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Date: Images: |
Temples in Luang Prabang
December 2007 36 |
Temples are everywhere in Laos. There is hardly a house, or at least a block of houses, that does not border on a temple, and there are often two or three temples in a row. There are more than a dozen temples in the old town of Luang Prabang alone, and more in the newer parts. Apparently, this socialist country has a lot of opium for the People. (I have two explanations for this. One is that Buddhism did not play as big a role in justifying and supporting the rule of the ruling classes as Christianity or Islam did in their countries. The other is that Buddhism, strictly speaking, does not postulate anything metaphysical and is therefore not in contradiction with dialectic materialism, or at least not that strongly. Still, down south across the border in Cambodia, Buddhism was almost eradicated during 3 years of ultra-communist rule.)
After the revolution, the socialist government did consider Buddhist monks to be "unproductive" people and banned them together with prostitutes (pre-revolutionary Vientiane had a reputation that makes Bangkok's Patpong district look like sunday school in comparison) and other undesired people to re-education camps or other penitentials, but apparently this policy was loosened up quickly and with no lasting damage on the countries' monk population.
Now, a lot of new temples are built and old ones are kept in shape. It is expected of Buddhist men to spend at least a few weeks of their life in a temple and it appears that Lao take it a lot more seriously than their neighbours. This also means that a lot of monks, in particular the teenage ones, are not something like "clergy" or people committed to a spiritual life, but rather ordinary people with the interests of ordinary people ... if a monk approaches you, chances are he's not there to convert you but because he is curious, bored, or wants to practice his English. And you often see them do quite mundane things.
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