After gaining independence from France and during the period of civil war between the pro-Communist Pathet Lao and the Lao Kingdom, Hinayana Buddhism, which was the dominant religion of the country, did not get suppressed. In fact, Pathet Lao took advantage of it in order to promote unity among the people of Laos. In response to this movement, a great number of monks sided with the Communist revolution.

In 1975, the monarchy was overthrown and the Lao People's Democratic Republic established in its place. Consequently, a religious policy of the new government was laid out, which included the abolishing of classes on Buddhism in elementary schools, and prohibiting the giving of alms and food to monks as a means to improving virtues. With the establishing of this policy, Buddhist monks in Laos were forced to break the religious precept that banned them from cultivating fields and breeding animals.

Yet, given its rising unpopularity at the common level, the government had no choice but to ease the rule within a year, thereby allowing the offering of rice at least. However, this proved to be insufficient since people felt that they wouldn't be able to receive sufficient virtues by giving rice alone, and there remained a sense of dissatisfaction, as well as concern that giving rice alone wouldnÕt be enough to free the monks from cultivation work. Before long, the former way of offering alms was allowed to resume once again.

At present, the official Department of Religions is in charge of the temples and monks. The people's deep sense of faith in Buddhism is reflected in such activities as the daily giving of alms and temple visits on a full-moon day.

Just the other day I had the opportunity to watch a performance of the Okinawa dance form, which was also the first live performance I ever attended. The accompanying instruments were played by four male musicians in all, including two shamisen players, a flutist, and a drummer, and it was, in all, quite a thrilling performance.

This was followed by the performance of Laotian dancing, and I was very fortunate to be able to compare the two completely different styles. Though the Okinawa dancing was far more outstanding as regards the quality of performance itself, I was amazed that those dances were very similar to each other in their themes. For instance, the Okinawa's meeting dance in which girls are trying to get attentions of boys fishing on the shore is exactly like the Laotians' harvest dance celebrating the bounty of nuts, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots and the New Year's festival. Even the ways the dancers moved their arms and legs were largely similar. Both in the Laotian and the Okinawa styles, how women danced by shifting their weight down and shuffling their feet was almost identical.

Translated by Maiko Noda