At least every Asian country with a Buddhist community has experience some sort of civil war, foreign invasion, or systematic poverty and tyranny. During the Khmer Rouge era, Buddhism was nearly destroyed. Monks were tortured, killed and forced into lay life. Buddhist temples were destroyed and used as a prison area. After the defeat of the Khmer Rouge, Buddhism remained repressed within Cambodia. Some Buddhist monks or leaders responded with forms of social engagement. That being said, Maha Ghosananda is one the monks who played a key role in rebuilding Buddhism in Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. His work, Dhammayietras was the first program to set up for peace and non-violence in Cambodia. The Dhammayietras consisted of peace …show more content…
A great example is the ordination of the tree ceremony where robes are placed around the trees and then the trees become sacred. If any individual attempts to cut down a tree this would bring religious shortcomings for that him or her. Moreover, “tree ordinations, in short, are a form of upaya (Pali), or expedient means, used to wake people up, not to spiritual realization but to the cause of immediate suffering and ways of relieving it.” To live a long life without suffering an individual must refrain greed, hatred and ignorance. Environmental Monks saw deforestation as forms greed and wealth. When trees are cut down this disrupt the environment and the villagers are unable to farm for the land is infertile. That is why Phrakhru urges people to value the forest holistically. Case in point, “he considered treating nature in a similar fashion as humans a matter of skillful means.” In short, environmental monks are trying to repress the grief of humankind. Buddhist monks are taking the necessary actions to ease the sufferings of all people in society.
Buddhism in a way encourages economic growth. This helps to raise the standard of living of the people. When people are doing good things for others and being happy that they are prospering this called development aspect of Buddhism. In a sense, Buddhism encourages honesty and respects the responsibility of one’s action. Buddhism supports people to appreciate each other and to love all. Engaged Buddhism is all about
The Communist Party of Kampuchea, also known as the Khmer Rouge, took control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975, which lasted until January 1979. For their three-year, eight-month, and twenty-one day rule of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge committed some of the most heinous crimes in current history. The main leader who orchestrated these crimes was a man named Pol Pot. In 1962, Pol Pot had become the coordinator of the Cambodian Communist Party. The Prince of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, did not approve of the Party and forced Pol Pot to flee to exile in the jungle. There, Pol formed a fortified resistance movement, which became known as the Khmer Rouge, and pursued a guerrilla war against Sihanouk’s government. As Pol Pot began to accumulate power,
From the dawn of time to even now, genocides have been happening throughout history. Some earlier genocides have not even been recorded or documented. Genocides happen because one group wants complete control and absolute power of another. People can be killed for having different ideals or being different. Knowing this, one could see that genocides only end with senseless and brutal discrimination and death. From 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge carried out a genocide in Cambodia killing all people who seemed to oppose them and their communist government (“The Cambodian Genocide”).
Christianity and Catholicism, they did not like that both those religions shunned such basic rights
This is a prime example of how Buddhism diffused throughout Southeast Asia by being assimilated into regions after Buddhist forces conquered them. Another example of this would be that of a prince from Laos who fell in love with a Cambodian-Buddhist princess. Fa Ngoun, the prince of Laos, was exiled to Cambodia and fell in love with a Buddhist princess there, then returned to Laos with newfound political power and diffused Buddhism among his people, though not forcefully (Buddhanet, pg 1). In later periods in Cambodia's history, Cambodia was one of France's colonies while the Cambodians were strongly Theravada Buddhists. After the French left Cambodia unoccupied of their colonial ruler, Cambodians sought education about Buddhism and gained only some progress in their era of Buddhist education.
Heroes, in the time of the ancient Greeks they believed a hero was someone with a divine parentage, but only on one side of the parentage. Their divine parentage gave them different ‘powers’, such as superhuman strength, and the right to act outrageously. One would think that with a godly parent one would be better off, but sadly these heroes or demi-gods had impossible hardships to face in their daily lives. Some of these heroes were Odysseus, Achilles, Herakles, Perseus, Theseus and the heroine, Atalanta.
The Cambodian Genocide took place from 1975 to 1979 in the Southeastern Asian country of Cambodia. The genocide was a brutal massacre that killed 1.4 to 2.2 million people, about 21% of Cambodia’s population. This essay, will discuss the history of the Cambodian genocide, specifically, what happened, the victims and the perpetrators and the world’s response to the genocide.
