hem Chiev died. Rumors had it also that the French forced Achar Hem Chiev to sleep in lime which seriously affected his health (one of my uncle who then belonged to the nationalist movement told me about this rumor).

Before passing away, Achar Hem Chiev said: “The construction of the nation by one individual will never be successful. We must unite altogether, in great number, and we must keep on pursuing it! You must all continue the struggle for me. I cannot carry the country by myself… The country belongs to us all… I am not afraid of death but the only thing I regret, is not being able to see our Cambodia becoming independent. May you live in peace … If our country finds peace again, we must organize a republic, do not forget! I am leaving you…”

On July 4, 1972, the Khmer Republic regime repatriated the remains of Achar Hem Chiev from Poulo Condor back to Cambodia where he received his final proper religious rite. His remain was then kept at Wat Ounalom.

References

Preah Pothiveang So Hay, prepared by Kong Samphea. “Preah Balat Khosaneak Hem Chiev, a National Hero.” Historical document in Khmer. (see below in Khmer)

Acknowledgment

The following PDF edition of the biography of Ven. Hem Chiev was made available by Lok Ly Diep of Angkor Borei News.

https://www.box.com/s/3134e10f614b7e369ff4

“Buddhism and politics in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand” by Martin Stuart-Fox (2006)

https://www.box.com/s/44db25e8a082f9e8e404

Interesting Summery of Lecture Series organized by CAN Cambodia on 5 November 2011

Op-Ed: Can Cambodia
==>Saturday, 5 November 2011 on Engaged Buddhism: The Roles of Buddhism in Human Resource Development in Cambodia: Past, Present and Future by Ven. Luon Sovath, www.luonsovath.blogspot.com

In short, Buddhism is the religion of Sekha or education. Three Sekha has been exponentially repeated by the Buddha: Sila Sekha or the education of morals, Samadhi Sekha or the education of meditation, and the Panna Sekha or the education of wisdom. These 3 Sekhas is illustrated quite interesting in the Eightfold Path such as Sila Sekha is inclusive in right speech, right action and right livelihood; Samadhi Sekha is inclusive in right effort, right concentration and right meditation; Panna Sekha is inclusive in right thought and right view.

Dhamma delivery approaches of Lord Buddha stresses on three levels: Athi Kalyani or preliminary discourse (Sila), Machhe Kalyani or secondary discourse (Samadhi), and Pariyosana Kalyani or highest discourse (Panna). These three levels of discourse is comprehensive in the Viniya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka. Or at the Sutta level, these 3 approaches are Morals/Ethics, Meditation and Wisdom.

For Cambodia, human resource development is one of the factors among natural capital, financial capital and social capital.

In the past, French tried to pressure on Khmer Buddhist Sangha to serve the protectorate's missions. But when there were perpetual struggles from the Buddhist Sangha, French protectorates agreed to open a Buddhist Institute (BI) to provide space for Cambodian Buddhist monks to learn and create an education at a systemic structure. Suzan Karpeles was the first director of the BI. Scholars have noted that BI is the substantial place for developing nationalism and movement in late decades in liberating and protecting Cambodian nation.

Somdech Chuon Nath is the key leader in reforming Cambodian Buddhism and building productive national central nationalism. His work in translating Tipitaka into simple Khmer language is a great move in modernizing Cambodia.

At the moment, the 60,000 Buddhist monks residing in over 4000 monasteries are the important agents for human resource development in Cambodia. But the lack of giving enough aids to those agents in approaching human resource missionary. If those Buddhist monks are not properly equipped with talent and knowledge, Cambodian Buddhism would be just symbol or a tool for politicians to utilize it, and the future of human resource development in Cambodia will be irrelevant.

