2017 House Programs A Requiem for Cambodia: Bangsokol | Page 7

A Requiem for Cambodia: Bangsokol offers several
Buddhist ways of responding to the horrors of
the Khmer Rouge. The most common response
to death in Buddhism is to contemplate it directly.
The libretto invokes impermanence, suffering,
and the loss of all we think of as “I” or “mine”
as inexorable forces in human life. Buddhist
rites for the dead emphasize the importance of
recognising our own mortality and reorienting
our life in this light. Many Cambodians believe
that such reflection on death brings wisdom to
the living and benefits that can be dedicated to
the deceased for their easeful passage to the
next world.
Cambodian bangsokol rituals are traditionally
performed for the sick as well as the dead. Such
“skin-shedding” (bok sbaek) rites assume that
the gift of the white shroud—the gift of one’s own
body—embodies the regenerative power of life
and the body’s capacity to heal. By taking on the
part of a corpse, shedding their skin, and facing
death with open eyes, the living may find peace.
The libretto brings us face-to-face with violence
and loss, providing an opportunity to remember,
contemplate, and begin anew.
Bangsokol honors the countless private rituals
and acts of memorializing performed by
Cambodians since 1979. Many of these rituals
were bangsokol rituals performed on behalf of
those who suffered and died under the Khmer
Rouge. The requiem is therefore by no means
entirely new or unique. It gives voice and respect
to what Cambodians have already done over
the past four decades to reflect on suffering,
death, healing, goodwill and the memory of those
who perished.
—TRENT WALKER
The libretto ends, as do most Buddhist rituals,
with prayers of goodwill for all beings. This
boundless compassion for all, including those
who have harmed us, is an essential Buddhist
response to violence. Such an extension of
kindness is not the same as forgiveness and is
not a replacement for justice. It is a recognition
that hatred ceases only through love.