Archives & Religion : From social to sacred, the Khmer pagoda

A French journalist wishing to make contact with the Cambodian community in France had painstakingly scoured the list of Cambodian associations in France and made appointments with their leaders.

The mythical scenes from the life of the Buddha are mixed with completely modern characters and objects

He was dismayed to discover that many of these associations existed in name only and that, when they did exist, they represented little more than the handful of individuals who formed their executive committee; in short, as the bad tongues would say, a group of leaders and people to obey them.

“In these conditions, how can we understand the reality of Cambodia abroad? The answer is obvious to anyone with even the slightest familiarity with Khmer culture: visit the pagodas!“

This is what our journalist did, and he was indeed satisfied. In fact, as soon as you try to think of Cambodia beyond the individual and the omnipresent family - in short, in terms of community - there is hardly a solution other than the pagoda.

The crucible of modern Khmer society

Why is the pagoda so important? In small-vehicle Buddhism (Hinayana or Theravada), salvation is strictly individual in that it is based on a person's acquisition of merit. Acquiring merit involves performing good deeds, often in the form of donations (charity, various forms of aid, etc.), the beneficiary of which is the pagoda, which in turn is responsible for redistributing them.

Nothing very original? And yet it's a key to understanding Cambodia. Through these donations, the pagoda becomes, in addition to its strictly religious functions, the eminently social place of the country: people meet there for celebrations, they teach, they care, they welcome people at the end of their lives, poor students... in short, a consistent social space closely integrated with the sacred space.

The social functions of the pagoda, particularly in terms of health and education, have literally deprived the Christian churches of their usual means of conversion. As a result, the social weight of Christianity is insignificant in Cambodia, whereas in the great vehicle Buddhist countries (Mahayana) where the pagoda has absolutely no social role, Christianity has made considerable inroads, as demonstrated, for example, by the presence of nearly six million Catholics in neighbouring Vietnam.

A fortunately repaired oversight

The building corresponding to the pagoda, vat or monastery - these terms are synonymous - was and remains one of the essential frameworks of Khmer social life. Given this situation, it is understandable to be surprised that there are only a few scattered texts describing its structure and decoration.

This neglect is a thing of the past; we now have a veritable vade mecum of the pagoda: the work by Danielle and Dominique-Pierre Guéret entitled “La pagode khmère”.

These two highly atypical personalities used their free time, from 2004 to 2015, to travel to every province of Cambodia to discover the country's pagodas. The result was two doctoral theses, one on architecture and the other on pagoda paintings. The two theses and their abundant documentation constitute, to date, the only serious survey of the country's pagodas. We couldn't stop there, and a book of nearly 200 pages was bound to make the substance of the two theses available to a wide readership.

An introduction places the pagoda in the context of Khmer society and the tragedies of the country's recent history. The first part is devoted to the architecture and the second to the painted decoration. Even without any prior knowledge, readers will quickly become familiar with monastery architecture and its evolution. Everything from the roof to the tiles is carefully described. The same applies to wall paintings. As well as describing the various techniques used, the authors have had the good sense to give an almost exhaustive list of all the themes represented.

Follow the guide!

Free time at the weekend? The third part, which covers more than two-thirds of the book, takes you on a tour of the country's one hundred oldest monasteries. This is an essential part of Khmer culture and art, which Angkorian exclusivism had robbed us of. Far from the uniformity of the most recent pagodas, you can discover a very rich architectural variety, with very marked regional differences.

The paintings are no exception. This is a far cry from the fluorescent, acrylic-painted Buddhas that we're used to seeing in recently built pagodas. In these ancient monasteries, knowledge of anatomy is the rule: careful work captures the expressiveness of the features and restores the anatomical precision of the limbs. The landscapes are not to be outdone. Superbly stylised vegetation displays the full range of greens that punctuate the deep blue and ochre backgrounds. There's never a dull moment in the pagodas, where worship and daily life sit pleasantly side by side, as evidenced by the almost erotic depictions of the ‘temptation of the Mara girls’.

In the same way, you'll be struck by the anachronisms that our authors are so fond of, backed up by photos. The mythical scenes from the life of Buddha are mixed with completely modern characters and objects: cars, aeroplanes, Prince Sihanouk and General de Gaulle, who was invited to the wedding of Siddhartha (the future Buddha). These anachronisms obviously make us smile, but let's not forget that the Cambodian pagoda is also a social space, and the paintings it houses must speak to the visitor by bringing together the mythical world and everyday life.

An alarm bell

All is not well. We mentioned the important role played by the acquisition of merit in Cambodian Buddhism, but one of the most promising sources of merit acquisition is the construction of a pagoda. As the authors point out:

“The widely held belief that ‘building a temple brings more merit than financing repairs’ has led to an almost structural lack of maintenance of shrines and their regular demolition.”

This is exactly what happened with the recent destruction of a pagoda in Kompong Thom without the knowledge and against the wishes of the Ministry of Culture, which is responsible for the country's ancient pagodas. Cambodia already has the paradox of having more monuments from the 6th to the 13th century than from the 13th to the 21st century. There is an obvious need to protect post-Angkorian monuments and works of art, and to inform and educate all those concerned. May this book be a first step in this long and difficult task.

Jean-Michel Filippi