Buddhist monk's poetry explores the Killing Fields

04/24/2010
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram

LONG BEACH -- When the Venerable Ly Van, a monk at the Glory Buddhist Temple in Lowell, Mass., died in 2008 he didn't leave much behind.

However, what he did leave to posterity was a rather remarkable document that, in its lyricism, poignancy and richness, surprised all at the temple, even those who were close to him.

In an immaculate Khmer calligraphy, the 90-year-old monk transcribed two long narrative poems he had written, one called "The Khmer Rouge Regime: A Personal Nightmare" and the other titled "The Unfortunate Love of Sophoan Chea," a tragic tale also set in the time of the Khmer Rouge.

Feeling the Khmer-language poetry deserved a larger audience, educator Samkhann Khoeun meticulously translated the work and created a book and a Khmer-language CD titled "O! Maha Mount Dangrek: Poetry of Cambodian Refugee Experiences." The title refers to the treacherous mountain many Cambodians had to traverse to escape their homeland and cross the border into Thailand and the refugee camps.

Khoeun and the students from Cambodia have been touring the country to give their readings. In addition to readings in New England, they have visited Philadelphia, Chicago, Maryland and Minnesota. They delivered readings in Northern California before coming to Long Beach.

Khoeun said his translation, which took two years with the help of volunteers, was a "labor of love."

"At first I was impressed with the calligraphy," Khoeun said.

"But then when I really started to read I said `Wow.' It was so rich in history."

Khoeun, also a survivor of the Killing Fields that left upward of 2 million Cambodians dead, says he experienced many of the same things during the genocide Ly Van wrote about. For that reason, he says, it still brings tears to his eyes.

George Chigas, a professor of cultural studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, wrote that the poems make important contributions to existing survivor literature and that Ly Van writes "with the lyricism of a skilled poet and the wisdom of a learned Buddhist monk."

Although Ly Van initially wrote the two poems before he became a monk in the early 1980s, Khoeun says it exudes the devout Buddhism that was always a part of the monk's life.

"The Khmer Rouge Regime" is written in a rare 11-syllable meter, while "The Unfortunate Love of Sophoan Chea" is in the more traditional seven-syllable meter.

Chigas and Khoeun say the second poem compares favorably with "The Story of Tum Teav," a classic tale of tragic love in Cambodia also written by a monk.

Khoeun, who is an activist in the Cambodian community in Lowell, says he hopes the book will resonate with readers and help with the ongoing healing process for many who still suffer mentally from the effects of the war.

"This is a way to help overcome the suffering," Khoeun said.

"Men and women must preserve these memories and never let them be forgotten," Ly Van wrote. "The savagery of the Khmer Rouge regime should be permanently etched in stone, and this history should be taught and passed to future generations."

In addition to the poems, which are presented in side-by-side translation, "O! Maha Mount Dangrek" includes photos from the Khmer Rouge reign and the refugee camps and a glossary and other informative features.

Khoeun says he hopes portions of the the book will be entered into the record of ongoing Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal in Cambodia.

Long Beach readings

Educator Samkhann Khoeun along with Cambodian student artists Srey Peov Phoeun and Sinat Nhok will read excerpts from the poems of the Venerable Ly Van at Wat Vipassanaram, 1239 E. 20th St. at noon today, and Monday at the Mark Twain Library, 1401 E. Anaheim St. at 3 p.m.

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291

Poetry & Smot at Fresno Temple on 24 April 2010

Click on the announcement to zoom in

Monk’s Poetry Describes Grim Refugee Camps

(Photo: AP)

By Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
05 April 2010

A recently discovered book of poetry by a Cambodian monk paints a grim picture of the refugee camps established in Thailand after the Khmer Rouge period.

The poems of the late venerable monk Akaktipo Ly Van, the former abbot of the Glory Temple in Lowell, Mass., describes crimes committed by Thai armed forces, as well as landmines.

The book, “O! Maha Mount Dangrek,” was discovered on January 12, 2008 on the day of the abbot’s death, hidden among his possessions for nearly 30 years.

