For more than 100 years, after year 1100 AD, these 2 Khmer kings had
lived a life that was full of cultural and international conflicts.
But they both managed to take advantage of the challenge and converted
it into op****tunities for the Khmer people. Notice that Suryavarman II
was more inspired by Hinduism while Jayavarman VII inclined toward
Buddhism. When Suryavarman II died around 1150 and possibly during the
battles with Champa, Jayavarman VII was about 15 years old. They had
grown up in different parts of the Khmer empire. Suryavarman came from
Lopburi which is about 150 Km northeast of Bangkok and Jayavarman
continued the works from the eastern part of the empire near Champa.
Yet, both were builders. Cultural and international conflicts had
provided them avenues to exercise their ethical and intellectual
capacities to improve the life of the Khmer people and their culture.
If people have the integrity, challenge provides avenue to create
op****tunities.
This is true for everyone, not just for Their Majesties Suryavarman
II, Jayavarman VII or the Khmer people. These 2 Khmer kings have left
us a legacy, not just Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, the inscription and
sculpture on these temples. These monuments had provided the Khmer
people a sense of identity, something that we can refer to as what we
had done together in order to achieve something that is beyond
ourselves as individuals.
In spite of wars and conflicts, these 2 Khmer kings had managed to use
their ethical and intellectual resources to protect the people,
provided them a sense of unity, created synergy and left messages for
the next generations. Now the whole world has come to witness and
admire their works in present day's Cambodia, one thousand years
later.
The works of Their Majesties have left us powerful messages. Conflict
and challenge are good if folks have the integrity to resolve the
human issues. If they stray from the avenue of sincere intent, then
they will have to pay a heavy consequence. They will loose everything,
even their own identity. The stone does not say much beyond ecology
and the lesson of natural evolution. But the monuments of Angkor Wat
and Angkor Thom have left us an imprint of human ethics, culture and
intelligence. It is the human spirit that is capable to protect
humanity in the end.
To paraphrase Their Majesties' messages, the Khmer culture did not
evolve to flourish in the center at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. It
began at the periphery of the empire. Then both men converged into the
center in the works to express the strivings of their imagination. In
fact, one inspired the other, but from different corners of the Khmer
nation. King Suryavarman II started in the North from Lopburi in
Thailand and King Jayavarman VII continued from where the first one
left off in the eastern part of the empire, near Champa.
Lessons learned: Conflicts stimulate the minds if folks lead a life of
integrity. They can be modulated through the practice of
collaboration, experience and knowledge and be converted into
monuments of the human spirit. Building monument in the 21st century
does not need to be temple as it was during the time of Their
Majesties. It can be a scientific investigation, research and
development, industry, commerce, government or human ethics itself.
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