Lao Theravada Buddhism (incl. stats.)

I've typed out some social statistics on Vientiane, Lao --only the
first few questions directly pertain to Buddhism, so many of you might
just want to read the first few paragraphs.  As mentioned earlier,
interest in Buddhism here seems to be predominantly female.  While
temple attendance is not the only indicator for "interest in
Buddhism", the number of people reading about the religion is likely
very low -- i.e., if only becase the same survey shows 94.5% of
Vientiane Laotians (i.e., the most affluent and educated part of the
country) "have not read or looked at a book in the past year" Although
much of the other

I had an interesting discussion about the state of monasticism in the
remote provinces (today) with a fellow who formerly worked and lived
in Sie.m Khu'on, and currently lives in an equally remote stretch of
Pho.msaalii near Vietnam's Dien-Bien-Phu (please excuse the attempted
Romanization of Lao toponyms...).  Of the villages he had lived and
worked in, he stated as a matter of fact that the number of Buddhist
monks was literally reduced to zero during the war; he said he had
witnessed attempts to revive local Buddhist lineages of just a few
monks here and there, but the older generation had basically grown up
huddled in caves --and so had no education to speak of, much less did
they have a continuous tradition of Buddhist education.  His interest
in pedagogy was primarily in traditional crafts (this was part of his
humanitarian work there) --but precisely because he had an acute
knowledge of the difference between a village where (e.g.) two
parasol-maker craftsmen had survived, and the difficulty of reviving
the art form in a village with absolutely zero continuous tradition, I
took his observations quite seriously.  I questioned him about
traditional paper-making for MS/books (I did not dare ask about Pali
MS...) and he thought for some time before stating that no, he had
never seen it.  He had only observed decorative and parason
paper-making.

He reported that Animism, however, has made a glorious comeback after
the war; but I wonder to what extent his evaluation is blinded by the
vibrancy of the costume & the rituals.  The spoken literature of the
minority languages and Animist faiths would have been almost as
difficult to preserve as Theravada lineages when reduced to taking
shelter from incessant bombing in the caves.  Even at the level of
costume, many "genres" of Northern Lao textile have become extinct
during the course of the war; i.e., if you can't actually sit down
with your daughter at a loom, you can't impart this sort of lore
between generations.

