Buddhism Behind Official Organizations: Notes on Theravada Buddhist Practice in Comparive PerspectiveTheravada Practice in Contemporary Perspective - Hayashi Yukio

8/9/2019 Buddhism Behind Official Organizations: Notes on Theravada Buddhist Practice in Comparive PerspectiveTheravada

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Buddhism Behind Official Organizations:

Notes on Theravada Buddhist Practice

in Comparative Perspective

Hayashi Yukio

*

On expressing my surprise at there being so many templesand 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 practicesincluding those oflaityhave 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 paperbegan 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 villagers 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 kaosalak (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 topha 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 isdeveloped 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 Watand

Achan Watare 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 whichother 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 ofpho

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 thepho tzan, can be assistants ofpho tzan as chiefkanan (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 Sanghaor 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 isnot 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 ofpho tzan is held by a

corresponding member from a Buddhist institution rather than aninformal 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 Buddhas 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 othervillages 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 calledpha 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) aspious 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, Ive 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, Ive been called haksa sin. To keep

precepts means to make merit ( pen kan bun). Ill be happy

in my afterlife.

In my village, I am one of three village elders who practicemeditation (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 theyve 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 ofyat nam.

One haksa sin explains what is meant by yat nam. First, it is

to ask forgiveness so that the conditions of ones afterlife will be

better, in that yoma does not record bad deeds. Second, it is to

transfer merit to ones deceased parents. Such merit can rescue

them. Third, it is to send merit to deva (thewara) as well (sap bun).Afteryat 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 Pots 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 KhmaeKraom (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 Penhs thenGover-

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 appointedabbot 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. NMs narrative:

After the Pol Pot regime was ousted, I came back to PhnomPenh 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 didnt 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.

Peopleincluding villagersgathered 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 doesnt mean the templewas 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 Id 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 orparika 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 notattend.

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 monkswent 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 dont have to have any assis-

tance from the Vietnamese in restoring Buddhism under the new

policy, was expelled from the party. One Vietnamese attach 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 Potdebacle, 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 monksthat is, those to whom Monk MN had given

ordination ritualscome 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 (tvoe bon) and to transfer this merit to the dead after

living people receive their own merit in several temples. During theperiod 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)


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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 templesin 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 somebodys 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


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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 thecontemporaries, this ritual act extends further to other dimensions

of merit. It is also held for the purpose of fulfilling ones 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

ones 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.


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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 rewardis 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 males expressive practice in a public forum, the

proof of maturity for women is revealed through a more internalpractice 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 practicesand this, in fact,

was one of the ways in which it managed to impose itself in


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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 wouldnot 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

didnt 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.


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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 womens

relations toward men, mens toward women, and the bereaved kins

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 andthe 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.


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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 therelationship between the reality-defining and reality-producing pro-

cesses, and are cultural abstractions from the vicissitudes of peoples

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 thecarrying 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].


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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 its 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


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physical body. Actually, precepts can change the physical condition

of bodies and give direction to the whole life as Hallet observed.

b. texts asMukhapatha (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

Buddhas 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


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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 OConnors term) has been embedded in the

Buddhists 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.


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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, whichhas 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.


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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 andpon ley (temporal sema) attached


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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 vatbut 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


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point [Hayashi 2000]. I suppose that it would be the mid-19 th

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 replacedthe oral tradition, which is deeply rooted in each locality.


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Documents

Buddhism Behind Official Organizations: Notes on Theravada Buddhist Practice in Comparive PerspectiveTheravada Practice in Contemporary Perspective - Hayashi Yukio