Cambodia

Cambodia is a country in south-east Asia between Thailand and Vietnam where about 95% of the people consider themselves Buddhists. Animism, Brahmanism and Mahayana were the main religions in Cambodia until Theravada Buddhism became dominant during the 13th and 14th centuries mainly due to missionary monks from Thailand. Cambodian Buddhism was severely disrupted by the communist regime of Pol Pot in the 1970’s when most monasteries were destroyed and monks were killed or had fled abroad. Cambodia’s greatest ancient monument, Ankor Wat, is often said to be Buddhist. It is in fact Brahmanical, although it has been used as a Buddhist temple for several centuries.

References

Cambodian Buddhism, Ian Harris, 2005.