Huot Tath

Huot Tath (ហួត តាត) was a Cambodian Buddhist monk and scholar who rose to be patriarch of the Mohanikay order. The authors of a 2022 study of Buddhist boundaries date his birth to 1891 and regard him as one of the key figures among Cambodian monks of the twentieth century.

Huot Tath, in a 1943 portrait.

Historical figure details
Also known as	Huot Tat; Samdech Huot Tath
Roles	Buddhist monk; Scholar; Supreme Patriarch
Period	1969 to 1975
Associated with	Chuon Nath, Buddhist Institute, Wat Ounalom
Country	Cambodia

In the Explorer

Huot Tath connects to 7 pages

Phnom Penh, Khmer Rouge, Mekong, École française d'Extrême-Orient, Chuon Nath and 2 more.

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On this page

1. Reformer and scholar
2. Supreme Patriarch
3. References

On this page

1. Reformer and scholar
2. Supreme Patriarch
3. References

Reformer and scholar

In 1922 and 1923 he was with the monk Chuon Nath (ជួន ណាត) in Hanoi, where Chuon Nath trained in Sanskrit and the reading of inscriptions under Louis Finot at the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO).

He belonged to a group of young reforming monks, with Chuon Nath, Um Sur and Lvi Em, who worked each day with the French scholar Suzanne Karpelès at the École supérieure de Pali and the Buddhist Institute (វិទ្យាស្ថានពុទ្ធសាសនបណ្ឌិត្យ). Their work ran from scholarly translation of Pali texts to a campaign against practices they held to be superstition. The EFEO credits Karpelès with a strong hand in the learning of two monks who later became Supreme Patriarch, Chuon Nath and Huot Tath.

With Chuon Nath and Oum Som he wrote a Samanera-Vinaya, whose second edition came out in 1928. In 1928 he also published Quelques Monuments d'Angkor. His booklet Sīmā Vinicchaya Saṅkhepa, written in Khmer and first printed in Phnom Penh in 1932, sums up the main Pāli texts and commentaries on the use of sīmās (boundaries).

Supreme Patriarch

After Chuon Nath's death Huot Tath became head of the Sangha. He was Supreme Patriarch from 1969 to 1975, and he was later given the royal title Samdech. Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh is the seat of the order's Supreme Patriarch, and a statue of Huot Tath stands on an upper floor of its main building. Under the Khmer Rouge (ខ្មែរក្រហម) the statue was thrown into the Mekong (ទន្លេមេគង្គ); it was found and restored after 1979.

References 5