en Wl!

n llil r~ rt W~ tLG l;) t dJ tulWtJllBL~lB~ l;) t uiij l;) ~ til

tBmundltl;)iemJW1uc3~ tum~t~wrum t1tilrimwc3~'1
~ ~ ~ ~
ljll;)
mml;) ~tl;)Jrih~tl;)~ tLm~ml;) t D~ ~ llillru ~um m i

There is an old saying that the ancient Cambodian people had belief and often
told their descendants not to gro ~Ci;J'lfk:S: hvea (a kind of Large Banana Tree)
adjacent to the end pieces ofJiou·s~fs...~use it was believed that this
might bring bad luck to thii'rlouse ·o~'.er. This,. belief was derived from the
following story: ....; .. ' : :,?l',.~ .: .
~ " .. ....... . _ t

_". *-. <J.~ ,>

-"
 Gl ttn H"HHH1Jll W ,""
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Long, long time ago, there lived a poor family who were falmers. One day
during a drought, there was no water or rain for farming. The man, then,
decided to leave his wife to work as laborer in a far-away village.
 tU'lllliHl ru~ tHmp W03l~tUmHfiq fi L~ flR tft fiG ffrn w~
f"- 0.. 0 ..,

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IU 6"\ U <l U

mfiB~ WJQ il~ij ~lti£J1U~ U~ltiElll3l3 r rullrnG~ llil3 r rull~ll3

CJ '

t ffJ lli '1

After the husband left, there was an epidemic of
cholera in the village where his wife lived .
'- ( .."

This outbreak made the villagers very

frightened. At the beginning, only
small animals were infected with
the disease, but later on, it "-
spread out to the big animals .
and then to human beings,
killing a series ofthem. No '
one was able to help other
ones,
:\. . .

(
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trn~ ~w ruurr~t elr :Urrtr;' tlfi n~, nrHtl t ~I~ nt md~ rUNt ~ '1
A c:1

One day while the disease was spreading out fiercely, there was a generous
person coming to invite a Buddhist monk to recite a protective prayer at his
home. When it was the time to take the monks, he came to get a senior monk
and two ordinary monks.
 cJ c:., 01

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001 "u
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" I"
rulR\Jl NBUrl~1ncJ):i(W1
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il1~it ~Biw
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~~~m ~ijn~ {Hru~t J,nJ ~lrnn
un Hun

When the monks arrived at his home, there were many guests. The three
monks were invited to come onto the house and sat on good seats, and then
they were traditionally offered drinks, tea, sugars and cigarettes. After that, the
people did recitation as a respect for the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma and
Sangha) and then it was the monks' turn to recite a protective prayer. But the
layman said, 'Would you please not recite Dharma of Karanei to frighten the
spiritual evil ; rather, skip to recite the Dharma ofViropake right away in order
to save time?' The monks started to recite the protective prayer from the
beginning, as requested by the layman, skipping the Dhamla ofKaranei and
moving to Dharma ofViropake.
 30Il : [{lru[~l~ [rulnW[~ n[WmmWnmwmwujlwrnnw
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3W [~UUnruth~nmtiWUnwijfirrulrurm '1
I U ---.>

Suddenly the monks noticed that all generous people were pleased and
laughed happily. "They have asked us not to recite Dharma of Karanei and
requested us to move right to Dharma of Viropake, but why they turned
laughing, it is very odds" doubted the senior monk on the first seat. He was
very ashamed and worried that he would be criticized of this mistake, so he
went back to Dhanna ofKaranei.
 CJ V 0> , ~ 'v
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t ~il t ~J 1) ft 1ru ri ~tJ '1 ~ ~ i ri ruLn~ W~ j:) ti t1)i t 1)1 ~Ln ruti t ~i m
~1fYWJllililffilnWJln 1t1(jl1in~Hmm ~nJil ~8jld3ilfhlJnri
CJ • CJ 01 ,c:.. VcJ C::J

tlliJHWlruil'1 t~tJLn~W~!J1nm mtJWlutnilg1)tgmB~Wj

BntJ~ g1) '1 9iHnffil~t ffilBt1)i tI r~(jl1) ffilU1~wilJmiluH~L~r
, w" '€l .
Hn uill1) ri rut ml9 - mt Gtit ClJn~ '1
lJl V

No sooner had the monks rec ited few words than all the generous people
suddenly left one by one until the place was empty. Then the candle flame
went out immediately. The house where the monks were staying became the
thickest dense of bamboo, whereas the cigarettes, tea, and sugar turned out to
be charcoal, sand and chopped wood. At that moment, the monks realized
that the ghosts had transformed themselves as humans to invite them. Until
the laymen and laywomen at the pagoda knew this, the three monks had 110
food to cat for nearly three days.

I
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01 c:;- OJG ,
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'" '"

Therefore, it has been said that the Dharma of Karanei makes ghost
very scared, while Dharma of Viropake makes them happy. When
the villages are attacked by the diseases such as cholera, plague and
so on, the villagers always invite monks to recite the protective
prayer and request them to recite Dharma of Karanei seven to eight
times, and not to recite Dhanna ofViropake, since there was a story
narrated above. Besides, people in the ancient time believed that
when they needed to go somewhere in the night and if they had
goose dimples, they had to recite Dharma ofKaranei, believing that
)
~~ the ghost would not haunt, but rather the ghost would be afraid of
rif~ Dharma Karanei very much.