It was translated and edited by Samkhann Khoeun, co-chair of Cambodian Expressions, and published in English and Khmer. Cambodian Expressions has now launched the bilingual Cambodian Refugee Poetry and Smot Project, which will tour 14 Cambodian-American communities across the US.

“The main objective is to promote poems about the tragedy of Cambodian refugees,” he said. “We are also asking for Cambodians’ help to purchase the books and CDs and make some contributions, so that we are able to further promote the poetry books and bring them to Cambodia in the future.”

The poetry describes the plight of thousands of refugees who traveled to camps along the Cambodian-Thai border in 1979 and the early 1980s after the Khmer Rouge were toppled. Many suffered attacks by bandits and Thai border rangers. Thousands of their families made it to the Dangrek Mountains. Many were gunned down or suffered from landmines.

Samkhann Khoeun said the books and CDs will be accompanied by chanting and classical music performances by Cambodian Living Arts.

“The money is to support the Light of Cambodian Children organization, which educates Cambodian children in Lowell to be good people,” Samkhann Khoeun said. “We will also use the money to set up scholarships under the name of late venerable Akaktipo Ly Van for Cambodian students.”

The tour started on April 1 and will travel through Lowell and Lynn, Mass., Providence, R.I., Philadelphia, Penn., and Long Beach, Calif., among others. The book is also available at www.reaksmey.org.

Traditional Cambodian performance set

Sunday, March 28, 2010
Providence Journal (Rhodes Island, USA)

A traditional Cambodian oral performance by touring artists will be presented Saturday afternoon at the headquarters of the Socio-Economic Development Center for Southeast Asians, 270 Elmwood Ave., Providence.

Khmer oral tradition includes folklore and fables expressed through poems, chanting, and “smot,” which is an ancient form of funerary singing. The performance will take its inspiration from “O! Maha Mount Dangrek,” a collection of poetry by the late Venerable Ly Van, a Buddhist monk who survived the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. The title refers to the mountainous plateau between the Cambodia-Thailand border that refugees were forced to climb to escape the Khmer Rouge.

The event, which begins at 2 p.m., is free to the public.

Tour To Start On Late Mass. Cambodian Monk's Book

Mar 28, 2010

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) ― Organizers behind the publication of a poetry collection by a late Lowell Cambodian monk are scheduled to launch a nationwide tour promoting the book.

The Light of Cambodian Children and Cambodian Expressions will release the book by Ly Van Aggadipo (AHG'-gah-DEE'-poh) on Thursday at Middlesex Community College in Lowell.

The book describes the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime through the eyes of Ly Van, who died in January 2008.

Following the Lowell event are stops in Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Paul, Minn., and Long Beach, Calif. Tour stops will feature readings and accompanying musical performances by two Cambodian artists.

The book's editor, Samkhann Khoeun (SAM'-Khan COW'-un), said the tour will bring the monk's story to various Cambodian American communities across the country.

Late Mass. Monk's Poems Recall Khmer Rouge Horrors

In this Nov. 20, 2008 file photo, Samkhann Khoeun holds at the Glory Temple, in Lowell, Mass., a Khmer language manuscript of poetry by the Buddhist monk Ly Van Aggadipo that features his photo on the cover. On April 1, 2010, friends and followers will release a bilingual edition that includes an English translation of his poetry. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

'Beautiful' poems by Cambodian monk who led Mass. temple tackle horrors of Khmer Rouge regime

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS
The Associated Press
LOWELL, Mass. March 20, 2010

During Buddhist monk Ly Van Aggadipo's final days, he wrote often in a notebook. Temple followers knew the nonagenarian spiritual mentor to many local Cambodian refugees was recording some sort of personal history, but they weren't sure what.

"He told me, 'When I'm gone, make sure others read this so people don't forget what happened,'" follower Sokhar Sao said. "I didn't really understand until he was gone."

Next month, friends and followers will release a book of poetry by Ly Van, who survived the brutal communist Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and later led the Glory Buddhist Temple in Lowell from 1988 until his death in January 2008. The book, entitled "O! Maha Mount Dangrek," is a collection of two lengthy poems: one an autobiographical piece on the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, the other about a friend's story of love in the time of genocide.

