Cambodian Buddhism

Theravada Buddhism is the religion of virtually all of the ethnic Khmers, who constitute about 90% or more of the Cambodian population. Buddhism originated in what are now north India and Nepal during the sixth century B.C. Theravada Buddhism is a tolerant, non-prescriptive religion that does not require belief in a supreme being. Its precepts require that each individual take each individual take full responsibility for his own actions and omissions.

Buddhism is based on three concepts: dharma (the doctrine of the Buddha, his guide to right actions and belief); karma (the belief that one’s life now and in future lives depends upon one’s own deeds and misdeeds and that as an individual one is responsible for, and rewarded on the basis of, the sum total of one’s acts and act’s incarnations past and present); and sangha, the ascetic community within which man can improve his karma. The Buddhist salvation is nirvana, a final extinction of one’s self. Nirvana may be attained by achieving good karma through earning much merit and avoiding misdeeds.

A Buddhist’s pilgrimage through existence is a constant attempt to distance himself or herself from the world and finally to achieve complete detachment, or nirvana. The fundamentals of Buddhist doctrine are the Four Noble Truths: suffering exits; craving (or desire) is the cause of suffering; release from suffering can be achieved by stopping all desire; and enlightenment – buddhahood – can be attained by following

the Noble Eightfold Path (right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration), which constitutes a middle way between sensuality and ascetism. Enlightenment consists of knowing these truths. The average layperson cannot hope for nirvana after the end of this life, but can by complying, as best he or she is able to, with the doctrine’s rules of moral conduct-hope to improve his or her karma and thereby better his condition in the next incarnation.

Source: www.kambodscha-botschaft.de

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Comment by Hanzze on January 11, 2012 at 5:33am: Dear friends,

there is said:

"The average layperson cannot hope for nirvana after the end of this life, but can by complying, as best he or she is able to, with the doctrine’s rules of moral conduct-hope to improve his or her karma and thereby better his condition in the next incarnation."

There are some mistakes in this elaborations. First of all, there is no such thing as hope for Nirvana useful as it is a practice that simply need to be done. Hope is attachment to the future and Nirvana is in the present, so it is very needed to let go of hope to come to the bliss of release.

Further more, there is no such thing as improvement of karma, karma means action. What was meant here was maybe the ripening of karma or the conditions resulting out of karma (action: mental, verbal, physical). Of cause there is an improvement of once actions out of observing (before, at and in long therms) actions. Karma is for the most people (in Cambodia as well as everywhere in the world) a mystic thing, but actually it is just action and nothing more and our future situation, our consciousnesses, what ever will influence our being (in the way we experience it) is a matter of our old deeds.

Nivana (Nibbana) is not a matter of "afterlife". Nibbana (the release of suffering) is something that can be attained every time. Many mistakenly take Parinibbana equal with Nibbana. If somebody has reached Nibbana, there will be Parinibbana after ther break up of the body. While still being alive it is also called Nibbana with reminders (old karma, but no more producing of new, no more becoming and no more decay and therefore no more suffering), while after the physical death also the reminder decay.

There is said that it is not possible to attain Nibbana while being a layman. When we look at the Tripitaka we can find serial reports of layman attaining the highest goal as laypeople. Of cause, latest after this moment he would be no more layman, some left home to lead the holy life till the end, some died.

It is clear that it is much more difficult to develop the eightfold Path while in house life, but some may have the karmic possibilities to lead a nearly honest life at home. The problem is that, if one does not develop right livelihood also to its highest aspect, there will be to much defilement to gain right mindfulness and right concentration.

Especial the older traditional practice of yogachakra is a similar development as we find in other countries to compensate the demand of right livelihood till the point near realization.

There are some other writings in this text which could lead to misunderstanding. If this text is still published on an official website reporting about Cambodia, it might be useful to support an additional text.

_()_

with metta

Hanzze