Located in Southeast Asia between Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia was home to one of the bloodiest political regimes to exist in the 20th century. In a country, in which American government reports in 1959 documented, was full of “ ‘docile and passive people…[who] could not be counted on to act in any positive way for the benefit of US aims and policies’”, the United States conflict in neighboring Vietnam brought about incredible changes to an unsuspecting people (qted. in Dunlop 70). The countryside was bombed by the United States in order to uproot suspected North Vietnamese holdouts and supply routes starting in 1969. These bombing raids, which devastated
The people feel kinship with the environment and all the elements in it. Their laws tell them how to care for the land and interact sustainably with it. I feel we should care for our environment better and live more sustainable lives. I find Buddhist teachings to be similar to this way of thinking also. You should care for all creatures and things in our environment as you don’t know the flow on effect. It’s a bit like the Butterfly Effect theory which says, “that a single occurrence, no matter how small, can change the course of the universe forever”.(The Urban
Buddhism's philosophies helped people socially; Buddhism helped relationships, governance, education, and family life by giving moral directives. Buddhism helped government officials to educate civilians in their everyday lives. Buddhism gave moral values to keep order in the Tang. This helped the economy stay organized. Generally, Buddhism in the economy impacted everyone from old to young and men to women.
There are many genocides that people are not aware of. One of them is the attempted genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was able to gain power and remain in control of Cambodia for years without interference because they isolated the country from any foreign influence. Other countries had no idea what was happening inside Cambodia until years later. The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, wanted to create their own ideal communist society. So how did The Khmer Rouge gain so much power and control? Some argue that Pol Pot was the only one responsible for the power and control gained by the Khmer Rouge. On the other hand, others say that the notion of social hierarchy was
Buddhism is an extremely unique religion that has many different philosophies and practices that you can not find in any other world religions. Buddhism explains the purpose of life. It is also a way to find peace within oneself. It helps find the happiness and contentment that people in our world today desperately seek. These variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices are largely based on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha, commonly known as the Buddha, “the enlightened one”. Followers of Buddhism generally tend to stay away from conflict and live peacefully, working towards the ultimate goal of pure and lasting happiness. The religion is growing around the world and most recently in the west. It is a religion that can easily attract people from their fast pace world by giving them solutions and practices to relieve their stress and worries. Buddhism has answers to many of the problems in modern materialistic society. It is an ancient religion that millions of people around the world still follow today. (“A Five Minute Introduction.”)
Buddhism for centuries, has long been influencing the population all over the world, specifically in China . Buddhism first came to China as a result of merchant traders from India. From there it spread within the merchant community. It mainly expanded because it gave people a sense of hope and faith with the chaos they were experiencing from the collapse of the Han Dynasty. It also spread because it covered what Confucianism lacked; a more spiritual and emotional approach that appealed to many people of different classes. It is because of this that Buddhism spread and was able to influence and greatly affect China during the period of 300-900 CE. Buddhism influenced philosophy and moral teachings, kept the Chinese society peaceful and orderly, as well as affecting the overall economy. Buddhism had strong religious teachings that appealed to the lower class with the idea of afterlife and nirvana as well as an emphasis on following your own path that transformed Chinese beliefs causing a large portion of the population to convert (doc’s 1,4). Buddhism kept the Chinese society orderly by reminding all of Buddha’s life and teachings with statues and the influence it had on monks to spread charity and missionary work (doc’s 2,3,6). Buddhism also had an effect on the economy of China. As it spread from other regions, it caused more farmers and silk producers to convert and spread the religion as monks and nuns. (doc 7,5).
We have different perspectives on a lot of things and for most…. it’s how to be a man or a hero depending on how you look at it. But it’s not about heroism. It’s the views on how to be a man (at least to me). The Hemingway’ way is different from most writers but it might just be the most influential. That is just my opinion. Out of all his works, we take three stories and one from Tim O’Brien whose work is influenced by the man himself.
Buddhism is a religion that is all about finding enlightenment and nirvana. People want to find nirvana, a state of mind in which one is released from fear and desire, so they no longer have to go through reincarnations (Monroe 110). Buddhism is a peaceful religion that doesn't believe in violence. They believe that all live are sacred and deserve to enjoy life whether it be a human or an animal. Buddhists live by a moral code of conduct with a proper control of emotions and thinking. There is a list of the Five Precepts for Right Living. The first one is do not kill, second do not steal, third do not lie, fourth do not consume alcohol, and fifth do not indulge in sexual excesses outside of marriage (Monroe 111). All buddhist search for enlightenment, however deny the existence of an afterlife. They do not believe there is a heaven nor a hell to punish their sins or reward their good deeds (Monroe 108). This means there is no salvation in an afterlife but
Buddhism teaches people to live honorably and follow the Eightfold Path to reach release from the state of infinite re-incarnation and reach nirvana, which means the end of the life cycle by living a life full of dignity and refuse from all other attachments causing their desires and strifes McKay et al., 2008)