Author Topic: Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children  (Read 8087 times)

Ensapa

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Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children
« on: August 18, 2012, 06:53:24 PM »
Here is something to rejoice about: the discovery of ancient Buddhist statues in Cambodia. It is always a nice news to know that there are new Buddhist statues that are found around the world because it would help reaffirm in people that Buddhism is an authentic religion, in addition to the Buddha statues blessing many people.

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Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Authorities in Cambodia say children bathing in a newly dug pond accidentally unearthed six ancient Buddhist statues believed to be around 1,000 years old.

Provincial Culture Department official Prak Sakhon says the statues were found Wednesday in Khleng Por, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of capital Phnom Penh.

Sakhon says the statues are believed to be from the ninth to the 12th centuries, with the biggest just over a half-meter (half-yard) tall and weighing about nine kilograms (20 pounds).

She said Friday the statues have been moved to a provincial museum while authorities investigate.

The pond had been dug recently and the statues were found buried in mud close to its banks.

Cambodia is home to a plethora of archaeological sites including the famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

rossoneri

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Re: Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2012, 03:35:32 AM »
Interesting to know the new finding of the Buddha Statue. I am sure there's a lot more statues yet to be found. But do you know originally Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world. The temple was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura (Khmer-present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. Until in the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat

Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centred at Baphuon. It is in an area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient structures. It is the southernmost of Angkor's main sites.

The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113 – c. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as Vrah Vishnu-lok ( literally "Holy Vishnu'-Location'", Old Khmer' Cl. Sanskrit). after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished.[5] In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometres to the north.

In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.[6]

One of the first Western visitors to the temple was António da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of."[7] In the mid 19th century the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri Mouhot, who popularised the site in the West through the publication of travel notes, in which he wrote:



"One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."[8]

Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, found it difficult to believe that the Khmers could have built the temple, and mistakenly dated it to around the same era as Rome. The true history of Angkor Wat was pieced together only from stylistic and epigraphic evidence accumulated during the subsequent clearing and restoration work carried out across the whole Angkor site. There were no ordinary dwellings or houses or other signs of settlement including cooking utensils, weapons, or items of clothing usually found at ancient sites. Instead there is the evidence of the monuments themselves.[9]


Facade of Angkor Wat, a drawing by Henri Mouhot

French postcard about Angkor Wat in 1911
Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation.[10] Work was interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little damage was done during this period other than the theft and destruction of mostly post-Angkorian statues.[11]

The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States and its neighbour Thailand. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of Cambodian national flags since the introduction of the first version circa 1863.[12] From a larger historical and even transcultural perspective, however, the temple of Angkor Wat did not became a symbol of national pride sui generis but had been inscribed into a larger politico-cultural process of French-colonial heritage production in which the original temple site was presented in French colonial and universal exhibitions in Paris and Marseille between 1889 and 1937.[13]

The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD.[14] Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.

During the midst of the Vietnam War, Chief of State Norodom Sihanouk hosted Jacqueline Kennedy in Cambodia to fulfill her "lifelong dream of seeing Angkor Wat."[15]

In January 2003 riots erupted in Phnom Penh when a false rumour circulated that a Thai soap opera actress had claimed that Angkor Wat belonged to Thailand.[16]

Jessie Fong

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Re: Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2012, 10:06:23 AM »
It is no surprise that Buddha statues are discovered in Cambodia.  It is a country well steeped in religion and those statues could have originally been part of a temple complex that was destroyed by rains or floods?

Could it be a sign that Buddhism will grow much stronger in that country?

ratanasutra

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Re: Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2012, 03:23:34 PM »
Buddhism is growing in many countries in Asia so why not Cambodia. Most of people in Asia have life style which relate to religion. Cambodia is one of country which have a long history of Buddhism.   

Buddhism in Cambodia dates back to 5th century. King Rudravarman of Funan dynasty (Funan was the first state of present Cambodia) is believed to have claimed that his people had a long Hair Relic of Lord Buddha to worship. During this time (5th-6th century) Thervada and Sanskrit language developed in Funan while in 7th century, Pali language made great inroads into south regions of Funan kingdom.

