Local Practice and Trans‐National Dynamics in Mainland Southeast Asian Religions: Historical and Contemporary Patterns ABSTRACTS Buddha‐Jayanti in Cambodia John Marston, Colegio de Mexico In Cambodia, as in several Theravada Buddhist countries, independence coincided closely with the year 2500 of the Buddhist calendar or what is called the Buddha‐
Jayanti—that is to say, the half‐way point in the predicted 5000 years before the coming of the Buddha of the future, or Maitreya. The political significance of this conjunction has been discussed extensively for Burma, but very little has been written about the case of Cambodia, where there was also widespread belief that independence coincided with the beginning of a new Buddhist era. This paper will describe the massive festivities organized at the time of Wesak in 1957 (that is, 2500 BE), focused in particular on the brining of a Buddha relic from Sri Lanka and its ceremonial installation in a stupa in front of the Phnom Penh railway station. The paper will explore the ways in which this festival was, more than just a religious event, a ritual of defining nation. It will discuss the importance of this event in national memory and the continuing importance of the relic that was installed at this time, which was recently moved to another location. PANEL 1: Religious Complexity of Mainland Southeast Asia Religious Complexity of Mainland Southeast Asia: A Polyphonic Stratification View of Religious System Chean R. Men, Center for Khmer Studies The religious and ceremonial life of a rural village in Cambodia consists of Hinduism, Buddhism, and the local cosmological worldview (Ebihara 1968). When one begins to talk about mainland Southeast Asian religion, one is confronted with the predicament of how Theravada Buddhism and other religious systems articulate with one another. The difficulty for observers lies in the idea that if the people of mainland Southeast Asia adhere to Theravada Buddhism, why do other religious systems such as spirit cults (nat in the case of Burma or phii in Thailand) continue to exist and be actively practiced? Should these religious systems be treated as a single distinct religion or two separate systems? Scholars using various theoretical approaches have found this notion challenging, resulting in ongoing debate. I will here present the classic arguments between various prominent scholars including Kirsch (1977), Keyes (1995), Tambiah (1970), and Spiro (1996). I will discuss the various analysis models of Southeast Asian religious complexes and then propose my own, which I call the “polyphonic stratification model.” Syncretism in a Magical Tool: Diversity and Continuity of Islamisation of Chams in Cambodia Emiko Stock Current scholarship on Chams in Cambodia tends to focus on changes in daily Islam practice through the impact of “reformist” movements. Meanwhile, the ways, dates, and origins of the islamisation of Chams and Champa remain uncertain. Certainly because the islamisation of Chams is a plural and continuous process, as the actual “enthusiasm” for such “new” movements may reveal. This paper has no aim to discuss either the islamisation as a whole, or the social impact of Muslims religious trends in Cambodia, but through the description of magic tools such as protection diagrams, it looks at the variety of “Islams” such as Sunnism, Shiism and Sufism ‐ as well as their syncretism combining “animism” and Brahmanism ‐ performed nowadays in Chams communities of Cambodia. As Islamisation will therefore appear as diverse and current, we’ll finally discuss both the traditional position of Islam towards magic and the impact of contemporary Islam trends on this “tradition” to see how Chams finally adapt their practice in various ways of a continuous redefinition. The religious interfaces between the Buddhist world and the Muslim world in Myanmar and in Rakhine in particular Marion Sabrié In the Union of Myanmar, 70 per cent of the population is Buddhist. Only 15 per cent are Muslims. In 1948, the general U Nu supported Buddhism, which became state religion in a practical way. Today the result of this policy is that there is one monk for 72 worshipping and the Buddhist events are everywhere, even on TV programs. Most of the Muslims live in the Rakhine State. The military government considers that ʺRakhine is the last rampart to the Muslim worldʺ and that itʹs a ʺbuffer State to protect against any invasion from the overcrowded Westʺ. Its politics towards Muslims lead to a succession of exiles to Bangladesh and to aborted returns. Itʹs a fact that some of the Muslims are from Bangladesh and they are called ʺBengaliʺ. But some Muslims, merchants from the beginning, arrived a long time ago, dating back to the eighth century like the Rohingyas (who are not an ethnic group but a community). Some Muslims immigrated (ʺlegallyʺ and illegally) until the eighties. The Indian immigration (Muslim and Hindu) was encouraged by the English Crown because Myanmar belonged to the British Empire. After September 