Venerable Dhamma Vijaya
My name is Dhamma Vijaya, a Canadian Buddhist Monk who lives and works in rural Cambodia for a charitable organization called Viriya Dhamma. Since I live in a rural community, Cambodian folks called me Loktha which can be freely translated by “Venerable Sir”. Since my childhood, I am interested by spirituality and fundamental questions like: “What are we doing here ? What is the purpose of this life ? What’s next ?” Those questions became so important that I have decided to really try to understand.
Born in Montreal Canada in the mid fifties, I studied psychology at Montreal University and then left the country in search of answers for my questions. I ended in Sri Lanka where I met an Australian Buddhist Monk walking along the railway track. I asked him where he was going and he answered that he was on his way to find the meaning of life. That was my first encounter with Buddhism. He then explained to me that Buddhism was not a religion but a philosophy, a way of life that was set by the Buddha for those who wish to investigate the meaning of life. The answer that I got there changed the course of my life and I decided to become a monk too, but just for a year. After that period, I decided to continue for another year and so on for the last thirty years.
I must admit that I did not found all the answers to my questions, but I found a way of life where I am free to investigate without the obligation to believe. Since I had plenty of time to study, I continued my studies in psychology at Colombo University in Sri Lanka. There, I was asked by a local monk to help him to provide some assistance to children displaced by the ongoing civil war (1983) in the north east of the country. We started a small school in a refugee camp and provided simple tuition. It is there that I understood something very important : “If we wish to change the world we must start with the children as they are the future of this humanity”. I also found that by helping other, I was helping myself to become a better human being.
Destiny and my research for the “truth” brought me to Phnom Penh Cambodia, where I started to help few children and encouraged them to go to school. In 1994, I started a “Foster Parents” program where people from abroad were asked to contribute financially to the education of poor Cambodian children. We registered our activities with the newly elected Government of Cambodia and started a Non Governmental Organization called Viriya Dhamma.
In 1997, I moved to rural Cambodia to live and work with the most destitute children I ever met. At that time, the Khmer Rouge were still very active. I lived and worked in an area where no foreigners dare to stay overnight. I lived with no electricity, no telephone and a road so bad that it took five hours to travel the 100 kilometers between Phnom Penh and my village. With the financial support of well-wishers and contacts we helped 8 boys and 4 girls to go to school. We provided them with food, clothing, and a place to stay in a temple. We hired a local teacher to give them tuitions and to supervise their studies.
Then, I started traveling Asia and Europe to raise concern for the plight of those children living in absolute poverty. Cambodia was and still today one of the poorest country in the world. Children living in rural Cambodia are indeed very poor, malnourished and in great need of help. So with untiring work I convinced people and corporations to support those children in their wish to go to school. You think it is easy ? Try to convince somebody who does not know you to give you money to help children he never saw !
With a lot of work and tons of patience we succeeded to build few simple schools in remote villages of Cambodia. We fostered twelve, then twenty children, so much so that in 2001 we were supporting in their studies over one hundred boys and girls living and attending school in rural Cambodia.
Today, I am still working for those children and found a simple way of life that is an answer to my questions. If you wish to communicate with me and discuss about your story, your concerns and your solutions you can do so just . . . mailto:[email protected]
Last revised February 01, 2005