Mahayana Buddhism established itself during the reign of Jayavarman VII (1181-1220) of Angkor Empire. Jayavarman was a devout Buddhist and believed in the Buddhist way of life. Records reveal that there were around 798 temples and 102 hospitals in the kingdom during Jayavarman’s reign and all of them received complete support from him. His dedication to Buddhism earned him the title of Mahaparamasaugata posthumously.

After Jayavarman’s death, Mahayana Buddhism took a backseat and Thervada Buddhism came into limelight. The French influence in the 19th -20th century dealt a major blow to Buddhism in Cambodia, however after getting liberation, Buddhism once again rose back into prominence.

Today, Buddhism is trying to regain its lost glory in the Cambodia.

diamond girl

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Re: Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2012, 04:48:56 PM »
Buddhism is growing in many countries in Asia so why not Cambodia. Most of people in Asia have life style which relate to religion. Cambodia is one of country which have a long history of Buddhism.   

Buddhism in Cambodia dates back to 5th century. King Rudravarman of Funan dynasty (Funan was the first state of present Cambodia) is believed to have claimed that his people had a long Hair Relic of Lord Buddha to worship. During this time (5th-6th century) Thervada and Sanskrit language developed in Funan while in 7th century, Pali language made great inroads into south regions of Funan kingdom.

Mahayana Buddhism established itself during the reign of Jayavarman VII (1181-1220) of Angkor Empire. Jayavarman was a devout Buddhist and believed in the Buddhist way of life. Records reveal that there were around 798 temples and 102 hospitals in the kingdom during Jayavarman’s reign and all of them received complete support from him. His dedication to Buddhism earned him the title of Mahaparamasaugata posthumously.

After Jayavarman’s death, Mahayana Buddhism took a backseat and Thervada Buddhism came into limelight. The French influence in the 19th -20th century dealt a major blow to Buddhism in Cambodia, however after getting liberation, Buddhism once again rose back into prominence.

Today, Buddhism is trying to regain its lost glory in the Cambodia.


I just read this article which does show how Buddhism has decayed in Cambodia. Many became monks because they were too poor to have an education. By going to a monastery they could attain an education. The problem arose when they finished and did not wish to pursue monkhood and wanted to "experience" life. This is sad how economics which made education expensive created this kind of actions to be taken by youths to get an education. I would like to share this article:

http://asialifeguide.com/Cover-Story/buddhism-in-modern-day-cambodia.html
Buddhism in Modern Day Cambodia


Dondrup Shugden

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Re: Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2015, 03:51:46 PM »
Discoveries of Buddhas in places which are very old is very exciting.

One of the most interesting for me was reading the sadhana of Protector Setrap was to realise that the implement of Setrap was made from wood from Malaya.  And I have always thought that Malaya had always been a Muslim country.

pinecone

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Re: Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children
« Reply #6 on: April 12, 2015, 02:29:23 PM »
This is indeed another magnificent example of undestroyed Buddha statues being discovered despite being buried in the pond covered with mud for many decades. This group of children definitely have great affinity with the Buddha and which resulted them in the great  and auspicious finding . Presently this statues have been displayed in the museum for more to view and appreciate.

MoMo

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Re: Cambodia Ancient Buddha Statues Found By Bathing Children
« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2015, 12:53:03 PM »
Buddhist relics such as the stupas, statues , texts and temple sites , all will project the same energy to beings who have seen it. It will bless the inhabitants and its surrounding with positive energy. How does it do so? As for us human beings by seeing one of this items, one will naturally ask the question of  “what is it?” and “what is it for?” Immediately one will come into the Dharma , the doctrine of Lord Buddha and monks practising it based on Vinaya as the foundation for it all. It is a testament of people upholding  it were dwelling here once upon a time. When someone  live a life based on higher ethics and right livelihood , this place must be harmonious and peaceful. Hence, it is filled with this positive energy that pervade it’s immediate surrounding .  Such places are also  creating the causes for future generations following this noble pursue.