Today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms will be presented in Khmer and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, (Khmer,) Korean, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Halo gracious viewers, welcome to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. Today we will present the final part of our two-part program on the magnificent Royal Palace of Cambodia. In the first part, we visited the grand Throne Hall, the main building for royal ceremonies.

Next to the Throne Hall on each side are the Bronze Palace, which houses royal regalia, and the Elephant Waiting Hall, where the ancient kings mounted the gentle pachyderms, as an auspicious beginning to ceremonial processions. Today, the Hall serves as a holding place for musical instruments and other parade equipment. Our knowledgeable Royal Palace Tour Guide, Mr. Chea Sothearith, continued his fascinating introduction.

The building behind me is called Preah Tineang Sam Ran Phearum. It means the Elephant Waiting Hall. So His Majesty the King and the Queen, or Royal Family would like to wait for elephants inside this building, and the elephant is also waiting for the King next to this pole.

That is the balcony for the King and Queen. He came out and stood on the balcony and mounted on the back of the elephant. But recently, His Majesty the King doesn’t like using elephants because he practices religion. His Majesty the King right now looks more compassionate to the animals and the people, so that is why he doesn’t like riding elephants anymore. He practices religion very strongly in his life.

His Majesty King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk is devoted to the pure-hearted citizens of his nation, who love to see him in person. The Moonlight Pavilion is the ethereal structure from which His Majesty watches processions and addresses his faithful people.

I would like to show you. Behind me there is a nice pavilion. It is called Chanchhaya Pavilion. In English it means Moonlight Pavilion. It is used for holding banquet receptions for dignitary guests for His Majesty the King when very important people, for example a head of state, president, or king or queen from another country, during their stay and visit in Cambodia.

His Majesty the King of Cambodia always welcomed them by opening this building for banquet receptions. And particularly, the building is built in open air.

You can see, without walls, just pillars, because it is designed for the moonlight – we could see into the hall easily – and particularly used for His Majesty the King to meet the people because during special events, for example, Independence Day, His Majesty the King always appears in the public so the people can visit or look at the King with their own eyes.

What often surprised visitors is a European structure called the Napoleon III Pavilion, located between the Throne Hall and the Silver Pagoda complex. In fact, it was the first permanent structure in the Royal Palace, presented to His Majesty King Norodom as a friendly gift by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1876. The building is now a museum, displaying photographs of royal and historical significance.

South to the central compound is the Silver Pagoda complex. It is a royal temple consisting of the famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha, numerous stupas dedicated to past kings and members of royalty, a statue of His Majesty King Norodom on a horse, a human-made hill, a library, an open hall for reciting scriptures, and a long encompassing mural of Reamker covering the walls of the entire complex.

Behind me, this is the temple which is called Wat Preah Keo Morokat. It refers to the Emerald Pagoda because we have one big statue of the Emerald Buddha that has been enshrined inside the pagoda. But the tourists prefer to name Silver Pagoda because of what they have seen inside.

This is the front door of the Silver Pagoda, and this middle door is used for the King, Queen, or Royal Family, who came to practice religion, especially to pray inside. So during the Buddhist days, the King, Queen, and the Royal Family always come to pray and open these middle doors for the Royal Family. The side doors are used for ministers.

And these pagodas are built purposely for religion, for serving Buddhist ceremonies for the royal families. But nowadays Buddhist monks and the Buddhist people also come to visit the palace. And they can make time to pray inside this pagoda because this is the most important and very honorary pagoda in Cambodia and the biggest pagoda. We can say it is the most important pagoda among thousands of pagodas in Cambodia.

After these messages, we will find out more about the Silver Pagoda in the Royal Palace of Cambodia. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. Among the resplendent structures of the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda is known for housing the Emerald Buddha and thousands of silver tiles that cover its floor. On exhibition are over 1600 treasures of cultural and religious importance.

There are a lot of silver tiles that cover the whole floor inside. So totally there are 5329 tiles. Totally there are about 6 tons of silver inside this pagoda.

The reason we have a lot of silver inside because they are from the former currency, the coins, when we stopped using coins around 1930. And His Majesty the King collected the coins from the people and his own coins and he sent to France to melt it down, so that is why the temple is covered with silver tiles.

We have a lot of Buddha statues that mostly are made of gold, silver, platinum, besides the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is the biggest and remains in the world as the most expensive, most priceless Buddha in the world of Buddhism.

And we have one more Buddha. Maitreya Statue is the statue made of gold, 90 kilograms. And there are a lot of diamonds encrusted on the statue. There are 2086 diamonds on the body of the statue. There are 25 carats appear in front of the headdress of the crown, with the chest probably about 20 carats, and the belly about 20 carats too. So totally we have 2086 diamonds and almost more than 5000 items displayed inside, mostly Buddha statues.

The property inside, His Majesty the King told the nation that they are now the national treasure. It does not belong to the Royal Family. So His Majesty the King wants the people to take care of this property for the Kingdom of Cambodia.

In front of the pagoda stands a statue of the legendary His Majesty King Norodom mounted on a horse. A wise action of His Majesty over a hundred years ago is credited with bringing the nation on the road of peace and independence.

This area is the front of the Silver Pagoda. So we have the statue of King Norodom sitting on the horse. But he is in the dress of the Emperor Napoleon III. His Majesty the King Norodom had become a very close friend to Napoleon III. So Napoleon looked after the country and finally gave back independence to His Majesty the King Norodom Sihanouk on the 9th of November, 1953. So, His Majesty the King Norodom Sihanouk obtained independence from France very peacefully.

The interior surface of the Silver Pagoda complex is a continuous mural gallery of Reamker, the Cambodian version of the Indian epic Ramayana. Behind me there is the fresco; it was painted in 1904.

This is the detailed story of Ramayana telling about the prince and princess. The prince, his name is Rama, and Sita is the princess.

It is said Rama is one of the incarnations of Buddha also. So this is also related to Buddhism and Brahmanism.

This painting started from1904 and painted the way around the whole compound, 642 meters long, by Cambodian artists. There were about 42 artists.

The Royal Palace of Cambodia is truly a repository of treasures. It is the crystallization of the wisdom and creativity of the Cambodian people. The advancement of Khmer civilization cannot be separated from the grace of many wise kings, virtuous sages, and enlightened masters. It is a land rich in tradition of past generations, imbuing the people with purity and a sense of spirituality.

With deep appreciation for the nation’s glorious culture, Supreme Master Ching Hai has also shown her care and love for the Cambodian people. Between 1994 and 1995, Supreme Master Ching Hai donated 7,000 tons of rice to the flood and drought- affected Cambodians. Her contribution to Cambodia throughout the years since 1994 amounts to greater than US$2.1 million.

The funds have been used for irrigation, drilling wells, building schools and temples, conducting professional training and taking care of orphaned children. Crop seeds were also donated. Appreciative Cambodians constructed the Ching Hai River to facilitate irrigation, remembering always her loving assistance.

In 1995, during a 7-day retreat in Cambodia with our Association members to pray for world peace, Supreme Master Ching Hai visited the Royal Palace upon the official invitation of His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk. During this wonderful occasion, Supreme Master Ching Hai presented His Majesty with her self-designed Celestial Jewelry and Celestial gown, along with a Longevity Lamp. She praised His Majesty for his humility and love for his people.

She also prayed that the Buddha would bless Cambodia for a brighter future. In return, His Majesty offered Supreme Master Ching Hai a special silver urn representing the spirit of Buddha and applauded her for preserving the beautiful tradition of glorifying the Divine and for her selfless contributions to the Cambodian people. Supreme Master Ching Hai expressed her feelings of oneness with the gracious citizens of the nation and her belief in a flourishing future for Cambodia.

I believe that this country will become stronger and stronger because Cambodian people are very kind. Cambodia has a very spectacular past.

I feel like I'm at home here. I treat Cambodians like my own people. I feel very close to them. They look at me as if we've known each other for a long time. There's no difference between us.

It was our great pleasure to have the opportunity to visit the beautiful land of Cambodia. Our thankfulness, Mr. Chea Sothearith, for your informative presentation of the splendid Royal Palace. May the gentle Cambodian people thrive evermore in a kind and sustainable world, with Buddha’s immense blessings.

Kind-hearted viewers, thank you for joining us for today’s edition of A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. Up next is Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. May virtuous and noble traditions be upheld to bring tranquility and splendor to our planet.