~~
~~~~
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d~mM 8~ '1 mri9tt1' dt rul H ~i milillU~lil WW1R Wt Wn'1

4
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Talking about the man who went to work as laborer, after he earned enough
money, he returned home. On the halfway home, he was told, "You can ' t go
to your village now, since the people there are infected with cholera and many
of them have died. We don't know whether your children and your wife are
still alive or not, because now no one is encouraged to go to the village."
Because the man missed his wife and children, he stubbornly walked to hi s
home. He hastened back to his home in that night.
 OJ'
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, , OcJ ,W: OJ , ,

r1rumil~~ mLWnttfl1LUn§'1 wrutl;)l~mnmWmLun§mnm

tin If ~ rullilil dl RmR~ uu1:!ITl [l3~~)l ~ Wilj rut IfJru'1
When he arrived near his house, he saw the dim light in every house; he was
very happy and came up with the feeling of anger towards the villagers who
had told him a lie . But he felt a slight doubtful on the way home for the
unusual quietness, he suggested that there might be something happening to
the villagers. Reaching the fence of his house, he called for his wife. At the
moment, he saw his wife coming to welcome him warmly as usual; there
seemed nothing to be suspicious.
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v

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The man crept into the bedroom and suddenly saw the decaying
flesh ofthe corpses of his wife and children. He went out and sought
the way to escape from the ghost. "Please cook the rice quickly,' he
said to her, ' I am very hungry; I go to urinate for a moment." Then,
he poked a small hole in a clay pot in order to pour the water onto
the palm tree leaves. It sounded as ifthe man was urinating. Then he
ran as fast as he could towards a pagoda where lived a monk, who
was good at magically repressing the evils.
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tfur, tulWrUUfHt51i~~q~ijn'1 tFt\Jt~l~f{ffi:lm ~li:1Uhl1u
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ghost, hearing her husband urinating too long, then walked to see him.
as she saw her husband passing through, she chased him very fast,
umostreaching him. when the husband turned back and saw his wife chasing
him quickly, he thought that he could not escape from the ghost, so he climbed
up a Bay Mat tree (Blumea balsamifera) - a kind of tree believed to be
ettectwe in protecting people from ghost haunting - nearby him. The ghost
not go near Bay Mat tree. She walked round it and called out her husband
come down. The man thought that the ghost might be afraid of Bay Mat
tree, so she did not come near. He pruned a branch ofthe Bay Mat tree, carried
it on his shoulder and walked towards a pagoda.
 w~l~U hllG nnttf~ ti"H~~tTI1~ t~ienurfUmu W1UJ31G
W I ....

t Btfljlllimnttf~ tn~l~t~itnt BimmUfillliHfl (1'1 ru~Ui fUt~l~ U I I

t ~i [1ru J~ Ri~ Qrut ~imJtit ~in CtQ1 rucl ~ fU~t [1 ruR q~ t 9

mljlfUOnlit~iQ ~Ul~1um ttfllli~ ruLn~fU~ITmetoJl i'1 wru
c>' cJ Go
t ~l~t ru1 nUt:l t [1 run tn 31~Hl t:ltfm 01 n ~1 U i fUt ~1~ t ~i t~i n ~
U U I ~

n8mWtruln ttflllifUuntf~Hlt:ltfmmn~Nmllil~ij~m~'1 .
I U l"\ c;:; 1

Due to the effect of Bay Mat branch, the ghost was afraid to go near the
husband, but she sti ll walked after him . When the man arrived at the pagoda,
he went to stay in the middle of the crowd of the monks who were reciting and
preaching the eight virtues in the temple and told the monks what had
happened to him. At that moment, the master of Buddhist monks who was
good at using incantations let the man stay in his building and actively cast a
spell around it to prevent the ghost from entering.
 tH31ilUt\flGRBl) t m(WllfJlWi~ff~ Btp~hl~U31~trHi Onttjl)
tnl)lilGu rut mn iln1 Bt rulnmmJBl)ljll) t r11WHniltl)tjl) in ~m~
'Q" 6"\ "

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mtj~i tl)itnji~ BLO~tuD~~tl)l~ Bll) t ~mGn~taWt ~tjtr1ru
Bll) milt fm~rutl)iLn~U~ G~ Bi
w

The ghost would never went anywhere far from that building. Even though
she could not follow her husband into the building because ofthe incantations,
she walked back and forth, exploring any way to reach her husband. Near the
master 's building was a large banana tree (Chek Chvea) with its branch
bowing into its window.
 OJ , 0 u" C3 Go.
t ~l~Utf~ Hl f:itHUhH onnN~21i:l~ HitU1~H1Jllnt t11tu ntf 13
Hlu~ti~ru~i:lt ~munglt13~GU3 t ~jtul t on nO' ~ wm41~ tOU1~
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d
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m ~ m N t1Lut N i t1 ru 131i:lU Nl ut~~ttn tul

Very powerful though was his spell, it could not be stronger than the large
banana tree. The spell could have its power only where the branch could not
reach the building, but the place touched by the branch was the only way for
the ghost to enter the building.
 ~lilU hll ufit ~Jil ITlijt Bm ung1 tulW nJ ITlijmilWm ~1~~ il
Qrut ~1Q il~ BmrJtrulnNillnlrin~mrJz ~ N~lthii1iltLnt(3J
, w

niltnrutm~tm'1
'",

The ghost climbed up the large banana tree and went trough its branch into
the building and cruelly broke her husband 's neck to death right at that
moment.
 tLm~tU1~tn~tDil~m~t:m~t~~ttfllli t~UmWtF10Iltgmllil
~lliB~t~J t~~ U11BUjlBiJ~ tmij~ ~ e1lt ~BWn~t~imU~il tJ
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mimm~Wjtalli~8llililQtnmm~t~ ~ilHlU9u
, 'tl ,
mmU1fiBnrHLJWLlWt~~'1
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au -

Because there was such narrative, the ancient Cambodian people generally
believed it and banned their descendents from growing the large banana trees
adjacent to the end pieces of house roofs because it could bring bad luck to
them. As for the Bay Mat trees, they have become a good medicine to prevent
the evils or ghosts up to now. The End