Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
many pockets worn over one shoulder; and the
chipor
, a shawl that covers the upper
body and is thrown across the shoulders (inside the pagoda, the right shoulder is left
uncovered).
Women
are never ordained but can become lay nuns, undertaking various
tasks around the pagoda, including looking after the senior monks; often this is a way
for older women and widows with no family to be looked after.
Besides practising meditation and chanting, monks have to follow 227 precepts, and
undertake daily study of Buddhist scriptures and philosophy. Life in the wat is
governed by ten basic injunctions, including not eating after noon, abstaining from
alcohol and sexual relations, not partaking of entertainment (television is thus not
permitted, though, in Cambodia at least, having a mobile phone and using a computer
seem to be allowed), not wearing personal adornments or sleeping on a luxurious bed.
The most evident aspect of the monkhood in Cambodia is the daily need to go out
into the community to ask for
alms
. Begging monks go barefoot, signifying the
simplicity of their lives (the donor should also have bare feet). Donations of money go
to support the wat or to pay for transport, while food is collected in bowls or bags, to
be shared among all the monks. In return, the donors receive a simple blessing, helping
them to gain merit for the next life.
Though monks are not allowed to marry, they are often asked to bless couples who
are to be married, and they also of
ciate at funerals, presiding over the cremation of the
body and storage of the ashes at the pagoda. Monks also play a major role in the private
religious ceremonies for reasons ranging from alleviation of bad luck to acquiring merit
for the next life. These events can involve anything from a blessing at the wat, with
elaborate offerings and chanting monks, to making a small offering of fruit or the
purchase and release of a small bird from a cage.
Islam and Christianity
Islam
arrived with the
Cham
, who fled to Cambodia from Vietnam around the
beginning of the eighteenth century; today, the Cham (see p.215) account for some
two percent of the population. The most striking thing about Islam in Cambodia is the
mixing of the precepts of the faith (the monotheistic worship of Allah, the requirement
to pray five times a day and make the pilgrimage to Mecca, and so on) with elements of
traditional animist worship - some Cambodian Muslims use charms to ward off evil
spirits or consult sorcerers for magical cures. The Cham suffered badly at the hands of
the Khmer Rouge: mosques were destroyed or desecrated, and forty thousand Muslims
murdered in Kompong Cham alone. After the Khmer Rouge, the Cham were able to
resume their religious practices, and Muslim numbers now exceed that of pre-1975.
he country's
main mosque
, built with Saudi money in 1994, is in the Boeung Kak
area of Phnom Penh and has space for five hundred worshippers.
In spite of the efforts of missionaries and a lengthy period under French rule,
Christianity
is followed by less than one percent of the population. Phnom Penh once
had a Catholic cathedral but it was razed to the ground by the Khmer Rouge. More
than a hundred Christian NGO and missionary groups operate in Cambodia today,
providing services in the fields of education (in particular English-language lessons),
health care and rural development. A few years ago, however, the government curtailed
their freedom, and now groups have to seek approval before building churches and are
banned from proselytizing as a result of reports of children being coerced with sweets
and gifts into becoming Christian.
Animism, ancestor worship and superstitions
According to
animist
belief, all things in nature possess an inherent spiritual essence,
and offerings of incense, fruit, flowers and water are traditionally made at
spirit houses
to keep the spirits of the natural world happy, and to request good luck or give thanks,
