Angkor Wat Temples and Thoughts....
Siem Reap, is located on the northern part of Cambodia.
Land Locked with no coast or a large lake, it is a HOT city.
Summer temperatures regularly climb to 45 degrees Celsius, (around 115 Fahrenheit) so, I am very grateful that today is a chilly 32 degrees Celsius in the shade....
It is customary for people to battle the heat by taking long breaks during the day, between noon- 3 pm, to eat, rest and take naps.
This is where you'll find me, spread like a pancake, half heat- stroked, laying flat on the cushions of an air-conditioned cool bakery-cafe called "Blue Pumpkin" in the center of the city.
Most tourists take their cue from the locals, and desert the hot grounds of the temples, to rest in the pool of their hotels or spend the afternoon away, 'comatosing' in air-conditioned places.
The Blue Pumpkin is all white and very chic, with free fast Wi Fi, smiling attendants and good ice creams flavors that you'll only find in the tropics.
Siem Reap is a small city, located in an area rich with history, culture, mythical warring kings, diverse religions and much bloodshed.
The name Siem Reap, means "Siam/ Thai Defeat."
It was the location of the final defeat of the Thai Army that occupied the Khmer territories, or as it is known today, Cambodia.
The glorious ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples, are what draws tourists to this area.
The name 'Angkor Wat' actually means 'Temple City'.
It is unavoidable to observe and contemplate the influence of religions on history, while visiting this area.
Apparently, at one point, four major religions were accepted and allowed to be practice here.
Hinduism, Buddhism, Animism and Personal Cult.
80 precent of Cambodian people today are Buddhist.
I will only speak briefly about the Personal Cult religion, since it is the less known of the four.
'Personal Cult' is an indigenous religion, which drew inspiration from the people who lived in the region and their cultures.
It included elements of Hinduism, Buddhism with deity worship and ancestor worship.
Temples from that period, has stone inscriptions, and carvings in both Sanskrit and Khmer, depicting Hindu gods as well as local ancestral deities.
A major influence was the cult of the lingam, or stone phallus that is seen everywhere and is said to guarantee fertility in the community in which it was located.
The female part of the LingaFm, is called Uni.
In addition to worship of the ancestors and of the lingam, were the royal personality cults, identifying the king as a deity.
The ancient kings, changed the state religion from Hinduism to Buddhism back and forth a few times.
I asked Chen, my guide, how in practical terms did the king change the state religion?
Did they issue a public order:
"To all people in the kingdom of Khmer/ Cambodia....
As of this coming Thursday at 2 pm... RIGHT AFTER LUNCH....
Please be aware that we are no longer Hindus......
Make sure to put aside and remove from all house alters and shrines, ALL the statue of Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu....
From Thursday on..... ONLY sculptures of the Buddha will be permitted to be displayed..."
Well....apparently no....
Only the king and his royal family changed their religion.
People were expected to follow suit willingly.
King J5 (Jayavarman V), did scratch off the faces of the Buddha from public sculptures, when he converted to Hinduism.
King J7 (Jayavarman VII), was considered a very beloved and religiously tolerant king.
When he converted from Hinduism back to Buddhism, he left all the public sculptures untouched and simply erected temples, stupas and shrines, in the Buddhist tradition of architecture, using traditional buddhist carving and decoration motifs.
It is common to plant Banyan trees next to temples, since it is said that Buddha got enlightened while sitting under a banyan tree.
In the tropics, where everything grows wild and out of control, the banyan trees grew into giants, spreading their roots in, around and between the temples.
Some of the ancient banyan trees look like massive dinosaurs, standing tall and claiming the temple as their hostage... Their captive.
Unesco, declared Angkor Wat and the surrounding areas, a world heritage site in 1992.
Much needed money started being funneled into this area to restore some of the ancient temples.
I am so happy I am here to see them.
They are an amazing site.
A monument to glorious craft, design, architecture and art.
Each stone is carved by hand and laid with the help of elephants and human labor.
The design of the temples and shrines, are premeditated to capture moon light, sunlight, towers are erected after the lunar calendar, and doorways and gate openings, were made to face certain significant directions.
Today I visited the temple of 216 smiling Buddha faces.
Each smiling face is located on the top of a tower, which is many meters high and is made from large jointed stones.
The towers were designed like lotus flowers and each pod has four large faces of the Buddha, on it, each looking towards the four 'corners' of the earth.
They are meant to symbolize the four 'faces of God', which are the attributes of Compassion, Kindness, Love and Sympathy. (I pray and vow to try to embody them all..... in my daily life).
There used to be 3000 temples in the area, but only about 72 of them remained standing.
Wars and vandalism had reduced many of them to rubbles.
Vandals stole sculptures and heads of sculptures, to sell them in the global antique markets, way before it became illegal to remove items of antiquity from any country without a formal permission.
Unesco had done a great job restoring some of the temples and clearing out the jungle that claimed so many of them.
I stand there, in another glorious temple, that king J VII, had built for his mother....
I am taking in the remains of this amazing roofless temple.... thinking about my own ruined relationship with my mother....
It feels so appropriate to be standing here..... So symbolic.....
A once glorious MOTHER temple... Now standing mostly in ruins....
I am opening my heart, gently contemplating and taking in the energy of this place....
I look at the large piles of beautifully carved broken columns and broken sculptures, all covered in green moss..... some buried into the muddy earth with grass and tree roots claiming them...
And I mumble half internally and half to Chen,..... that it is so sad to see so much destruction...
So much of the 'temple of mother' is broken...
Chen keeps on walking with his sturdy pace, he turns his head over his shoulders, towards me, and says casually: "Not broken! Waiting and Ready to be restored...."