11th, we can notice that radicalization is on the way that increases the tension between the government and the Muslims. The government’s attitude affected the local Burmese people. Islam is more and more associated with terrorism. And the United States of America encourages ASEAN to fight against it. We will question ourselves on the religious interfaces between the Buddhist world and the Muslim world in Myanmar and in Rakhine, in particular. We will try to consider three points of views about the interdependence of the communities: the Burmese, the Rakhine and the Muslim. The religious problem is but a small part of the national Unity problem of Myanmar. PANEL 2: Religious Practice in Social Actions Religions: Inception, Evolution and its Impact on Civilization Peter Raymon The Role of Thai and Cambodian Buddhism in Education: A Contemporary Comparative Study V. Nhim Sothun and Heng Sreang Thai and Cambodian Buddhism has had a long history of teaching the lay society either at temples or at schools. In the past few decades, however, while Thai Buddhism continues to have great influence on Thai society, both religious and secular affairs through its active participation in state education, Cambodian Buddhism has experienced serious destruction inflicted by several civil wars. Its teaching role which used to be very significant in the past was completely lost. Although it was re‐established after the Khmer Rouge regime ended, its educational role was still relinquished. In recent years, it has been observed that this educational task has started to recover; monks have founded teaching centers in Phnom Penh and other places to provide students with moral education and other skills. This began in the 1990s – the time that real opportunities for the revival of religious values and its growing importance as a preserver of the moral and ethical foundation of society, and a moral guide of the nation, opened up before the Khmer Sangha. The Sangha is increasingly playing a decisive role in the embodiment of the universal values of compassion, non‐anger, nonviolence and solidarity, which is crucial in a society dominated by violence for decades. Monks have been involved in different community projects, moral education, assisting children from poor backgrounds and raising public awareness on ecological issues. Their activities have not been encouraged by the state, however, and they continue to do so in co‐operation with popular supports. Although growing, when compared to the task carried out by Thai Buddhist Sangha, the Khmer Sangha is still growing slowly. Buddhism and Development: The GTZ Wat‐Based, Self‐Help Initiative Peter Hammer What is the role of local religious institutions in rural development? Bottom‐up strategies of economic development emphasize the importance of working with and through existing social institutions. In rural Cambodia, the Buddhist Wat stands at the center of social, as well as, spiritual life. In the 1990s, the German aid agency GTZ engaged in an innovative project exploring whether and how traditional Wat‐
based, self help programs could be used as frameworks for rural economic development. Examples of traditional self‐help organizations include health associations, funeral associations, draft animal user groups, labor exchange groups and rice banks. The GTZ project focused on Wats in Kampong Thom Province, Stung District. This was an important experiment both in terms of what it revealed about the functioning of the Buddhist Wat as a social institution, as well as its implications for future progress for rural development. Unfortunately, the work on Wat‐based, self‐help organizations does not get the attention it deserves. This paper will describe the work and findings of the GTZ Project. It will also place the GTZ experiment in the broader context of what it teaches about (1) the role of the Wat in civil society (including the role of the Pagoda Committees), (2) the Wat’s potential role in bottom‐up approaches to micro development, and (3) what the experiment teaches about how complex forms of cooperation can be facilitated in rural Cambodian society. The paper will be sensitive to the ways in which the instrumental use of Wats as social structures to facilitate development can create tensions that challenge conventional understandings of the role of Buddhism in social and spiritual life. Religious Practice and its Effects on Educational Attainment in Southeast Asia Phuong L. Nguyen Educational attainment is widely viewed as a key determinant of social mobility in the US and across the world (Blau and Duncan, 1967, Shavit and Blossfed, 1993). The basic model of social stratification was based on social origins which were basically measured by parental educational and occupational status. Studies in the field of social stratification in the United States reported that religion can be considered as a family background variable in the model of status attainment (Warren, 1970, Mueller, 1980) due to the fact that the values and achievement orientations