This study examines the regeneration of Buddhism taking place in Cambodia and how this influences collective recovery and re-creation of community after the violence of the Khmer Rouge era. It looks at how Buddhism is undergoing reinvention, constituting a form of cultural capital that is negotiated, transacted and contested within emergent relations of power. The inquiry concerns the implications this has for countering vengefulness and for rebuilding social relations predicated on moral authenticity and trust. Political legitimacy in Cambodia is related to leaders' ability to honour and protect Buddhism, but Buddhism is also a potentially subversive institution that may be engaged more or less overtly in political struggle. Monks and nuns play an important role at the village level in healing and counselling lay people and some village pagodas are involved in community welfare and development. This, and the revitalisation of the monkhood and Buddhist ritual may assist in the reconstitution of cultural, moral and social order as well as meaning. However, the legitimacy of those involved in reinventing Buddhism cannot be taken for granted and may be problematic. These dimensions of local, popular Buddhism will be explored in a selected village setting using anthropological methods. The material will be analysed against a backdrop in which national leaders and international interest groups are trying to support, but also co-opt and control Buddhism in their contestations concerning reconciliation and reconstruction.