Buddhism Behind Official Organizations:

Notes on Theravada Buddhist Practice

in Comparative Perspective
Hayashi Yukio

“On expressing my surprise at there being so many temples

and monasteries in the city and neighborhood, they said
that, although many had of late years been repaired by
the Shans, nearly all of them had been built by the Burmese
when governing the country from A.D. 1564 to 1774” [Hallet
1988(1890): 124].

Theravada Buddhism, a dominant religion in mainland Southeast

Asia, is a “World Religion” due to its spread beyond boundaries
of nations and regions. It originated from the Sinhalese Mahavihara
sect where the use of Pali canon and commentaries and the Bhikkhu
(monk) ordination line have continued until today. Through its
historical succession of tradition, cooperation and exchange
activities among the Theravadins, such as building pagodas, the
restoration of sanctuary for ordination and sacred texts, merit-
making rituals and the like, have also been practiced across regional
boundaries.
At the same time, Buddhist practices—including those of
laity—have been established within the historical intercourse between
different language groups in regions. Accordingly, despite its appear-
ance of homogeneous tradition in any one area, their practices vary
from one region to another. This is also true of the textual tradition.
Since the Pali language does not have its own script, it has been
written in the script of each ethnic group; Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, Mon
language of the Mon, Khmer in Cambodia, and the like. Numerous

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“schisms” among Theravadins (gaing in Burma, nikai in Thailand,
etc.) are not based upon differences in doctrine, but upon practices
involving ways of pronunciation of Pali stanzas as well as ritual
behavior including ways of wearing robes and the like, which have
been configured in the historical process of localization to differen-
tiate each other.
Previous anthropological studies of Theravada Buddhism have
described living Buddhist practices, paying attention to the mode of
intersection between Buddhism and indigenous spirit cults. However,
while the localized Buddhist practice can be examined as a result of
socio-historical development in a specific region, we need a study on
varieties of Buddhism led by lay believers in comparative perspec-
tive. In order to understand the feature of practices which unite and
differentiate Theravadins with or from each other, we should ask
what kinds of factors are shared between them (1).
This paper sketches practices of Theravadins whom I have met
in my extensive surveys in the Lao P.D.R., Cambodia and Sipsong
Panna (Xishuangbanna), Yunnan, in southwestern China, where Bud-
dhism has temporarily been persecuted due to the socialist regime
for a few decades. Focusing on the activities of laity, who constitute
resources to maintain Bhikkhus and Sangha, it also seeks the implicit
features of Buddhist practice in a regional context. The lay practices
embedded in their regional experiences more often than not look
quite deviant from institutionalized Buddhism. However, every kind
of practice in each region has its own relevancy as a Buddhist
activity even if it might be claimed as “invalid” by some ‘official’
interpretation of Buddhism.

1. To Be Buddhist

“Our temple had been destroyed by bombing. The

present temple was recently rebuilt. (.....) During the years

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 we had no temple and monks, we visited surviving temples
in the same district to join annual rites because we are
Buddhists. Unlike our neighbors, the Hmong who worship
spirits, we observe precepts (thu sin). Precepts are always in
our minds (sin yu nai cai talot). Wherever we go, precepts
also go together with us” [Lao Phuan, Village head, Ban
Thoen, Xiang Khwang, Lao P.D.R.: field notes, Jan. 5, 1991].

My gathering of data in relation to the subject of this paper

began with this narrative given at the village above. The Lao Phuan,
one of the dominant resident groups (another is the Hmong) in
the area, are noted as devout Buddhists in Xiang Khwang, where
the “secret bombing” undertaken by the U.S. Air Force during the
Indochina War was dense and widespread. Most of the temples of
the Lao Phuan were destroyed then. When I visited in 1991, one
was rebuilt and had some novices in the lodging (kuti). They called
it a temple, but it looked like a villager’s ordinary house to my eyes.
Having nothing to do with visible symbols of religious archi-
tecture, as shown by what the village head told me, they maintain
their Buddhist identity. It appears in two ways; one is to see them-
selves as differentiated from the non-Buddhist neighbors (Hmong).
The other lies in precepts.
Almost ten years later, I had a similar experience at Wan Tao
(Tao village, having 137 households in 2000 CE) along Nam Xam
river of Xam Toeu in Hua Phan, northeastern Laos. The village was
first opened by Lao migrants from ‘old Tao village (Wan Tao Kao) in
1965. The former village was finally abandoned because of a cholera
epidemic and war in the early 1970s. Today they stay with many of
the Tai Daeng families who came to settle later. As the Tai Daeng
are not Buddhists, the Lao call themselves “Buddhist Lao” (Lao
Phut).
The Lao villagers have two religious symbols in the village.
One is the village temple, the other is the village pillar (lak sim).

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A stilted house type of temple, which is more accurately described as
a “hut”, is located at a higher level of elevation in the village
compound. Its entrance is usually locked, as with other temples in
Laos, for fear of thieves. Inside the temple, nothing is enshrined but
a wooden plate-carving of the head of a naga, taken from the temple
of the old village.
No monks reside at the new temple. However, the Lao villag-
ers hold the annual collective rituals (boun), e.g. boun nam tom in
the first month of the lunar calendar, khao padapdin (ninth) and kao
salak (tenth), inviting monks from other temples.
Another predominantly Lao village, Ban Fat Toeu, one hour
upstream from Wan Tao, has 42 households, including 11 Tai Daeng
families. According to the village head (born in 1945), the Lao began
to come here in 1938 from the border area of Vietnam, to seek new
land to grow glutinous rice. “Lao phut” was also used here. “Satsana
phut is Lao religion and ‘Brothers Tai Daeng’ (phinong taidaeng)
believe in satsana phi” (2).
In the past the Lao had their village guardian spirit (phi
ban) but abandoned it in 1968. Then, the village pillar was installed
instead, but it was also abandoned in 1998. As for Buddhist annual
rites, believers hold khao salak, khao padapdin, and songkran at
the village temple, which also looks like an ordinary village house.
When they cannot invite monks, they hold rituals in front of
“pha chao”, a Buddha image enshrined at the village temple.
The representative of laity (sangkhali) would pay respect to pha chao
before holding rites.
The villagers once had a legendary wandering monk (pha
thudong) from Savannakhet, southern Laos. This monk, called Ya
Khu Boua, had come to stay at this village from the 1940s until his
death in 1972. The people built the village temple at that time with
other laymen from neighboring villages. During his stay, Ya Khu
Boua had many disciples from six villages. However, since 1972

