The question of how Khmers view and practice “justice” is a highly complex one and has been the subject of investigation by numerous authors and academicians who have taken the tortuous path to shed light on the culture and inner workings of Cambodian society. Instead, in this post I intend to specifically address the use of the Khmer term “យុត្តិធម៌” (/yutte-tʰoa/; Pali: yutti dhamma; Sanskrit: yukti-dharma, युक्ति धर्म) which is the closest reference to, and is often translated as, the term “justice” in the English language.
Read moreHow do Cambodians view “justice”?
This figure of the Bodhisattva of Compassion is a bronze replica of one of the twenty-three stone images King Jayavarman VII sent to different parts of the kingdom in 1191 in a celebration of the compassion the king attributed to his own father. ca. 12th-13th century (Bàyon). Walter Art Museum/Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0
In Theravada Buddhism, a benevolent king is seen as the fountain of justice. According to Stanley J Tambiah, this view affirms the role of kingship as the expression of dharma and as the ordering principle of society.
