Suffering and the Prophetic Past and Future in Cambodian Religion and Society: A Study of the Buddh Damnay

FAIN: RZ-20651-00

Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL 60115-2828)
Judy Ledgerwood (Project Director: September 1999 to October 2003)

To support the collection, translation, and analysis of a 19th c. Cambodian Buddist prophetic text, the BUDDH DAMNAY, witha view to understanding how Cambodians use the text the explain their suffering during the last 30 years.

We propose to collect and translate versions of a Cambodian Buddhist prophetic text called the Buddh Damnay. Cambodians use this apocryphal text to explain the suffering they have endured during the last 30 years of war and revolution. We combine religious studies and anthropological approaches to the analysis of texts to place the Buddh Damnay within a larger Buddhist literary context and to understand how people use the text as a basis for daily decision-making.