Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice

8. Cambodian Buddhism after the Khmer Rouge

8 Cambodian Buddhism after the Khmer Rouge Buddhism in the Early People’s Republic of Kampuchea In May 1978, Heng Samrin gave a speech in Cambodia’s eastern zone revealing the existence of a dissident grouping within the Khmer Rouge. He called on “all patriotic forces regardless of political and religious tendencies,” including “Buddhist monks and nuns,” to join a united front to help “topple the reactionary and nepotistic Pol Pot–Ieng Sary gang” (Steve Heder, in PPP 8/6, March 19–April 1, 1999). A United Front for National Salvation of Kampuchea was formed on December 2, 1978. Heng Samrin became president of its fourteenperson Central Committee, which included Long Sim—described as “a revolutionary monk for over 50 years”—acting as representative for the sangha (Vickery 1986, 161).1 With the aid of Vietnamese troops the United Front quickly liberated most of the country. It is said that when the soldiers arrived in a village , they dismantled the hated communal kitchen and brought “in a few monks to reassure the people” (Kiernan 1996, 442). These early acts in the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge led to the establishment of a Vietnamese-backed People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) in January 1979. The Heng Samrin government gradually reversed some of the most extreme antireligious policies of the previous regime. A partial restoration of Buddhism was one of its first acts on coming to power. The fourth element of its elevenpoint program addressed “the right to freedom of opinion, association, and belief.” However, this element was intended to apply only in a restricted sense to Buddhism and Khmer Islam. Christianity was not accorded such freedoms. As if to emphasize the changed circumstances, as well as to gain useful propaganda , a delegation of the communist-sponsored Asian Buddhists’ Conference 190 for Peace made an o‹cial visit to Cambodia in April 1979,2 and a party representing the Buddhist Association for the National Salvation of Kampuchea attended the Fifth Congress of the Asian Buddhists’ Conference for Peace in Ulan Bator in June of the same year. The conference delegation’s speech bitterly complained that “Chinese big nation hegemonic expansionism imposed on Kampuchea an extremely brutal regime which brought to our nation a genocide never before seen in history” (de Nike et al. 2000, 146–147, document 2.1.2.02). The speech is replete with revolutionary jargon and entirely void of any significant reference to Buddhist practice or doctrine, because, in the earliest phase of the PRK, religion was manipulated largely for cosmetic and propaganda reasons. For all intents and purposes the new state continued the previous regime’s suppression of Buddhism, for this was obviously in line with the socialist emphasis on rationality, science, and the dignity of work. Despite an initial feeling of euphoria, particularly given the mass trauma associated with the recent past, popular opinion soon turned against the Vietnamese -backed regime. This was not surprising, given Vietnam’s status as Cambodia’s traditional enemy. It was therefore essential that additional support be found for the regime in order to bolster its waning legitimacy. The two strongest institutions in the country had always been the sangha and the monarchy, but the regime could hardly play the royal card, for Norodom Sihanouk was already looking to form an opposition group—eventually called the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea—with the Khmer Rouge and Son Sann’s Khmer People’s National Liberation Front (KPNLF).3 With only the monastic order to fall back on, Buddhism was partially restored around August 1979. The PRK’s early policy toward Buddhism needs to be read in this light.4 Monastic ordination in the aftermath of Democratic Kampuchea proved di‹cult for a number of reasons. On the practical level it was impossible to assemble the necessary quorum of fully ordained monks to perform the valid rite. Nevertheless, there is good reason to believe that some monks were uno‹cially reestablished quite quickly, for some thirty-nine had signed a report, dated June 13, 1975, used in evidence at the PRK’s August 1979 trial in absentia of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary. The text makes it clear that sixty-eight monks, including many of the signatories, were already residing at Wat Sansam Kosal, Phsar Doeum Thkao District, Phnom Penh.5 Other ex-monks took to shaving their head and wearing white. Such individuals began to form a core of organized Buddhism, their services being sought for the performance of ceremonies to commemorate...