KHMER Rouge leaders Pol Pot, Khieu Samphan (below right) and Ta Mok should
confess their sins and become Buddhist monks, according to the country's
spiritual leader, the Venerable Maha Ghosananda (below left).
Ghosananda
- who had an audience with King Norodom Sihanouk (below center) on Jan 31 - said
the King had accepted that the KR leadership should be allowed to stay in
Cambodia if they became monks.
Days earlier, the King, in a speech in
Battambang, urged senior KR figures such as Khieu Samphan to lay down their
weapons and rejoin society. But the King rejected Pol Pot or Ta Mok ever being
able to legitimately remain in the country.
Ghosananda told the Post that
KR chiefs, responsible for many murders, could only be saved from their sins if
they repented.
"It is the time - they have to change their attitudes. We
should understand that Buddha will save you from sin if anyone is willing to
confess the sin and follow [Buddha].
"Only this...can stop these
master-murderers from continuing killing. Because if they are monks they should
be perfect and not kill even a bird."
He referred to the murderous
Ankolimeir, a figure in Buddhist folklore, who was saved from his sins after
confessing and offering to be a Buddhist monk.
Ghosananda - who has met
KR nominal leader Khieu Samphan several times in Beijing, Paris and the North
Korean capital Pyongyang - said he would urge him to become a monk the next time
he saw him.
"If he is a Buddhist monk, he would give up his ambition,
violence, power and killing.
"But I don't know if he would listen to me.
I always give [Samphan] some Buddhist books - of course, he reads them in front
of me but I don't know if his heart will be changed or not."
Ghosananda
said Samphan had asked him to pray for him during their previous meetings. But
the KR leader had remained silent and unsmiling when Ghosananda spoke the words
of Buddha.
Contact PhnomPenh Post for full article
Post Media Co LtdThe Elements Condominium, Level 7
Hun Sen Boulevard
Phum Tuol Roka III
Sangkat Chak Angre Krom, Khan Meanchey
12353 Phnom Penh
Cambodia
Telegram: 092 555 741
Email: [email protected]