[Buddha-l] Was Mr. Pol Pot a Buddhist?

[Dan Lusthaus]

> I may be wrong, but I think I recall reading that Pol Pot had ordained as 
> a
> novice when young.
> Bankei

When he was about 6 yrs. old he spent some time as a junior novice, a common 
occurrence many children in Cambodia go through. He came from a prominent 
family with connections to the court, and spent 6 yrs or so in Catholic 
school, then went to Paris for education, where he was radicalized (and 
didn't finish his degree).

There were Buddhists - clerical and lay -- involved at all ends of the 
political spectrum, from the radical left to the conservative right. Some 
were prominent leaders. Pol Pot's regime attempted to exterminate Buddhism, 
destroying a third of the temples and killing at least a third of clerics. 
That wasn't being done to promote a preferred version of Buddhism, but to 
eliminate Buddhism once and for all (and it had political implications, 
sensing the sangha might be an organized source of resistance.

Ian Harris' book on Cambodian Buddhism devotes much attention to 20th c. 
politics, including pre- and post-Pol Pot.

Dan