Exploring Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia

October 27, 2015
Exploring Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia

On Wednesday, October 21, Philip Balla led the weekly World Religions Café with his presentation entitled "Exploring Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia." Philip is a MDiv candidate at HDS and is a resident at the Center for the Study of World Religions and this was his first presentation at the Center. Philip began his presentation by discussing the circumstances of his two exciting trips to Cambodia to study Theravada Buddhism which occurred in May of 2014 and May of 2015.  Philip had this opportunity as he was a two year McMaster Scholar of Defiance College's McMaster School for Advancing Humanity.  Philip expressed gratitude for the generosity of Harold and Helen McMaster and for Defiance College's excellent faculty advisors Dr. JoAnn Burkhardt, Dr. Fred Coulter, and Dr. Kenneth Wetstein who helped him develop a project based in fundamental ethnographic research principles.  

During the presentation Philip explained that the project came to be developed after a gap was noticed between what was written about Theravada Buddhism and what was actually being practiced in Cambodia. Philip's goal in Cambodia was to utilize observation, individual interviews, and group interviews in order to find information that might fill that gap and serve to make McMaster projects in Cambodia more effective. Throughout his presentation Philip emphasized the importance and difficulty of understanding one's own position of power and perspective so that one's own understanding of a different religion might not be cast in the shadow of western religious understanding. Philip also shared major themes of the data he collected and these pointed to a Cambodian religious experience that is influenced by Hinduism and Khmai tribal practices as well as Theravada Buddhism. One of the most important themes from this data was that Cambodians don't seem particularly interested about the doctrines or philosophies of Buddhism, but instead seem to know and care much about those things which might affect their day to day lives. Examples of these could include making offerings keeping evil spirits away, producing good karma by caring for monks, or keeping family stupa's to honor ancestors. Cambodians engage in religion to make their lives better and to learn to live as good people rather than engaging religion for abstract principles of Buddhist orthodoxy.

After sharing some of the collected McMaster data, Philip departed from the research and began to discuss how the trip affected him personally. Philip discussed an early attempt to keep two worldviews separate (his own Christian beliefs and new Theravada Buddhist understandings) and how he is now in the process of understanding his profound spiritual experiences with Buddhism in Cambodia and reconciling them with his call to Christian ministry. Then Philip discussed the personal difficulty of witnessing extreme poverty in Cambodia and reconciling the tremendous beauty of Cambodia with the immense suffering the nation has endured.

The presentation ended with a few pictures from the trips and then the group moved into a vibrant conversation about what Philip's experience in Cambodia suggests about the study of world religions. Many commented on a more nuanced reality of religion that transcends mere dates of conversion. Instead the group suggested that groups of people rarely leave old religious influence behind and instead tend to mix and mold them together to form unique religious perspectives. This view was supported by Philip's data and calls all who study the development of religious systems to remember that past influence never just ends because a particular ruler said so on a particular date.