Internalizing, not just talking (Cambodia)

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Opinion: Senior researcher Lao Mong Hay of the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission, wrote Khmer Rouge Trial: Time for Soul Searching, published at UPI Online. It's a thought-provoking piece, valuable to all faiths.

As Cambodia's Khmer Rouge trials proceed, Mong Hay suggests "the need for the Cambodian people themselves...to do some soul searching."

Theravada Buddhism -- a state religion under the kingdom, the republic, the Khmer Rouge, and today's autocracy -- is based on three founding concepts:

1. "Dharma" -- the Buddha's teachings on right actions and views;
2. "karma" -- a person's present and future life [which is the result] as determined by his or her own deeds and misdeeds, the sum total of one's acts and omissions in all lives past and present; and
3. "Sangha" -- the ascetic community within which a person can improve karma (and become a superior being).

Buddhists who seek enlightenment practice compassion, which is the root of Buddha's Dharma or teachings. Compassion, kindness, tolerance, and forgiveness are the essence of Buddhism.

Cambodia has more than 4,000 monasteries and more than 50,000 monks. Up to 95 percent of the population are Theravada Buddhist.

Mong Hay asks, If "the overwhelming majority of Cambodian people were Buddhist" before the Khmer Rouge's rise to power, "how could these Buddhists among the Khmer Rouge help kill some 1.7 million of their fellow countrymen" from 1975-1979?

"Cambodians need to do some deep soul searching as to how Buddhist they were prior to the Khmer Rouge times, and even in current times, where crimes are no less ruthless," he writes. "Was Buddhism just skin deep, and were Buddhist ethical values -- such as respect for life, loving-kindness, and compassion -- not the Cambodian people's strong deep-seated core values as these people might have thought?" he asked.

People in general like to talk. Talking the talk makes some people feel knowledgeable and even pious, and many do this. But walking the talk is less common, for it's harder to do. We "talk the talk" on autopilot; we don't internalize the belief system the words espouse. More>>