Land Locked with no coast or a large lake, it is a HOT city.
Summer temperatures regularly climb to 45 degrees Celsius, (around 115 Fahrenheit) so, I am very grateful that today is a chilly 32 degrees Celsius in the shade....
It is customary for people to battle the heat by taking long breaks during the day, between noon- 3 pm, to eat, rest and take naps.
This is where you'll find me, spread like a pancake, half heat- stroked, laying flat on the cushions of an air-conditioned cool bakery-cafe called "Blue Pumpkin" in the center of the city.
Most tourists take their cue from the locals, and desert the hot grounds of the temples, to rest in the pool of their hotels or spend the afternoon away, 'comatosing' in air-conditioned places.
The Blue Pumpkin is all white and very chic, with free fast Wi Fi, smiling attendants and good ice creams flavors that you'll only find in the tropics.
Siem Reap is a small city, located in an area rich with history, culture, mythical warring kings, diverse religions and much bloodshed.
The name Siem Reap, means "Siam/ Thai Defeat."
It was the location of the final defeat of the Thai Army that occupied the Khmer territories, or as it is known today, Cambodia.
The glorious ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples, are what draws tourists to this area.
The name 'Angkor Wat' actually means 'Temple City'.
It is unavoidable to observe and contemplate the influence of religions on history, while visiting this area.
Apparently, at one point, four major religions were accepted and allowed to be practice here.
Hinduism, Buddhism, Animism and Personal Cult.
80 precent of Cambodian people today are Buddhist.
I will only speak briefly about the Personal Cult religion, since it is the less known of the four.
'Personal Cult' is an indigenous religion, which drew inspiration from the people who lived in the region and their cultures.
It included elements of Hinduism, Buddhism with deity worship and ancestor worship.
Temples from that period, has stone inscriptions, and carvings in both Sanskrit and Khmer, depicting Hindu gods as well as local ancestral deities.
A major influence was the cult of the lingam, or stone phallus that is seen everywhere and is said to guarantee fertility in the community in which it was located.
The female part of the LingaFm, is called Uni.
In addition to worship of the ancestors and of the lingam, were the royal personality cults, identifying the king as a deity.
The ancient kings, changed the state religion from Hinduism to Buddhism back and forth a few times.
I asked Chen, my guide, how in practical terms did the king change the state religion?
Did they issue a public order:
"To all people in the kingdom of Khmer/ Cambodia....
As of this coming Thursday at 2 pm... RIGHT AFTER LUNCH....
Please be aware that we are no longer Hindus......
Make sure to put aside and remove from all house alters and shrines, ALL the statue of Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu....
From Thursday on..... ONLY sculptures of the Buddha will be permitted to be displayed..."
Well....apparently no....
Only the king and his royal family changed their religion.
People were expected to follow suit willingly.
King J5 (Jayavarman V), did scratch off the faces of the Buddha from public sculptures, when he converted to Hinduism.
King J7 (Jayavarman VII), was considered a very beloved and religiously tolerant king.
When he converted from Hinduism back to Buddhism, he left all the public sculptures untouched and simply erected temples, stupas and shrines, in the Buddhist tradition of architecture, using traditional buddhist carving and decoration motifs.
It is common to plant Banyan trees next to temples, since it is said that Buddha got enlightened while sitting under a banyan tree.
In the tropics, where everything grows wild and out of control, the banyan trees grew into giants, spreading their roots in, around and between the temples.
Some of the ancient banyan trees look like massive dinosaurs, standing tall and claiming the temple as their hostage... Their captive.
Unesco, declared Angkor Wat and the surrounding areas, a world heritage site in 1992.
Much needed money started being funneled into this area to restore some of the ancient temples.
I am so happy I am here to see them.
They are an amazing site.
A monument to glorious craft, design, architecture and art.
Each stone is carved by hand and laid with the help of elephants and human labor.
The design of the temples and shrines, are premeditated to capture moon light, sunlight, towers are erected after the lunar calendar, and doorways and gate openings, were made to face certain significant directions.
Today I visited the temple of 216 smiling Buddha faces.
Each smiling face is located on the top of a tower, which is many meters high and is made from large jointed stones.
The towers were designed like lotus flowers and each pod has four large faces of the Buddha, on it, each looking towards the four 'corners' of the earth.
They are meant to symbolize the four 'faces of God', which are the attributes of Compassion, Kindness, Love and Sympathy. (I pray and vow to try to embody them all..... in my daily life).
There used to be 3000 temples in the area, but only about 72 of them remained standing.
Wars and vandalism had reduced many of them to rubbles.
Vandals stole sculptures and heads of sculptures, to sell them in the global antique markets, way before it became illegal to remove items of antiquity from any country without a formal permission.
Unesco had done a great job restoring some of the temples and clearing out the jungle that claimed so many of them.
I stand there, in another glorious temple, that king J VII, had built for his mother....
I am taking in the remains of this amazing roofless temple.... thinking about my own ruined relationship with my mother....
It feels so appropriate to be standing here..... So symbolic.....
A once glorious MOTHER temple... Now standing mostly in ruins....
I am opening my heart, gently contemplating and taking in the energy of this place....
I look at the large piles of beautifully carved broken columns and broken sculptures, all covered in green moss..... some buried into the muddy earth with grass and tree roots claiming them...
And I mumble half internally and half to Chen,..... that it is so sad to see so much destruction...
So much of the 'temple of mother' is broken...
Chen keeps on walking with his sturdy pace, he turns his head over his shoulders, towards me, and says casually: "Not broken! Waiting and Ready to be restored...."
