Tep Vong, the leader of Cambodia's Buddhist community, dies at 93

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Tep Vong, the senior monk who headed Cambodia’s Buddhist community and was vital for its rejuvenation in the wake of the Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 70s, has died. Tep Vong in 2006 was granted the title of the Great Supreme Patriarch, making him the religious chief of both the Mahanikay and Dhammayut orders of Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia. After an invasion by neighboring Vietnam ousted the Khmer Rouge from power in January 1979, Tep Vong was one of a core group of seven monks re-ordained under Vietnamese sponsorship to reestablish the organized Buddhist faith in the country, temporarily uniting the Mahanikay and Dhammayut orders. He served as the senior monk in the sangha — the Buddhist monastic community — that included both orders until 1991, when the Mahanikay and Dhammayut separated again, and Tep Vong became the Supreme Patriarch of the dominant Mahanikay order.