Buddhism today and yesterday

Many of the archaeological sites that I have visited date from about 1000 to 800 years ago. Many were built by an ambitious king who had converted to Mahayana Buddhism.

In the centuries that followed the people of Cambodia converted to the more monastic form of Theravada Buddhism. In this later form temple worship is not emphasized, so the Buddhist tradition continued but the construction programs did not. The kings found other ways of displaying their might.

Everywhere in Cambodia are signs of their Buddhist tradition. Countless times during the day people greet me with a slight bow with palms together. Small Theravada Buddhist shrines are everywhere.

Saffron-robed monks walk freely about. The younger ones texting on their cell phones like any group of young adults. In the temples themselves the presence of the monks, who are tourists much like ourselves, literally adds color to the gray and brown stone.

In each of the temples that I have visited are Buddhist statues added in recent years for private devotion. Occasionally Buddhist elders are there to pray with visitors and to provide blessings and fortune telling.

So within the stone temples of ancient empires are the living reminders of a vital and thriving religious present.