The title in English means "Oh Mighty Mount Dangrek" and refers to the mountainous plateau between the Cambodia-Thailand border that refugees were forced to climb in order to escape the Khmer Rouge regime.

Organizers plan a 14-city tour to promote the book with readings and accompanying musical performances by two young Cambodian artists. The tour will begin April 1 at a Middlesex Community College reading in Lowell and continue with stops in Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Paul, Minn., and Long Beach, Calif.

The publication of Ly Van's work, printed in its original Khmer and in English, completes a two-year project by followers. The day he died, a follower found the poetry tucked under stacks of old Buddhist texts inside the temple.

On worn pages were handwritten, carefully crafted poems describing Ly Van's memories of labor camps, starvation and infant executions and his dreams of escaping to America.

"We all said, 'Wow ... we have to publish this,'" said Samkhann Khoeun, who studied under Ly Van and served as the book's editor. "Here was something so beautiful describing something so horrible. It brought tears to our eyes."

Khoeun then went on a campaign to get the book published. The Glory Buddhist Temple and local nonprofit groups Light of Cambodian Children and Cambodian Expressions agreed to help with the publication cost, while Khoeun worked on translation with other refugees.

Ly Van was born in 1917 in a small Cambodian village where he and his family lived through the 1970s rule of the Khmer Rouge regime, which perpetrated one of the worst genocides of the 20th century.

An estimated 1.7 million people died from starvation, disease and executions due to the group's radical policies. According to the temple's biography of Ly Van, he was forced to work on farms and public projects 14 hours a day. It was during this time that he witnessed mass executions and large-scale starvation.

In early 1979, when Vietnamese soldiers invaded Cambodia, Ly Van and thousands of others fled to Thailand through dangerous terrain where he and others ended up at refugee camps while hoping for asylum to the U.S. with the help of the U.N.

He and his family were granted asylum and resettled in Lowell, an old mill city less than an hour's drive northwest of Boston.

Today about 20,000 Cambodians live in or around the city, making it second only to Long Beach for the largest number of Cambodians living in the United States.

As a refugee in Lowell, Ly Van helped establish the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, which promotes educational, cultural, economic and social programs for Cambodian-Americans and other minorities, before leading the Glory Buddhist Temple until his death of old age at 90.

But while counseling his fellow refugees and performing volunteer efforts, Ly Van quietly worked and reworked his long poems about horrific moments in his life that he rarely shared.

Besides the epic poems, the new book also features photos of Khmer Rouge-era Cambodia and of refugee camps in Thailand.

Some of the photos are from the collection of photojournalist Jay Mather, whose images helped earn him a 1980 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting with reporter Joel Brinkley while at The Courier-Journal newspaper of Louisville, Ky. Others come from refugees' personal collections and the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has documented Khmer Rouge atrocities.

Khoeun said he wanted readers to see images related to Ly Van's poetry.

"We have to face it," said Khoeun, 47. "This is what we went through."

Sao, who has a bullet wound on one of his calves from being shot at a refugee camp, agreed.

"It's painful to see and remember," said Sao, also 47. "Every time I hear the words Khmer Rouge I get a little emotional. So you can imagine what's going on when I read this poetry and see these images."

Around 3,000 copies of the book are planned for the first printing, with proceeds going to costs for a planned second printing, Khoeun said.

The goal is not to make money, Ly Van's followers said, but to share the story of Cambodian refugees with others.

"I think my own children don't believe what we went through to get here," said Sao, a father of four children who were born in the U.S. "I don't talk about it much and can't put it into words like this."

"Oh! Maha Phnom Dangrek Mountain" - Poem by Ven. Ly Van Aggadipo

Excerpt from the poem "Oh! Maha Phnom Dangrek" written by Ven. Ly Van Aggadipo. The poem recounts the plight on Cambodian refugees near Phnom Dangrek when they were deported back to Cambodia by the black heart and cruel Thai soldiers. Poem reading by Yan Borin, accompanied with music by Sork Bora.

