Post Vajrayana in Kampuchea

Post the Khmer Rouge takeover in 1975, and the ensuing autogenocide, Theravada Buddhism has been credited in playing a major role in the reconstruction of the Cambodian state and culture. However, in less than ten years I’ve noticed a shift away from the traditional mainstays of family and religion toward a more popular cultural orientation, heavily influenced by the internet. On my first trips here, I brought over numerous iPhones and handed them out to the family I was taking care of. Now, I almost wish I hadn’t. Not that they couldn’t have easily obtained smart phone in the following years. As Vivo and other popular brands seemingly sprouted ‘durasap’ shops on every corner. Traditionally, there has been only two broad, catch-all continuums one can belong to in Khmer culture: the Anachak or Podichak—the worldly vehicle and the Bodhisattva’s vehicle. Now in Cambodia, as in the rest of global Internet imbibing cultures, there are countless siloed, virtual realities—endless continuums m...

Metaphorically, the real Titanic of Samsara is having the wrong view, as it will sink you every time. Especially the big one of believing in a permanent, inherently existent self—or ceaseless soul—that is independent, monolithic, and in which one takes an unshakable or dogmatic conceptual refuge for eternity. Strong wrong religious views such as this which people are willing to die for, are the last attachment—the supreme grasping at a view which is a fixed position about the nature of reality. As Lord Manjushri dictated in person to Lama Sakyapa, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo,  If there is grasping, you do not have the view.  Famously, this is found in the four line teaching, ‘Parting from the Four Attachments.’  Perhaps it’s somewhat unkind to fault people for going astray in this way, as the Buddha attested the marks of existence to be impermanence, dissatisfaction, and no self-same soul or stable essence. (Then again, as my root Guru said, one’s best friend is the one who poin...

I recently heard Kyabje Sakya Gongma Trichen say, according to the Maha Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, that by perfecting one’s compassion for all sentient beings, wisdom and all the other qualities and characteristics of a fully enlightened Buddha will obtain. Another great Sakya teacher of this era, His Eminence Deshung Tulku, Kunga Tenpei Nyima, wrote in his manual on Foundation practices that:   “If during this [mandala] offering one gives without losing the one-pointed condition of clear perception of the object of meditation, there will not be the slightest difference or deviation from the true offering, and as a result of this the two accumulations will soon be fully accomplished. (This means that there is no difference between the physical offering of a world and the meditation of offering a created world, provided the full one-pointed perception and concentration of the meditation object is maintained.) For this reason it is very important to preserve an undistracted mind, f...