On 3 June, thousands of Cambodian monastics held a celebration to pay tribute to their king’s service to the Buddhist religion. The ceremony for HM King Norodom Sihamoni was held outside Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace, and was attended by Cambodia’s monastic elite and prime minister, Hun Sen. According to police, the number of monastics stood officially at 10,000, with Buddhist clergy from Japan, Mongolia, and Singapore also among the invitees. The monastics were joined by throngs of laypeople, turned out for the occasion in Khmer traditional dress.
King Norodom Sihamoni. From en.people.cn
The impetus for the ceremony was the Sixth World Buddhist Summit in Japan last year, hosted by one of Japan’s 60 Buddhist denominations, the Nembutsu-shu. The summit was attended by Buddhist clergy from around the world as well as senior royal, diplomatic, or public figures from Cambodia, Uganda, Nepal, Thailand, Bhutan, Mongolia, and the UN. The Cambodian monarch was awarded the honorary title “Virtuous King for Propagation of Buddhism in the World” on the occasion, the highest honorary title for the Nembutsu-shu organization and signed by its founder priest, Kyuse Enshinjoh.
“His Majesty with the heart of high integrity is the ideal for all Buddhists in the world,” the award certificate states. “In this 21st century, the period full of confusion, His Majesty is and will be a great torch of hope, brightly illumining the way to propagate Buddhism, the religion that brings true peace to the world.”
Addressing the monastics on 3 June, King Sihamoni said he was honored to be given the title. “Practicing Buddhism is a high virtue and an invaluable asset,” he stated. “All former Cambodian kings and queens, including (late) King Father Norodom and (current) Queen Mother Norodom Monineath, have strictly worshipped Buddhism since the old time [sic]. Buddhism is a right guidance that brings all of us to live in serenity, happiness, peace, and progress.”
A participant at the festivities, Soy Botum of Kompong Cham Province, told VOA Khmer that she felt the king was pious and noted that he had given assistance to people in rural areas. “Generally speaking, through the press and television, I see him as a king who gives a lot to the people, which could be reflected through physical action,” she said. The celebration included a parade in which an enlarged copy of the king’s certificate was displayed on a golden, elephant-shaped float, followed by alms-giving to some 10,000 monastics. A firework display over the Tonle Sap River in front of the Royal Palace concluded the day’s events.
Norodom Sihamoni was born in 1953. A Francophile and Czechophile, he has spent most of his life outside Cambodia, studying classical dance and music assiduously in Prague until 1975. He then studied film-making in North Korea before returning to Cambodia in 1977, where he was imprisoned with the rest of the royal House of Norodom until the Vietnamese invasion in 1979. In 1981, he went to France to teach ballet, living there for almost 20 years while regularly visiting Prague. He ascended the throne on 14 October 2004 in what he and his parents expressly asked to be a modest ceremony in order to save money for the impoverished country.