The article describes a major campaign to create a hospital for monks in Cambodia in the early 1950s, at the time that Cambodia was negotiating for independence from France. It explores what this shows about a particular historical moment and the ways that religion, politics, and ideas of modernity intersected at that moment. The article describes the political background of the organizer, Khuon Nay, and how his campaign connected to reformist movements within Cambodian Buddhism and the celebrations of the Buddha-Jayanti 2500 anniversary of the Buddha entering nirvana, which became linked in the public mind to achievement of independence. It goes on to describe how the campaign related to evolving ideas of Buddhist socialism by Cambodia’s head of state, Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Finally, it describes the current situation of the hospital, which is no longer designated for the monkhood, but whose miniature temple still attracts lay ascetics.