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NO POLITICS FOR BUDDHIST MONKS
2014-02-26
Executive Sangha Council of the Amarapura Sirisaddhammawansa Maha Nikaya has decided
to ban all monks belonging to the Chapter from engaging in any kind of active politics or
election related matters.
he decision was taken at a council meeting held last evening !"#$ in %alapitiya under the
patronge of the Maha Nayaka thero of the chapter.
Accordingly& member monks of the Chapter will be compelled to refrain from attending
political rallies& taking part in protests& sathyagrahas or other demonstrations& and any otheractivity that would lead to clashes with the police& without obtaining prior approval from the
Chapter.
'etails
In Cambodia, monks get political after
unpopular electionsA leading monk says ripplingdiscontent about allegedly corruptelections means "both the monks andthe people are waking up now."
October 8,2013 082!
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia During
Pchum Ben, a Cambodian religious
ENLARGE
Seim Sovanny addresses supporters of the Cambodia National Rescue
Party in Freedom Park on October 6, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Cambodian Opposition party supporters gathered to petition the UnitedNations to intervene following disputed Cambodian elections in
September that lead to days of protests. (Nicolas Axelrod/Getty Images)
http://www.caffesrilanka.org/more-4a-9252-2.htmlhttp://www.digathanews.com/news/13017-no-politics-for-buddhist-monkshttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/belief/cambodia-monks-politics-electionhttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/belief/cambodia-monks-politics-electionhttp://www.globalpost.com/photo/5954352/183386000-2http://www.globalpost.com/photo/5954352/183386000-2http://www.caffesrilanka.org/images/site-logo.pnghttp://www.caffesrilanka.org/posters/140226130234monk-300x216.jpghttp://www.digathanews.com/news/13017-no-politics-for-buddhist-monkshttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/belief/cambodia-monks-politics-electionhttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/belief/cambodia-monks-politics-electionhttp://www.globalpost.com/photo/5954352/183386000-2http://www.caffesrilanka.org/more-4a-9252-2.html -
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holiday that came to a close last week, enerable !eo "omaly got u# be$ore dawn%
By & a%m% each day, the '()year)old monk was dressed in his sa$$ron robe and chanting
#rayers% Not long a$ter, with the sun still hanging low in the sky, he was ready to talk
#olitics%
"omaly is #art o$ a growing but di$$icult to *uanti$y network o$ monks who are #ublicly
showing their discontent with the results o$ +ulys national elections, which many
Cambodians see as dee#ly $lawed, as -oiced during an o##osition #arty congress
attended by thousands here this weekend%
.s someone who recei-es alms and donations, "omaly sees this dissent as his duty,e-en i$ the to#)ranking monks see it the other way around%
(/e-e been eating our #eo#les $ood, and now our #eo#le, our nation, is e0#eriencing
in1ustice, so we can stand and hel# them,2 he said, sitting on a couch inside a #agoda
near the Council o$ Ministers in Phnom Penh%
(Both the monks and the #eo#le are waking u# now,2 he said%
"omaly, who wears glasses and is -irtually attached to his smart#hone, detailed some
o$ his recent e0#loits% 3n "e#tember, he and do4ens o$ monks showed u# outside the
5oyal Palace to #etition !ing Norodom "ihamoni to delay the o#ening o$ #arliament%
He has ca1oled others to 1oin rallies -ia 6acebook, and attended, by his count, 78
#olitically oriented demonstrations%
One o$ his most im#ortant roles, howe-er, has been as a sort o$ mediator $or clergy
who run a$oul o$ religious and local authorities% 3n a recent case, he said, he
success$ully reconciled two monks who came to blows o-er #olitics%
"omaly #uts the numbers o$ like)minded monks at 7,888 in Phnom Penh, and 9,888
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across the country, with networks in $our #ro-inces% Monks a$$iliated with "omaly,
monks with other grou#s or acting on their own are de$ying orders $rom the u##er
echelon to stay away $rom #rotests, bra-ing security $orces and risking retaliation%
.mid a #olitical crisis, they are choosing sides%
Buddhism in the background
/hile most Cambodians $ollow :hera-ada Buddhism, and the religion has been a
source o$ guidance and national identity, #olitical engagement has taken on di$$erent
$orms throughout the countrys troubled history%
During the 6rench#rotectorate, which lasted $rom the mid)7;th century until
Cambodian inde#endence in 7;&', Buddhism and anti)colonial mo-ements inCambodia werent as closely linked as in Burma and "ri
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in the late 7;8s, Buddhism was made Cambodias o$$icial state religion%
Hun "en stuck around $or a while% reat "u#reme Patriarch :e# ong, who
has been aligned with members o$ the ruling #arty since the early 7;8s% Monks with
o##osition leanings -iew the religious leader as little more than an e0tension o$ those
in #ower%
:he statement seemed to #romote a kind o$ Orwellian situation within #agodas,
encouraging in$orming on others and sti#ulating that, inside #agodas, #eo#le @must
coo#erate with monk o$$icers to sto# any acti-ities that are against the religious and
state laws% /hen ha-ing enough e-idence o$ any uno$$icial acti-ities and cases Gthey
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must re#ort immediately to the nearest #olice o$$icers and authorities%2
Monks listened closely, but not all toed the line%
(3 ha-e ne-er been #hysically attacked, but the statement or announcement $rom the
#atriarch is one that threatens the monks% 3t banned the monks $rom s#eaking u# to
$ind 1ustice and #eace $or the nation,2 said enerable !hoem "o#hea, ''% @.$ter that,
the chie$ o$ each monastery con-enes to tell his $ollowers not to attend any rallies% 3t is
a kind o$ #utting #ressure on monks% Howe-er, we still attend the demonstration
because we want 1ustice, although we $eel a$raid and worried about our security%2
Engaged Buddhism
3an Harris, a historian o$ Cambodian Buddhism, wrote in a (887 #a#er that as the
ietnamese #re##ed to de#art Cambodia in 7;;, @Hun "en a#ologi4ed $or earlier
?mistakes in the treatment o$ Buddhism and cons#icuous acts o$ Buddhist #iety by
#arty dignitaries started to be widely re#orted%2
3t was around this time that one o$ Cambodias most $amous #ro#onents o$ @engaged
Buddhism,2 Maha >hosananda, who died in (88, began to lead annual #eacemarches across the country% Dubbed @Cambodias >andhi2 by the media and @Buddha
o$ the Battle$ields2 in a biogra#hy, >hosananda walked against war, landmines and
other scourges% He was nominated $or the Nobel Peace Pri4e $or his work%
But historians say that the AN)backed elections in 7;;', when monks were granted the
-ote $or the $irst time, created a new sort o$ #olitici4ation%
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o$ monks%3n the ne0t election year, (88', "am Bunthoeun, a well)known Buddhist
$igure, was gunned down outside /at
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.cts like these stand out% But its di$$icult to say how much in$luence theyll ha-e on the
bigger #icture% Nearly hal$ o$ Cambodias National .ssembly is still re$using to be #art
o$ the go-ernment% 3n any e-ent, the monks are causing a stir within the sangha, and
re-i-ing the debate about how large a role they should #lay in #olitics%
6or "omaly, who on /ednesday morning was about to lea-e his #agoda to hel# settle
yet another #olitical dis#ute, the *uestion is an easy one%
(3t is not ?should% Monks ?must be in #olitics% Buddha was the $ather o$ democracy,2
he said% @/hy shouldnt monks, Buddhas $ollowers, 1oin inJ2