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the villagers had no monks at all, leaving the village temple as
a place to donate clothes and other things. It will be renovated in
2001.
When we stay at rural Buddhist villages which have no
temples or monks, or have temples under construction, the following
patterns are clearly observed; Laymen produce temples and monks-to-
be. Then Monks are “born” in the master-disciple relationships.
Laymen support monks. Villagers who have no temple in their village
use available temples in other villages, so lay Buddhist activity is
developed in the chains of villages centered on a temple. Accordingly,
temples should have first a congregation hall where laymen meet
together, then an ordination hall would be the last.
Annual collective rituals are the occasion for making offerings
to contribute to the completion of temple-building, mobilizing other
lay people from outside the locale. Actually these patterns are widely
found among the Theravadins. Thus, interaction and reciprocation
between the laity and the monks, which characterizes the Theravada
way, are possible only when these relations of laity in a particular
region can work [cf. Lester 1973: 131]. In addition, this pattern is
also confirmed when people restore Buddhism after persecution.
The following are several such cases from Sipsong Panna, China
and Cambodia, where the lay Buddhists, especially ex-monks, have
played a crucial role in regaining and maintaining their practices.

2. The Buddhist Laity

It is those laymen “extraordinaire” [Swearer 1976] who deal with
temple affairs and rituals. Those lay leaders are called by various
local designations; Achar is popular among the Khmer in Cambodia.
Pho Tzan is common among the Tai Lue in Sipsong Panna, Ho Lu
among the Tai Nuea in Du Hong, in southwestern China. Pho Wat and
Achan Wat are popular in northern Thailand. Among the Lao in
northeast Thailand, they have a leader of recitation (phunam suwat).

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In Laos, a quite general term, Phu Song Khunnauthi, is used.
Whatever the naming of their role, they share similar characteristics.
They are the laity who have the skill and knowledge to officiate
rituals, mainly because most of them are ex-monks. Where no
long-term monks are in residence, they organize and perform rituals
usually carried out by monks. Therefore their practices constitute
regional practices and mediate between the rest of the laity and
monks, the practical and the institutional. It is not exaggerated to say
that they are the people who define what is Buddhist practice in which
other laymen are involved.

Cases from Sipsong Panna [Kan Lan Pa and Man Thin,

Jan. 1990](3)
Buddhist practice among the Tai Lu in Sipsong Panna had been
banned since the 1950s in the wake of the “Great Leap Forward”
and the following “Cultural Revolution.” The sanctuaries in the
temple had been destroyed. Buddhism was not permitted to revive
until the government policy of emancipation of nationalities begun
in 1978. Since the 1980s, due to the daily efforts of the local laity
below, Buddhist practices have been gradually restored and renovated.
In the past ten years donations by neighboring countries, especially
Thailand, accelerated the reconstruction of temples in Sipsong Panna.

a. Pho Tzan: formal representative of laymen [Man

Ching Hon, Kanlanpa]
Mr. PT (born 1917) had been pho tzan for twenty years (in 1990).
Three years passed after he resigned due to sickness. At the age
of 13, he had become a novice (phra noi), and was ordained as a monk
in 1937. He disrobed in 1958. According to him, the works of pho
tzan are, for instance, officiating at rituals, arrangement of dhan
(Dana) that is given by other villagers, and the like. Since 1987, he

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has been busy taking this role in annual collective rituals throughout
the year except for July and August.
Wherever the villages have their own temples, there should be
pho tzan. Pho tzan should be a village elder who has been a long-term
monk, while khanan, whose experience as monks are shorter than that
of the pho tzan, can be assistants of pho tzan as “chief kanan” (kanan
long). Only lay elders can have these designations. The role differen-
tiation of the layman extraordinaire depends more or less on the
duration of the years in monkhood, which ultimately requires Sangha
or monastic organization. Other villagers note that pho tzan, who can
read and write sutras at the occasion of merit- making rites at the
Pagoda (dan that), should take responsibility not only for inviting
monks as a lay representative, but must also have the ability to solve
problems concerning religious affairs. What is more, pho tzan are
expected to instruct young monks on what should be done during
ritual occasions. In this sense, pho tzan is a lay specialist on Buddhist
practice. However, it is interesting to note that observing precepts is
not necessarily required to be admitted as pho tzan. It is his previous
experience as monk rather than his daily practice as layman today
which counts. Therefore pho tzan represent their formal/institutional
status much more than informal pious lay Buddhists.
This formal feature of pho tzan is found in another case at
Man Thin in Ching Hon district in Yunnan, which had 107 households
in 1990. The village temple had no monks (tu) but two senior novices
(pha long) and five junior novices (pha noi) at that time.
Mr. KN (born in 1930) has taken the role of pho tzan there
since 1982. In his past, he became pha noi at the age of 11 and was
ordained as a monk at Wat Man Lin, Mon Ham when he was 21 years
old. He disrobed due to the Cultural Revolution in 1956. Later he
was “elected” as pho tzan in 1982. He considers his role to be the
collecting and recording of donations at annual merit-making rites