O! Maha Mount Dangrek - Cambodian Refugee Poetry by Ven. Ly Van Aggadibo

Click here to read an excerpt of the poem in Khmer

Click here to read an excerpt of the peom in English

Cambodian Refugee Poetry & Chanting (Smot) Project

Venerable Ly Van Aggadipo's book (Photo: AP)

Monday, February 1, 2010

Dear Friends:

How are you doing? I just want to reach out to you about a possibility of bringing the Cambodian Refugee Poetry & Smot Project to your area in April 2010. It was kind of a serendipity that we discovered the writing of the late Venerable Ly Van on the very same day of his passing on January 12, 2008. He was one of the Cambodian Buddhist monks in Lowell. Found among his belongings were Khmer handwritten manuscripts containing two lengthy poems...one autobiographical describing Ven. Ly Van's experiences during the Khmer Rouge regime, the other a biography of Sophoan Chea, a dear friend of Ly Van's who was actually his sponsor for resettlement in the U.S. The poems are beautifully written, poignant, and reflect the richness of Khmer culture. They have been translated into English and are currently scheduled for publication in March 2010.

We titled the poetry book "O! Maha Mount Dangrek: poetry of Cambodian Refugee Experiences", a quote that the author wrote in one the poetic stanzas, which recaptured his experience during the inhuman ordeal at mountainous plateau where some 45,000 Khmer refugees were violently shot, killed and pushed over the cliff of Mount Dangrek by the Thai soldiers in the mid-1979. The author and his family were among the victims, but fortunately survived yet another sad episode of Cambodian refugee experiences. We are so fortunate to have discovered such writing.

The overall project itself is called. the "Cambodian Refugee Poetry Book & CD", to be published in bilingual, Khmer and English, with full color case bound and black and white photos inside. It is about 200 pages in length. The book will be jointly produced by the Light of Cambodian Children, the Glory Buddhist Temple and the Cambodian Expressions. There have been several funding organizations and foundations supporting this poetry book & CD project. We still need to fundraise for the poetry book touring and community reading and all of that. We estimate the budget to be about $35,000. We already secured $5,000 from the Cambodian Living Arts, a project of the Marion Institute based in Marion, Massachusetts.

We are also in the process of sponsoring two Cambodian students of traditional smot chanting and Khmer instrument to come and visit the U.S. in order to participate in poetry readings at various Cambodian communities around the country, including Lowell, Rhode Island, New York, DC/Maryland/Virginia, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minnesota, Stockton, Fresno, San Diego, Long Beach, Portland, OR, Tacoma, Seattle and other cities and towns where there are large concentration of our Cambodian Americans.

I believe that your Cambodian community, particularly the Cambodian Buddhist Temple will be the perfect venue for such community reading event. If this idea interests you, I would love to arrange a possible tour of your community in April 2010 along with the two students/artists from Cambodia. Better yet if you, friends and community leaders can help us with hosting and sponsoring the event itself, it will mean a great deal to our Cambodian Refugee Poetry & Smot Project. Please see attached documents, one in Khmer and another is an English translation of one the late monk's poems.

Thank you in advance for your support and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards,

Samkhann C. Khoeun
Editor/Translator,
Cambodian Refugee Poetry Book & CD Project
email: samkhannkhoeun@lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us

Late Cambodian monk's poems detail homeland terror

Samkhann Khoeun, of Lowell, Mass., holds a Khmer language manuscript of poetry by the Buddhist monk Ly Van Aggadipo, that features his photo on the cover, at the Glory Temple, in Lowell, Nov. 20, 2008. Ly Van's internal struggles from his experiences under the Khmer Rouge remained a mystery until some of his followers found a collection of his poetry left behind in his quarters at the temple. Buddhist monks Bo Chhuom, 75, behind left, and Voeun Vann, 35, behind right, look on. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Friday, March 13, 2009
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) — For years, Ly Van Aggadipo served as the spiritual mentor to many Cambodian refugees in this old mill city, guiding followers at the Glory Buddhist Temple through family issues, work problems and recurring nightmares from the horrors of the Khmer Rouge.

