Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

L AOS
After almost a century of war and foreign occupation,
the independent People’s Democratic Republic
of Laos emerged in 1975. Its Marxist government has
allowed the practice of Buddhism to flourish and has
even enlisted Buddhist monks to serve as political advocates
who hold up the communist ideals of generosity,
community cooperation, and equality among
the classes. The Lao government has encouraged
greater involvement of monks in community development
and secular education by sponsoring the
Union of Lao Buddhists and other Buddhist/Communist
organizations, while discouraging monks’
practice of traditional healing rituals, exorcism, and
prophecy, and discouraging them from using the
monkhood to avoid military and government service.
The Lao government has also attempted to limit lay
donations (in order to gain merit for a favorable rebirth)
to monasteries, even though this practice has
been the foundation of lay/monk interaction for the
entire history of Lao Buddhism. Still, like the efforts
of King Phothisalarat and King A nuvong to reform
Buddhism, these government policies have mostly
been quietly ignored, and although monks have played
a greater role in secular education since 1975, the
unique and syncretic practices of Lao Buddhists that
the sources evince persist and even flourish among
both the urban and rural populations.
See also: Folk Religion, Southeast Asia; Southeast Asia,
Buddhist Art in
Monks circumambulate the Phra That Luang stupa during an annual
ceremony in Vientiane, Laos. © Nik Wheeler/Corbis. Reproduced
by permission.
information that is lacking in royal chronicles, protective
chants, and relic and monastery histories.
Travelers’ reports confirm the validity of some of the
rituals described in folktales and epic poems. The
multivolume collection by members of the Mission
Pavie (1879–1895) and the work of Karl Izikowitz in
the 1930s discuss how local animistic practices of the
Hmong, Sedang, Moi, and other Lao hill tribes became
mixed with Buddhist practices. These sources
also describe how monks took on the roles of magicians,
appeasers of local deities, doctors, and secular
and religious teachers in Lao villages. Still, aside from
these reports and many others, a comprehensive
study of how Buddhism and indigenous Lao religions
have interacted remains a desideratum.
Bibliography
Archaimbault, Charles. “Religious Structures in Laos.” Journal
of the Siam Society 52, no. 1 (1964): 57–74.
Archaimbault, Charles. Structures religieuses Lao (Rites et
Mythes). Vientiane, Laos: Vithagna, 1973.
de Berval, René, ed. Kingdom of Laos: The Land of the Million
Elephants and of the White Parasol, tr. Teissier du Cros and
others. Saigon, Vietnam: France-Asie, 1959.
Bizot, François. La pureté par les mots. Paris: École Française
d’Extrême-Orient, 1996.
Coedes, George. “Documents sur l’histoire politique et religieuse
du Laos occidental.” Bulletin de l’École Français
d’Extrême-Orient 25, nos. 1–2 (1925): 1–202.
Finot, Louis. “Recherches sur la littérature Laotienne.” Bulletin
de l’École Français d’Extrême-Orient 17, no. 5 (1917): 1–218.
Lévy, Paul. “Les traces de l’introduction de Bouddhisme à
Louang Prabang.” Bulletin de l’École Français d’Extrême-
Orient 40 (1940): 411–424.
Ngaosrivathana, Mayoury, and Breazeale, Kennon, eds. Breaking
New Ground in Lao History: Essays on the Seventh to
Twentieth Centuries. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm, 2002.
Nhouy, Abhay. Aspects du Pays Lao. Vientiane, Laos: Editions
comite litteraire lao, 1956.
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