According to the lecture organized on November 5, 2011 (10am of Cambodia Time Zone), Ven. Luon Sovath outlined important facts of Buddhism in developing human resource in Cambodia following:

Dharma that will strengthen the country - Op-Ed by Ven. Hok Savann

http://www.box.net/shared/8leneu0oy14y2825iltg

Decline and Fall of an Empire: Causes and Interpretations

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Op-Ed by School of Vice

 

School of Vice Notes: King Jayavarman VII, first of Khmer Rulers believed to have adopted Theravada Buddhism and restored the Khmer Empire to its pre-Champa invasion. The King may also have been the first to have introduced various forms of public welfare system throughout the Empire on an unprecedented scale, whilst many of his stone monuments and carvings depict scenes of daily life of his beloved subjects rather than those of the Royal Court. Many monuments and statues at Angkor Thom today also confirm the co-existence of two of Cambodia's great religious strands i.e. Brahmanism and Buddhism. The pose shows the King in deep meditation at a stage of the practice where the serene expression or slight smile on the face would become palpable. However, some writers venture to suggest that the “enigmatic” expression betrays the uneasy relationship that may have vexed his person between the pacific teachings of the Buddha on the one hand, and the Empire's temporal preoccupations on the other, that usually yielded to the need for physical violence in some form.

“Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made”

It is, perhaps, often overlooked that the historical Buddha himself was a Brahmin (Hindu) just as Jesus Christ was very much a Jew. Both these influential figures had been the by-products of the religious traditions prevailing in their environments and emerged out of those environments somewhat disgruntled with the decaying and corrosive outgrowth of the moral, ethical religious standards found within the traditions to which they inextricably belonged. In this sense, at least, these figures were attempting to defend their ancestors' respective religious heritage and to ‘cleanse’ it of those corrosive influences that vexed their conscience and troubled their soul deeply vie-a-vie ordinary people's mounting misery. Jesus' trouble was that he took on an officialdom that was quite content and, powerful enough, to preserve existing arrangements as they were because such arrangements allowed them to keep on accumulating wealth at public expense, rather than caving in to the demands of a bunch of so-called religious "heretics" and "fanatics" like Christ and his followers. Moreover, although, Jesus (like most Jews) couched his sermons and teaching in religious terms, there was no concealing his sense of outrage and protest against the perceived injustices meted out to the common man by the ruling politico-religious classes of his time. There was religion in the mix of it all, but the immediate and real issues were undoubtedly socio-economic in focus. Jesus, like the Buddha (Gautama) is thus described by some as a social “revolutionary”, or even a "Marxist communist" of his time.

Robbery Reduction Through Economic Developmen​t - Op-Ed by Ven. Maha Phirum

http://www.box.net/shared/lmt2of9fbv22hhextuo9

Sangkum Troam Ruos, Robuos Troam Chhoeu - "Avoid suffering with citizen participation": Op-Ed by Ven. Maha Phirum

http://www.box.net/shared/sunuxzrpsu1lz3dealg7

Do not sit on rotten wood (Do not associate with fools) - Op-Ed by Ven. Maha Phirum

http://www.box.net/shared/sn11mvxvgpg1la0mrv5q

"The right thought & The right way" - Op-Ed by Maha Phirum

http://www.box.net/shared/2yzy5r32skcgj9oirojj

"United, we live - Disunited, we perish": Op-Ed by Ven. Maha Phirum

http://www.box.net/shared/y2kro50eq9lh9fed1c14

The Self-destruction Policy - Op-Ed by Ven. Maha Phirum

http://www.box.net/shared/3zezjxfdu75jzjdae1z9

Buddho! Buddho! Cambodian Buddhist clergy leaders support a former atheist KR commander

Patriarchs from both Buddhist sects in Cambodia (Photo: Sovannara, RFI)

Buddhist clergy leaders support Hun Xen’s premiership candidacy in 2013

23 Jan 2011
By Im Navin
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer (MP3)

On Sunday, PM Hun Xen displayed a support letter from both of Cambodia’s Buddhist sects for his premiership candidacy in 2013. This political support letter from the clergy is an interference by monks in Cambodia’s politics. Monks’ role in politics is still facing a tug of war, some political parties want monks to vote, while others don’t want monks to be involved in politics.

After receiving the support for his premiership candidacy for the 2013 election from the CPP leadership on 07 January, on Sunday 23 January, Hun Xen displayed the support petition for his premiership candidacy from another source: that from monks from both sects, i.e. the Mohanikay and Thoammayut sects.

During the birthday celebration of Ven. Buor Kry, the supreme patriarch of the Thoammayut sect, on Sunday, Hun Xen thanked the support letter he received from patriarchs of both sects for his candidacy.

Call for Papers on Politics of Religion in Asia International Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS

Politics of Religion in Asia: An International Conference

Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, International Programs

University of Iowa

Date: May 12-13, 2012

This conference will focus on the relationship between religion and politics in Asia, including but not limiting to China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and India. It intends to address two related topics: the development of religion and the role of religion in politics. We encourage paper proposals examining the above topics by relating to any aspect of state policy, economic modernization, and traditional culture. Both single-country and cross-country studies are welcome. We are particularly interested in theoretically informed studies using primary research materials.

The conference will pay for the participant's airfare and lodging if his/her paper is accepted. The final papers will be published in an edited volume. The deadline for submitting the paper proposal is October 1, 2011, and the deadline for submitting the conference paper is April 13, 2012.

The proposal should include:

• Author's name
• Current job title
• Institutional affiliation
• Contact information (email, mailing address and phone number)
• Paper abstract (100-300 words)
• Author's CV (no more than 3 pages)

Please send your proposal via email to:

Professor Wenfang Tang

wenfang-tang@uiowa.edu,

Department of Political Science

University of Iowa

Cambodia to record history of all pagodas [-Another CPP disguised census?]

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian government has advised all provincial authorizes across the country to record the history of all pagodas to better oversee and know their backgrounds.

Dauk Narin, secretary of state of Ministry of Religion and Cult said Tuesday that his ministry has already advised all provincial and municipal authorities to record the backgrounds of all pagodas such as when they are established, how many monks are staying in those pagodas, and how many clergy men and clergy women.

The move was taken at the order of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen who is eager to get a clear and accurate data.

According to the statistics provided by Ministry of Religion and Cult, by April 2010, there were 4,392 pagodas and more than 50, 000 monks in all the country's 24 provinces and cities.

About 90 percent of 14 million Cambodian populations are Buddhists and the rest shared by Christians, Muslims as well as other ethnic believers.

According to Cambodian constitution, Buddhism is the state religion.

However, Cambodian government has told its people not to discriminate or insult other religions.

Earlier this year, the government ordered all televisions and radios to not broadcast or air any comments that insult religious beliefs of other religion.

In an advisory sent out all televisions and radio stations across the country, the Ministry of Information said there was one radio station airing comment saying only Christians who always distribute relief stuff to prisoners, the victims by typhoon and flood or earthquakes.

The advisory which was signed by Khieu Kanharith, minister of information said Buddhists are in great help of others when they are in need.

The advisory, however, said it was fine any televisions and radio to broadcast and air anything relating to all kinds of religions, but not to insult others.

It noted with appreciation that many programs that touch on religious affairs that help the society through the respect of morality, culture and tradition.

Hochimonks prevented Buddhist monk from participating in a demonstration on land dispute in Siem Reap

Chikreng commune villagers shot by cops in 2009 (Photo: Savyouth, RFA)

A Hochimonk (right) tried to grab Venerable Luon Savath's hand (left) and pull him out the crowd of protesters in front of the Siem Reap provincial court. The Hochimonk wanted to take the venerable away (most likely to be disciplined by other Hochimonks), but the protesters protected the venerable and prevented the Hochimonks from taking him away (Photo: Hang Savyouth, RFA)

18 August 2010
By Hang Savyouth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Venerable Luon Savath said: “I came by myself … I am in nobody’s way, I wear the monk robe, and they know that my brother was shot [by the cops], that my nephew was shot and that my relatives are being jailed, therefore, I have the rights. I am alive because these villagers feed me.”

Siem Reap monk officials attempted to remove a monk who represents Chikreng commune villagers who are involved in a 90-hectare rice field land dispute. The monk-representative was prohibited from participating in a protest in front of the provincial tribunal during the court hearing against 3 Chikreng commune representatives in the morning of 17 August.

Seven monk officials [KI-Media note: they are most likely Tep Vong’s communist Hochimonks] came to the provincial court and tried to take Venerable Luon Savath out. The latter represented the Chikreng commune villagers, and he was prevented from protesting in order to demand for a resolution in the land dispute. The protesters also demanded for the release of the 12 villagers who are currently being jailed. The Hochimonks accused Venerable Luon Savath of violating the Buddhist rule. However, the attempt made by the Hochimonks was a complete failure when the villagers defended Venerable Luon Savath and prevented the cops and the Hochimonks from taking him away.

