Spirituality?
As a country of 16 million people with a corrupt government run by a single-party political system, Cambodia is one of the poor countries in Asia, with a per capita annual income of around US$1500.
Many families in rural Cambodia simply cannot afford to feed their kids, let alone provide for their education. clothing, books and other normal childhood needs. They have a cop out: send them, especially their sons, to monasteries as monks.
Over 97% of Cambodia is Buddhist, and there are enough monasteries that can somehow absorb an endless supply of kids year after year. The monasteries get their financing from the people, who believe in their religion and think it is their duty to contribute to the monasteries.
The kids can actually leave the monasteries and return to a civil life, if their family circumstances improve, like a parent gets a job or promotion. It is infrequent, but it happens. But at the monasteries, the kids only learn Buddhist chanting and a monk's life, which hardly prepares them for career or social success in the real world. So they end up either continuing as monks, or taking up menial, low-paying jobs. Eventually, when they get married and have their own kids, they are no better positioned than their parents were, and another cycle of young monks starts.
The government is quite happy to have generations after generations be caught in this trap. So there is no serious effort made to get children educated and put them on a path to aim much higher in life. The more entrepreneurial Cambodians try to find jobs in more prosperous nearby countries like Vietnam or Thailand. Even for menial jobs, they can earn a lot more.
This is a real sad state of affairs in Cambodia. Not mentioned by anyone is the enormous potential for abuse at these monasteries. I am sure there must be many sincere monks in spiritual pursuits. But I am skeptical they are all enlightened souls.
Photographed at Angkor Wat.
CF001049
Spirituality?
As a country of 16 million people with a corrupt government run by a single-party political system, Cambodia is one of the poor countries in Asia, with a per capita annual income of around US$1500.
Many families in rural Cambodia simply cannot afford to feed their kids, let alone provide for their education. clothing, books and other normal childhood needs. They have a cop out: send them, especially their sons, to monasteries as monks.
Over 97% of Cambodia is Buddhist, and there are enough monasteries that can somehow absorb an endless supply of kids year after year. The monasteries get their financing from the people, who believe in their religion and think it is their duty to contribute to the monasteries.
The kids can actually leave the monasteries and return to a civil life, if their family circumstances improve, like a parent gets a job or promotion. It is infrequent, but it happens. But at the monasteries, the kids only learn Buddhist chanting and a monk's life, which hardly prepares them for career or social success in the real world. So they end up either continuing as monks, or taking up menial, low-paying jobs. Eventually, when they get married and have their own kids, they are no better positioned than their parents were, and another cycle of young monks starts.
The government is quite happy to have generations after generations be caught in this trap. So there is no serious effort made to get children educated and put them on a path to aim much higher in life. The more entrepreneurial Cambodians try to find jobs in more prosperous nearby countries like Vietnam or Thailand. Even for menial jobs, they can earn a lot more.
This is a real sad state of affairs in Cambodia. Not mentioned by anyone is the enormous potential for abuse at these monasteries. I am sure there must be many sincere monks in spiritual pursuits. But I am skeptical they are all enlightened souls.
Photographed at Angkor Wat.
CF001049