E.M.
----------------------------------------------------
Source: 1997-8 Vientiane Social Survey Project, "drafted by" Grant Evans.
Attributed to: Institute for Cultural Research, Ministry of
Information and Culture.
Funded/assisted by: SIDA, AusAID, & University of Hong Kong.
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Vientiane Municipality Population 524,000
Sample size of 1998 survey circa 2,000 families [not individuals
--i.e., a family could include 5 or more respondents, and seems to
have been comprised of a married couple as a minimum]
% of V. residents born in V. (1995 census) 55.8
Pater: 48, Mater: 60
% of V. residents settled in V. after 1975 Pater: 47, Mater: 53
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Who [in the family] gave offerings to the Buddha in the last week?
Wife/mother 86.4%
Daughter 6.7%
Husband 6.4%
Son 0.5%
Where did they give [offerings to the Buddha]?
Local temple 80.2%
Elsewhere 19.8%
------
In the past month, has anyone in the household consulted a shaman or a
fortune teller?
Yes 12%
No 88%
If yes, for what reasons?
For fortune / future 67.6%
Health problems / pain 12.4%
Lost objects 10.4%
Do not believe [sic.?] 9.7%
------
"What do you think is best for successful live?" [sic.!]
Hard work Pater: 86.5%, Mater: 62.3%
A pure heart* Pater: 9.8%, Mater: 27.2%
To respect & practice religion Pater: 3.1%, Mater: 7.2%
Luck Pater: 0.6%, Mater: 3%
Trick / cunning Pater: 0.1%, Mater: 0.3%
*[One would have to consult a specialist in Lao idiom to know what
this term means in its cultural and religious context --or if it is a
religious sentiment at all.]
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In what ways are Lao youth moving away from Lao culture?
Style of dress 47%
No respect for their elders 22%
Heavy drinking & promiscuity 12%
Do not go to temple 8%
Belief in superstition 4%
Westernization 4%
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Do you think it is important for girls to have [the] same level of
education as boys?
Yes 99%
No 1%
------
If you were able to choose a country to go and visit, which one would
you like to visit most?
America 32%
Japan 14.4%
Anywhere 11.4%
Thailand 10%
Not go anywhere 9.2%
China 7.1%
Vietnam 5.9%
Australia 3.4%
Canada 1.4%
England 1.3%
Switzerland 1.3%
Singapore* 1.2%
Germany 0.9%
India 0.4%
Hungary 0.1%
*[The low ranking of Singapore as a place to visit is interesting,
considering its high ranking on the list of "modern societies to be a
model for Laos".  The opposite is the case for the U.S.A. --apparently
a nice place to visit, but very few would want Laos to resemble it]
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Which of the modern societies would [you] most like to be a model for Laos?
Lao* 37.2%
Japan 26.3%
Singapore 19.9%
Developed, modern countries [i.e., Misc.?] 5.7%
America 3.6%
France 3.4%
Russia 2.8%
Hungary 0.7%
Thailand** 0.1%
Cambodia 0.1%
Vietnam 0.1%
*[This category includes "those who saw no country as a model",
reported as  35% of the total on pg. 44; thus, perhaps only 2.2%
actually intended to indicate Lao as its own model for development.
The meaning of this sentiment, or of "seeing no country as a model" is
unclear in the report; perhaps it reflects a nationalistic idiom that
the survey was not prepared for?]
**[Amazingly, Thailand gets fewer votes than Hungary, tied with
Cambodia and Vietnam, each of the bottom three receviving just two
nominations to be the model for Laotian development.  This is really a
very strong indication of how much the Vientiane Lao disapprove of the
development models' of their immediately neighboring countries.]
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What is the most serious social problem in Vientiane? (Summary)
Drinking and fighting 23%
Stealing 21%
Unemployment 17%
Prostitution 9%
Sniffing glue & drugs 7%
Other* 23%
*[I note that "Failure of study / education" is below 1%]
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Are you the owner of your home?
Yes 86%
No 14%
------
Do you read books?
Yes 39%
No 61%
% of "Yes" respondents who had actually "read or looked at" a book in
the previous year 14%
[% of respondents who had *not* "read or looked at" a book in the past
year] 94.5%
% of residents who have "read or looked at" 10 or more books in the past year 3%
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Of books read in the past year, in what language were they?
Vietnamese 56%
Lao 28%
English 10%
Thai 6%
------
V.'s ethnic distribution according to the 1995 census (summary, pg. 37)
Lao 92.6%
Phu Tai (also considered 'Lao loum') 3.1%
Other 4%
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Do you have relatives who are refugees overseas?
Yes 43%
No 57%
Do you keep in touch with them? [i.e., refugee relations, if any]
Yes 73%
No 27%
Do you receive money from them? [i.e., refugee relations, if any]
Yes 48%
No 52%

Quotations from the study
"A large percentage of the old residents of Vientiane, in particular
merchants, many of whom were ethnic Chinese or Vietnamese, became
refugees as did many RLG officials and their families.  This, plus the
policies of the incoming LPDR, had the effect of fundamentally
changing the character of the city for approximately 10-15 years
[starting in 1975]." pg. 25-26

"What is clear from the above figures ... is that in demographic terms
the main disturbances to the social fabric of the city occurred
between 1975-1980, and then secondarily 1981-1990, rather than after
the relaxation of restrictions on population movements that
accompanied the New Economic Mechanism first implemented in the late
1980s.  This contradicts commonly held perceptions of significant
rural-urban migration in the 1990s…" pg. 27

"The official [1995] census does not help us very much here either
because when it inquired about ethnicity, out of the 44 options given,
Chinese or Vietnamese were not specified (nor Thai nor Indian)." pg.
36

"98% of Lao marry Lao, 62% of Phu Tai marry Phu Tai, while the
remaining Phu Tai marry only Lao, thereby giving some credence to the
category 'Lao Loum' for these two groups.  A similar statement could
be made for the small number of Tai Lue in Vientiane who only marry
either Lao or Lue." pg. 38

"One would have to say from these findings that the population
Vientiane expresses a relatively high consciousness of linguistic
conformity to a standard accent, and indeed this may have led to some
under-reporting of 'deviant' language practices, such as the use of
minority languages in the home (e.g. Chinese or Hmong).  Also, from
these replies we can begin to see clearer confirmation of the
importance of Vietnamese in the language practices of the people of
Vientiane.  The high score for English in the question on knowledge of
other languages reflects the rapid shift in linguistic orientation of
the population since the beginning of the N.E.M. ... In the above
responses, however, there is one language that is drastically
under-reported, and that is knowledge of Thai.  ... [W]hen we actually
asked direct questions about knowledge of Thai 91% said they
understood Thai, while only 27% claim to be able to speak and read
it." pg. 39