Hochimonk Tek Bunlorng, an official monk for Siem Reap province, said that the participation by Venerable Luon Savath in the demonstration is a violation of Buddhist rule and monks are not allowed to stand in the open next to laymen. The Hochimonk added that even if there were shooting [on the villagers by the cops] just like during the Pol Pot regime, monks do not have the duty to protest or interfere on behalf of the laymen.

However, Venerable Luon Savath, the representative of the Chikreng commune villagers, rejected the accusations made by the Hochimonks, saying that he is not in any violation.

Venerable Luon Savath said: “I came by myself … I am in nobody’s way, I wear the monk robe, and they know that my brother was shot [by the cops], that my nephew was shot and that my relatives are being jailed, therefore, I have the rights. I am alive because these villagers feed me.”

“DON’T GET INVOLVED WITH POLITICS” – So they tell us!

Friday, September 18, 2009
Op-Ed by CHN

During July and August of this year, I had a chance to travel across the United States and Canada to do a research on how Cambodian communities practice Buddhism and why most of the Cambodian temples in North America forbid the holding of events that relate to “Politics”. I am sharing below what I found out during my journey. I am fully aware that this article may anger some of the temple leaders who forbid holding “Political” events in their temples. Nevertheless, if they are angry with what I write here, it really means that what I found is indeed the truth.

Before talking about temples abroad, I would like to briefly mention about how Buddhism is practiced and controlled in Cambodia. As you may already know, Buddhist monk leaders in Cambodia always claim that they do not get involved with “Politics” while most of them are members of Cambodian People Party (CPP) and they always vote for the CPP during election time. They not only just vote for the CPP, they even use their power to threaten Abbots at all temples in Cambodia to vote for the CPP. For Abbots who are not CPP members, the monk leaders will use dirty tactics to accuse/threaten them so they can take remove that Abbot from power and replace him with another one of their allegiance. Also, when a temple has an Abbot who is a CPP member, then most of the monks residing in that temple are also CPPP members, otherwise, they will have a hard time living in that temple. This is how the CPP controls religion in Cambodia.

Now, the question that we should ask is whether monks in Cambodia get involved with Politics or not? Publicly, they all will say “No” because they never do anything to oppose the Cambodian government controlled by the CPP. This is why all the monk leaders in Cambodia always forbid other monks from being involved with Politics because they are scared that other monks will join parties that oppose the CPP. There are some courageous monks who join political parties other that the CPP, however, their numbers are very small.

In Cambodia, every year, you may hear that there are more temples being built than schools. Why? Because powerful officials behind the Cambodian government want to see it that way, they don’t want to see Cambodian people educated, they purposely tell Cambodians to live a peaceful life so that when they die, they can go to Heaven. Therefore, in order to go to Heaven, they have to build even more temples and they should not care too much about what is going on with their country (corruption, land confiscation, illegal Vietnamese immigrants in Cambodia, joblessness, poverty, etc…). Furthermore, when people build the new temples, it costs them a lot of money and the majority of the materials used to build these temples are not even made in Cambodia. In fact, these building materials are imported mostly from Vietnam and Thailand. So who benefits from building a new temple? Of course, NOT the Cambodians, they are those countries that have strong connection with the powerful Cambodian leaders, and these countries sell these building materials to Cambodians.

If you visit Thailand or other countries that practice Theravada Buddhism like us, you will see how the people in these countries respect their monks. The monk leaders in those countries are well-educated. Most of them have PhD and they can even speak English fluently. For the monk leaders in Cambodia, every time they speak to the public, they never forget to remind to the Cambodian people about the “January 7” victory in which Vietnam helped Cambodia, rather than telling the people that is was a date when Vietnam invaded Cambodia. It is really sad to see how our religion is being led by those uneducated monks. I had also heard disgusting stories about monks who had to pay bribes to Tep Vong or Non Nget, the Cambodian Supreme Buddhist Patiarch and Patriarch, respectively, to get their signatures allowing them to travel abroad. Corruption is even taking place inside Cambodia’s religion.