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like dan tham and dan that in particular, and to report to the officers
at Front Union ( ) and the Buddhist Association
( ).
When the villagers decided to remake their temple, they visited
him to ask his help. Actually Mr. KN knows how to build pagodas,
which direction is the most suitable for setting up a Buddha Image and
other particulars. Other pho tzan were also invited from many other
villages in the same district. Here, the role of pho tzan is held by a
corresponding member from a Buddhist institution rather than an
informal lay ascetic. He does not need to keep precepts in his daily life
but needs to contribute to rebuilding and maintaining pagodas, and in
disseminating knowledge concerned with Buddhist rituals. This is one
reason why he was chosen by other village elders who want the person
to be able to perform such a role.

b. Haksa Sin: informal devout laymen [Man Thin]

There is another type of devout layman in Man Thin. The description
below is the case of Mr. AY (born in 1924), who is called haksa
sin (observer of precepts) because of his knowledge of Buddhist
practice. He is also called nahu, in Chinese, meaning same as haksa
sin. Despite haksa sin having no official obligation to the Buddhist
Association, he represents another figure of pious laity in the local
setting. He sometimes also gives lectures on Buddha’s Teachings to
other lay elders in other villages. The temple of Man Thin has no
pagoda but he joined the dan that ritual at two pagodas in other
villages in 1990.
He became novice (pha noi) at the age of ten (1934). He
stayed as novice at Wat Man Thin for 9 years. The last 4 years of that
time, during his 16th to 19th years, he was called pha long. When he
was there, there were 3 monks (tu) and 35 novices (pha) in that
monastery. He was the one of 15 candidates, all of whom went

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through the ordination ritual at the same time. In 1944, at the age of
22, he disrobed. Then he got married and had two children. Having
stayed with each other for 11 years, his wife died. His elder daughter
also died the same year. At the age of 33, he married his present wife.
He had four children but only one survives. He recounted the past as
follows:

“While few villagers visited the temple due to government

policies, yet I kept my interest in Buddhism (satsana) as
pious laymen were becoming very scarce then. Even after all
of us had to quit our outward lives as Buddhists, (His)
precepts always in my mind. It was in 1982 that many
villagers actively sought to be Buddhists again.”

“In the following year, we decided to restore our temple

and for chanting we invited Tu and Pha Noi from the temple
of Nong Khong village in Man Hai. Thereafter, I’ve taken
a role inviting monks or announcing donation rituals in
the village. I became a sort of messenger, concerned with
collective rituals aiming to restore the temple, though
I cannot officiate at the rituals because I am not a specialist
for that. Since that year, I’ve been called haksa sin. To keep
precepts means to make merit (pen kan bun). I’ll be happy
in my afterlife.”

“In my village, I am one of three village elders who practice

meditation (phawana; Bhavana). Three of us keep eight
precepts on Buddhist Sabbath days. When we cannot invite
monks who give us precepts, we do it by ourselves at the
ordination hall. We also love to listen to sermons (fang tham)
with thirty to forty other villagers. Even after they’ve gone,
three of us remain there.”

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 He is very active on Buddhist Sabbath days. On the eve of
Buddhist Sabbath (chet kham), haksa sin, after three hours (15:00-
18:00) listening to the preaching of monks, he continues to stay
vihan (vihara) to conduct ritual acts of yat nam.
One haksa sin explains what is meant by yat nam. First, it is
to ask forgiveness so that the conditions of one’s afterlife will be
better, in that yoma does not record bad deeds. Second, it is to
transfer merit to one’s deceased parents. Such merit can rescue
them. Third, it is to send merit to deva (thewara) as well (sap bun).
After yat nam is completed around 20:00, haksa sin practices medita-
tion and concentration (samathi) until 21:00.
The next day (paet kham), he gets up 5:00 and practices his
contemplation without having breakfast. On that day he takes only
a midday meal, which is sent by his children from home. After
having the meal, he practices meditation again. Then he completes
another period of meditation around 22:00. On the following ninth
night (khao kham), he meditates at 6:00 for around an hour. Then he
proceeds to clean the temple compound and goes home around 8:00.
He still continues to practice meditation twice daily, in the afternoon
and the evening in his home. On the Buddhist Sabbath day during
Lent he always stays at wihan for two nights.
Since 1984 Mr. AY has not missed his practice of meditation
on Buddhist Sabbath day. Whenever he meditates he prepares five
pairs of flowers and candles and a white cloth (five meters long), all
of which are put in a bowl. In his view, the number five means
Buddhist Trinity (Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha), meditation monk
(phra kammathan) and great teacher monk (phra khuba achan). In
addition to this ritual for veneration, he also takes a rosary (mannap),
which he got from Burma, and a copy of Buddhist text, recently
brought from Wat Bansa in Chieng Hong while he was seeking sacred
texts. Mr. AY is proud of his private Buddhist altar with a small
Buddha image in the bedroom in his house, saying that nobody else

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in his village has one, since he first installed it in 1982. The Buddha
image was given by a Tai Lu monk who had been in Chieng Tung,
Burma.

3. Behind the Restoration of Cambodian Buddhism:

What was Restored and Lost under Institutional
Arrangements (1993-1994 survey of Cambodian
Buddhism)
Theravadins in Cambodia experienced the serious damaging
of their temples, and monks were not only disrobed but even killed
during Pol Pot’s genocidal regime of 1976-1978 [Yang 1987; Keyes
1994] (4). However, the restoration of Buddhism was undertaken
immediately after the regime was ousted by Vietnamese army.
The surviving Khmer lay leaders including ex-monks cooperated to
renovate temples, while the activities were under the direction of the
Vietnamese Government, deploying its army in Cambodia. Actually,
the repairing of temples started with those around suburban areas
of Phnom Penh in 1979.
The repairing of temples preceded all other activities in restor-
ing Buddhism around Phnom Penh [Hayashi 1998]. Sala chothian,
which are not temples but gathering places for Buddhists on Buddhist
Sabbath day, were also rebuilt elsewhere in the city area (5). Likewise,
temples were urgently required as the “stages” to hold annual collec-
tive rites, e.g., pachum bon, the biggest and longest (15 days) merit
transference ritual for the dead among the Khmer.
In those activities, the leadership and hardships were taken by
ex-monks called achar, who have experience conducting Buddhist
rituals and temple affairs. As an elder, the achar generally plays a role
as an informal leader as well as a pious layman. His main works are
related to the arrangement of Buddhist rituals, maintenance of the
monastery, the preparing of food for monks residing at temple, and

