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Cambodian Buddhism, History and Practice

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Cambodian Buddhism, History and Practice Buddhism / History Harris Of related interest Print and Power he study of Cambodian religion ditions in Thailand and Sri Lanka, yet Confucianism, Communism, and Buddhism in the Making T has long been hampered by a lack there are also signifi cant differences. of Modern Vietnam Cambodian Buddhism of easily accessible scholarship. The book concentrates on these and Shawn Frederick McHale illustrates how a distinctly Cambo- This impressive new work by Ian dian Theravada developed by accom- Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning, and Memory Harris thus fi lls a major gap and modating itself to premodern Khmer 2003, 272 pages offers English-language scholars a modes of thought. Following the Cloth: ISBN 0-8248-2655-8 book-length, up-to-date treatment overthrow of Prince Sihanouk in “An elegantly written and beautifully argued study of how the rise of a of the religious aspects of Cam- 1970, Cambodia slid rapidly into dis- modern print culture in Vietnam in the last years of French colonialism bodian culture. Beginning with a order and violence. Later chapters stimulated a far more pluralistic and transnational recasting of Vietnam- coherent history of the presence chart the elimination of institutional ese thought than we previously believed. A major contribution both in of religion in the country from its Buddhism under the Khmer Rouge modern Southeast Asian history and to our rethinking of the history of inception to the present day, the and its gradual reemergence after Pol colonialism.” book goes on to furnish insights Pot, the restoration of the monastic —Alexander Woodside, University of British Columbia into the distinctive nature of Cam- order’s prerevolutionary institutional bodia’s important yet overlooked forms, and the emergence of contem- Zen in Medieval Vietnam manifestation of Theravada Bud- porary Buddhist groupings. A Study and Translation of the Thiên Uyên Tâp Anh dhist tradition and shows how it Cuong Tu Nguyen reestablished itself following Cambodian Buddhism: History and Classics in East Asian Buddhism almost total annihilation during Practice synthesizes an enormous Published in association with the Kuroda Institute the Pol Pot period. range of scholarship (most of it in 1998, 496 pages French), complemented by the Historical sections cover the domi- Cloth: ISBN 0-8248-1948-9 author’s own fi eldwork in modern nant role of tantric Maha¯ya¯na Cambodia. The result is a wide- “A classic among studies on Vietnamese Buddhism.” concepts and rituals under the last ranging, well-documented, and com- —Journal of Buddhist Ethics great king of Angkor, Jayavarman prehensive account of a neglected VII (1181–c. 1220); the rise of Thera- Southeast Asian tradition. vada traditions after the collapse of the Angkorian civilization; the Cover art: Buddha image photographed at Vat Sambok, impact of foreign infl uences on the Kratie province, by the author. development of the nineteenth- Ian Harris is reader in Buddhist century monastic order; and politi- studies at University College of St. Cover design by Santos Barbasa Jr. cized Buddhism and the Buddhist Martin, Lancaster, and associate contribution to an emerging sense fellow, Becket Institute, St. Hugh’s of Khmer nationhood. The Bud- College, Oxford. University of Hawai‘i Press dhism practiced in Cambodia has Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822-1888 much in common with parallel tra- www.uhpress.hawaii.edu jack mech.indd 1 7/16/09 1:43:16 PM Harris,Cambodian Buddhism 10/27/04 9:35 AM Page i Cambodian Buddhism Harris,Cambodian Buddhism 10/27/04 9:35 AM Page ii Harris,Cambodian Buddhism 10/27/04 9:35 AM Page iii Cambodian Buddhism History and Practice Ian Harris University of Hawai‘i Press Honolulu Harris,Cambodian Buddhism 10/27/04 9:35 AM Page iv © 2005 University of Hawai‘i Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 09 08 07 06 05 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Harris, Ian Charles. Cambodian Buddhism : history and practice / Ian Harris. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8248-2765-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Buddhism—Cambodia—History. 2. Bud- dhism and politics—Cambodia. 