Suffice it to say that Buddhism in Cambodia is controlled by uneducated and corrupted monks. Let’s now turn to see how the Cambodian temples are organized abroad. Most of the temples abroad are commonly started from a small house. The temple is run as a non-profit organization that has a board to control that temple. Thus, most of the monks do not have power in their temples. They basically just conduct religious services, eat, and sleep. Some temples even tactically forbid the monks to drive so they cannot go to school. They are scared that, when monks can speak English, they will demand for their rights to lead the temple because, after all, the temple is where the monks live, not the temple leaders. The monks are the ones who provide religious services and directly conduct the fundraising to pay for the temple’s mortgage. Every so often, you will hear stories about the temple leaders swindling the temple’s money and some of them even had to face the court because of their abuse of power in the control of monks and in the control the temple’s finance.

When these temple leaders sponsor monks from Cambodia to conduct religious services at their temples, rather than sponsoring monks who are educated, they mainly sponsor those who are related to them in some fashion or another instead, even if these monks merely know basic religious chanting and have very limited knowledge about religion. Most of the Cambodian monks abroad don’t even know how to teach basic Meditation because they cannot even perform meditation themselves. There are many well-educated monks in Cambodia who have completed their studies in Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, India, but they are not sponsored to conduct religious services for Cambodian communities abroad because those monks do not have connection with the temple leaders abroad.

In fact, the CPP maintains its agents abroad. These agents are ordered to make the round of Cambodian communities and they tacitly tell Cambodians not to be involved with politics because they know that when Cambodians living abroad are involved with politics, of course, they will oppose the ruling CPP party. Buddhist temples have a profound meaning in our Cambodian’s culture: most of our community activities revolve around the temple. Thus, CPP agents are very scared when Cambodians use temples to hold events to discuss how Cambodians living in Cambodia fare – events that these CPP agents label as “Politics,” never mind the fact that these events are merely held to discuss about Human Rights issues or to hold a Candle Light Vigil to pray for an activist unfairly imprisoned in Cambodia.

Moreover, some of the monks, who were originally sponsored to come as religious workers and, later on, they obtain the rights to live abroad permanently, used to be CPP members. Thus, for these CPP-monks, they will always try to preach the “don’t use temples for politics” mantra. Should you meet such monks, please do a research on their background, because, almost 90% of them would have ties with the corrupt monk leaders in Cambodia. While I was visiting California, one of the monks I met was always against using his temple to host any events that are viewed as opposing the current Cambodian government because he said that he does not want to use his temple for politics. Later on, when I met him at a Buddhist event in Cambodia, I was very surprised to find out that, in fact, this Californian monk maintains a very good relationship with Tep Vong and Non Nget.

If the temples abroad are not used for hosting events related to “Politics” – as the CPP agents label them – who will benefit from them? By now, you should be able to answer this question by yourself: of course, the CPP will benefit from them. Thus, when you see a temple that is not allowing the holding of any political events, then that temple is directly or indirectly supporting the corrupt Cambodian government led by CPP.

Below are my two-cent suggestions on how to improve our Cambodian communities practice our religion abroad:

1. The temple can have a board of directors to help take care of the temple, but that temple must be led by the Monks. The monks should have full rights to decide what to do to improve, maintain the temple, and handle all the financial issues. I saw some temples have more than 10 members in their board of directors just like running a company, but monks are merely puppets in their temple.
2. Monks must be allowed to drive so they can go to school. Monks must go to school to obtain an education, or at least, so they can speak English enough to handle their own temple. Furthermore, when they can speak English, they can also spread our Cambodian religious practice to other foreigners as well. The monks cannot afford to just chant prayers, sleep and eat. Because of the reasons cited above, for some of the monks, once they obtain their permanent residency status, they would defrock, leave religion and move on with their life simply because they don’t want to be controlled by a helluva board of temple directors.
3. Monks who are sponsored abroad must at least complete a university degree in Cambodia or in another Asian country, such as Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka or India. Sponsored monks must NOT have family ties or relationship with members of the temple board of directors or other monks in that temple. This condition would provide a fair chance to smart monks who are capable of conducting religious services to come over even if they do not have connections with temples abroad.
4. Temples should be a place to teach about culture, religion, language to the younger Cambodian generations. Some temples are scared to allow the involvement of young Cambodian members because they are afraid that these young Cambodians would learn their dirty tricks. Just imagine this: if Cambodians abroad control monks and temples as they do now, within the next decade or so, we will not see a single young Cambodian frequenting temples abroad any longer.
5. Temples should be allowed to host any events that relate to issues of concerns by the Cambodian communities, and it should even allow politicians to come and talk about political issues that are of interest to its Cambodian members.