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other tasks to help the village abbot. In Cambodia, a distinguished
achar who can give suggestions to other pious elders is called “achar
thom”. His assistant is called by the recently coined “achar rong”.
These ranking designations have been given to register lay leaders, at
the request of the Ministry of Cults and Religious Affairs (Kraswong
Thoamaka Nung Sasana), despite the fact that all ex-monks as pious
laymen were formerly called “achar” in general.
The ordination ritual was not officially completed until the
precept-giving rite was restored by Theravada monks of Khmae
Kraom (lowland Khmer; it refers to people of Khmer origin who
are Theravadins dwelt in the southern part of Vietnam since the
seventeenth century) who came from Ho Chi Minh. The precept-
giving rite was held on 9 September, 1979 (Yang. However, another
“official” restoration of the ordination rite preceded this formal one
on 7 April, 1979. Under the support of Phnom Penh’s then—Gover-
nor, it was officiated by a native ex-monk, Mr. NM, who had been
a long-term monk as well as preceptor until the Pol Pot regime. All
laity who had gathered to celebrate this occasion at that time agreed
that Mr. NM was the most eligible and he could serve to ask and
receive precepts from a Buddha statue regarded as a preceptor. When
this rite was completed, the re-ordained Monk NM, in turn, officiated
many instances of the ordination ritual, to have other ex-monks
re-ordained. However, all of the rites were later declared invalid,
similar to self-ordination.

a. re-ordination of Mr. NM: Vat Sansom Sakol, 7 Apr.

1979
Mr. NM was born at Kompong Cham in 1922. His parents were
rice growers. He was the fourth child in his family, having an
elder brother and two elder sisters. When he was sixteen, he became
a novice at Vat Tuol Chum at Cheung Prey district and stayed there

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for one Lent, then moved to Vat Siso Watharam Phnom Dal to study
Buddhist teachings and Pali (thoamma winai, balai) at Buddhist
primary school for three years, under the former regime. In order to
continue to study, he moved further to Phnom Penh and stayed at
Vat Moha Montrei.
On reaching 21 years of age (1943), he was ordained as
a monk (pikko) under his preceptor (upachea; who can give precepts
after having more than 10 [yearly] observations of Lent [Vassa]),
Monk Meung Ses of that monastery. In 1957 he was appointed
abbot as well as preceptor at Vat Angkor Nearam, Tbong Khmom
district in his homeland, Kompong Cham, and stayed there for 17
years. However, due to the following civil wars and guerrilla
struggles, he decided to leave for Vat Ounalom, Phnom Penh, as an
ordinary monk. He then saw what happened there in 1975 and the
following year as Buddhist monks were compelled under the Pol Pot
regime to defrock. He rejected this once, but the second time he
decided to disrobe, even though this was against his desire to be
a lifelong monk, which he had cherished since his earlier ordination.
He was sent to Kompong Suphoe, Baset district to engage in collec-
tive labor. Many others died there. But he was able to survive and
he returned to Phnom Penh in 1979.
It was in August 1994 that I was able to meet him as a layman,
an unpaid Pali teacher to the young monks at several temples. The
following is Mr. NM’s narrative:

“After the Pol Pot regime was ousted, I came back to Phnom
Penh because I wanted to be a monk again as before. ( .... )
I had a chance to meet Mr. V, who was secretary of the
Phnom Penh headquarters then. I didn’t know him before, but
my friends introduced to me. He made a promise to me
that he would assist in holding an ordination ceremony at
a temple in Phnom Penh. ( ..... )

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 It was April 7, 1979 that Mr. V organized a procession
to Vat Sansom Kosal located in the suburbs of Phnom Penh.
People—including villagers—gathered and celebrated that
day. The reason why this monastery was chosen was that
other big temples had been occupied by Vietnamese Army,
who used the buildings as headquarter or propaganda schools
inasmuch as people had difficulty coming into the city
freely from January to June that year. Vat Sansom Kosal was
convenient for its location, but that doesn’t mean the temple
was kept in good condition. Preahwihea (ordination hall)
had no roof and no Buddha statues. Only one undamaged
building served as a small residence for monks. But it was
just a miracle that a villager found and brought an old
sitting Buddha image from outside Phnom Penh.
We had no living preceptor at that time because all
long-term Khmer monks had been defrocked. Real peace
has not come yet. We did not invite monks from neighboring
countries. We all knew we should invite monks from areas
Khmae Kraom, but it was impossible, most probably because
the Vietnam government did not give any permission at the
time. Since I’d been a formal preceptor until the Pol Pot
regime, we agreed that we would perform the ordination
ceremony in front of our one Buddha statue.
We enshrined the image facing east in the ordination
hall. In front of the image a yellow robe, a begging bowl, an
umbrella and other (symbolic ritual objects) called borikha or
parika were placed together with five volumes of Tripitaka
which had been secretly kept safe by laymen during the Pol
Pot regime. The number of people had reached a hundred,
including government officials and ordinary villagers. Mr.
OS, who had been the chairman (prothean) of sub-district
in Phnom Penh, declared the beginning of the ceremony.

