Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

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Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by kiwiincambodia »

Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia
By: Euan Black - POSTED ON: February 1, 2017

As Cambodia modernises and sex and drug scandals rock the monkhood, the famed saffron robes no longer command the respect they once did

Image
A group of monks in Phnom Penh make use of modern technology

Photography by Jeremy Meek

In 1959, May Mayko Ebihara became the first American to write an anthropological dissertation on Cambodian village life. Published in two volumes nearly a decade later, Svay: A Khmer Village in Cambodia depicted a pre-modern agricultural idyll governed by family and religion, in which monks were seen as the “living embodiments and spiritual generators of Buddhism”.

However, rapid economic development has led to a dramatic restructuring of social relations within the Kingdom. Urbanisation is siphoning people away from rural life, modernity is slowly consuming tradition, and more and more Cambodians are turning their backs on the monkhood.

“Buddhism is not strong like before,” said Bunsin Chuon, a monk since 1996 who splits his time between the US and Wat Langka in Phnom Penh. “People have happier lives now because technology is so advanced, and fewer people want to become monks because to be a monk is not a happy life.”

Before the Khmer Rouge, pagodas served as the moral, educational and cultural hub of village life and thus enjoyed a prominent position within society. Writing in Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation, 1860 – 1945, the historian Penny Edwards describes how the monkhood, or sangha, “offered one of the few paths to power outside of birthright”, with completion of at least one Buddhist Lent in the monastery considered a male rite of passage. Boys would enter the monkhood as teenagers, learn about Buddhism and Khmer culture, then return to adult life.

http://sea-globe.com/the-decline-of-bud ... =hootsuite
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by thelost »

Somewhat true.
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by Luigi »

kiwiincambodia wrote:Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia
By: Euan Black - POSTED ON: February 1, 2017

As Cambodia modernises and sex and drug scandals rock the monkhood, the famed saffron robes no longer command the respect they once did

Image
A group of monks in Phnom Penh make use of modern technology

Photography by Jeremy Meek

In 1959, May Mayko Ebihara became the first American to write an anthropological dissertation on Cambodian village life. Published in two volumes nearly a decade later, Svay: A Khmer Village in Cambodia depicted a pre-modern agricultural idyll governed by family and religion, in which monks were seen as the “living embodiments and spiritual generators of Buddhism”.

However, rapid economic development has led to a dramatic restructuring of social relations within the Kingdom. Urbanisation is siphoning people away from rural life, modernity is slowly consuming tradition, and more and more Cambodians are turning their backs on the monkhood.

“Buddhism is not strong like before,” said Bunsin Chuon, a monk since 1996 who splits his time between the US and Wat Langka in Phnom Penh. “People have happier lives now because technology is so advanced, and fewer people want to become monks because to be a monk is not a happy life.”

Before the Khmer Rouge, pagodas served as the moral, educational and cultural hub of village life and thus enjoyed a prominent position within society. Writing in Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation, 1860 – 1945, the historian Penny Edwards describes how the monkhood, or sangha, “offered one of the few paths to power outside of birthright”, with completion of at least one Buddhist Lent in the monastery considered a male rite of passage. Boys would enter the monkhood as teenagers, learn about Buddhism and Khmer culture, then return to adult life.

http://sea-globe.com/the-decline-of-bud ... =hootsuite

:shock: :jerk:
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juansweetpotato
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by juansweetpotato »

A Khmer I know was telling me that the monks should go. He said there were too many young men that were just a waste of space and did nothing but beg for food.
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by SinnSisamouth »

what a load of tosh

this last two days have been packed at pogodas in shv
if u need to ask why then go home or get down to the girlie bars

just because u fuck a few whores does not mean u can comment on cam culture
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by taabarang »

"A Khmer I know was telling me that the monks should go. He said there were too many young men that were just a waste of space and did nothing but beg for food."

The Pol Pot school of thought.
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by juansweetpotato »

SinnSisamouth wrote:what a load of tosh

this last two days have been packed at pogodas in shv
if u need to ask why then go home or get down to the girlie bars

just because u fuck a few whores does not mean u can comment on cam culture
Hey, that was what a fairly wealthy Sino-Khmer guy told me. Nothing to do with my own views of the Buddhist culture.
I thought it was a surprising thing to say and worth a post.
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by juansweetpotato »

taabarang wrote:"A Khmer I know was telling me that the monks should go. He said there were too many young men that were just a waste of space and did nothing but beg for food."

The Pol Pot school of thought.
Is that what it was? He seems quite capitalistic. I guess it all gets mixed up somewhere along the line.
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by timmydownawell »

Why do young men become monks? Is it because they feel a true calling? Or are they just lost and have nowhere else to go?
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Re: Pagoda problems: the decline of Buddhism in Cambodia

Post by John Bingham »

juansweetpotato wrote:A Khmer I know was telling me that the monks should go. He said there were too many young men that were just a waste of space and did nothing but beg for food.
I've heard similar sentiments expressed fairly often. Not usually in such strong terms, but it's easy to see that not everyone goes for the religious ideas.
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