Customer Reviews

Cambodian Buddhism: History And Practice

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This work pulls together a wide range of material covering the history of Buddhism in Cambodia. Considering just how bare the book shelves are on this topic, I can only jump with joy that it has appeared. Problems with the historical record are carefully pointed out with ample references and cautionary notes for those who would look further. This book should be an essential part of anybody's collection on the development of contemporary Buddhisms in Southeast Asia. Just one small point: there is a most welcome inclusion of oral histories (for example with reference to the origin of place names - but there is insufficient warning that there are often many legendary origins for names - a case in point is the origin of the name of Phnom Sambau and Phom Krabau - certainly Harris is correct, but this is not the only version by any means. Highly recommend this book to anybody interested in the area but would equally strongly suggest reading it alongside Marston and Guthrie (2004) to round out some aspects of modern Buddhism.