The Well-known Monk

In March 11, 1883, a son of farmers was born with an outstanding talent.His name was Chuon Nath, the late Supreme Patriarch Kana Mahanikaya of Cambodia. As a master of Buddha’s teaching, he was very intelligent and well known around Buddhism circles, as well as, Khmer language’s conservation. He dedicated his life to conserving our language, and he achieved a great deal in his efforts, such as putting Khmer language in the form of Khmer dictionary for the first time and writing the national anthems, Nokor Reach and Savada Khmer. He is the most respected monk, known as Samdech Sangha Raja Chuon Nath through his movements, including the protection and conveyance of Khmer history and identity.
In the early twentieth century, Chuon Nath organized some reformist movements in order to develop a rationalist – scholastic model of Buddhism. These movements were so important for Cambodia to keep our language’s identity, culture, and nationalism. Chuon Nath translated Pali and Sanskrit languages into modern Khmer language, which is used in our modern society. Without him, the Cambodian people would have difficulties in studying language because ordinary people cannot understand Pali and Sanskrit languages well, and only the monks would.
Additionally, Chuon Nath was probably the most knowledgeable monk who had derived many understandable words from difficult Pali and Sanskrit words. Another contribution was his effort to prevent the French from using the Roman alphabets to write the Khmer language. When Cambodia was a French colony, France intended to replace the Khmer language with its own language. It was compulsory for us to learn French starting from primary school. This was established by the France while it ruled Cambodia for approximately 90 years. Fortunately, with much hard work of our knowledgeable scholars, Cambodia could protect the Khmer language and use it as a formal one. We are very proud and happy to use our own language rather than French.
Nowadays, we officially use Chuon Nath’s dictionary in terms of formal written forms. For example, it plays an important role in writing a formal letter, book, or any documents in the constitution. Moreover, it is also used for school curriculum. All the students throughout the whole country have an obligation to learn “Pong Savada Khmer” and “Nokorreach.”
“Pong Savada Khmer” is an anthem about the nationality of Khmer. It teaches us about Khmer and about general concepts of the Khmer people. “Nokorreach” -Royal Kingdom (see the inscription in Khmer below) is the national anthem of Cambodia adopted in 1941 and reconfirmed in 1947, around the time of independence from France.
Overall, what we gained from Chuon Nath’ works is a great honor for Cambodia, so we highly respect and appreciate him. Everyone should know Samdach Chuon Nath, the monk who contributed a great deal for the Buddhist religion and Cambodia’s educational system.

Angkor Wat, a Historical Temple

Angkor Wat is a spiritual and magnificent place for all Cambodian people. It is our heart and soul, and serves as a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on the national flag. It was built in the 12th century by Suryavarman the second. It took more than 100 years in order to successfully complete the construction. Suryavarman was a respected and powerful king among the others. He controlled the whole empire and made people proud of him with his reputation when he started to build such a huge temple. Angkor Wat was the best one to represent peaceful and powerful Khmer empire. It was a construction reflecting a significant religious place of Hindu, and related to Vishnu and Buddhist, as well. "Angkor" means a capital or a city with a king ruling his citizens there. "Wat" means a temple, especially related to Hindu during that time. However, nowadays, Wat is known as the worship Buddhist temple or pagoda. There are thousands of Buddhist pagodas called Wat located everywhere throughout the whole country.

A lot of tourists go to Cambodia to visit the world heritage of Angkor Wat, one among the other famous temples in Siem Reap province which used to be Angkor capital during Khmer empire era. It is not so far from the central city to reach Angkor grounds. There are different ways for travelers to go. Some may take a motor taxi, a tuk tuk, or even ride a bicycle. A group of tourists may take a tour bus. However, there are still tourists who walk on foot in order to take time to see the view of the city or beautiful and interesting things all around there.

Looking over the temple, you can see it hidden in the jungle. Tourists can also ride a boat and see the view all around. It is also surrounded by a beautiful large calm lake. When arriving at the front of the temple, you see an entrance gate of the temple. Then, you step onto the stairs and pass over a bridge. After walking a few minutes across the bridge, you see another tall and huge beautiful gate. It is a quite large grounds. I may say that it is a little bit of a long way to walk to the central building of the temple. The building is also surrounded by a long thick wall with beautiful carving statues and pictures showing everything about the historical stories of Khmer empire, such as historical wars between one king and another king, or neighbor countries. You'll recognize that Khmer people used elephants for fighting in war during Khmer empire era. In addition, the most beautiful and well-known thing, Apsara dancing performance carving, appears on almost every wall. It is a dancing performance of Cambodians' heart. We, Cambodian people, dance it to show our cultural and historical heritage to people all around the world.

After passing through the gate,you see two libraries on the left and right hand side. They were built to keep religious books. Right in front of terrace, there are another two small ponds, one on the right and another on the left. You come closer to the temple, go into an enclosure, and see huge elegant towers. Looking from the front, everyone can see top three towers. They are definitely tall and beautiful. You may think that amazing people must have built them. The three of them are the symbol of Cambodia and our spirit.

Moreover, getting up early in the morning and seeing the bright and colorful sunrise floating up over the three towers is quite a good idea because sunrise at Angkor Wat temple is very beautiful. It attracts a lot of people from all around the world to see such a great view.

Angkor Wat plays an important role in attracting tourists to come to visit Cambodia, and it is also as a part of the economic support of what is called the tourist industry. We all love and respect it. It is worth much to us and our ancestors.

My first blog

Hi! I am Kompheak from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This is the first time for me to be represent in the blog. I have been living in Japan for 2years and a half. Now I am a student at Asia University in Musashisakai.