But his own internal struggles from the Khmer Rouge remained a mystery, and those who knew him say he rarely spoke of his own story of fleeing war-torn Cambodia.

Then, soon after his death last year, friends found a collection of the monk's poetry tucked under stacks of old Buddhist texts. On worn pages were handwritten, carefully crafted poems describing his memories of witnessing infant executions, starvation at labor camps and dreams of escaping to America.

Now followers are seeking to publish the poetry, even as the discovery of this vivid historical record of the atrocities has reopened for many a painful time they still have not reconciled in their own lives.

"It put us in tears again," said Samkhann Khoeun, 45, who studied under Ly Van. "We couldn't believe it. When I read (the work), it was so vivid. It refreshed the memory."

Everyone knew the basics of Ly Van's life, Khoeun said. "But we didn't know the details and no one ever asked. He was so busy helping us," Khoeun said.

Born in 1917 in a small Cambodian village, Ly Van and his family lived through the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s, which perpetrated one of the worst mass genocides of the 20th century. An estimated 1.7 million people died from starvation, disease and executions due to the radical policies of the communist group. According to the temple's biography of Ly Van, he was forced to work on agricultural and public projects for 14 hours a day. It was during this time that the monk witnessed mass executions and large-scale starvation.

In early 1979 when Vietnamese soldiers invaded Cambodia, Ly Van and thousands of others fled to Thailand through dangerous terrain and later ended up in Lowell, a community second only to Long Beach, Calif., for the largest number of Cambodian residents living in the United States.

While in Lowell, Ly Van helped establish the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association and was invited to lead the Glory Buddhist Temple in 1988, a position he held until his death in January 2008.

Khoeun and others found the manuscript just days after Ly Van's body was cremated.

In one translated verse, Ly Van writes about how he and other refugees fled to Thailand by traveling through a treacherous mountain range packed with thieves and land mines. It was a well-known trek where Thai soldiers pushed refugees over cliffs at gunpoint while refugees tumbled over each other trying to escape.

"Surrounded by corpses as we walked, slept and ate; an unbearably foul smell/Emanated from the swollen, rotten bodies, most of which were missing limbs and heads."

Ly Van also writes of the conditions of a refugee camp in Thailand where women were constantly raped, men were frequently beaten and families combatted filthy living facilities.

"...we had to sleep on the bare concrete floor, like animals/Dirty water and stench-filled raw sewage floated everywhere/We were swarmed by mosquitoes constantly, resulting in rashes all over our bodies."

Kowith Kret, whose parents were executed during the Khmer Rouge, said it was hard to read the monk's account because it brought back the past. "But it is the fact," said Kret, who also studied under Ly Van. "People have to accept the experience they've been through."

George Chigas, a political science professor at UMass-Lowell who has seen copies of the poems, said the monk wrote in a rare 11-syllable meter style that is more than 1,000 years old in Cambodian literature. "It showed great devotion to cultural tradition and, at the same time, tries to preserve something that had been lost," Chigas said.

That's important, Chigas said, especially since the Khmer Rouge regime burned old texts and killed scores of writers and artists.

He compared Ly Van's writing to Loung Ung's memoir, "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers," as an act of "trying to put old demons to rest."

Today, an estimated 20,000 Cambodian Americans live in greater Lowell.

So far more than half of Ly Van's poems have been translated from Khmer to English, Khoeun said. Members of the Glory Buddhist Temple are selling a CD of Ly Van's work read in Khmer and expect the rest of the manuscript to be translated by the end of the year. They also are aiming to raise $40,000 to get 5,000 bilingual copies published by April 2010.

So far, two publishers in Cambodia have expressed interest and the group still is searching for a U.S. publisher.

After reading the poems, Khoeun said, he and other refugees have more questions for Ly Van. Questions, such as, when did he have time to write? What was life like in a refugee camp right before coming to America? And how many late relatives of the refugees did Ly Van know?

"He knew my grandfather who died right when I was born. I never asked him about that," Khoeun said. "I guess I always took him for granted."