PHNOM PENH: The head of Cambodia’s Buddhist association has called on Buddhists and Cambodians to continue the traditional Bos Bay Ben rice-offering ceremony to preserve cultural heritage for future generations, while urging those who observe the ritual and those who do not to respect each other’s views and avoid disputes.
Venerable Sam Sokha, president of the Buddhist Association of Cambodia, highlighted that the survival of the kingdom’s culture, traditions and customs depends on public participation, particularly among young people and future generations.
In a social media post, he encouraged Buddhists to take part in the ceremony in large numbers, describing participation as an expression of love for national identity and the cultural heritage passed down by their ancestors.
A background account accompanying his appeal traced the tradition to ancient rites honouring the dead. It links the practice to shraddha, a Brahmanical ancestral ceremony, citing the Thnal Baray inscription, identified as K279, from the reign of King Yasovarman I.
According to that account, the sticky-rice balls carry a symbolic meaning beyond feeding hungry spirits. They represent a physical body through which the deceased, believed to have been reborn as preta, or hungry ghosts, could return to human existence.
The account also suggests a connection with King Jayavarman VII’s reign in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, when rituals drawing on Mahayana Buddhist beliefs were performed for those killed in war. It associates these practices with Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, and the belief that suffering spirits could be delivered from their plight.
His appeal came as he raised concerns about the views of a small number of monastics and laypeople who, he said, appeared uncomfortable with their own national traditions and customs.
“Why do a small number of monastics and laypeople express rationalist views that seem to take issue with their own culture, traditions and customs, while other peoples continue to preserve theirs?” he asked.
To illustrate how progress and traditional practices can coexist, he cited Halloween celebrations in Western countries and Chinese offering customs involving the burning of joss paper.
He said many countries continue to maintain their cultures and customs despite significant advances in science and technology.
Alongside his call for participation, he urged those who do not share the faith to respect others’ views and avoid disputes over beliefs.
Such disagreements, he said, do not contribute to preserving or promoting national culture.
For those who believe in the ceremony, he encouraged continued observance, linking individual participation to the transmission of cultural heritage from one generation to the next.
In the same message, he posed a hypothetical question about foreigners claiming the rice-offering ceremony as an ancestral tradition of their own and seeking its inscription by Unesco as cultural heritage.
He used the question to encourage Cambodians to consider the importance of preserving their traditions, reiterating his belief that keeping the Bos Bay Ben tradition alive requires participation across generations so that Khmer cultural identity can be passed on to future descendants. - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
