Monks

The Buddhist monastic fraternity, Sangha, gathers all monks and novices. For a young boy, there are a lot of motivation : the achievement to enlightenment, to enjoy free studies, to generate merits to their parents… A monk has always the choice to return at any time to the lay life.
All monks have to study the Buddha's teachings, to meditate and to respect the monastic rules of conduct. But the novices only have to respect the ten precepts, the nuns and the lay-adherents have to respect eight precepts and to undertake the five ethical precepts : not to kill, not to steal, not to have inappropriate relations, not to intoxicate, and not to lie.

The monks wear a saffron dress and the nuns a white cloths.

Traditional Culture

Our traditional culture suffered under the Khmer Rouge. Statues, musical instruments and books - anything that was a reminder of the past they were trying to wipe out - were destroyed. Since the 1990s there is a slow rebirth of traditional culture.

The Royal Cambodian Ballet recalls, more than any other art form, the past glories of Angkor. The mask theater (lkhaon khaol) has made a nice reappearance. Music provides an accompaniment to all religious rites. Traditional musical ensembles (like areak ka) including a three string violin (tro khmae), a curved one-string instrument called a khsae muoy and percussion (skor areak.) are heart of weddings.