The Temples of Angkor

A trecut ceva timp de cand am lasat in urma aceste minunate temple insa amprenta nu o mai pot sterge.

Susaday,I’m Alive

Frankfurt Airport to Suvarnabhumi,Bangkok with Thai Air

Journey Into Buddhism

Prajna is the Sanskrit word for radiant wisdom, and yatra is the word for pilgrimage or spiritual journey.
Journey into the living traditions and lost civilizations of this vibrant part of the world and explore the universal ideals of wisdom, compassion and inner peace at the very heart of these ancient Buddhist cultures.
Narrated by Sharon Stone.

A fost odata…

Cele mai frumoase sarbatori de iarna le-am petrecut pe vremea cand eram copil, pe vremea cand credeam in Mos Craciun, pe vremea cand lucurile imi pareau usoare si nu aveam obligatii. Am prins ierni frumoase, de vis, cu nori plumburii, cu lan intreg de ninsoare cat vedeai cu ochii, cu scartaituri sub ghete.Mergeam sa colindam,eram colindati,aroma cozonacilor scosi din cuptor,veselia la taierea porcilor si multe altele au disparut,totul s-a transformat in ceva comercial fara emotii,fara traditii.
Goana dupa cadouri care nici ele nu ne mai bucura ca altadata,totul a devenit o masinarie, o goana dupa mancare,cozi interminabile…
Un lucru este cert insa,sarbatorim nasterea Mantuitorului Iisus Hristos,de Craciun se deschide cerul, dar nu-l vad decat cei buni.

Angkor-Celestial Temples of the Khmer

The ancient capital of the Khmer kingdom, Angkor is a spectacular landscape of crumbling stone reliefs, great towers, encroaching jungle roots, orange-clad monks and spectacular sunset reflections. Angkor is the most popular destination in Cambodia by far, and one of the most iconic and awe-inspiring sacred sites in the world. Its central attraction, Angkor Wat, is proudly featured on the Cambodian flag and it is a major boost to the economy of the recovering country. Stretching across some 400 sq km, including forests and jungles, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of the Khmer Empire dating from the 9th to the 15th century. Angkor Wat, is believed to be the largest religious structure in the world, and there are many other fascinating temples to explore as well.
The city of Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th centuries. The Khmer empire was one of the most prosperous and sophisticated kingdoms in the history of Southeast Asia, and its prosperity was expressed through a wide range of architecture.

The city of Angkor was founded on political and religious ideas adapted from India, and the temples of Angkor were intended as a place of worship for the king and a way for him to ensure his immortality through identification with the Hindu gods.

Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II in the 12th century as a vast funerary temple that would hold his remains, symbolically confirming his permanent identity with Vishnu.

Many of the bas-reliefs in the temple depict scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, Hindu sacred texts that recount the adventures of two major incarnations of Vishnu.

During its six centuries as imperial capital, Angkor went through many changes in architectural styles and in religion. The city of Angkor transferred its from the Hindu god Shiva to the Hindu god Vishnu, and finally to the Mahayana Buddhist deity Avalokitesvara.

By the late 13th century, the once frenzied pace of Angkor’s architectural pursuits had begun to die down, and a more restrained type of religion was on the rise under the growing influence of Theravada Buddhism.

At the same time, Angkor and the Khmer Empire were increasingly threatened and attacked by invading armies. By the 16th century, the golden age of Angkor was over and many of the great temples began to recede into the jungle.

From the 15th to 19th centuries, Theravada Buddhist monks cared for Angkor Wat, and it is thanks to them that the temple remains mostly intact. Angkor Wat became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Southeast Asia.

After the Genocide

The Khmer Rouge’s links with China meant hostility between the Pol Pot government and Vietnam (soon to be briefly invaded by China for ill-treating Vietnam’s ethnic Chinese). In 1978 Vietnam invaded Kampuchea and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. The guerrillas were driven into the western jungles and beyond to Thailand. Vietnam (now a communist republic forging links with the Soviet Union) set up a puppet government composed mainly of recent defectors from the Khmer Rouge. This new socialist government was comparatively benign, but found it hard to organise the necessary reconstruction programme: Pol Pot’s policies had ruined the economy, there wasn’t much foreign aid; all the competent professionals, engineers, technicians and planners had been killed.

The Khmer Rouge in retreat had some help from American relief agencies – 20,000 to 40,000 guerrillas who reached Thailand received food aid -and the West also ensured that the Khmer Rouge (rather than the Vietnam-backed communist government) held on to Cambodia’s seat in the United Nations: the Cold War continued to dictate what allegiances and priorities were made.

The Khmer Rouge went on fighting the Vietnam-backed government. Throughout the 1980s the Khmer Rouge forces were covertly backed by America and the UK (who trained them in the use of landmines) because of their united hostility to communist Vietnam. The West’s fuelling of the Khmer Rouge held up Cambodia’s recovery for a decade.

Under international pressure, Vietnam finally withdrew its occupying army from Cambodia. This decision had also been forced by economic sanctions on Cambodia (the US’s doing), and by a cut-off in aid from Vietnam’s own backer, the Soviet Union. The last troops left Cambodia in 1989, and its name was officially restored. In the 1978-1989 conflict between the two countries (and their behind-the-scenes international string-pullers) up to 65,000 had been killed, 14,000 of whom were civilians.

In Cambodia, under a temporary coalition government, it was once again legal to own land. The state religion, Buddhism, was revived. In 1991 a peace agreement between opposing groups was signed. Democratic elections, and a peacekeeping force to monitor them, were arranged for 1993, and the former monarch, Prince Sihanouk, was elected to lead the new government.

The Khmer Rouge guerrillas, of course, opposed Cambodia’s political reforms, but their organisation had begun to crumble. Many defected to the new government; many entered into deals to get immunity from prosecution. When Pol Pot accused one of his close aides of treachery, leading Khmers arrested him, and in 1997 staged a show trial. The government, meanwhile, made plans for a tribunal to bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to justice. Not surprisingly, those who have spoken publicly all lay the blame for genocide on Pol Pot, and claim no knowledge of the killing. They have also blamed people who are dead and can’t argue, or accused ‘enemy agents’ from the American CIA, the Russian KGB, and Vietnam, all said to have organised the atrocity for obvious political reasons.

From 1995 mass graves began to be uncovered, revealing the genocide’s horrifying extent. The resurrected bones and skulls have been preserved to create simple and potent memorials of the dead in ‘the killing fields’ where they died. At the torture centre in Phnom Penh, where the Khmer Rouge terrorised and murdered their own members, not only skulls but also identity photographs of the victims are displayed on the walls: this bleak, unhappy place has also become a memorial.

In 1998 Pol Pot died of natural causes. His last home in the jungle, a complex of huts and bunkers, which is also the site of his cremation, has become an attraction for visitors. The government has plans to create a fully equipped tourist resort there, in the hope of reviving a trade which had collapsed after the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11 2001.

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The Genocide

Under Pol Pot’s leadership, and within days of overthrowing the government, the Khmer Rouge embarked on an organised mission: they ruthlessly imposed an extremist programme to reconstruct Cambodia (now under its Khmer name Kampuchea) on the communist model of Mao’s China. The population must, they believed, be made to work as labourers in one huge federation of collective farms. Anyone in opposition – and all intellectuals and educated people were assumed to be – must be eliminated, together with all un-communist aspects of traditional Cambodian society.

So, at short notice and under threat of death, the inhabitants of towns and cities were forced to leave them. The ill, disabled, old and very young were driven out as well, regardless of their physical condition: no-one was spared the exodus. People who refused to leave were killed; so were those who didn’t leave fast enough, and those who wouldn’t obey orders.

All political and civil rights were abolished. Children were taken from their parents and placed in separate forced labour camps. Factories, schools and universities were shut down; so were hospitals. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists and professional people in any field (including the army) were murdered, together with their extended families. Religion was banned, all leading Buddhist monks were killed and almost all temples destroyed. Music and radio sets were also banned. It was possible for people to be shot simply for knowing a foreign language, wearing glasses, laughing, or crying. One Khmer slogan ran ‘To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.’

People who escaped murder became unpaid labourers, working on minimum rations and for impossibly long hours. They slept and ate in uncomfortable communes deliberately chosen to be as far as possible from their old homes. Personal relationships were discouraged; so were expressions of affection. People soon became weak from overwork and starvation, and after that fell ill, for which there was no treatment except death.

Also targeted were minority groups, victims of the Khmer Rouge’s racism. These included ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai, and also Cambodians with Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai ancestry. Half the Cham Muslim population was murdered, and 8,000 Christians.

The imposition of a murderous regime always leaves its leaders afraid: afraid of losing power, failing to prevent vengeance, and facing betrayal by ambitious rivals. The Khmer Rouge repeatedly interrogated their own members, imprisoning and executing them on the slightest suspicion of treachery or sabotage.

Civilian deaths in this period, from executions, disease, exhaustion and starvation, have been estimated at well over 2 m.