differ across religious groups. Studies in the US reported significant advantages of a Jewish background on educational attainment compared to two other major religious groups: Protestants and Catholics (Steinberg, 1974). There was not, however, persistent advantage of either Protestant or Catholic religious groups in education and social mobility. Comparisons between Protestants and Catholics yielded greater educational achievement among Protestants than Catholics (Fox and Jacson, 1973, Roof, 1979). In contrast, Greeley (1976) reported higher educational achievement in some Catholic groups than Protestants. Recent studies found that Catholics had lower years of schooling than Buddhists or those not from a religious group in Vietnam (Nguyen, 2000). However, no study had systematically addressed effects of religious affiliation on educational attainment across Southeast Asian countries where the majority of population are Buddhists. This paper addressed a comparative analysis of educational attainment based on religious background of individuals aged 25 and older using cohort analysis in four Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The data sets used in this analysis are each countryʹs micro census data collected in 1999 and 20001. In order to compare effects of religion on educational attainment, religious affiliation, parental educational level and their occupation, they were coded into several broad categories across the four countries. Of particular interest, the analysis was conducted over 1
The census data is from the IPUMSI project (Integrated Public Uses of Micro Data, The International Project at
the Minnesota Population Center). Currently, the IPUMSI has censuses of four Southeast Asian Countries:
Cambodia 1999, Malaysia 1990, 2000, Thailand 1990, and Vietnam 1989, 1999. We expect to add more
censuses of other SEA countries in the near future that will have an opportunity to expand the comparative
analysis of religion and educational attainment in SEA countries.
these keys religious groups in SEA: Buddhists, Christian/Catholics, Islam, and no religion. The paper has two key components: 1) descriptive analysis of religious affiliation in these countries and displaying the patterns of years of schooling completed across religious groups and birth cohorts in each country; and 2) multivariate analysis of determinants of background characteristics on educational attainment with focus on parental education and occupation, family size, family structure, and religious affiliation. The main purpose of this analysis was to discuss a causal link between religion and educational attainment and examine whether this relationship changes across birth cohorts and gender. Green Buddhism, Saffron Robes: A Comparative Analysis of the Ecology Monks Cambodia Dominic Nardi In Cambodia, a small but active portion of the Buddhist sangha has assumed an important role in environmental civil society. These monks provide leadership for rural environmental sustainability projects, participate in environmental activism, supply a moral voice for conservation, and can develop new tools for environmentalism rooted in Buddhism. They have won praise and funding from the World Bank and Alliance of Religions and Conservation. Yet, there have been few thorough rigorous academic studies of these “ecology monks” in Cambodia. The first part of this paper will explain the role of Cambodia’s “ecology monks” in environmental protection. It also hypothesizes that the development of “ecology monks” in Cambodia is at an intermediate level, relative to their counterparts in other countries. Cambodian “ecology monks” have relatively strong organizational strength and donor support. However, they have not yet achieved the innovations of their counterparts in Thailand, particularly with respect to controversial environmental projects. The second part of the paper will look at the influence of political, environmental, and religious and cultural variables in the development of “ecology monks” in Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar. The author uses qualitative and qualitative measurements to assess the variables in each country. All of the variables have some explanatory power in explaining “ecology monks.” Religious and cultural variables estimate the ability of each country’s religious norms to incorporate environmental concerns. Environmental variables show the amount of environmental change and the demand for civil society actors to address it. Political variables measure how much freedom monks have to engage in environmental activities. At the time the author’s fieldwork in 2004, the political variables seemed to have the most explanatory power for Cambodia’s “ecology monks,” as well as those in the other countries. PANEL 3: Religion and Politics Buddhism and Politics in Contemporary Thailand and Cambodia: A Comparative study Heng Sreang, PUC & RUPP, Cambodia This paper is about the scope and limitations of political participation by contemporary Cambodian and Thai