Buddhism in a Dark Age: Cambodian Monks under Pol Pot

Chapter Seven: Aftermath: Rebuilding the Saṅgha under Socialism

139 ChApter SeVen aftermath Rebuilding the Saṅgha under Socialism Setting the Scene During the Khmer Republic period, prophecies circulated predicting the demise of Buddhism. As the Khmer Rouge grip on the country tightened, they seemed to be coming true. By 1978 Yun Yat, the minister of culture, information, and propaganda, told a Yugoslav reporter that “Buddhism is dead and the ground has been cleared for the foundations of a new revolutionary culture” (Stanic 1978). Yet an ex-monk who was present at the time rather courageously took issue with her, on the grounds that, for him at least, Buddhism and communism were compatible. His fate is unknown, but the story suggests, as I have tried to demonstrate in earlier chapters of this book, that some elements of Buddhist belief and practice were subsumed into the Khmer Rouge worldview. Other, more tangible forms of evidence suggest that although Buddhism was in mortal danger during Democratic Kampuchea, it was never totally extinguished, despite the claims of Angkar to the contrary. Monks in Robes We have seen that the Theravāda code of monastic discipline (vinaya) allows for the disrobing of a fully ordained a monk only after he has admitted to having committed one of four offenses entailing defeat (pārājika)—sexual relations, theft, killing (including encouraging another to die or assisting in a 140 Chapter Seven suicide), and boasting of superhuman perfections. His exit from the saṅgha, moreover, is deemed valid only after the performance of a formal ritual at which he announces a wish to renounce the training. It is perfectly clear that such disrobing was a very rare occurrence during the period covered in this book, and many reports talk of specific monks continuing to follow Buddhist precepts even though they had been compelled to shed their robes. From the vinaya perspective such individuals might quite legitimately claim that they never sullied their monkhood, regardless of whether they were forced to wear civilian clothes or the white robes discussed in chapter 5. However, a handful of witnesses claim that they knew of monks who survived the entire Democratic Kampuchea period without disrobing. I consider two of these remarkable figures now, with discussion of another, Ven. Kaet Vay, held over for a later section of the chapter dealing with the first “official” ordinations in Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. Let us turn our attention to the story of Ven. Paen Sen (1896–1989). When he was twelve years old, Paen Sen became a novice at Wat Tang Sre, Cheung Prey district, under that pagoda’s cau adhikār, Ven. Sovann Botum Kol. Unusually, this was a Thommayut monastery with well-established links to Siam, so after Paen Sen had undergone full ordination at the age of twenty-one, he transferred to Wat Bowanniwet, the order’s Bangkok headquarters, for eight further years of higher study, in line with established Thommayut custom. He returned to Cambodia when his teacher died, and he was soon invited to become the cau adhikār of Wat Sovann Kiri in nearby Cheung Chhnok. The Khmer Rouge had controlled this area well before 1975, and monks were forced to work in the rice fields or to supply soldiers at the front. After 17 April some revolutionary monks arrived with guns. Their leader, Yeum, was often drunk and carried a gun in his bag, so it was assumed that he was only pretending to be a monk.1 He preached communist ideology but also claimed that if anyone captured members of the despised Lon Nol regime, they would be reborn in paradise. According to his biographer, most of the local senior Khmer Rouge respected Paen Sen (Hong Dy 1989). Indeed, one of his relatives was an official based at Batheay district headquarters. So he was allowed to move to a small house on the nearby hillside; it was equipped with many books and some Buddha images. His cousin and a young local boy looked after him, he had enough food most of the time, and he was even able to listen to Voice of America and various Thai radio stations.2 rebuilding the Saṅgha under Socialism 141 In the middle of 1976 the region’s monkhood was ordered to disrobe. Paen Sen was given the customary black clothes to change into, but he just hung them up in his cottage. From that time on, he wore a white...