Of course, there are many Cambodian temples that have done a great job in the United States and Canada. Some temples now even have the Dharma Hall just like in Cambodia. Following my trip across North America, I came up with the following conclusion which, if not 100% true, is at least 90% true: “If you frequent a temple some time back, and you now return to this same temple 10 or 20 years later and it still remains the same, you can tell that the monks in that temple are just being treated as puppets by a bunch of temple board of directors.” The same also goes to temples that have not been upgraded or do not open up to people’s involvement to create more activities to serve our Cambodian communities.

Internalize beliefs, don't just talk

Comment: Extremists have never paid attention to the principles of religions. Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin and contemporary terrorists etc have always overwhelmingly affected by their own fanatic and paranoid thought. Finally, they have translated those thoughts into brutality or sometime committed bomb-suicide. We can say that those actions don't base on religion, morality or compassion, but it totally based on self-conceited thought, self-indulgent pursuance, idiosyncrasy, frantic emotion, and paranoia. Self-realization or self-enlightenment has been profoundly taught by Buddha. But Pol Pot, or Hitler including others might have no self-realization. Personal behavior of self-realization might be perfectly guided since people were very young. Other factors of Cambodian people have possibly affected by the political environment. We concur that Cambodian people are cynical and living under fear of oppressions since the fall of Angkor era. The political cynicism and fear were deeply embedded in Cambodian society by the intractable neighbor invasions and internal conflicts for power. In Cambodia, needless to blame on Buddhism on civil war and brutality like Bhikku Dr. Hok Savann, a contemporary Cambodian Buddhist scholar said civil war and brutality in Cambodia have been endorsed by the desired people who have never interested to learn and practise Buddhist teachings.

PACIFIC DAILY NEWS
May 20, 2009

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D

Senior researcher Lao Mong Hay, of the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission, wrote "Khmer Rouge Trial: Time for soul searching," published several months ago in UPI Online. It's a thought-provoking piece, valuable for people of all faiths.

As the Khmer Rouge trials proceed, Mong Hay suggested "the need for the Cambodian people themselves ... to do some soul searching."

Theravada Buddhism, a state religion under the kingdom, the republic, the Khmer Rouge and today's autocracy, is based on three founding concepts: the "dharma" -- Buddha's teachings on right actions and beliefs; the "karma" -- a person's present and future life as determined by his or her own deeds and misdeeds, the sum total of his acts and omissions in all his incarnations past and present; and the "sangha" -- the ascetic community within which a person can improve karma (and become a superior being).

Buddhists who seek enlightenment practice compassion, which is the root of Buddha's dharma teachings. Compassion, kindness, tolerance and forgiveness are the essence of Buddhism.

Cambodia has more than 4,000 monasteries and more than 50,000 monks. Up to 95 percent of the population are Therevada Buddhist.

Mong Hay asked, if "the overwhelming majority of Cambodian people were Buddhist" before the Khmer Rouge's rise to power, "how could these Buddhists among the Khmer Rouge help kill some 1.7 million of their fellow countrymen" from 1975-1979?

"Cambodians need to do some deep soul searching as to how Buddhist they were prior to the Khmer Rouge times, and even in current times, where crimes are no less ruthless," he writes. "Was Buddhism just skin deep, and were Buddhist ethical values -- such as respect for life, loving-kindness and compassion -- not the Cambodian people's strong deep-seated core values as these people might have thought?" he asked.

People in general like to talk. Talking the talk makes some people feel knowledgeable and even pious, and many do this. But walking the talk is less common, for it's harder to do. We "talk the talk" on autopilot; we don't internalize the belief system the words espouse.

More than a decade ago, in 1996, Harvard political science professor Daniel Goldhagen's book, "Hitler's Willing Executioners," stirred controversies about a German mentality containing "eliminationist anti-semitism" that originated in medieval attitudes and developed for centuries. Growing from Goldhagen's doctoral dissertation, which won the 1994 Gabriel Almond Award in comparative politics from the American Political Science Association, the book argues that the ordinary Germans knew about the Holocaust, did not oppose but supported it.

Someone has compared the Khmer Rouge's three years, eight months and 20 days of brutality "as awful and unfathomable as events in Nazi Germany, Stalin's Russia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia and Darfur." Goldhagen's book should provide food for thought for Cambodian historians.