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 The candidates numbered five including me. All of them,
who were older than me, had experience as monks before
Pol Pot.
All five candidates sat facing the Buddha image
about five meters distant. I saw the faces of the president,
deputy president and Mr. OS to the right of me. Many VIPs
were there. The low of the north was occupied by ubasok
(pious laymen who take care of monasteries). The Mayor
of Phnom Penh acknowledged this ceremony but did not
attend.
First, all the candidates paid deep respect to the
Buddha (namassaka) and then started to chant a verse in
obedience of the Triple Gems [nea mo....]. Next were chanted
‘proka-pdacanha, som kama tho’, the verses asking to be
a monk by the grace of and with the permission of Buddha,
were uttered by the candidates.
After that, the lay congregation helped us to put on
our yellow robes. As usual the candidates would ask for
and receive ten precepts. Later we requested and received
all 227 precepts, pattimok. So we chanted it to proceed
those ritual sequences. From that night, we began staying at
that temple. I was appointed as an abbot of the temple as
well as a preceptor. Though I was the youngest, they said
I had been the longest-term monk and a rigorous precepts-
keeper. All re-ordained monks stayed there through Lent.
After Buddhist Lent was over that year, four other monks
went out to four different places, Kandal, Svay Rieng,
Kompong Speu and Takeo, to announce this event.
I stayed on there to take responsibility in giving precepts
as a preceptor.”

Monk MN, a re-ordained veteran monk, organized many

instances of the ordination ceremony as preceptor. Under his

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preceptorship, the number of ordained monks reached almost ten
thousand, as many as he remembered from before. Later, Mr. VS,
who had maintained that the Khmer don’t have to have any assis-
tance from the Vietnamese in restoring Buddhism under the new
policy, was expelled from the party. One Vietnamese attaché who
examined religious policy in Cambodia then demonstrated that
Buddhist monks, who can pass through the countryside freely, would
be useful when they commit to politics. The National Front also
began to institute policies to clean-up remnants of the Pol Pot
debacle, with some monks’ assistance. Monk MN did not agree
with those views. Thus the circumstances surrounding MN, who
refused to help in killing or concerning himself with this-worldly
things (anacha), were drastically changed.
Under the “Heng Samrin regime”, September 9, 1979, 21
monks and one Vietnamese elder novice, then 70 years of age, were
officially invited from Khmae Kraom, to Vat Ounalom in order to
conduct a formal ordination ceremony. Monk MN was also asked to
be ordained under this chapter, but he refused. Seven Khmer men
were ordained as monks according to vinaya; 1. Thep Vong, 2. Prak
Dith, 3. Koeuk Vay, 4. Ith Sum, 5. Non Nget, 6. Ken Vong, 7. Din
Sarun. Among them, Monk Thep Vong had taken responsibility to
make “invalid” monks—that is, those to whom Monk MN had given
ordination rituals—come to be ordained as “valid” monks at Vat
Ounalom.
At the end of 1979, after having spent his Lent at Vat Sansom
Sakol, Monk MN was compelled to move to Vat Ounalom under the
misnomer of “invitation”. The other monks suggested to him many
times to have a new ordination ritual, which Monk MN refused for
the next three years. At last he decided to disrobe himself in July,
1982. He quit everything after returning to secular life, until 1989
when Buddhist Primary School was restored and he began teaching
Pali, albeit without salary.

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 As a Buddhist layman, Mr. MN is now called achar. He still
insists that the way the ritual was taken was incorrect by the sangha
regulation, but “right” in its spirit, while the following formal ordina-
tion rite supported by anti-Pol Pot policy was institutionally right
but “wrong” in its behavior and intention. I was very impressed
with what he said when we were finishing the interview; “Who was
the valid preceptor when Buddha was ordained?”

4. Merit-Making in Multiple Relations

We can observe several kinds of rituals restored in Phnom Penh.
Annual rites concerning Buddhist Lent and Pachum Bon began once
again to be observed in 1980. Bon pka, like pha pa festival in
Thailand and Laos, is frequently held after the season of Katan
(Kathina) rites, which is said to be the biggest donation festival, but
still very few were held during the research period except for those
given by the Royal Family. Weekly basis Tangai Sel (Buddhist
Sabbath days) is also observed as keeping-precepts day.
Among the annual rites, Pachum Bon is considered to be the
most important one. It was held from the afternoon of 20 September
to the morning of 5 October in 1994. All of the temples in Phnom
Penh district were involved. This ritual precedes others to be held
later, when every village temple has been restored.
According to a village elder, the purpose of this ritual is to
make merit (t’voe bon) and to transfer this merit to the dead after
living people receive their own merit in several temples. During the
period of the ritual, any one person can and often does go to make
merit in different temples. It is said that the more temples they visit,
the greater the merit they receive. Theoretically, they can visit every
temple, even where they have no relatives or friends. According to
my data, interviewing 30 cases, the minimum was one temple, and
three followed this. On the last day (tangai bonghai or tagai bancho)

214
of the rite, called “pachum tom”, people flocked to and made offerings
at temples.
The members of temple committees and achar were extremely
busy adjusting time schedules to accept the lay people donating
offerings. Since they (committee members and achar) cannot move
from one temple to another, their family members (the wife, mainly,
and sometimes children) and friends go to make merit instead. More-
over, on Buddhist Sabbath day during Pachum Bon, achar also
suggested that laity, mainly elderly women who gather at temples
in the evening, make glutinous rice balls, not an ordinary food for
the Khmer. The achar stay the night at temple and observe five or
eight precepts. The following morning, those rice balls are thrown
away in the temple compound after walking around preavihea three
times, clockwise. This ritual act is called dak ban. It is held for the
purpose of transferring merit to those of the spirits of the dead kin
including preta.
As Pachum Bon shows, the Khmer Buddhists also share the
notion and practice of transferring merit as do other Theravadins.
While donations to monks and building temples are typical merit-
making acts in terms of causality of action, the transference of merit
to the spirit of someone who has passed away is widely practiced.
This practical “inversion” is based on the metonym that when the
bereaved transfers the merit they have acquired through presenting
food, money and goods to the monks, the spirit of the deceased, as
a result of obtaining this merit, receives all the donated goods
(Parinamana, “being diverted to somebody’s use”) [Gombrich 1971a:
265-284; 1979b: 213].
What is more, there is another interpretation that is an
extension of transferring merit. Merit acquired can be shared with
others. ‘Others’ here means not only the deceased or spirits but
also with living contemporaries in ritual environments. Collective
merit-making rituals are therefore considered to be one of the best

215
occasions for developing relations to communicate with others in
different worlds.
The amount of merit to be shared corresponds to the degree
of social intimacy. It can be interpreted in terms of this-worldly acts
in the following way; those who feel that they have received a share
of the merit of the privileged ones are appeased and integrated into
society. By accepting gifts from the ‘haves’, the ‘have nots’ may
support them politically and give them a mandate to govern.
In addition to such reciprocal relationships among the
contemporaries, this ritual act extends further to other dimensions
of merit. It is also held for the purpose of fulfilling one’s own
“salvation”, which transcends such reciprocal schemes wherein merit
is shared with anonymous spirits (6). For instance, the funeral rite
shows many patterns at different levels of merit-making. Merit-
making consists of actions involving making offerings to and the
intervention of monks. At the same time, it is accomplished through
one’s relationships with others. This is a basic observation that holds
true for annual Buddhist rituals like pachum bon among the Theravadins
as well. The reciprocal relationships related to the multiple dimensions
of merit are expressed in a condensed form at the funeral. All those
remaining in this world, the bereaved and other ordinary villagers,
are mobilized in merit-making and enact the meaning of “life” within
reciprocal relationships before the deceased, who has lost the oppor-
tunity to acquire merit.
Among the Theravada Buddhists, the event of the individual
“death” is socially concluded before the public. At the same time,
the deceased reciprocates the scenario of a life-cycle connected with
the afterlife the instant he is reduced to a mere silhouette. The
relationship of “benefactor and beneficiary”, which the bereaved
continue to maintain with the deceased in their memories, is one
of mutual help that is repeatedly, if sorrowfully, revised. It is
a relationship that includes opportunities for meeting and parting, for
reminiscence and forgetfulness.

216
 Another example from a northeastern Thai village. Elderly
women transfer merit and receive precepts like other middle-aged
housewives. The content tends to be oriented more towards personal
practice than towards social relationships. For one thing, the greater
their longing to have a better destiny in the afterlife, the greater the
austerity with which the physically weaker elder women practice
them. Similarly, the objective of merit transfer has shifted from the
spirits of departed kin to the anonymous, generic spirits whose former
existence and names are not even known. In the sense that no reward
is expected from the recipient, the merit-making activities of elderly
women are a more personal and altruistic practice that transcends
reciprocal relationships.
Thus the objective and range of merit transfer goes beyond
the male principle of merit that emphasizes the creation and expres-
sion of hierarchical social relationships based on reciprocity. As
compared to the male’s expressive practice in a public forum, the
proof of maturity for women is revealed through a more internal
practice in which the individual is the nucleus. Rather than the
expression of a female principle of merit, this is a refined and purified
religious practice in that it transcends individual social relations.
While on the one hand it is related to a Buddhist system and practice
represented and constructed by men, the “salvation of religious
precepts” for women can be said to have its foundations for practice
in a field that cannot be completely subsumed.

5. Some Considerations in Comparative Perspective

a. becoming Buddhists and precepts

“Buddhism, as a missionary religion, seems to have had

a rather loose conversion ideology. It was quite willing to
assimilate indigenous beliefs and practices—and this, in fact,
was one of the ways in which it managed to impose itself in

217
 non-Buddhist areas. This flexibility not only made Buddhism
acceptable in a given area, but it also lent continued vitality
to the Buddhist faith. Lacking a responsive divinity of their
own, Buddhists were able to turn to indigenous deities and
draw on the religiosity associated with them” [Strong 1992:
32].

This essentialist view of Buddhism may be useful for scholars

of Buddhism but not for us. From our point of view, Buddhism would
not affect anything with other religious creeds or rituals if it had no
“bearers”. The “flexibility of Buddhism” explains nothing about what
actually happens and how to have reached such practices among
the Theravadins. We should turn our point of view around from top
to bottom.
Take an example of conversion into Buddhism from one
Lawen village, Ban HST, Pak Song, Champasak in Laos (Jan. 1992).
The Lawen, Mon-Khmer stock, had formerly worshiped their
ancestral village spirit and twice a year practiced the sacrificial
ritual killing of water buffalo to sooth the spirit. After having experi-
enced successive disasters, they at last left the village to migrate to
the present place where Buddhist Lao reside.
The young Lawen, who initially visited the Lao village to
barter their products for Lao clothes did, upon observing young Lao
girls, ask to become monks in that Lao village temple. Having spent
a couple of years in monkhood, they disrobed and married Lao girls
of the village. Those young men would intermediate between villages,
and gradually the other Lawen people began to accept Buddhist
culture, eventually throwing their traditional ritual away. The Lawen
elders explained that to be Buddhists seemed to be better because
every Buddhist ritual is simple and economized and the people
didn’t have to seek for ‘good omen’ buffalos which capricious
spirits sometimes required. Furthermore, it helped them to have
good relations with the Lao as “brothers”.

218
 All kinds of religious practices are legitimated by living
individuals, who have concrete social interests and social position.
Thus no ‘ideal Buddhism’ takes place in isolation from the regional
context in history. The case above shows how Buddhism is taken
and interpreted by the former ‘animists’ against the regional backdrop
of inter-dependency between different language groups.
Actually, whatever the case, relations among Buddhists and
yet-to-be Buddhists have been made along lines that “we can choose
friends but not neighbors” in inter-ethnic relations of mainland south-
east Asia, while Buddhists in general enjoy their cultural and political
dominance of the region [cf. Lefevre-Pontalis 2000 (1902): 180;
188; 193].
In any case, Buddhist identity appears in relations with
“others”, meaning other ethnic groups who use different languages
and other people living within the same culture, as in women’s
relations toward men, men’s toward women, and the bereaved kin’s
relation with the dead. Thus merit making is a practice which unites
and transcends such relations as well. Buddhist ways of dealing
relationships is not bilateral as in spirit cults which need placating to
confirm boundaries of the land, but multilateral as in merit making
with precepts which should control self and others, and go beyond
the boundary between temporal people and eternal timelessness.
Therevada Buddhism has accordingly not been a religion confined
to virtuous world-renouncers. To the contrary, it is a practice invoking
interchangeable relations between renouncers and laity. It is just
this dynamic relation in which kings and peasants, the haves and
the have nots, the living and the dead can share with each other.
From my observations in these areas, holding collective
rituals is more important than other rituals. Keeping precepts is
also important as far as ritual acts are concerned. Both configure
the nucleus of Buddhist practice to realize making and sharing merit
in relations with others. Comparatively speaking, the Buddha image,
Pali texts and even monks are not fundamental to lay practices.

219
Besides, when they have no preceptors or monks, people ask for
and receive precepts, employing symbolic alternatives such as
Buddha images (as preceptor in Cambodia) or pieces of yellow robe
(as the monk in Du Hong) or, ultimately, by themselves, believing that
they can hold precepts in their body (Lao). Such kinds of practices
and their related interpretations, however, are found not only in
countries which had socialist regimes, but also in Thailand, which has
well-organized Buddhist institutions (7). In theory these practices,
therefore, function to have socio-historical potency, by virtue of the
relationship between the reality-defining and reality-producing pro-
cesses, and are cultural abstractions from the vicissitudes of people’s
experiences of everyday life in the world [cf. Berger and Luckmann
1966: 135].
Precepts are themselves as the heart of Buddhism for both
clergy and laity. Halliday, who was a keen observer of Mon culture
early last century, seems to have recognized that Mon people consider
that precepts are the heart of religion.

“The si msun, pancasilam, or five precepts, is also well

understood and frequently used. These are also repeated in
Pali, but a translation into the vernacular is usually given.
All Buddhists are obliged to observe them. They inculcate
abstinence from the taking of life, from stealing, from lying
and from the use of spirituous liquor. They are understood
to give direction to the whole life. It says much for the
teaching that there is such a high estimate placed on the
carrying into practice of these precepts. (....) A Talaing
[Mon] when another religion is introduced to his notice will
often ask what its precepts are as affecting the conduct.
It indicates the value he attaches to the precepts of his own
religion” [Halliday 1999(1917): 83].

220
 Keeping precepts connects laymen with monks. Patimokkha,
the fundamental precept, is embodied in monks. To be pious laymen
they have to observe five or eight precepts. Both are widely noted
among the Theravadins. At the same time, for the laity in general,
it is noticed that it’s not easy to observe them in their daily lives.
Among the Theravadins in an area, it is also socially admitted
that precepts can always be taken or left at will. One is not guilty as
a Buddhist. Such habits in relation to precepts give a crucial structure
to institutionalizing the ways of Theravadins. In sangha regulation,
Patimokkha should be given from long-term Bhikkhus at suitable
places, sanctuary (bot [T], sim [L], preahvihea [C]). Here we should
confirm that monks who observe 227 precepts are always born in the
master-disciple relations. Following this institutionalized procedure
in sangha, lay Buddhists can perform their ritual activity on the basis
of the places where monks are to reside or to visit, namely, temples
or pagodas. Even some villagers who have no temple in their villages
use temples in other villages as available temples. That is, lay
Buddhist activity is developed in the chains of temples in communi-
ties. These practices involving ritual relations make Buddhism
transcend regional boundaries.
Precepts, as codes of conduct for clergy, underlie institutional
regulations among the Theravadins on the one hand, yet can be free
from them on the other. Even the former definition is prohibited or
destroyed, as precepts themselves can escape from such conditions
because they can be held in memory and shown in action in the people
as far as they are kept. This dimension also suggests that precepts,
recognized as part of the ‘body’ of Buddha, permit various kinds of
interpretation by laity as well [Hayashi 1997].
Precepts produce and institutionalize Buddhist clergy and can
also exist outside of them. What makes this possible? It is because
precepts are not recognized as modern knowledge (printed and distrib-
uted), but captured as things originated in the relations between the
giver and the taker. Once it is taken, a precept goes always with their

221
physical body. Actually, precepts can change the physical condition
of bodies and “give direction to the whole life” as Hallet observed.

b. “texts” as Mukhapatha (teachings from mouth)

What then, is the position of Pali texts among Theravadins in
terms of this perspective? We should recall the fact that Pali canon
was not mentioned as indispensable in restoring their Buddhism. As
a Khmer achar explained, it is because they are having re-ordained
monks who hold ample knowledge and skills to chant appropriate Pali
stanzas in each ritual just as in the past (8).
When I asked some Cambodian monks which part of Tripitaka
they chant as stanzas in the rituals, nobody could give an exact answer
despite being able to recite it in a skillful way. Even long-term elder
monks did not show any interest to the reference. Instead, they
taught me that it is more important to know which stanza should be
recited in any specific ritual in which they join. Those words of
Buddha’s teaching should be learned by “word of mouth” (Mukhapatha)
without referring to additional texts.
Once we focus on this aspect of “living” Tripitaka, to my
knowledge, we see little is known about the relationship between
scripts and text among the Theravadins in history. For instance,
when Sinhalese monks invited a mission from Thailand to restore
sanctuary in order to hold ordination rites in 1750 and 1753, it is
recorded that in the second Thai monks’ mission, 97 manuscripts
containing the scriptures and the commentaries were brought from
Ayutthaya at the time. Since the works were written in Khmer
(khom) script, the Thai monks stayed to teach Sinhalese monks
to read them, and helped each other to translate them into Sinhalese
[Gunaratne 1993: 216]. This example suggests following things:
“Chanting” is the usual way to transmit Pali scripture; Pali canon
was widely spread by oral tradition rather than by writing or
tutorial knowledge, which is the most dominant system in modern

222
institutions. The Theravada community therefore was differentiated
and identified on the basis of ways of pronunciation of Pali and
by ritual behavior. Here we can see that Theravadins share the
oral-based practices (equivalent to “visionary”) found in other
cultures of orality [cf. Goody 1987: 120-121].
Tripitaka in practical Buddhism is not a reference, but an
“implement” to induce both monks and laity to cultivate their prac-
tices. In this context, the roles of monks who constitute the ritual
environment are performers rather than scholars. In other words,
Buddhist texts in general have been quite new “media” in the history
of Buddhism. Teachings of Buddha have long been orally transmitted
in the relations between masters and disciples. They exist in words
“uttered” as well as in the sound to be heard. The “station” (or
“container” to use O’Connor’s term) has been embedded in the
Buddhist’s body and his or her relations (9).
Under the historical condition that ruling centers (the court
and the government) adopted Buddhism for their political legitimacy
and administrated to standardize Buddhist institutions, no laymen
elsewhere lost having a hand in shaping Buddhism, while they also
employed such institutional figures as models or styles to spectacu-
larize rites. Oral transmission of Teaching has not been undermined
as far as social forces marginalize the Theravadins. It continues to
realize its potential.
Preaching, as an art of ritual performance, is still one the
most effective ways to attract the laity. Ritual performances having
real voice go well with “printed culture” based on various media
today. Theravadins in the study area, those who keep practicing oral
transmission of ideas in the chains of relations, therefore, can easily
reconstruct their own tradition and can also invent new sects at
both local and cross-regional levels. As a result of the continuity
and intersection of various local practices, Buddhism has figured as
a “World Religion” for laity, the major population of Buddhism.

223
 During the past decades it became commonsense among
modern social scientists that every kind of “World Religion” spread
over the world must have been localized in some historical and
cultural setting in a particular region; it would not be there today
without such process. However, as seen above, Pali Buddhism is
of interest in the sense that it can be established through the chains
of multiple relations between peoples rather than the written texts.
In this area, the Buddhist canon itself is a result of such relations
in history. And it exists in verbal form rather than written, which
has developed along with various figures of speech. The future study
of Theravadins, who developed their regional practice on the basis
of oral transmissions of ideas and invention of ritual performance,
would clarify both the historical interaction between different
language groups among Theravadins and its dynamic consolidation
in an area. Moreover, it will also elucidate the ways of regional
configurations between the texts and practices in a new paradigm to
be developed.

224
Notes

(1) Regional differences of Pali texts in each vernacular language

and the pattern (or form) of the ordination ceremony have been
fully examined by F. Bizot [1988, etc]. In general, most of the
studies of Theravada Buddhism across national boundaries so
far have shown a tendency to compare textual analysis of Pali
canons and commentaries including myths and arts [cf. Strong
1992].

(2) The village is becoming well known for production of silk

textiles. Tai Daeng and the Lao in this village learn from and
weave for each other. Recently the Lao here began to weave
Tai Daeng textiles. It is interesting to note that kan tsoeng
(Tai Daeng word), a skullcap for the spirit mediums of the Tai
Daeng, have also been woven by the Lao because “they can be
sold at a good price.” Here, when the Lao men marry with Tai
Daeng women, the Lao men also are expected to take part
in spirit rituals of Tai Daeng.

(3) The following are based on a description which originally

appeared in [Hayashi 1990].

(4) According to my data obtained at the Ministry of Cults and

Religious Affairs, there were 3, 508 temples (Mohanikai
3,369 ; Thoamayut 139) and the 67,446 monks and novices
(Mohanikai 65,062; Thoamayutnikai 2,384) in 1969, which was
the best year for Cambodian Buddhism in the past.We should
remind that its destruction was begun earlier than the Pol Pot
regime. That is, 997 monasteries had been destroyed during
the “inner war” from 1970 to 1973 [Yang Sam 1987: 58].

(5) Each Buddhist temple, vat, surveyed around Phnom Penh in

1993 and 1994 have sema and pon ley (temporal sema) attached

225
 to preahvihea (equivalent to bot in Thailand and sim in Laos).
Another type of Buddhist building, sala chothian, built and used
by lay Buddhists like a vat, is the meeting place for Buddhist
Sabbath days to invite monks and novices. It is not regarded as
vat because it cannot hold ordination rites. Theoretically this
meeting place can be developed into vat but not for all cases.
See [Hayashi 1998].

(6) The following data, which is based on my intensive study of

a Thai-Lao village in northeast Thailand [Hayashi (forthcom-
ing)], is shown for future analysis of Buddhist practice.

(7) In northeast Thailand there were many temples left by the

former residents who had moved to other place due to epidemic
or land pioneering. Such abandoned temples (including ancient
Khmer monasteries) are feared or worshipped as sacred places.
People who opened new villages built new temples on their
own or uses the nearest one in other villages, according to
circumstances.
(8) The restoration of Tripitaka, a set of 110 volumes based on
and duplicated from the former Khmer version, was completed
by a Japanese volunteer organization headed by the Sotosyu
Volunteer Association. All 1,200 sets in total were officially
donated to the new Kingdom of Cambodia June 20, 1995.
While some of them were distributed to temples in the
country, I learned later that the laity showed little interest
in receiving them.

(9) In turn, the words and sentences from written texts are con-
versely objectified as sacred implements employed by ritual
specialists. My argument about wicha (Pali: Vijja, “supreme
knowledge” like magical knowledge and skill in practical use)
and thamma (Dhamma, a Buddhicized protective power)
among the Thai-Lao in northeast Thailand is related to this

226
point [Hayashi 2000]. I suppose that it would be the mid-19th
century onwards that the role of scripts or the canon as the
media for transmission of ideas began to grow. That period
meant that each state tried to transliterate Pali into each
“national language” (script) in the wake of the centralization
of provincial administrations including sangha organizations.
In accordance with the standardization of Buddhism as a state
religion, both the literal transmission of ideas and a culture
of literacy came to be dominant, but have not totally replaced
the oral tradition, which is deeply rooted in each locality.

227
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