Buddhist monks. It aims to explore the relationship between Buddhist monks and politics and to examine the different views on and interpretations of the role of the Khmer and Thai Buddhist monks in religious and secular, socio‐political affairs. It also explores the impact that political participation by Buddhist monks may have on contemporary Cambodian and Thai political lives. This paper argues that Cambodian and Thai Buddhism can never be separated from politics: regardless of whether or not the Khmer and Thai sangha chooses to involve itself in politics, it is inevitably drawn into political arena. Politicians frequently approach monks at temples (wats) for support. They endeavor to associate themselves with Buddhist monks and religious movements in order to secure and maximize their legitimacy, which then enables them to build a government, carry out their political plans and consolidate their social control. The governments of the two countries always encourage monks to perform a ‘traditional’ role as religious and moral educators of the people and to uphold the ethical foundations of society. Although the role of the sangha in government policies for national development and integration has been granted some official recognition, the governments do not openly encourage monks to participate in secular affairs, claiming that these are their own responsibilities. Monks’ personal involvements in politics – such as to campaign for law enforcement or policy implementation – is labeled ‘non‐traditional’. Despite the Khmer and Thai sangha’s prestige, and the individual monks often have relationships with political leaders, when they come to the wats, the monks have not been able the exercise their traditional influence over political authority. The paper also argues that although Thai and Cambodian Buddhism shares a similar history, in the present day, Thai Buddhism seems to have more influence on lay society. This may be due to the fact that Cambodian political life has been filled with internal conflicts and civil wars, rivalries and factions that have inflicted serious destruction upon the country with the weakening of religious roles and practices in the country as a result. Other reasons may be due to the fact that Thai monks are more organized and knowledgeable about social issues and actively participate in state’s affairs. The Politics of Piety: Pageantry and the Struggle for Buddhism in Burma Stephen McCarthy Justification for the continuance of military rule in Burma has been argued on various grounds since the government’s defeat in the 1990 elections. Despite the signing of peace treaties with most insurgent groups, and because of economic failure and the lack of a truly representative constitutional convention and no meaningful dialogue with the democratic opposition, the Tatmadaw’s search for political or moral legitimacy has not managed to repair their defective title since 1962. In the 1990s, they were forced to respond to the presence and the political rhetoric of Aung San Suu Kyi and return to what has traditionally provided the greatest source of legitimacy in Burmese politics ‐ Buddhism. The SPDC’s political rhetoric must appeal to the traditional beliefs on the people’s idealized Burmese king even though their actions, like the actions of their royal ancestors towards whom they turn, fall far short of the Burmese ideal. Lacking a valid title of kingship, the generals have carried on regardless as if they were continuing a royal tradition to which they have no legal claim. In the course of doing so, the generals must appeal to the traditional beliefs on the people’s idealized Burmese king even though their actions, like the actions of their royal ancestors towards whom they turn, fall far short of the Burmese ideal. While promoting religion is a departure from their original justifications for rule, peddling themselves as the custodians of traditional Buddhism conforms to their creation of a civil society in their own image. PANEL 4: Religion and Ritual Practices Influx of “Trauma” Theories and Practices from Judeo‐Christian Countries and their neglect of “Spirit‐based Anxiety” in Cambodia and Laos Dr. Peg LeVine & Dr. Didier Bertrand The influx of foreign mental health researchers and practitioners and who claim to specialise in treatment of “trauma’ in Cambodia and Laos has increased over the years. These authors will outline how the anxiety disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), has emerged out of a Judeo‐Christian, capitalistic context. As brief background, PTSD was developed in the United States following research conducted on American Vietnam Veterans; it was listed as a mental disorder in 1980. It is assumed to be universal, and the translation of symptom checklists on trauma (from English into Khmer) is being used in research in Cambodia. This research, in turn, becomes a funding tool from which to increase services to treat the disorder. To date, however, there has been little scope from which to account for influences of spirit phenomena (embedded in the fabric of Cambodian and Laos geo‐culture) on anxiety‐
