Cambodian Peace on the Move

"Once upon a time, a clever king invited several blind people to visit the
palace. He brought out an elephant and asked them to touch it and then
describe what the elephant was like. The blind man who rubbed its legs said
that the elephant was like pillars of a house. The man who stroked its tail
said the elephant was like a feather duster. The person who touched its ears
said it was like a winnowing basket, and the man who touched its stomach said
it was like a round barrel. The person who rubbed its head said the elephant
was like a large earthen ware jar, and the person who touched its tusk said
the elephant was like a stick. When they sat down to discuss what the
elephant was like, no one could agree with anyone else, and a very heated
argument arose."

With this tale, Venerable Kim Teng, a Cambodian monk who had recently helped
organize the Dhammayietra, a 350 km cross-country walk for peace and
reconciliation, opened a week-end workshop on Buddhism and Active
Nonviolence. The workshop was organized by and for local Cambodian groups
active in the nascent peace movement, which has gained enormous momentum,
empowered by the Dhammayietra and the successful elections in May. Since the
elections over fifteen local women's, student's and human rights groups have
formed Ponleu Khmer: A Citizen's Coalition for the Constitution, to
democratise the constitution-writing process. "We are committed to nonviolent
means, for if we wish to build a peaceful, nonviolent society, we can use no
other means."

In order to assist their campaign in lobbying more effectively, and to deepen
their understanding of nonviolence, particularly its Buddhist roots, the
Cambodian Women's Committee for Nonviolence and the Election and others have
begun to organise a series of workshops on active nonviolence, such as the
one which Venerable Kim Teng opened with the tale of the blind men and the
elephant. The week-end workshop, attended by thirty-four participants, was
held July 24-25 at Takmao, near Phnom Penh.

Venerable Kim Teng began by introducing basic meditation, encouraging the
participants to follow their breath, in order to cultivate peaceful hearts,
emphasising that a peaceful country begins with a peaceful heart. "There is
little we can do for peace in the world without peace in our minds."

Meditation was followed by activities including listening exercises, games to
help define violence and nonviolence, and small group discussions on personal
experiences of nonviolent action, such as the Dhammayietra, and its effects
on those participants. One woman who had previously been a businesswoman
recounted, "I used to think only of making money...but since the Dhammayietra
I have given up my businesses to work full-time for true peace and democracy.
I thought if all those people were walking through battlefields for peace,
surely I could do something for my country.

Venerable Kim Teng, in introducing the Buddhist foundation of nonviolence,
stressed some of the Buddha's teachings such as "Hatred is never appeased by
hatred. Hatred is appeased by love." He told several stories from the
Buddha's life which related examples of nonviolence, such as that of Visakha,
a woman who had solved a conflict between two groups of monks, that the
Buddha had been unable to solve, by withholding food offerings from them.

Venerable Kim Teng then gave examples of nonviolent actions in the history of
Cambodia, such as the monks, led by Venerable Hem Chieu, who struggled for
independence from the French nonviolently. Initially they mobilised around
the issue of the right to study in Khmer language, which was forbidden under
the French. Other lessons were drawn from the nonviolent student
demonstrations of 1991 in Phnom Penh, which government forces had infiltrated
with violent elements, later responding thereby by shooting and killing
several demonstrators.

Venerable Otsu, a Japanese monk, then told stories from Gandhi's struggle for
independence from the British, particularly that of the Salt Campaign. He
also related his own country's experiences, particularly the effect of the
atomic bombs. He told how he had "watched two friends die of leukemia, at age
twenty, second-generation effects of the bombs, yet their illnesses unnamed
so that the government could avoid paying any sort of compensation." This
experience had compelled him to devote his life to peacemaking.

Of particular interest was Japan's non-militaristic constitution after the
war, presently threatened with reversal. "Cambodia now is in a similar
position to Japan forty to fifty years ago. If you take care of your country
you can create a peaceful land and teach other countries by your example, but
if not, you will make many wars in the future..."

Indeed several varied forces seem to be promoting further wars in Cambodia,
as if the past two decades were not enough. Even the United Nations
Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) forces recently returned weapons
and land mines, obtained during token disarmament ceremonies, to local armies
before withdrawing from the country. As one Cambodian lamented "They will
take their cars and computers with them, and leave us with the guns and
mines."

Yet the Cambodian people are determined to forge a new future. "We must begin
the work of teaching peace, as at this seminar, for it is new to us. Our
young people do not know what peace is," commented one woman. Another
participant added "For so long he with a gun, a piece of lead, has wielded
power in our country. It is time we learned and practised another way, the
power of truth and the spirit of the people. We must tell and re-tell these
stories we have heard here." In closing, one participant summarised, "As a
Cambodian proverb says, you cannot grow a healthy tree if you plant it in
poisoned soil. It is time we cleaned our water as well as our soil."
Coalition for Peace & Reconciliation,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia