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LAOTIAN HILL TRIBESA race against cultural oblivionBy STEPHEN MANSFIELD, Special to The Japan Times(Stephen Mansfield is a freelance photojournalist and author based in Tokyo.)Like minority groups the world over, the hill tribes of Laos are facing unaccustomed pressures ontheir traditional way of life. The depletion of protective, life-giving forest and wilderness, theupward migration of more lowland Laotians, growing pressure on the hill tribes to settle closer toaccessible roads and river routes, and to adapt to the habits, customs and values of the morepervasive lowland Laotian culture, are forcing change at a rate never experienced before.Facial tattooing is now virtually extinct among the Laotian hill tribes, but traces of an old tattoocan be seen on the face of this Lave elder (above). A Kaw woman wears a head-dress of dyedfeathers, beads, pom-poms and old Chinese and French silver coins (below) As mountains,secluded valleys and gorges are overcome by new roads and airstrips, time and spatialperceptions are altering. Villages that once seemed a world apart now belong within the samegeographic orbit. With this compression of distance and time, minorities are finding themselvesimpacting with an outside world that seems increasingly less alien, but no less threatening.Strikingly individual, with their own arresting styles of dress, customs, beliefs, rituals andinterpretations of the animist world that surrounds them, the hill tribes of Laos, eking out a livingfrom the mountain slopes and upland valleys that nobody else cares to inhabit, live a life apart.For this reason, the tribes, considered a law unto themselves, have always been viewed with adegree of suspicion by the authorities. Scornful of intrusive bureaucracy, difficult to tax, tame orconscript, with little conventional respect for borders, they represent, as idiosyncratic pockets ofnonconformity, an ever-present challenge to state control.Because of geographic barriers, poor means of communication and a fierce opposition on thepart of many hill tribes, particularly those in the north and northwest, to any form of assimilationinto mainstream Laotian culture, traditional social structures and value systems have remainedrelatively intact in many remote areas of Laos. The Laotian government however, has declared itsintention to resettle all the hill tribes onto the lowland plains within the next few years. Thedismantling of the ethno-geographic divisions that have largely determined the social structure ofLaos, while offering the prospect of a higher standard of living through greater participation in theeconomy for the impoverished minorities, is clearly a mixed blessing, as similar developments inneighboring Thailand and other parts of Asia have shown. If this goal of integration is ever

achieved, the minority cultures of these virile, independent-minded groups could very well facethe prospect of cultural extinction.Hill tribes make up a significant proportion of the population, though precisely how many ethnicgroups actually exist in Laos remains uncertain; figures range from a government list of 68 toestimates by independent ethnographers of 120 or more. Laos' rich and complex linguisticmosaic is such that some minorities, so tiny that they occupy no more than a single valley, use adialect dissimilar enough from their neighbors for it to be considered a distinctly separatelanguage. Laos is a multiethnic society with an extraordinary range of cultural and social pluralitywithin its porous borders. Its people have, for the sake of convenience and to imply a degree oflargely absent national unity, been classified into four primary ethno-linguistic groups. Tai-Laotianspeaking lowlanders form a majority of around 3 million people, with the Mon-Khmer, Sino-Tibetan and Tibeto-Burmese speaking hill tribes composing the rest.Carefully applied makeup and newly acquired costume and jewelry reveal the lack ofpresentational authenticity in this villager, who will perform minority dances at an upmarket hotelin the city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos.Based on these linguistic affiliations, the Laotian minorities have been neatly classified into threegroups according to the altitude and elevation at which they live. This vertical stratification intotidy topographical shelves tends, however, to crumble under closer scrutiny, with countlessgroups resisting simple classification. How, for example, to neatly affiliate the Mabri, known inLaos as the Kha Tawng Leuang ("Slaves [or Spirits] of the Yellow Banana Leaves")? The namefor this highly introspective group, believed to be on the brink of extinction, derives from theirpractice of abandoning their temporary shelters once the banana fronds used in their constructionhave turned yellow.Ethnicity in Laos is increasingly determined by self-identification rather than by inherited orapplied labels. It is quite common, for example, to meet Laotian Lum lowlanders who describethemselves as coming from a Laotian Sung village, someone, in other words, who has redefinedhis or her group affiliation by simply changing their circumstances. One minority groupencountered by a Swedish anthropologist, having lost their knowledge of a Mon-Khmer dialectgenerally associated with the Laotian Theung minorities, now referred to themselves as Tai Lue,a lowland Laotian Tai speaking group. In a conscious step to improve their employment andmarriage prospects, certain Laotian Theung groups in the north of the country have likewisereclassified themselves as Laotian Lum.

Reservations aside, the categories remain a useful general indicator ofpatterns of settlement. As a device used to promote a sense of unity, tosuggest that all inhabitants within its borders are Laotian as opposed todisassociated minorities, the vertical system of distribution succeeds inimplying a certain degree of communality, of shared cultural roots. Effortsto achieve ethnic equality through the process of assimilation into acollective Laotian identity, though imperfect, have also helped tochallenge some of the racial chauvinism discernible in the attitudes of thelowland Laotian elite toward more "primitive" minority groups. The lowlandLaotians have always been ambivalent in their attitude to their tribalpredecessors, belittling them on the one hand for their "backwardness," andfearing them on the other for their association with the dark forces ofwizardry. They also confess, at times, to admire them for their tenacityand independence.Economically and statistically, Laos is one of the poorest and mostunderdeveloped nations in the world. Aspects of the Laotian economy thatare likely to have an impact on hill-tribe life, environment and cultureare linked for the greater part to the exploitation of its naturalresources and to the development of tourism. Laos' greatest economic assetsare its largely untapped natural resources, principally timber andhydroelectric power. Most infrastructure and development projects, as wellas technical and agricultural programs, are financed with foreignassistance.The country's mineral resources include gemstones, gold, coal, bauxite,gypsum, potash, lignite and large deposits of iron ore. A number of Westerncompanies are now eagerly engaged in prospecting for oil and gas deposits,while others have been granted mining and exploration rights, many of thempenetrating deep into the heartlands of Laotian minorities. As more hilltribes face the prospect of being displaced and forced to resettle in areasless conducive to them, the specter of cultural disintegration looms.Mountain areas are already inhabited by teams of engineers, surveyors andthe crews of laborers they employ to extract the mineral wealth that islocated in these remote, but no longer inaccessible parts of the country.These government-backed endeavors are achieving the same ends once sought

y Christian missionaries in the area, of enfeebling and finally decimatingindigenous cultures. Lowland areas on the fringes of the upland slopes fromwhich minorities descend are increasingly turning into unofficial transitzones where communities, brought from the higher elevations, quickly losetheir tangible culture as they undergo reconditioning into the mainstreamculture. Though no longer tattooed for easy identification, or pressed intocorvee labor, these movements of micropopulations are uncomfortably akin tothe manner in which invading Siamese armies relocated Laotian settlementsin the 18th and 19th centuries.Wishing to verify conditions for myself, I visited the country's remotestregion, the malaria-plagued provinces of Attapeu and Sekong on the Vietnamand Cambodia borders. My arrival in the village of Pa-am may have been agood five years or more too late. Little remained of the assertive localculture I had been led to expect. On spotting a foreign visitor, still ararity, the women in the village's single shop, a wooden shack covered witha dry pandanus leaf roof that sold warm Pepsi and squares of dried buffaloskin, reached beneath the counter and brought out a plastic sachet full ofjadeite. A few locals, we were told, had been diving to the bottom of ashallow lake nearby to excavate the stone. She would be willing to sell thesachet for $800. The government, it seemed, had already signed contractswith European companies to excavate the area, which was also said to have amountain rich in deposits of gold. Locals like this women were making surethey got their share before the area was designated off limits, theresources and wealth of the region diverted to the capital Vientiane andits foreign friends and backers.A few kilometers from the lake, I stopped off to pay my respects at thehouse of the headman of a local Lave village whose residents were said tobe intransigent traditionalists who refused to wear Western clothes. Thiswas not the case as the worn shorts, Chinese-made sandals and fading facialtattoos of its elders proved. I was informed that a French TV crew hadpassed through the village a week or two before. Because of a tight budgetand schedule, they had insisted on a chicken being sacrificed, and agong-dance performed that would normally take place on a designated day ofthe lunar year. According to my guide, the villagers, egged on to dress upin their tribal finery, to dispense with their "Coke is Cool," and "Gap

Rap" T-shirts, to remove their Thai jeans and flip-flops for more colorfultunics and other apparel, had seemed initially ill at ease, even sheepish,but soon warmed up to the charade once the music drove away theirinhibitions. It was a good performance, the team got their footage, andnobody was any the wiser.The disappearance through commercial logging of the forest as a dietary,medical and cultural resource, not to mention the protective canopy itaffords to the more socially introspective hill tribes, is an issue of theutmost concern. Almost 2 million hectares of virgin forest provide hilltribes with a convenient, though annually more depleted, storehouse ofhardwoods, animals, game, birds, wild fruits and vegetables, natural dyesand a whole pharmacy of plants and herbs. Tropical rain forests growluxuriantly on the leeward side of mountain ranges where the annualrainfall is generally high. Monsoon hardwood forests thrive at higheraltitudes, their sheltered slopes often covered in deciduous forests.Valuable rain-forest trees such as teak, sandalwood and rosewood are morevulnerable to commercial interests than those found in monsoon forests.Although commercial logging has not reached the insatiable levels found inneighboring Myanmar, deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate.Despite the government's plan to replace the export of raw timber with aprocessed wood industry that could turn Laos into a major exporter of paperand pulp, logging continues unabated. Much of this is illegal. Corruption,a lack of trained forest rangers and the country's porous borders make itrelatively easy to smuggle wood out of the country.Many of the tribes that inhabit this shrinking environment have little orno contact with the world beyond the ethnic branch of their own group,village or confederation of clans. Marriage partners tend to come fromwithin the same village, and the involvement of the entire community in itsown festivals, rituals and spiritual practices reinforces the view of astrong psychological identification with a single ethnic group to theexclusion of others. Because of isolation, diversity, changing patterns ofdistribution and the tendency of the hill tribes, who constituteapproximately 40 percent of the population of Laos, to place the interestsof their own village or clan above what they perceive to be the rather

abstract notion of statehood, true political and cultural unity remains anelusive, largely unrealized goal.In a sense Laos continues to remain closer to a conglomeration of tribesthan to a conventional nation state composed of a unified people. Thegeopolitical priorities facing Laos today are almost identical to those atthe time of its earliest recorded history: the quest for national andethnic integration through the creation of a unified state, thepreservation of its fragile cultures, and resistance to foreign domination.Accordingly, the Laotian government is intent on making the upland tribesaware of themselves as part of the nation, to shift their allegiance fromthe confines of the village to the country at large. In combating what theyjudge to be the detrimental aspects of change, Laotian hill tribes muststruggle to find a middle ground that allows them to enjoy the economic andeducational advantages that come with a closer form of citizenship, withouttrading in their cultural identity.Laos is less a politically unified nation than a fascinating human map, onethat, for all the formidable changes of the last few decades, remains asethnically diverse and richly fractured as ever. It is a tribute to theresilience of the hill tribes of Laos that they are still with us today,though for how much longer is a question no one is quite ready to answer.Dear Panyasinh friends,I'm encouraged to see the contributions many of our members cared to make on thesubject. These are enlightening and thought provocating. What I appreciate mostis the objective manner in which most of you have shared your ideas andopinions. Indeed, religion is such a complicate and sensitive issue that one caneasily spend a whole life trying to dissect and comprehend. We would be justkidding ourselves to think otherwise. We would also defeat the whole purpose ofthe discussion in the Panyasinh forum if we were to end up having moredisagreements among ourselves now than we had when we first started.Mr. Kongkeo Saycocie recently offered an interesting insight on the influence ofBuddhism on the level of development (and prosperity) of a Buddhist country such

as Laos. Before that, I believe Mr. Khammanh also made a short remark on thesame subject. I hope our readers have had a chance to read what the late NhouyAbhay had to say about some of the shortcomings of Lao monks and the "shortcuts" some of them took in practicing Buddhism.[I personally have a lot of admiration and respect for H.E. Nhouy Abhay,Minister of National Education in several Lao cabinets between 1945 and 1960,and I have known him and his family members. Unfortunately, his writings weremostly in French and might, for that reason,not have had as wide an impact asthey should among the Lao people]. I would invite you all to go back to what hesaid and pick up what you believe is still applicable today.Personally I feel that religion may be a factor in the development of a country,but not to the same degree as national natural resources and other regionaleconomic opportunities. Your comments?I also would like to hear your views on how we should observe Buddhism inAmerica. Practical and down-to-earth ideas that we could use.Dr. Bolyvong Tanovan 5/4/02Sabaydii,Just to continue my thought on the special status of Lao Buddhism in the ancientkingdom of LanXang, here is a diagram of the relationship the kingship, theSangha and the communities (by the way, this diagram is drawn from the book‘Inscription in Isan in the period of Thai-Lao’ by Tawat Pounyothok):The kingship supports the Sangha while the latter gives knowledge and impartsDhamma to the former.The kingship rules the country (communities) with Dhamma while the latter paystaxes.The Sangha teaches Dhamma to the communities while the latter serves and obeysin the hope of receiving merit communities.

since there is no way to reproduce the diagram here, I would like to point outthat it is like a triangle and each node serves as a two-way relationship.Now, I will address the issue of whether Buddhism impedes the progress of anation-state or not. First, I would like to inform you that there was a debatebetween Buddhadhasa, a leading Buddhist monk/intellectual, and Kukrit Pramoj, aleading politician/intellectual in 1960s or, maybe, in 1970s. By the way, thesetwo figures were from Thailand. They both commanded a large group of followers.Here is the debate in a nutshell: Kukrit, a one-time prime minister, claimedthat if the government followed the Buddhist policy of non-attachment, thecountry would be impoverished and therefore it would never progress into therank of the first world nations. Buddhadhasa, instead, claimed that Buddhismdidn’t impede the country progress but making the progress the right one. Iguess I don’t have to tell you which direction Thailand has taken since thatdebate or, in fact, since the modern era had dawned in. Now, if I may, I willelaborate on my own concept as to why Buddhism doesn’t impede the progress ofthe country.First, we need to understand what the true tenets of Buddhism are. After all,Buddhism is not for the other world, resignation or passivity. Instead, itemphasizes the middle way. Yes, it is not greed but the well-being of all. Tothe Buddhists, it is better to do the right thing than bettering oneself atother expenses – be it other human beings, animals or even plants. That meansmaterial wealth in itself, though no less sought for, is not an end in itselfbut it is only a means to assist us to reach our true potential either forourselves or for others. In another word, Buddhists are no less assiduous inmaking lives better but they do it with non-attachment. They understand the wayof the world and live with it but not in it as the lotus grows in the mud butrises above the mud.Now, if you ask whether the practice of Buddhism will make the country progressgiven the cut-throat nature of the modern world, I would say that it is by itsstandard. That is: if we define progress as the well-being of all, not just fora few, and not only in terms of the material things. After all, big is notnecessarily good. If only the country is run with Dhamma with the well-being ofpeople in mind, the country is already on the path of progress. That means this

is the right kind of progress that Ajarn Buddhadhasa previously alluded to.Hakphaang,Kongkeo SaycocieThis e-mail discussion groupThailand: Changes along Mekong River Wash AwayTradition, JobsBy Marwaan Macan-Markar/Chiang Khong, ThailandApril 25, 2002 - At this time of the year, the stretch of the Mekong Riverthat flows past this rural township in northern Thailand should be alivewith fishermen preparing to net the highly-prized Mekong giant catfish.But the river is empty of such life. The rituals normally performed by thefisherman on the river's bank before noon-including prayers and chickenofferings from their boats-are nowhere in sight.This emptiness saddens Boonrien Jinaraj, because it affirms that a traditionclosely associated with his riverbank community of some 4,900 people isdrifting into history-and highlights the risk that fishermen may somedayhave to switch jobs.''A way of life, a way of earning money by catching the giant catfish isdying,'' says 54-year-old Boonrien, whose deeply tanned and wrinkled face isevidence of hours spent under the sun in search of the world's largestscale-less freshwater fish.''For years we depended on the river to live, but I fear we will have tolook elsewhere for work,'' he adds, reflecting the views of many fishermenin this quiet community dotted with just a few wooden houses.Boonrien was attracted to this vocation as a 10-year-old, when he wouldaccompany his grandfather to the Mekong River and watch fishermen catching

the giant catfish-just one example of how fish is closely tied to foodsecurity in the region.The dependency is even greater in the Mekong River's lower basin. Itsfisheries yield of 1.75 million tons represents "2% of the total world catchand 20% of all fish caught from inland waters of the world'', according to adocument from the Phnom-Penh based Mekong River Commission, aninter-governmental body comprising the lower basin countries of Thailand,Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.Last year, the fishermen of Chiang Khong failed to net a single giantcatfish, whose full size can measure two-to-three meters long, and weighmore than 200 kg.These giant fish are generally caught from April to May when they swimupstream to spawn. The best year to date was 1993, when the river yielded 69giant catfish or 'plaa beuk' as they are known in Thai. During a typicalseason, anywhere from 20 to 40 giant catfish are caught, with each beingsold in Bangkok in upwards of 85,000 baht (US$ 2,000).Community leaders here agree on where the blame lies for the changessweeping through their lives-China's construction of the Man Wan Dam in1995, where the 4,200 km Mekong river flows through its south-westernprovince of Yunnan from Tibet before it goes through Burma, Thailand, Laos,Cambodia, Vietnam.''The dam has changed the natural flow of the waters and affected theriver's currents,'' asserts Niwat Roykaew, 43, a part-time teacher and localactivist. ''This year has been one of the worst, with water levelsfluctuating rapidly during the day.''On some days, the water level has been high in the morning, low at noon andhigh by evening. ''At times we have seen differences of one-meter shifts ina day,'' he says.Such fluctuations undermine the chances of netting the giant catfish, thefishermen explain, since the river's ideal depth should be between two or

three meters for a successful catch, the customary depth along this part ofthe Mekong in April and May.The changes may also disrupt the spawning behavior of the catfish, causingworries about the river life itself, not to mention other impacts incountries further downstream from China's dams.Changing river flows are also affecting those here who thrive on the river'sedible weeds for a living, earning close to 500 baht (US$ 11) a day.Dam construction by countries along the Mekong and its tributaries have beendone to harness the waters of the river for hydroelectric power, notably byThailand, Laos and China, which is trying to work out a balancing actbetween industrialization and reducing the use of coal-fired power.''Those who approve such development plans or build dams under the guise ofdevelopment only see the river as a resource to be exploited,'' saysChainarong Sretthachau, director of the Thai wing of the South-east AsiaRivers Network (SEARIN). ''They fail to see the people who depend on theriver for a living.''''The dam in Yunnan and the dams in Thailand have disrupted the harmoniousrelationship between the people living by the Mekong and the river,'' heasserts. ''This is a typical top-down approach to development.''He says Thailand's own Pak Mun Dam, built on the Mun River, which is atributary of the Mekong in Ubon Ratchathani Province, shows the sometimesunplanned effects of dams.People whose livelihoods were disrupted by Pak Mun got the government toopen the dam's sluice gates for a year until mid-2002, allowing river lifeto come back. In January 2002, fishermen caught one rare giant catfish,since they could again go upstream to spawn.But dams are just one of the changes affecting the Mekong, as economicintegration and cooperation grow in the region.

In June last year, China, Burma and Thailand agreed on a navigationagreement to allow greater use of the river for bigger vessels forcommerce-but this also means the blasting of reefs and construction of newports along the way.While governments look forward to more cross-border commerce, people in thisnorthern Thai town, home to one of the 11 reefs proposed to be blasted, saythe destruction of the reefs would also mean wrecking the rich riverhabitats that produce fish and others for their livelihoods. The dynamiteblasting of river reefs would enable ships to travel smoothly over a 900-kmjourney from Simao, a port in Yunnan, to Luang Prabang in northern Laos.''Development in this region is being pursued in the name of reducingpoverty and not creating wealth. But this case shows otherwise,'' saysShalmali Guttal of Focus on the Global South, a Bangkok-based research body.''It says that 'development' is designed to serve particular sets ofinterests. The large projects are being approved with little input from thelocal communities.''Niwat, the activist, confirms this: ''The rapids are being blasted with nonotice to us, nor were we asked how we feel about it. Once we lose the riverreefs, fishing will become harder here."Already, some residents have been forced to look for jobs in Bangkok andsmaller cities. Some young men have given up their nets and boats to work aslaborers on construction sites. ''Will the river be empty next year also?''Boonrien wonders.This article was reprinted with the permission of Inter Press Service (IPS).(Source: Irrawaddy Online.)Sabaydii, There’re lots of interesting comments beingmade in this forum. SinceI don’t have time to tackle all, I will address a few points here: the state ofLao Buddhism and some potential solutions.

1. the state of Lao Buddhism in a nutshell, Lao Buddhism is in a state of limboor even degeneration as I alluded in my previous paper. Devoid of a leadershiprole typical in the ancient LanXang (up to the reign of Chao Souriyavongsa oreven at the time of the division into 3 petty kingdoms – what I mean here was inthe reign of Chao Anou), the Lao Sangha ceased to exist as a potent force forspiritual guidance. In fact, it merely hands on to life as an extension to themodern state apparatus. If you ask, what is the cause? First, it was the Siameseyoke that made Quon Lao more Thai than Lao. Then, it was the French colonialismthat stalled its potential. After that, it was the American consumerism thatcompletely uprooted its daily relevance to the lives of the lay people. As forthe one-party rule, it does succeed in turning the Lao Sangha into a pure cadre.Now, since the Lao Sangha is no more in the leadership role, it feeds on theblind obedience of the lay people. in another word, Lao Sangha can not help butbecomes just a ritual devoid of any essence namely truth and self-deliverance.I, myself like most of us, am depressed to see the state of Lao Buddhism in bothLaos and overseas. Still, I am optimistic and not resigned to this tragic turnof events. After all, my Lao blood is till boiling with pride in me. With thatbeing said, I will address its potential solutions.2. the potential solutions.Here, I will categorize this sections into 4 segments:a. monksb. templesc. lay peopled. Buddhist teachinga. monks Upside: still professes to follow the Buddha path of simplicity,abstinence and celibacy – a good thing in itself. Just think that if we don’thave the Lao Sangha we were used, what an emotional wreck we would be – namelyto old folks. They still have some knowledge of Lao culture (and of the Buddhaway) – a continuity of the past that can hold our growing disillusioned Laopsyches together. Downside: Lao monks, to a greater extent, are lax in Dhammapractice. More to the point, they know less in the way of Dhamma teaching – notto mention less schooling in the way of the world. Therefore, they tend to bemore immersed in the consumer society that they forget who they are and whatthey are supposed to act according to the Buddha path. Potential solution: monks

should study and be immersed in the Buddha path. Only through this way, theywill regain their spiritual leadership – a model the Lao of ancient used tohave.b. temples upside: Lao temples are becoming more subsistent and grander withtime. More to the point, Lao temples become a place where Quon Lao cansocialize. downside: temples are no more a spiritual place. The temples, bythemselves, lack the uniqueness of KhuamPenhLao. Potential solution: Money thatgoes into the building as an end to itself should also be used as a place forlay people to learn about Dhamma. In fact, some money should be saved for theconstruction of the Lao Buddhist University. Also, if we build temples, weshould make them more like Wat PhaKeo in both the style and color. This way, wewill differentiate ourselves from the showy color of the Thai temple.c. lay people upside: most Lao people are still pious Buddhists though theymight know very little about what they practice. I think that, with properguidance, they can make Lao Buddhism prosper and, therefore, the best of Laoculture will be left for our future generation to appreciate it. Downside: ourlay people are mostly superstitious. They don’t know what Dhamma truly is. Givenas it is, religion could be an opium stalling our progress in this highlyrational society. Potential solution: true Dhamma should be taught to our laypeople. yes, this is begging the question since our monks should be equippedwith the Buddha path first before they could teach true Dhamma to the laypeople. I would say that this could be done only when the Lao Sangha take thenecessary steps to save Lao Buddhism, themselves and their lay people.d. Buddhist teaching Upside: as I see, there are some Lao monks who areknowledgeable about the Buddhist teaching. That means all are not lost yet.Downside: true Buddhist teachings are hard to be grasped by the lay people andeven by the monks too. Given that what we practice is mostly for the materialgains, it is better to recognize as it is and overhaul what is not according tothe Buddha path.Potential solution: we should start by having the learned monks teach the trueBuddhism. To me, there are two ways to get to the heart of the Buddhistteaching. First, it is through learning with an eye for the truth and secondly,it is through practice. After all, these two methods reinforce one another like

Sinh (discipline), Samathi (meditation/concentration) and Panya(wisdom/intellect) help the practitioner see the true nature of things.Hakphaang,Kongkeo Saycociep.s. my next exposition is going to be whether Buddhism obstructs the progressto the country and to the people who want to get ahead in life or not.Ai Kongkeo,As the states grow from the collection of city states to become a unitedkingdom, such a top-down structure is NECESSARY. Look at Burma, Mon and Lankakigndom as a few good examples .... Buddhist monks of Lanka kingdom even engagedin political intrugues in the court .... For the case of Krung Sri Ayudhayadduring the last year of King Narai (around 1687-88), Buddhist monks even engagedin the successful coup to get rid of King Narai of Lopburi, Okya Wichayen(Canstantine Falcon) as well as the successor appointed by King Narai -> byspreading the words from Pleng Yao Phayakorn Krung Sri Ayudhaya composed byOkluang Sorasak (later on Phrachao Suea) .... about the doomsday due to thecontacts with foreigners (especially the French) -> to the commenmen andpeasants to mobilize the forces to go against the French mecenary troopsstationed at Fort Wichayen (Now Fort Wichaiprasit - Thonburi) and Lopburi.NEVER forget that Buddhist monks could mobilize the peasants, so the Kings andPrinces who engage in court intrigues have to rely on Buddhist monks to get themanpower necessary to ascend the throne. For the case of Khmer, I thought itshould already have well-organized structure. However, I would to ask you howKhmer have been converted to Buddhism (Theravada sect)? During most period ofAngkor, the main religion of Khmere Kingdom was either Hindu or MahayanaBuddhism - depending on favor of the kings. If Mahayana Buddhism prospered,Visnu and Siva images (not Siva lingam of course) will be converted toBodhisattava and Buddha images. If Hindu prospered, Bodhisattava and Buddhaimages will be converted to Bodhisattava and Buddha images. Many Khmer saidTheravada Buddhism come from Cambodian through Siamese monks and people ...during the late period of Angkor up to the "dark age" period (about 200

year-long period from the demise of King Jaivaraman VII to the rise of PhrayaYat) Even Buddhism during the period of Lanna Kingdom was FAR from peaceful ....there were 2 rival sects -> the sect from Mataban (rooting from Mon Buddhism)and the sect from Lanka .... the sect from Lanka accused the sect from Matabanthat they chant in very WRONG way (relying on Mon accent instead of Lnakaaccent), owning paddy fields, handing walking canes like beggars. The sect fromLanka even accused th sect from Mataban that they are FAKE monks since thefounding 5 monks are not all legitimated monk (one had died during the trip fromLanka to Mataban -> so the other 4 monks has to rely on Buddha images to get thecomplete 5 monks enabling them to ordain the novices and laymen into Buddhistmonks). Buddhist monks from Mon traditions also accused Buddhist monk rootingfrom Lanka that they were goign against the traditions ... Even the monks whostudied in Lanka hasn't disrobed and reordain into Lanka tradition .... Many ofthem lived in the sailing ships instead of Buddist temples in Lanka (a that timethere was a severe drought in Lanka, so Buddhist monk studying in Lanka have tocome back home earlier than expect) ... Buddhist monks from Mon traditions alsoaccused Buddhist monk rooting from Lanka that they were illegitimate since theyhaven't completed 10-year period top be eligible to ordain ...The debates between 2 rival sects usually ended up with hand-to-hand combats ->with sticks and stone as weapons of choice .... Even the king of Chiangmai alsoengaged in this sectarian strife.... King Tilokkarat has ordered the destructionof stone inscriptions in the temples of the Sect from Mataban (Mon tradition)since he supported Buddhist monks from Lanka traditions. After that, he replacedthe stone inscriptions recording the alm to Buddhist monks from Lanka traditionsNow, there was only 1 stone inscriptions from BE 1913 (AD 1370) survived fromthe destructioin since the temple was abandoned long before the period ofdestruction. It took many decades before both Buddhist sects of Lanna couldsettle down the differences. Similar sectarian strifes have occurred from timeto time in Burma during the period of Ava kingdom. Even some Burmese kingsbecome megalomaniac causing lots of troubles with Buddhist monks ...Err, during the time of King Vajiravut, the king had to appoint Catholicofficers to act as "Sankaree" (the general inspector of Buddhist monks) due tothe rivalry between Mahanikaya (the traditional Buddhist sect with Chant onlyPali) and Thammayut (the more-strict discipline sect founded by King Mongkutwhich chant in both Thai and Pali). Many Buddhist Monk HATE Sangkaree (thegeneral inspector of Buddhist monks) since Sangkaree usually feed themselves by

egging from the monks ... If Sankaree could NOT get what he wanted from Sangha,they usually "blackmail" the monks .... Therefore, the Supreme Patriarch of theday asked the king to allow Buddhist monk to rule by themselves, without themeddiling from Sangkaree .... Folk wisdom? I could give you very good examplesfrom Krua Toh (Sodej Phra Phutthajarn Toh Phrommarangsee), a famouse monk duringthe period of Kign Mongkut One day, he saw novices and youing monks playingTakraw, causing lots of noise to krua Toh. Krua Toh solved the problems bysaying that "Very good, young men! Play harder" .... and adviced those novicesand young monks who payed Ta Kraw ... those young monks and novices said theywill go to pay other places so that they won;t bother Krua Toh. Another exampleof Krua Toh is about finding the Center of the World ... One day, a missionarycaomng to see Krua Toh and ask about the Center of the world ... and arugueabotu the world sicne the traditional Siamese people believed that the world wasflat. Krua Toh said Krua Toh pointing on at the foot of the ladder and say"That's the center of the world -> You have told me that the world is round, notflat." As far as I concern, I know that monks - Siamese and Lao monk - in thepast offered educations (from writing and reading to firework making, Boxing andWar Strategy), medicine, and spirituality ... so such distinction Ai Kongkeoclaimed is NOT not much .... even though Lao monks could both TuaTham and Khmerscripts ....WisarutSabaydii,1/ Lao Buddhism up to the disintegration of LanXang Vientiane kingdom I wouldsay, at this period, Lao Buddhism was distinctively native. Of course, at theonset, this Buddhism was of a Khmer type since the one prevalent in LanXang wasofficially introduced through the Khmer channel at the time of Chao FaGnum.Later, with the constant interaction with Lanna at the time of Chao Phothisarath- Chao Saysettha's father, Lao Buddhism came to be similar with Lanna type. Iwould contest that, up to the reign of Chao Souriyavongsa, Lao Buddhism was verydifferent from the Thai Buddhism typified by the Adhutthaya period. If you ask:where was the difference? Here is my contention: a. Lao Buddhism was more fromthe ground up. That was it derived its strength from the masses. So, since themasses were generally illiterate and rooted in the soil, Lao Buddhism was amixture of the soil worship and of blending in with nature. In contrast, ThaiBuddhism was more from the top down. Its strength came from the might of the

state therefore its role was categorically to serve the power-that-be.Therefore, Thai Buddhism could not be avoided to be very rigidly structuredwhere rooms of difference couldn't be tolerated. This became obvious when theThammayuth sect sponsored by Rama IV came to play a critical role in shapingThai Buddhism. In another word, this new sect was like the Jesuits sect whosezeal and state sanctioned back-up have carried the time until today. b. LaoBuddhism had folk wisdom. In another word, though religion of higher state, itadopted the way of Lao people into account. As we know, Lao people are of simpletype that lives, works and plays according to the way of nature. At this point,Thai people shared the same characteristics as ours to a certain extent. Whatdifferentiated Lao Buddhism and Thai Buddhism lied in the emphasis of the natureof religion. I would say that Thai Buddhism tended to more ritualized, moredirected from the wisdom above (the aristocrats) and more pretentious if I maysay so. On the contrary, Lao Buddhism was like a give-and-take game between themonks and the lay people. Though still ritualized, Lao Buddhism was orientedtowards the well-being of the sentient being. In another word, Lao Buddhism wasserved as a shelter, a medicine, an education and a spirituality to Lao people.Just from this brief account, you can see that Lao Buddhism was distinctive. Itcarried the weight of Lao people on its back. With that being said, it was nowonder that Lao people from both banks of the Mekong River felt different fromThai people from the Menam River. In another word, Lao culture nourished thehome-grown Lao Buddhism was fully at ease with itself while, at the same time,felt threatened when Thai culture supported by Thai Buddhism began to make aheadway towards the Mekong basin. Yes, all was safe as long as LanXang was stillunited. Then, with the disintegration of LanXang after the reign of ChaoSouriyavongsa, Lao Buddhism would face a serious threat from Thai Buddhism thatintended to swallow Lao Buddhism the way its state was about to do with LanXang.2/ Lao Buddhism from the end of Chao Anou's reign to the present day As some ofyou might know, Chao Anou tried to restore the Lao pride by overthrowing theSiamese yoke. Among other things, he held the convention of the 3rd BuddhistSangha (council) which had only 3 times in our history. Through this act, weknow that Chao Anou realized the full significance of Lao Buddhism apart fromThai Buddhism which tried to blur our sense of identity as a unique people (Laonot Thai at all). Since the Lao act of defiance was crushed, Lao Buddhismsuffered the same fate as that of a country. From 1828 on, the Lao monks fromboth Laos and Isan had to go to study in the central Thailand namely Bangkok to

learn the scripture. Before, they just went to study in Vientiane and hadnothing to do with Thai Buddhism. As Vientiane, the center of Lao Buddhism, wasdestroyed, what Lao monks learned and practiced waas originated from ThaiBuddhism. As a result, Lao Buddhism lacked its uniqueness but an extension ofThai Buddhism. After the French arrival in 1893, Lao Buddhism had some revivalespecially when they visibly felt the threat of Pan Thai advocated by PhibulSongkram prior to WWII. When Laos became independent in 1954, Lao Buddhismbecame a state religion. Yes, only if Lao Buddhism enjoyed the same status asThai Buddhism had in Thailand, things would have been different. As you mightknow, Thai Buddhism became an apparatus of the state therefore it received thefull support of the state power. This might be a bad thing in terms of a truereligion but I won't talk about it here. Suffice it to say that Lao Buddhismjust limbered on for there wasn't a substantial support from the stateapparatus. The time like Chao Anou's reign was no more. Though Vientiane wassomewhat revived, it was no more a center of Lao Buddhism. What a resemblance ofLao Buddhism had was purely an act of piety from the Lao people. Therefore, itcame to no surprise to anyone that Lao Buddhism became more of a ritual andceremony than the essence of Dhamma. This state of Lao Buddhism is what wepresently relish both in Laos and overseas. As for its future, I will leave itto the probe of our educated Lao who, though western educated, are still able tosee what Lao Buddhism means as an institution and tries to salvage the most wecan before we don't even know what is truly constituting us - Quon Lao.Hakphaang,Kongkeo SaycocieGreetings Fellow Members.,Our discussion on Lao Buddhism, the negative and positive affects it has on Laopeople and the communities. Everyone is well aware of the corruptions takenplace within the Temples by the monks and those in charge. Buddhism, like anyreligion in the world; it's not perfect and it is susceptible to corruptions.Even though monks follow a strict code of conducts (suppose to), they are humanmale. Human male have weakness; when being temped by the vices, most men willfail the test. Buddhism is not the only religion in the world that experiencethis type of corruptions and weakness shown by its clergy men.Christianity/Baptist were riveted with scandals in the 80's w/ the Jim Baker,

Tammy Faye and Jerry Farwell sagas. The Catholic church are being viewnegatively by many members/followers due to the sexual abuse by the priest. Thecorruptions did not end with these two religion or with these individuals; it isan on going thing. Pick up any news paper across the country and you will likelysee an article on some form of corruption with religions. Even though these holdthemselves out to be of the highest standards and morality, non the less theyare men. I hear the older generation talking about how wonderful and great Laosis, but what I am really hearing between the words and what they are reallysaying is how wonderful Laos was and use to be. Most are still living in thepast and are doing things the old ways. And that includes worshiping withoutquestions. If you ask most people that attend the services on a regular basis toexplain the Buddhist doctrine and its basic believes and values, most will tellyou that they do not know. They attend the service and do what they do simplybecause that's what they are use to and what was past down to them by theirparents. From a perspective of someone that grew up outside of Laos, I see Laosas a dirty, poor nation struggling to survive. It's currently behind the times;the gov't are too fat and happy to institute any change/progress. The citizensof Laos are paying for the ineptness of the gov't and Laos as a country is beingravage and exploited by other nations. It is obvious that the old and currentLaos is not working. Laos and Khon Lao are capable bigger and greater things ifwe are willing to forego the old ways and are open to changes. If we look longand hard enough, we will find and see faults with everyone and everything.Perfectionist are few and far in between. Human being have weakness and we fallprey to weakness and desires regardless of our status and position in life. Thebig question is how can we members of Panyasin and members of the LaoCommunities at large change the course of our future and the future of Laos andits citizens? Should we only observe and wait to see what the outcome will be orshould we do something to push Laos, its people, culture and religion into theright direction? I fear that if nothing is done there will not be a Laos as weknow it for my kids to enjoy and cherish.Warmest Regards,KhamDear Panyasin,Sabaidee Pi-mai! I too have been reading and listening to the positive as wellas the negative viewpoints presented by members who care enough to comment and

express their concerns for the fate of Buddhism and the practice of spiritualworshiping among the members of Lao community in the U.S. and other parts of theworld. First I would like to acknowledge the thoughtful comments and suggestionsmade by Dr. Bolyvong. I agree that much needs to be done to encourage thebehavior among the Buddhist priests and their devout followers as specificallyspelled out in his list from #1 through #5, below. Overall, I believe that mostof us hope for the better services and an ideal community organization when weall chip in towards the funding of a temple and have the priests sponsored totake charge of the service works and all the spiritual leadership functionswithin their sanctity of professional duty, as a SANGA.The problem of discerning faith from fellowship has been the major issue as partof this process. It has been a controversial question among the local worshipersI know. I also know that most Buddhist priests preach the dogma and live by thetheir rules, adhere to norm and standard practice of their governance but theirsocial relationship to the community is undeniably vulnerable, fragile andcorruptible biased. I have not seen a serious Buddhist priest and practitioneramong layman who turn pedophile or narcotic dealers, insurgent revolutionarianor even Thai lottery and gambling promoter. What I have seen and read about are"men" in a saffron robe who put on the show and create a charismatic aura andmysticism about themselves for profit and power to mobilize (sometimes to split)the community. And usually there are groups of men and women among thecongregation working as a profiteering for the share of money, material goodsand /or political influence on the community. It is the groups and organizedspecial interest people who hide behind the priest or collaborate with a the"men" to corrupt the power of Buddhism and the sanctity of the refuge that serveas the heart and the soul of our spiritual worshipers. And these worshipers knowin their heart that things are not quite perfect and could be better but theyare willing to tolerate the flaws in the support system of the organization thatsustains the temple.The difficult and sensitive issue may exist within the family unit when ourelderly population and our own parents who are truly seeking spiritual benefitsand use the temple as a sanctuary for spiritual link with the Buddhist faith.And they couldn't care less about what the younger generations might see as anenabling factor to weaken the organization that contradict with Buddhistteaching i.e. priest's inappropriate behavior and the hoarding of money and

material possession. Other members have already provided graphic accounts ofthese problems. To me it's just the problem among the opportunists and playerswho are in to control for the sake of controlling and really lacking visions anddirection, not to mention skills and education in democracy and communityorganizing process. In light of our Lao community multiple and multi-level needsfor self-fulfilment and conforming to the old and the new societies, people aresettling for the better of the two evils, the chance for culture-existing andfreedom to preserve whatever is left of their spiritual symbolic life of aBuddhist and the alienation and insecure life without faith shared with thetraditional community. As a matter of facts, some people become disfranchisedand break away to detached world of isolated spiritual worshiping, and worseyet, some others convert to another faith and grow more and more distant fromthe traditional Lao life style. I have asked the elders and the monks if theyhave thought about the next generation priest and ritual master in leading theworks in the service and in the community. And I have yet to get a good answerfrom anybody.Despite all the pros and cons of this topic, I just like to end this with thewords of caution. Please do not criticize the Buddhist religion and any part ofthe community effort to culture exist for its faults in human factors andnothing to do with the dogma and true spirit of faith or practice of a lifestyle as it is in Lao approach to Buddhism, the Theravadin. This is because thevery act becomes a shallow bashing of something that's larger than life and moresacred than anyone's delusional thinking of the reality perceived and the verityof spiritual life. What we can do is to be patient and tolerant of theevolutionary process. Someday, the rule of laws and social elements will dictatea better form and function of the institutional structure of the SANGA and thesocial face of Buddhist practice among the Lao people. Notice, I have notmentioned a thing about other Buddhist countries.Hak Phaeng,KhamOneDr. Bolyvong,It sounds like you are saying only the Buddhist monks in America are corrupt. Ifyou go to Laos and Thailand, you will see things are no different there. It has

nothing to do with where they are but who they are. Lao monks and Lao Buddhismare perfectly complementary. Faults of the sangha are symptoms of the disease ofthe religion, as Thao Nhouy adequately explained. I hope everybody had a chanceto read the commentary of Laos's first intellectual.You also describe the religion as a sort of narcotic, which gives people peaceof mind. We certainly want people to have peace of mind, but as with allnarcotics there are no shortage of side effects. As for asking for lotterynumbers "in good humor," well we can just carry on all our faults as long as itis in "good humor." Unfortunately, the culture of irresponsibility and gamblingonly worsens.People in this group speak so highly of Lao "culture" as though it were a thingto be preserved, simply because it is a thing that exists. I see now whyprogress is so slow.At the same time, Lao people do not even know what Lao culture is. The moremoney they get from UNESCO, for example, the more debased are the Lao temples.They begin sprouting Thai ornaments and undergo entire makeovers in Thai styles.Lao Buddhas are not even cast anymore, because it seems nobody can figure outwhat a Lao Buddha looks like. Meanwhile everybody is harping on about howwonderful Lao culture is. And the only ones laughing are the Thai.KhammanhDear Friends,I read with interest what our friends, Kongkeo Saycocie, Martin Rathie, Wisarutand Khammanh wrote us on the subject matter so far. Maybe others would also careto jump in and share with the rest of us their opinions and more importantlyoffer ideas on how we could improve things if posible? Some of the anecdotes areinteresting and all too real to be ignored. Unfortunately, these are truestories, a mixture of mystique and religion. Many Lao still highly revere theBuddhist priests and practice Buddhism without second thought. We continue to dowhat our fathers and forefathers have taught us to do. But of course this isAmerica, and there is a lot of adjustments to be made, for both the Buddhistpriests and their followers. It is fair to say that Lao Buddhist priests facedproblems from day 1 when they moved to America, where most of them had to starta new life on the list of welfare recipients. They had to get adjusted to a newsociety; and many of them could not quite disassociate themselves from their

worldly possessions and natural human temptations. Under an entirely differentenvironment, an identity problem soon developed. To attract worshippers, theyneed to be well known, and to be well known they might have to do things theywould not even dream about doing before. Some Lao monks feel the need to havecars for personal convenience or other reasons, cars that they drive bythemselves or have other drive for them. At the extreme, some priests may havegone as far as managing their own bank accounts. This is hard for us to acceptfor the same reason it will take some time for people to get accustomed to seecars parked in the Wat?s compound. Lao Buddhist priests got quickly organized byforming and joining a national Council. Rules and regulations developed andimplemented by the Council probably helped to maintain some semblance of orderand discipline, at least in a spiritual sense. I remember one of the Council'sdecisions was to have all names of Lao Buddhist temples preceded by the wordLao, e.g., Wat Lao Buddhathammaram. Overall, it?s hard to fully appreciate therole of that national council and to assess how much real power it has over itsmembers. How tight are we practicing Buddhism? I dare say, not very tight, asmost of us only see monks during weekends. We go to the temple only when we havetime. Many people, especially older folks, go there for the unique purpose ofconsulting the priests on various subjects, and/or to worship in front of thestatues of the ?Phra Chao Nhai?. They all invariably come home relaxed andcontent. As you know, we also invite the priests to our homes for merit making,to blessing a new house, to wash off bad dreams, etc. This is self-fulfilling toolder folks, some sort of personal spiritual satisfaction money cannot buy.Buddhist priests collect money from the people but rarely use that asset to makepublic donations. This is a stance that sometimes confuses our Americansneighbors. Likewise, our priests rarely write, except for a few articles now andthen that appear on the temple's newsletters. I know there is much to bedesired, but overall I still believe Buddhist priests do have their place in theLao communities overseas. Practicing Buddhism does allow us to form a closelyknitted community, where people can meet each other once a week at least. Someof us enjoy listening to the monks?prayers. Others just like the austereatmosphere of a temple full of Buddha statues. They also see the temple as apotential retreat for them some time in the future, a chance to wear saffronrobes and to dedicate a few days of their life in strict observance of Buddhistprinciples (for their parents? spiritual salvation and a better future in theirnext life). Buddhist temples also provide an occasional shelter and safe havento many teenagers. Many people go in to ask for the Thai lottery numbers. As

long as this done in good spirit and some humor, there probably is no real causefor concern. What do I wish Lao Buddhist priests would do? Be faithful to thereligion, set good examples of immaterialism, preach tolerance andself-fulfillment, do not move too fast and too far from Lao traditions and Laoway of life, be generous, make more frequent donations to other nonprofitassociations or outfits; help teach Lao culture and Lao alphabet, help peopleunderstand the basic teachings of Buddha, and generally be a living symbol ofthe Lao culture for new generations of Lao. I did my duty in becoming a monk fora week when I came home to Laos after years of schooling in Switzerland. It wasa good experience for me. But that was in Laos, and that was in the early1960's. What do you folks think we could and should do now as a society to helppreserve the tenets of Buddhism in America? What is worth preserving, and whatneeds to be changed?Dr. Bolyvong Tanovan 4/5/02Dear Members,It is not always the case that the monks and the lay committee of a temple arecorrupt. That's something I think we need to keep in mind. The organization ofthe Lao temple is actually responsible for the most part, I think, for the lackof building improvements or projects or services.The reason the money disappears is usually simply that the costs of operatingthe temple are so high. Because of concerns about corruption, I think more andmore temples are being forced to completely disclose their financial records.I've seen some of these and it was suprising to see how large their expensesare. Water utility for example runs into four or five hundred dollars per month.The reason of course is that there are so many monks. If the priority of Laocommunities is to build a nice-looking temple or one that is capable ofproviding social services, it needs to reorganize its view of the Wat. That is,it must reconsider why so many monks are necessary. My personal view is thatonly one monk should be assigned to each temple. This assures that the monk ishighly qualified and educated and that the resources that would have supportedanother half-dozen or more monks can go into more important projects. It isexpensive to support a large group of people. In fact, I think that large classof welfare recipients (at times up to 20% of the Lao population) is responsible

for the death of large historical monuments and buildings in Laos. They suckedup all the surplus resources of the population. Lao monks are not cheap. Theylive like kings. Lao monks are not even vegetarians, unlike Buddhist monks inmost countries. They do a lot of traveling. Some of them have special medicalneeds, and so on. At worst of course, some of them are corrupt and skim thedonations.By sticking with one respectable monk, many of these problems will go away and alot more money will be available to make improvements to the temple, etc.KhammanhDear Members,It not news to us. Everybody has always known about the poor state of LaoBuddhism. This is not a recent phenomenon. Nhouy Abhay was complaining about themonks many decades ago. There is an excellent essay of his posted onLan-Xang.com (http://www.lan-xang.com/buddhism/laobuddhism_4.html). I would goso far as to say that the state of Lao Buddhism is no more degenerate now thanit was in the 17th century. The documents of Father Leria attest to this.The hard thing is determining whether Lao culture made Lao Buddhism orvice-versa. Actually, it is more likely to be the case that each are both causeand effect, reinforcing each other in a reflexive way. That does it make itdifficult to address the problems of the Lao community, which are culturalproblems. If we could easily point to Lao Buddhism and say, here is the sourceof our problems, then we may be able to completely solve the problems. I thinkthough that whether Lao Buddhism is the root cause or whether it is merely amanifestation, tackling the problems of Lao Buddhism can help fix Lao culturalproblems by removing the reflexivity I mentioned. Then the problems will not beable to bounce off of Lao Buddhism, which supports and reinforces it.When we study Lao Buddhism we should not become romantic or delude ourselves.Lao Buddhism is not so much Buddhism as it is Animism. There is no genuine moralframework that supports Lao Buddhism. It is a relatively amoral religion andthis is the reason, I think, that there are so many problems, as all of you areaware, with the Lao Sangha.

As Thao Nhouy said, though, like laity, like monks.KhammanhKhun Martin,Luang Pho Khoon (AKA Phra Ratchawitthayakhom Thera or Khoon Prarisuttho) isstill alive for now even though he has frail health. Wat Banrai is in TambolKutphiman, Dankhunthot District of Khorat (on the Highway from Chaturat Districtof Chaiyaphum to Lam Takhong Reservior. For the case of Halo, it's for thosewith very high and strong "Bun" (or "Bunyathikarn").For the case of His Majesty, ther was a legend that His Majesty and a few Royalguards were facing CPT Liberate Soildiers when they walked in the jungle in PhuPhan outside Phuphan Ratchaniwet Royal House. The CPT Soldiers recognized theHis Majesty and tried to shoot AK47 bullets to him and his guards but AK47 gotstuck Even they tried to use all the AK47 they had in thair hand, but the riflesgot jammed .... When the CPT aiming the AK 47 to sky instead of His Majesty, thebullets coming out of the rifles without jamming! That's really shock the CPTsoldiers, so they bow to His Majesty and pledge that they won't dare to hurt himand his guards at all.I feel definitely sure disciples and caretaking laymen of Luang Pho Khoon wouldrush to see and pick up the crystalized ashes of Luang Pho Khoon after cremationin the same way the Northerners rushing to pick up the ashes and the earth fromcrematorium pyre of the late venerable Khrooba Sriwichai (1878-1938) in early1946. King Mongkut found Thammayut around 1833 when he was Vajirayana monk byfollwing the paractices from strictly-disciplined Mon (Raman) monk after he sawso many disciplinaty laxes during the reign of King Phra Nanklao (his elderhalf-brother) - closing to become "Mahajone Plon Phra Satsanah" (the GreatBandits Plundering Buddhism). Khaa Luang is a position of "representative to theKing" ....Sabaydii,Lao Buddhism is definitively an interesting discussion topic. For my part, Iwill address the history of Lao Buddhism first then I will go on to tackle onany issues relevant to it later.

Here are the points I will entertain you:1/ Lao Buddhism up to the disintegration of LanXang Vientiane kingdom2/ Lao Buddhism from the end of Chao Anou's reign to the present day Also, whatI intend to do here is to lay the groundwork for our understanding of LaoBuddhism: its history, its current situation, its wisdom and its future in theface of the almighty consumer society (both in Laos and abroad). Remember thatonce Lao Buddhism was quite unique. That meant it was different from the onespracticed by our neighbors namely the Thai. If you ask me: what made LaoBuddhism unique? I would say that this Buddhism was mainly a product of ourculture - nourished by our soil. Most importantly, this Buddhism became Laosoul. In another word, if you don't know Lao Buddhism, you don't know Quon Laoat all. Then, what had happened to this unique Lao Buddhism? I guess you willhave to wait until next time. Or better yet, you should investigate it with me.For today, I would like you to read my exposition about another aspect of LaoBuddhism posted at soc.culture.laos some time ago. ***** To Be Lao is to knowBuddhism Does anyone wonder why there is a big gap between the Lao leaders Inthe modern era and the Lao folks they are supposed to serve? As History hastestified, the Lao leaders of pre 1975 were predominantly French influencedwhile the Lao leaders of post 1975 were, for the Most part, Marxist-Leninistinfluenced. These two groups barely have Something in common with the Lao folkswho have been predominantly Buddhist. There is a common tendency among theruling circles in the Widespread belief that Buddhism is a hindrance to thecountry's growth And that Buddhism breeds more superstition than spirituality.Little do The modern Lao leaders know that it is Buddhism which keeps the LaoFrom falling apart. War, raids, and subjection to other's spirit centuries aftercenturies were more than enough to crush any people's spirit. Luckily, the Laostill have Buddhism to hold on. No wonder the enlightened Acharn Cha from WatNongPaPhong, Ubon province was of a Lao descendant. Western ideas eithercapitalism or Marxism could benefit Laos, if Rightly applied, but they are notthe root of Laoness. The most they Can do is to make your head brainier but notyour heart wiser. Instead, It is Buddhism, Lao Buddhism, that will make MuangLao and Quon Lao Unique. Once uniqueness is reached, Lao will be Lao again.Remember what our saying goes: "if people won't follow the leader, there is nochance to make the country prosperous." The chance is here: be Lao and true Laowill follow you. *****

First things first, I said "to be Lao is to know Buddhism". What I mean is:since the inception of our country, LanXang, 600 years ago; Buddhism came toplay a big role in our country's development. It forms the basis of our people'scultural life. In another word, who we are today is the by-product of Buddhism,Lao Buddhism. Factoring Buddhism out of the equation, you are still Lao but notLao of our ancestors. What I mean is that the basis of your being comes from adifferent source which might be superior but, still, you won't get the samefeeling, the same heartbeat as what you get from the same nourishment that feedsyour ancestors. At times, you might even be at odds with the Lao folks (youmight even call them stupid); or anything Lao (second class) around you. Let mesay again, Buddhism I mention here has nothing to do with religion. In fact,Buddhism as practiced by the great bulk of Lao people has become a way of lifein itself. That is why I say the Lao leaders lost touch with the people they aresupposed to serve. Schooled differently is terribly hard to understand another.Anyway, if you want to see how the ancient leader was accepted by the Laopeople, just look at Chao Anou and see how faithful they were to him. I willhave more to say later. ***** Yes, Lao Buddhism is different from IndianBuddhism. Though the core tenets are the same, what grows out of Buddhism aspractised in Laos is different from the original Buddhism. Lao Buddhism is acombination of animism, Brahmanism and, of course, Theravada Buddhism. Inanother word, Lao Buddhism is a mixture of the belief in "phi", in soul and inBuddha. What is fascinating about this is not a distorted form of Buddhism butan enrichment to the original Buddhism. That is why it does produce no lessenlightened men and does make Lao people kind and, at the same time, grounded inpragmaticism. Getting back to my thesis, I realize that it is hard for otherbelievers to come to terms with what to be Lao is. That is not to say that ifthey don't know Buddhism (please notice the word I use "know" instead of"be"),they won't be Lao. They are still Lao but not Lao of what Muang Lao and Quon Laothat we know of. It is like if you don't eat sticky rice, salivate over thespicy TumMakHoung and taste the smelly Padaek, not to mention being captivatedby the sound of Khene, of Mohlum and touched by the sight of DokChampa, howcould you say that you are Lao? I will have more to say later.Hakphaang,Kongkeo Saycocie

Sabaidee Panyasin members,After reading the short post by our newest member I feel the urge to tell somesmall stories about Lao Buddhism and Buddhist monks in America. Forgive me if Imay be sounding a little cynical, but I too have observed similar corruptionsthat's been running very rampant in the Buddhist Temples that I know of in theUSA, whether they are Thai, Lao, or Cambodian base. Chasing the mighty US $$ isthe name of the game and there's no stopping. How does that one song go? "WATKRUNG NEUNG KUM MA KARN KRUNG NEUNG -- the WAT gets half and theCommittee/Boardmembers get half." So, what's left for the community?I've lived in several states in the USA. I started out living in IOWA, thenRhode Island, and now North Carolina. There are Lao Buddhist temples in thestates I mentioned. Yes, some of the monks in those temples do and have donegood jobs performing their ceremonial/worship functions during funerals, kao pansa, and other Buddhist religious days, but still many get caught in the windthat blows the mighty dollars into their robes and the commitee members'pockets. The wind may not remember the name it has blown in the past, but greedypeople and the opportunistic monks will surely remember its name and pray for itto blow more often. As Mr. Phanthavong have mentioned, in some areas there areseveral Temples within the 20 miles radius of each other. AND... they are allcompeting for worshipers' $$$. This translates into the DEMAND for thatCHARISMATIC monk who can bring the dough in. AND... this occasionally translateinto pitting the monks against one another with jealousy, which festers knivingschemes, resentments, and other dirty plays.One of the questions Martin Rathie posed was: What makes some the monksCharismatic?A quick and sure way a monk can gain great Charisma and Notariety is to gethimself into a string of LUCK.. predicting Lottery numbers or bettingproliferals.Let me tell the story of a monk in the Rhode Island/Massachusette area. I willnot mention his name, but you might run into him if you visit one of these

cities in that region of the USA: Lowell, Smith Field, Providence, andWoonsocket.When he first arrived in that area he was invited by a Laotian family who justmoved into a new house. He was to give them blessings and to lead properceremony for bringing comfort, prosperity and prosterity to their new home.After he performed his ceremonial duties at that house, he was fed and givendonations. Before he leave the house to go back to the temple, he walked intothe living room. There he found several men watching an American Football gameon TV. They were also filling out their bookie's tickets. So, the monk askedthem what they were doing. They said that they are putting down bets. The monkasked to see the tickets and a pencil, and said, "here let me fill one out foryou". The monk, who had no idea what or how the game is play and who are set toplay, filled one of cards out by picking 3 teams at random. Then he left.Guess what, one of the men decided to put 500 dollars down on what the monkpicked, and it HIT.. triple plays, which pays off 7.5 to 1.A few days later, many people went to the temple to visit the monk. Many peoplewho had heard about what happened with the one man who hit it big on thefootball bet from the monk's assistance wanted to get the monk's blessings also.There were about 50 or so people there in the audience all wanting to have wordswith the monk. There were also children running around. Some of the Lao parentswho had just picked up their kids from school decided to stop by the templealso. Many people tried to ask the monk to give them some hints of luck onLottery that's gonna be drawn the next day, but the monk shrugged it off. [Aswe all know, the Lao/Thai communities anywhere have a habit of playing theUNDERGROND Lottery, usually the pick 3 and pick 2 games.] HEre in NorthCarolina, the Lao community plays the Illinois evening pick three. The drawinghappens every evening at about 9:20 p.m., 7 days a week,Chicago time. Thebroadcast can be seen on CAble in the South East of the USA, broadcast byChicago's channel 9 WGN tv.Back to the monk in Rhode Island, the 50 or so adults who visited the temple washoping that the monk would tell them something about the next day lotterydrawing. Back several years ago, the Laotian community up in New England stillplays the THAI underground Lottery, which is drawn twice a month in Thailand,

the 1 of the month and about the 15th of the month. Towards the end of themonk's audience session as people were about to leave and the fomalities weredispersed, the monk pointed to a little girl and asked.. "eee nang, man ee yangtid yoo nai tong jao"? What's that sticking on your school book bag? Stamped onthat bag was a small picture, a pider like picture. The little girl just noddedside to side to signal that she had no idea.Well, it just happened that one adult, a middle age lady, in the audience tookit to be very significant. Again, as some of you may know, Lao/Thai people have2 digit numbers associated with many animals. For example, the Dog is 11, 51, 91and in this case... the Spider.. 33 and 73. Thus, the one lady who recognized itand by some coincidence took it as significant. She went home and started tocall all the bookies in town. She put down as much as the limit is allowed fromevery bookie on the numbers 33, and 73. Guess what? The next day darn thing HIT!73 was the lucky number!The rest is history. The monk now have a golden road to raise as much money ashe can.If you visit Des Moines, Iowa. Don't be surprised if you see a monk driving aRed Mitsubishi 2000 GT. The last time I was in that city, this monk was stillresiding in the Lao Temple of that city. It is located on the South East side ofDes Moines. One of my "aii huk" owned an auto body shop in that city. ONe day,this monk drove that car to his shop so it can bee buffed up to look moreshiney. That's how I know for sure that this monk actually drive that car. I'venever talked to him at length nor attend any of the Temples functions, but thestory I heard about how he came to possess the car was interesting. This monklooks to be in his late 20s at the time I saw him at the shop.In the state of Iowa, there's a lotto game called, the 100,00 dollars cash game.It can be played everyday because the drawing is done every night. You pick 5numbers between 01 to 35, and if u get all 5 correct you win 100,000 dollars.Several years ago, this Red Mitsubishi driving monk won that game. He claimed tohave seen the number from some barks on the ground. He gave the numbers to oneof his lay man assistance, and that lay man went out and buy the tickets, and itHIT the jackpot! He was able to pay CASH for that Red sports car.Lao Buddhists people around there claimed that he has the power to talk to

ghosts. Incidentally, the temple ground that the Lao Temple in Des Moines, Iowais set on land which used to be an old cemetary. Go figure eh?As you can see, the Buddhists lay people themselves are also feeding this frenzyand the Monks and the Karrm Ma Karn are more than happy to oblige. All it takesis just several strings of COINCIDENTAL LUCK, and you have a STAR Monk in yourtemple to bring in more visitors and more donations.Wnen you visit with these STAR monks, some of them will say to you that theycannot tell you straight out what the future is or the what Lottery number thatthey foresee are. It is against the mandate of heaven and they cannot reveal thesecrets of heaven, some would claim. Thus, they must give the hints viasubtleties and riddles. Sometimes they would give different gestures that can beinterpreted by different people as certain animals, and the chances are someonein the audience picked the right animal, buys the number associated with thatanimal and win! Then, the people who gets lucky are the one who claim to havesolved the riddle, which give them more face and make them look smarter than therest, and this leads to more noteriety to that particular monk because theperson(s) who won would pick the opportunistic time to tell the monk whilemaking donations to the temple from the winnings, and they do it in front ofmany others while the monk sit there with smiles and acknowledgment.It's a wonderful world after all.HakPang,Thaksin