Virtues (Buddhism); Buddhist Temples; Buddhist Monks; Khmers
摘要
This article draws upon several ethnographic vignettes taken from fieldwork conducted in Cambodia between 2003-2004 to explore how security and legitimacy are constructed in terms of Khmer culture. I propose that the cultural logic according to which these are formulated rests upon the containment and subordination of power, in its broadest sense, to the Buddhist virtues (sel), the sacred boundary around the temple (sima) and the saffron robe of Buddhist monks. The article presents an historical background to the changing role of Buddhism in Cambodia over the centuries, paying particular attention to its revival after the devastation of the Khmer Rouge period 1975-1979. The ethnography presented reveals the fears Khmer people express today at what would appear to be power escaping the regulation of the sel/sima/robe symbolic complex; the article argues that under these cultural circumstances Khmer imagine their universe and identity to be dissolving. Both security and legitimacy would seem to be at risk.
目次
Pursuing peace in an insecure world 78 Power penetrates the ‘sima’ 80 Buddhism and the shaping of the Khmer universe 83 Modern Buddhism as danger 84 The tables turn 85 The eclipse of Khmer culture 86 Re-inventing Khmer Buddhism: source of purity and protection 88 Looking for leadership 89 ‘Breaking’ the precepts 90 Portraying power in the hands of politics 92 The search for peace and happiness 93 Acknowledgement 94 Notes 94 References 95