After all, were the monsters Khmer Rouge not among the Cambodian Theravada Buddhists who followed Buddha's dharma teachings? So what snapped? Did Pol Pot have his "willing executioners," in and out of Cambodia, who knew about atrocities, did not oppose them and even welcomed them? Are some such executioners in the government today?

Someone asked, why has Cambodia's Buddhist clergy not spoken out against atrocities, bloodshed and violence, past and present?

Remember there have been Buddhists and non-Buddhists who put their lives on the line fighting Pol Pot since his victory in April 1975.

A few decades ago, I read a Cambodian statesman's political analysis of Khmer history. A nationalist and Buddhist, he wrote of Khmer valor, the Khmer Empire and the builders of Angkor. The Khmer race was "pouch neak chambang" -- a warrior race -- at a time the Hindu influences were paramount. Then came Buddha's doctrine of peace, kindness and compassion to replace the old ways of combativeness and valor, and Cambodia began her decline, he wrote.

I have asked myself since about a "dichotomy" within a person with an inner tug-of-war between the combative warrior personality and the peaceful Buddha-like personality. I was reminded of statues of Hindu gods such as Brahma (Preah Prum), Vishnu (Preah Noreay), Siva (Preah Eysor), among others, in Cambodia's public places -- and not many statues of Buddha.

When I read in another article by Mong Hay, "The history of extremism runs deep," in The Phnom Penh Post of Dec. 7, 2001, that "many of our actions have an extreme aspect" -- he drew examples from social in the family contexts to politics in society -- the thought of "pouch neak
chambang" in conflict with the little Buddha seeking enlightenment recurred. Can the conflict be bridged through learning, relearning and unlearning?

The deep wounds inflicted on Cambodians, their culture and society by the brutal Khmer Rouge require no less than justice -- the rendering of what is due to the accused and the victims -- before national reconciliation and healing can be reached.

But the way the Khmer Rouge trials have been conducted put justice beyond reach. Many who manifest the warrior spirit of Cambodia's history may not rest until the accused are thrown in the tigers' den.

Michael B. Ross, an American inmate on death row, writes men can stop the pain and heal only by willing to work for it: "Forgiveness ... doesn't erase what happened, but it does allow us to lessen and perhaps even eliminate the pain of the past. ... It is letting go of the past so that we can move on."

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the Universityof Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200905200300/OPINION02/905200321

Monks, generals and karma: Buddhism and politics

17 July 2008
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
New Stateman

Throughout history, rulers and rebels alike have used religion to justify their actions. Despite its peaceful image, Buddhism, the majority religion of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, can also be turned to political purposes.

The repressive Thai and Burmese states use Buddhism to legitimise their rule. The Burmese generals claim that they are good Buddhists. But the population, including Buddhist monks, can rise up against them. The Laotian communists of the "Pathet Lao" movement can use Buddhism to justify socialism and the ultra-right-wing Thai priest Kittiwutto can say that "killing communists is not a sin".

The Buddhist concepts of reincarnation and karma (or kam in Thai) are aimed at instilling fatalism in the population. You are born poor or disabled because of what you did in a past life. Kings and millionaires are superior to ordinary people; men are above women. If you are very naughty, you may come back as an animal "longer than it is tall". These attitudes encourage people to accept their fate and not seek to overthrow bad rulers, given that these rulers will surely have to pay, via kam, for what they have done.

Buddhism is also concerned with ending suffering, or took. Took is more than just suffering. The Buddhist trinity of truth (trilak) states that change is always present. Nothing remains the same and change comes from the contradiction of took or suffering.

For the ruling elites, this concept is used to teach the masses that they should look to their personal lives. They should not bother with material or bodily desires and jealousies, as they are never desires for anything permanent. Let the rich remain rich. The Buddhist ruling against killing is used to ban abortion and denounce violent acts against the state.

Yet Buddhism, like all other religions, is never "pure". It must be understood not from texts alone, but from how people practise and interpret it. So, for the oppressed, the struggle to end suffering or took is justified. The rich should renounce their material wealth, or even be made to do so, in order that the poor can survive. Kam doesn't have to be about the next or past life. It can be here and now. If there is a revolt that overthrows a bad ruler, that is the ruler's kam.

Giles Ji Ungpakorn is a lecturer in politics at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok