days for various activities. Villagers are sensitive to the power and to the needs of the spirit world. According to observations by an American missionary in the early 1970s, villagers consulted the local guardian spirit to find out what the coming year would bring, a new province chief held a ceremony to ask the protection of the spirits over the province, and soldiers obtained magic cloths and amulets from mediums and shamans to protect them from the bullets of the enemy. Before embarking on a mission against enemy forces, a province chief might burn incense and call on a spirit for aid in defeating the enemy. Examples of Brahman influences were various rituals concerned with the well-being of the nation carried out by the ruler and the baku (a Brahman priestly group attached to the royal court). These rituals were reportedly stopped after Sihanouk's ouster in 1970 (see The March 1970 Coup d'État, ch. 1). See also Pāli Canon Mangala Sutta Metta Sutta Ratana Sutta Samatha Vipassanā Buddhist Institute, Cambodia Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia Choun Nath Preah Maha Ghosananda Tep Vong Bour Kry Pchum Ben Dhammayietra Smot (chanting) Notes Sources Université Buddhique Preah Sihanouk Raj; Chau Séng (ed.); Organisation buddhique au Cambodge; Phnom Penh [1961] Further reading External links Buddhism in Cambodia Wats of Sihanoukville Cambodia Buddhism and the making of democracy in Cambodia List of Vinaya-Monasteries in Cambodia, on sangham.net Dhamma in Cambodia, high teachings from the most famous and leading Khmer Layteacher But Sovung and his teacher, Acharn Sujin Boriharnwanaket, Tour 2000, written by Nina Van Gorkum Cambodia