related dis‐orders. LeVine has conducted a 7‐year qualitative study on breakdown of ritual practices during the Khmer Rouge period and has found “spirit‐based anxiety” (her term) to be relevant to Cambodian experiences of distress. To date, consideration of spirit influences is regarded often as ‘culture‐bound’ and attention to such influences on people’s wellbeing has been marginal in scope. (The institutional religions are infiltrating mental health practices in ways that are subtle. Additionally, Bertand will highlight spirit neglect by mental health developers in the context of Laos, PDR. These authors will propose ways to safeguard mental health development in Cambodia and Laos from religious‐informed paradigms that marginalise spirit realities embedded in SE Asia. Popular Beliefs in Cambodia: Roles of Traditional Healers Bunnary Chea Even though globalization and western models emerge in Cambodia, people in this country still consider traditional ways a guide to living their lives. This paper focuses on the relationships between healers and people in the community who need help. We also investigate the significant role of healers in wider social issues, mental health and health care awareness, and also the harm they can cause in those roles as well. The purpose of this report is to explore what has been lost in Cambodian society from the point of view of traditional healing and religion. Post conflict, Cambodia is being strongly affected by modernization and westernization. We postulated that Khmer have changed their behaviors from traditional ways and wanted to explore how much had changed and specifically what had changed as a result of conflict and following the arrival of western services. Appling anthropological and action research, we went to see informants including mediums, herbal medicine healers, TBAs, fortunetellers, monks and patients. We conducted follow up with them in order to make sure the efficacy of treatment and what help traditional healers offer the patients or clients. We conducted observations of the health seeking behavior of patients and learned about their way of life and health seeking behavior, their beliefs and so forth. In addition, we listened to doctors from NGOs and other providers of western services about their perspectives on traditional ways — both the quality and consequences. Traditional healers explained their reasons for becoming healers, their ethics toward patients, their support/ treatment/ help, and their success in treatment. Patients indicated the reason for seeking help from traditional healer before going to the hospital. They also described the usefulness of traditional healing and their opinion of hospital services. Responding to the work of traditional healer, some western doctors and NGOs staffs recognized the value of healers’ work and the necessity of using traditional healing. Still some gave their point of view in negative ways. For this stage, we explore the social changes, causes, and linkages with different informants. We have isolated some root causes that are more likely to lead to direct changes both in traditional healing practice and in behavior amongst various classes in society, with a tendency to support and value medical services and methods before resorting to local existing resources and practice. Therefore, traditional healers are still sought by people and people would like to seek help from western services also. Hence some of what we term the ‘cultural capital’ of this country is going to be lost. Conducting the spirits: Pinpeat music and spirit worship in Cambodia Stéphanie Khoury Khmer traditional religious beliefs, as itʹs lived by most of the population in Cambodia, is a syncretism molded by time that mixes Buddhism, Hinduism and Animism. These beliefs form a central role in daily life and require ordered ceremonies. The pinpeat is a traditional Khmer orchestra whose musical performances are religious in origin. Its music gives life to the theatrical performances of the Reamker (Sbek Thom, Robam Boran, Lkhon Khol) some rituals of spirit communication (cuol rup ceremonies) as well as Buddhist ceremonies. Whether a question of the choice of the pieces played, their organization, or the manner of performance itself, pinpeat music cannot merely be considered as an accompaniment. The sound organization of a theatrical performance or of a ceremony is codified in accordance with specific parameters. It plays a decisive role in the overall performance of these different events. This paper is focused on the intrinsic significance of pinpeat music in the leadership of events that involve communication with the spirits of ancestors, especially in the context of sampeah kru ceremony (paying homage to the masters) and cuol rup ceremony (possession of a person by a spirit). In looking at these two kinds of contexts, it is a matter of wondering about the symbolically significant nature of the pinpeat music. Indeed, how does musical organization (nature of pieces played, stylistic manner of playing) give structure to and regulate the course of a ritual ceremony? Which correspondences are then forged between pinpeat music and spirits, regarding them as individual entities? What social considerations locally arise out of such interactions between music and the spirit world? The exploration of these rituals raises questions about the contribution of research on pinpeat music in the understanding of Khmer religious syncretism. Localizing Christian Texts and the Results of the Jesuit Mission in Seventeenth‐
