information that is lacking in royal chronicles, pro-
tective 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 be-
came mixed with Buddhist practices. These sources
also describe how monks took on the roles of magi-
cians, 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.
After almost a century of war and foreign occupa-
tion, 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 ad-
vocates who hold up the communist ideals of gen-
erosity, community cooperation, and equality among
the classes. The Lao government has encouraged
greater involvement of monks in community devel-
opment and secular education by sponsoring the
Union of Lao Buddhists and other Buddhist/Com-
munist 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 re-
birth) 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 Anuvong 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,
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Monks circumambulate the Phra That Luang stupa during an an-
nual ceremony in Vientiane, Laos. © Nik Wheeler/Corbis. Re-
produced by permission.