Word: buddhism
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Many Burmese who hate the regime also lament their inability to change it. "We are rubbish," says a student in Mandalay. "Our tradition and our religion prevent us from getting things done," says a Rangoon intellectual. The pacific teachings of Theravada Buddhism do not, for example, allow self- immolation of the sort practiced by protesting Vietnamese monks in the 1960s...
Many of the works deal with the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment through Buddhism, often reflecting the contrast between the serenity found within the walls of the monastery and the turmoil of the outside world. The scroll entitled "Landscape," from the 15th century, exemplifies this conflict, combining a short composition with a delicate pen-and-ink sketch of a mountainside in a long, narrow tankaku format...
...Whether by conviction or out of cynical self-interest, he has pursued reformist policies designed to repair his country's shattered economy as well as to endear him to skeptical citizens: the institution of land-tenure rights for farmers, the beginnings of a free-market economy and recognition of Buddhism as the state religion. While Hun Sen's cloudy history as a former member of the Khmer Rouge and his association with the Vietnamese continue to haunt him, he is gaining stature as a nationalist. He is regarded by many Cambodians as the only viable alternative to the Khmer Rouge...
...government, said Sihanouk, "I will accept his government, his administration," and return home in October or November. Hun Sen responded symbolically by arriving in Jakarta with a new flag -- Sihanouk's red and blue, instead of Communist red -- a new anthem, and constitutional amendments to liberalize the economy, make Buddhism the state religion and bar capital punishment. The Prime Minister also announced that his country's name will henceforth revert from the People's Republic of Kampuchea to the old Sihanouk-era State of Cambodia...
Ruthless Khmer Rouge guerrillas impose a harsh life on 60,000 Kampucheans warehoused in four refugee camps in eastern Thailand. The practice of Buddhism is banned, marriages are permitted only with the consent of the Khmer Rouge cadres, and education is restricted to recitation of Communist tracts. But those who are stuck in the Thailand camps are the lucky ones...