traditionalists within the Mahanikai that continued
into the 1970s. The reformist efforts led by modernist
monks did, however, coincide with both the pedagog-
ical ideologies and political interests of French colo-
nial administrators who backed Nath and Tath in an
effort to reinvigorate Buddhist education within the
protectorate. The French administration took on the
role of san ̇gha patron in part to foster European mod-
els of scientific education but also, fearing Siamese in-
fluence, to stem the flow of Khmer Buddhist literati to
Bangkok. The modernist agenda also countered the in-
fluence of cosmologically oriented Buddhism in the
provinces, where French rule in the late nineteenth
century was plagued by peasant insurrections con-
nected with predictions of a Buddhist dhammik(righ-
teous ruler) who would usher in the epoch of the
Buddha Maitreya.
By 1930, when the Buddhist Institute was estab-
lished under the directorship of French curator Su-
sanne Karpelès, most of the modern Buddhist
institutions in Cambodia were in place. For the next
forty-five years, the Buddhist Institute led the devel-
opment of modern Buddhism in Cambodia, issuing
frequent publications of critical editions of texts in
Khmer and Pali, as well as scholarly and popular stud-
ies related to Buddhism and Khmer literature and his-
tory, many of which appeared in its important
publication, Kambujasuriya.Besides its prominent role
in articulating a modern Khmer expression of Bud-
dhism, the Buddhist Institute became a site for imag-
ining Khmer nationalism, and monks were among the
most prominent dissidents against the French colonial
regime. The institute also helped give rise to the de-
velopment of the Communist Party in Cambodia.
Mean (Son Ngoc Minh) and Sok (Tou Samouth), later
leaders of Khmer communism, were both recruited by
Karpelès for Buddhist education. In spite of this early
connection between Buddhism and the Communist
Party, once the Khmer Rouge took power in April
1975, they quickly sought to eradicate Buddhism in
Democratic Kampuchea. Many monks were executed
or forced to disrobe, Buddhist monasteries were de-
stroyed or appropriated for other purposes, and Bud-
dhist text collections were discarded. Nearly two
million people died as a result of Khmer Rouge poli-
cies enacted between 1975 and 1979.
Since the Vietnamese invasion of 1979 that brought
an end to the Khmer Rouge regime, Buddhism has
slowly reemerged in Cambodia, in some ways resem-
bling pre-1970 Buddhism and in other ways quite al-
tered. The subsequent governments of Cambodia since
1979 have gradually lifted initial restrictions on Bud-
dhist participation and expression, pre-1970 san ̇gha
organization has been restored and many temples
(vatt) have been rebuilt, often from contributions from
Khmer living in other countries. New research by an-
thropologist John Marston suggests that older strains
of Khmer Buddhist thought, such as millenarianism
and tensions between modernists (smay) and tradi-
tionalists (puran), have reemerged in this new period.
Political leaders continue to situate themselves as pa-
trons of the san ̇gha in order to gain legitimacy. On the
other hand, the loss of so many monks, intellectuals,
and texts, as well as an entire generation of young lay-
people raised without any religious education at all, is
seen by contemporary Buddhist leaders as a major ob-
stacle to the rebuilding process and an irreparable
break with the past. In addition, the traumatic experi-
ence of so much of the population has in some cases
ushered in new kinds of cynicism and questioning of
basic Buddhist truths, such as the efficacy of the law
of karma (action). At the same time, other KhmerCAMBODIAThe promenade at Angkor Wat, 1997. AP/Wide World Photos.
Reproduced by permission.