Century Vietnam Brian Ostrowski Missionaries of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) had widely differing rates of success in their attempts to convert Southeast Asians in the seventeenth century. A close reading of the extant Nom (Vietnamese language) scriptural, catechetical, and liturgical texts generated by the Jesuits for use in the Tonkin (modern‐day northern Vietnam) mission indicates some of the key factors that allowed for the rapid growth in Christian communities there in the first half of the seventeenth century. This cursory study suggests specific areas for comparative analysis in the use and creation of Christian texts among a range of specific Southeast Asian missionary environments. Caodaism and its global networks: An ethnological approach of a Vietnamese religious movement in Vietnamese, Cambodia and Overseas Jérémy Jammes Born in the 1920’s in Cochinchina, then a colony in French Indochina, Caodaism is a religious movement that has had important political repercussions in southern Vietnam, and suffered suspicion and censure from different governments throughout the 20th century. Today, overseas Caodai communities present a space for ideological projections and for social protest and political action. Between two and four million Caodaists worship today in Vietnam, compared to 13,000‐15,000 overseas. The largest group of overseas followers escaped as “boat‐people” in the period 1975‐1985 and live in the United States or Australia. Contrary to expectation, the international framework of these overseas Caodaist networks have not been studied still now. Such an “absence” contrasts with the numerous case studies in the countries welcoming the exiled Southeast Asian populations. We cannot think here about all the cases, as cultural or as political, that we meet in this sphere of the overseas Caodaist web. I decided to illustrate this complex situation by analyzing one association, named Cao Dai Overseas Missionary, which is federating the most
important number of overseas followers. Spreading its influence into Western countries, the headquarter of CDOM is located in downtown Washington D.C.. It has developed an original strategy for negotiating its place in contemporary society, in particular in evolving relationships between the Vietnamese government, the sacred center or “Holy See” of Caodaism (“the Vietnamese Vatican” in Tây Ninh province) and its different establishments overseas. My anthropological approach describes how this missionary organization has developed a dynamic position in Vietnam and overseas through the choice of a current consensus with the local authorities. Cao
Dai Overseas Missionary belongs to the Tay Ninh sect, the oldest one. Its Holy See is located in the province of Tây Ninh, which is about one hundred kilometers northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, near the Cambodian border. I think necessary to ask who the main actors of Tây Ninh sect became in overseas context, how they are today pondering and performing their traditional orthodox discourse, how they are driving their utopia of independence. I will finish my paper analyzing the misadventures of the tomb of the Head Spirit Medium Phạm Công Tắc. Since his death, in 1959, his tomb and his mummified body were watched over by the oratory Nam Vang, located in Phnom Penh downtown. In November‐December 2006, just days before the Asia‐Pacific Economic Co‐operation (Apec) summit in Hanoi, this tomb was transferred from Phnom Penh to Tây Ninh. Negotiations between overseas Caodaist leaders and the Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities allowed the body to be transferred, attracting tens of thousands of followers from all over the country and the world. From my PhD data, it seems that the leaders of CDOM are largely responsible for this transnational transfer, establishing a dialogue with Communist Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities. My research on this international association, its staff, its global modes of organization, and also its religious and political aims, should provide an understanding of Caodai Overseas Missionary as means of expression, gaining recognition, channeling resources, legitimizing conflicts, and as a sources of identity for Caodai communities. Cambodian Buddhist painting in the MEKONG DELTA Elizabeth Guthrie Between June 25‐July 2 2006, I had the opportunity to accompany CKS