3. Political atrocities—Cambodia. I. Title. BQ466.H37 2005 294.3’09596—dc22 2004018492 University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid- free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Designed by University of Hawai‘i Press Production Staff Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group Harris,Cambodian Buddhism 10/27/04 9:35 AM Page v Contents Preface vii 1 Buddhism in Cambodia: From Its Origins to the Fall of Angkor 1 2 The Medieval Period and the Emergence of the Theravada 26 3 Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia: Territorial and Social Lineaments 49 4 Literary and Cult Traditions 81 5 Cambodian Buddhism under Colonial Rule 105 6 Buddhism and Cambodian Nationalism 131 7 Liberation: The Religio-political Dimension 157 8 Cambodian Buddhism after the Khmer Rouge 190 Conclusion 225 Appendix A Cambodian Inscriptions Discussed in the Book 231 Appendix B Evidence Chart Based on Materials Discussed in Chapter 1 233 Appendix C Ecclesiastical Hierarchies in the Two Cambodian Buddhist Orders 236 Abbreviations 239 Notes 241 Glossary 301 Khmer Word List 305 Bibliography 309 Index 343 Harris,Cambodian Buddhism 10/27/04 9:35 AM Page vi Harris,Cambodian Buddhism 10/27/04 9:35 AM Page vii Preface urprisingly little material specifically related to Cambodian Buddhism has Sbeen written in English. A brief glance at the bibliography accompanying this book demonstrates the truth of this assertion. Rather more is available in French, as one would expect from the ex-colonial power, but much is out of print and can be consulted only in specialist libraries. In addition the bulk of French-language materials tends toward the recondite, and no introductory overview exists. The present book represents a modest attempt to fill the gap. In 1853 the Catholic priest Jean Claude Miche had been responsible for drafting King Ang Duang’s letter to Napoleon III, asking for French protection and aid in retrieving the provinces of Cambodia that had been lost to the neigh- boring powers of Thailand and Vietnam. Thus he was instrumental in estab- lishing a European presence in the region. But he was also an early observer of the religious scene. Yet to his prejudiced eyes Cambodian Buddhism appeared a “vast and absurd Pantheism, which covers with its veil a hopeless atheism.” He wrote that it “defies the whole of nature,” for its sacred writings ranked “man in the same class with the brutes.” Its conception of heaven was likewise prob- lematic, in that the blessed were supposed to experience various joys that “for the most part consist in carnal pleasures of which decency forbids the men- tion” (Miche 1852, 605, 607–610). Such attitudes must be seen in their histori- cal context, but they were quite long-lived and influential. Indeed, some of them have persisted down to the present. But they were soon to be challenged by a more careful and less ideologically charged approach to the study of Buddhism in the region. Adhémard Leclère had begun service as a fonctionnaire in Cambodia in 1866, but he is principally known today for his seminal work of 1899, Le buddhisme au Cambodge. This remarkable book is one of the very few works of Western vii Harris,Cambodian Buddhism 10/27/04 9:35 AM Page viii viii Preface scholarship to treat the subject in the round. It covers matters as diverse as cos- mology and metaphysics, the annual cycle of the Buddhist year with its vari- ous festivals, and monastic ordination and contains materials that illuminate both ecclesiastical organization and discipline. It is therefore a fundamental starting point for anyone seriously wishing to understand the nature and prac- tice of Buddhism in Cambodia. Yet it does, to my mind, suªer from a number of problems. From a practical perspective it is available only in French and, de- spite a relatively recent reprint, continues to be rather di‹cult to obtain. It is also quite weak from the historical standpoint, and it reveals a tendency, par- ticularly in the more doctrinally oriented sections, to indulge in somewhat tan- gential discussion of issues of more interest to the Christian theologian than to the student wishing to know more about the nature of traditional beliefs and practices. Admittedly, Leclère has abandoned the coarser forms of Christian missionary rhetoric found in Miche, yet an unexamined European triumphal- ism remains. Leclère admits the “elevated” character of Buddhist philosophy and ethics yet regards the mass of ordinary Cambodian Buddhists as lacking intellectual strength: “[they] are excessively contemplative, slack, without ini- tiative, very imaginative; they seem always to have had for their sacred domain absolute respect for their ancestors, even the most barbaric” (1899, xiii). Thus, his work acted as a lens through which Cambodian culture and history were refracted in support of those anxious to extend French influence in the region. Much of Leclère’s oeuvre is concerned with the traditions of the Cambo- dian court, but he also shows a strong concern for ethnology. Although many of the rustic practices he describes are no longer attested, his ethnological in- stincts appear to have been sound. In this respect he may also be identified as the progenitor of a line of fine scholars interested in Khmer folk traditions. The work of Éveline Porée-Maspero, culminating in her three-volume study enti- tled Étude sur les rites agraires des Cambodgiens (1962–1969), is the most obvious example, although more recently the baton has been taken up by Ang Chouléan, particularly in his Les êtres surnaturels dans la religion populaire khmère (1986).
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