Buddhism is the official religion of Cambodia. Approximately 97% of Cambodia's population follows Theravada Buddhism, the “Ancients doctrine”, based on the Pali canon, the Tipitaka. For this tradition, there are no supernatural intercessors, bodhisattvas, and monasticism is the privileged way of enlightenment. For the basic believer, however, the offering is the essential practice. The country was Hindu from the first to the fourteenth century, as evidenced by Angkor vestiges. The Cham are Muslim. Small Khmer and Vietnamese Catholic communities persist here and there. Some minorities still practice animist rituals.