researchers on their visit to the Mekong Delta, and briefly visited several Khmer Buddhist wats in the region. One striking feature of these wats was their good state of preservation. In contrast to Cambodiaʹs Buddhist wats, which have undergone constant renovation since 1989, it seems that the pace of change in the Mekong Delta is slower. Many wats built in the ʺbuddhico‐colonialʺ style (early years of the 20th century to the 1940s) are intact, and the murals painted on the walls of the viharas that depict the life of the Buddha and the Jatakas remain in relatively good condition. The reasons for the survival of these works in the Mekong Delta, and their disappearance in Cambodia are complex, something that requires further research. This paper will focus on a series of dated and signed murals from Angkor Raj Borei, Tra Vinh (discussed in Thompson 2002). A comparison will be made between these works and paintings (also dated and signed) from the same period from the recently demolished Wat Prek Ampil, Kandal province. Islamic Cham Community in Southern of Viet Nam: Dynamics of the Culture Nguyeãn Thò Thu Thuûy From the ninth century, Islam entered the ancient Champa kingdom and it was deeply influenced by native Cham culture. The result of cultural diffusion processing has diversified the Cham culture by the appearance of Bani sect. Around the eighteenth century, a number of Cham people did not accept the rule of Nguyen dynasty and immigrated to Kampuchea. There they became Islamic followers and acted as traditional Muslims. After they returned to Viet Nam, they settled mainly at An Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Taây Ninh and each group developed a particular cultural character. For instance, the Cham people in An Giang province and Ho Chi Minh City have many cultural factors of Malaysia, but the Cham people in Tay Ninh province have been affected more by Khmer culture. Moreover, the culture of Kinh people has appeared more and more in the culture of Cham. The paper attempts to sketch a multicolor cultural picture of the Islamic Cham people in Southern Viet Nam, especially in An Giang province, Ho Chi Minh City and Tay Ninh. And we can recognise clearly the power of adaptation of Cham culture with adopting cultural elements, such as Malayu, Mon‐Khmer, Viet. Thenceforth, we will identify the cultural character of the Cham people in Southern Viet Nam and cultural dynamics of the Islamic Cham people in Southern Viet Nam. Challenges of the Two Religions: Buddhism Vs. Christianity in Phnom Penh and Chiang Mai THAN Bunly Both, in Cambodia and Thailand, Theravada Buddhism is characterized as the state religion and accepted by their people as the most wonderful religion of their elder’s heritage which is transmitted from one generation to the next. In contrast, Christianity introduced in these countries in the 16th century still is considered as the new religion. Although the few recent grievances between local people and the Christian churches or the proselytized converts have emerged and were widely spread in some domestic newspapers in Cambodia, there is no doubt that the numbers of Christian missionaries and the converts are still increasing. At the same time, Christianity is becoming stronger today than in the past. The presence of Christianity in their regions, its attractiveness, the recent disputes, and its growing competitiveness with Buddhism has recently raised many concerns among Buddhists of both countries. The stereotypes, disagreements and criticisms from Buddhists towards Christianity begin to be more prevalent and vice versa. Yet, is this the case with Christianity in Chiang Mai? And how? This paper compares perceptions of Cambodian and Thai Buddhists towards a particular Christianity in their localities. The questions for this research include how do Buddhist people in Phnom Penh and Chiang Mai feel about and view Christianity in their locality and why? What are the reasons for not accepting Christianity among them? How do Buddhists followers interpret the causes of conversion to Christianity and how do the converts respond to this issue? Using an anthropological approach, data used in this article is mainly based on the results of a short fieldwork conducted in July 2006 and from various documents. It is essential to study this for the strength and peaceful coexistence of both religions. Furthermore, it may provide a pattern that can be applied to other countries. Cambodian and Thai perceptions towards Christianity are somewhat different and somehow similar. The presence of Christianity and their negative activities in converting people have made Buddhists in Phnom Penh and Chiang Mai more or less have some feeling of hatred and a lack of acceptance for Christianity. Thais have less feelings of hatred towards Christians than Cambodians. The reasons for not accepting Christianity were interpreted in different and interconnected views by the Buddhists. The causes of conversion perceived by people and converts are still in disagreement.