STEP-BY-STEP WALK TOWARD PEACE
"The highest form of happiness in the
world is peace, And It's a step-by-step process that begins and
ends with the mind."
This is Samdech Preah Maha Ghosanada speaking.
The venerable Buddhist monk is sitting on a magenta pillow in his
second-story receiving room at Wat Sempou Meas on a dusty side
street in central Phnom Penh. He drinks light tea and listens to
Buddhist lecture tapes. Except for some photographs and a
bookshelf that serves as the pagoda's lending library, the room is
bare. The books are in several languages and range from Ghandi to
John Irving. And this is Cambodian Buddhism, modern style: nearly
two millennia old in this country of glories and sorrows, it is a
blend of two strains of Buddhism and Hindu Brahmanism with
animism, the ancient worship of the spirits of the earth, sky
water and fire. Buddhism suffuses the life of most Cambodians with
spiritual meaning and hope.
"Cambodians are very patient," says
the Venerable Ghosananda, who has been nicknamed the Ghandi of
Cambodia and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Wat Sempou
Meas is home to his Dhammayietra Center for Peace and
Nonviolence. "We have to prefer the vigilance of struggle, we
have to listen with patience and forbearance.
"Every day, from the beginning, in the
middle and up to the end. Every breath in and every breath out.
Every posture, sitting , standing, walking and speaking is
important, We have to achieve perfection," he says.
It is impossible to try to understand Cambodia
without starting with Buddhism, just as it is impossible to visit
Cambodia without encountering Buddhism-literally everywhere.
Around the country are 3,371 pagodas, including some 90 in Phnom
Penh. They range from vast to tiny, some spreading over many
hectares, with temples, living quarters and dozens of stupas,
conical family memorials that hold the cremated ashes of
generations. Almost 41,000 monks live in the pagodas, implementing
the teaching of Buddha.
Restaurants, shops, offices, living rooms, even
street corners have tiny altars. Monks in saffron robes carrying
large yellow umbrellas open to protect them from the blazing sun
stroll the streets collecting alms in the morning.
Buddhism has pervaded Cambodian life for nearly
a thousand years, with one gap during the country's tragic Khmer
Rouge period when religion was banned and pagodas were neglected
or damaged and the scholarly monks killed. Buddhism came to
Cambodia with the first spread of Indian influence that also
brought Hindu gods and culture and prepared the way for the
glorious Angkor period when Khmer culture and power dominated
Southeast Asia. The earliest Buddhist status found in the ruins of
ancient Cambodian temples date from the 2nd century. Many of the
splendid stone Buddhas on view today in the National Museum in
Phnom Penh were taken from the ruins of 5th century temples. Even
today the Cambodian style of praying comes from Brahamism, not
Buddhism.
The religion based on the teachings of a
long-ago Indian prince spread, tolerated if not embraced by the
early Angkor kings, until the reign of the great Jayavarman in the
12th century. A student of Buddhism from childhood, Jayavarman IIV
made it the dominant religion, building temples, roads, hospitals,
and other public works to ease the suffering of the people-a
central Buddhist idea, to do good for suffering humanity.
The principals of Buddism-in particular the
Theravada strain of Buddhism, which has been the state religion
since the 14th century-are elemental in the daily life of most
Cambodians, who believe that they will be born and die through 16
lives before they achieve hinayana, or nirvana, the
blissful-and eternal-state of paradise where there is no
suffering.
Cambodia's branch of Theravada Buddhism is a
socially engaged Buddhism that differs from the Mahayana strain of
Buddhism practiced in Nepal, Tibet, China and elsewhere. Theravada
Buddhism, also practiced in Thailand, Laos and Sri Lanka, is based
on the original teachings of Buddha. Its principles were expressed
in the Pali Language, not Sanskrit. It emphasizes a social work
orientation in which the monks run schools, development projects
and other community programs.
In the old days, almost all Cambodian males
spent time in a monastery. King Norodom Sihanouk spent three
months in a monastery after his coronation. Now, fewer families
send their sons to the monastery, but opportunities for women have
increased.
In the villages, life still revolves around the
pagoda, which acts as a center of education, culture and community
exchange. Buddhist holidays in the lunar calendar are celebrated
by going to the pagoda to pay respects and make contributions.
No holiday or ceremony is complete without
inviting the monks to give the blessing-28 blessings are typically
chanted. Gifts of silk prayer pillows and new robes often are made
to the monks at certain ceremonies, in particular at Bonn
Phchoum Ben, the festival for the spirits of the dead, on the
full moon in October. Followers of the two different
denominations, Maha Nekay and Thamayuth, can be told
apart by their footwear-one wears sandals and the other is
barefoot-and by the way they carry their rice bowl-one on a strap,
the other in their hands.
Among Phnom Penh's pagodas are many elaborately
decorated ones, with unique temple paintings, sculptures, and
icons. Wat Botum, south of the Royal. |
