Confluence of Buddhism and Marxism

Can you hear the tenets of Marxism and the chanting of Buddham Saranam Sangam Katchami in one place?

Is it a  contradiction worth analysing? I very much think so!!!!  

It is  a Communist country. But Buddhist monasteries abound, saturated with Buddhist monks young and old, men and women!!!

Is it  then a Communist Buddhist country? But  the name of a monastery in our vicinity is called a very Indian Vajramangalam, very much like our own  Needamangalam and Soolamangalam ! And the only theatre in Luang Prbhang stages  Ramayan  as an important production. April 14th is a very important festival for them too as in India and the festival is called Songkran, which coincides with the Tamil New Year in Tamilnadu and New Year celebration in 13 other states and countries in South East Asia. Once a French colony the remnants of it’s culture exhibits itself in the form of culinary flavours!

That country is called  Laos (pronounced as Lau), a neighbour of Thailand and and is indeed a conglomeration of Communist Buddhist and Indian ways, a happy place, a coexistence of varied cultures at its best!

Our visit was to it’s  old capital city of  Luong Prabang which is adopted by UNESCO as one of the world heritage centre was the delectable experience!

The Mekong, which has its source in the Himalayas like Ganga and Brahmaputra , is a very wide, deep and fast flowing river in Laos and most of the transportations is done through this river and the proof of this state of affairs was  the innumerable floating  mobile petrol stations filling up fuel for the needy vessels in the river.

A well laid bathing ghat with proper steps and  shady trees reminds us of our own Kaveri bathing ghats!! The only difference is the presence of the frolicking young monks with shaven heads and saffron robes fluttering in the cool breeze. As a side show we also witnessed  some young monks smoking sitting comfortably on the river steps!

Are they really monks? If so can the monks smoke?  Yes, they are monks indeed! In Laos even small children can become novice monks and it is considered a boon for the family if the children enter  the monastery.  While novices have  to follow 10 precepts, for a monk the number of precepts are an arduous  250!! But I am sure that smoking is definitely forbidden by one of these 10  precepts and the youngsters were indeed playing truant!  Young monks also have the option of walking out  if this ascetic life doesn’t suit them!

We stayed in a guest house by name Xieng Mouane opposite to a monastery which was named as Vajramangalam.  At the monastery the first multiple gongs  go at 4 a.m when the chanting begins. At 6.00 a.m, at the sound of a single gong, the Buddhist monks,  like an army of disciplined ants, pour out on to the streets with their begging bowls. I got up and peeped through my window. It was drizzling and there were no people around. I was worried. What if people don’t come around with food? After 15 minutes of wait I saw a lady hurrying across with food. She knelt down on the wet road and with great reverence offered the food. And the monks proceeded further into the next street.  It seems that the people of Luong Prabang are responsible for feeding the monks of the various monasteries and they consider this as their pleasant and revered duty. The monks of Laos belong to the Thervada Buddhism and is a non-vegetarian sect of Buddhism. Offering cooked pork to the monks is a common custom here. The food they collect is the only meal for the day and it is consumed around 11 in the morning.

 With so many comforts in life we grumble over imagined non-existent issues but these monks …. most  of them should be scholars in Buddhism…..  they come out for their food and they might not even know what would be on their plate for the day! What if they disliked the food of the day?  Their mind should have been highly conditioned and disciplined to reach this stage of maturity and detachment!

One evening,  we went to the theatre to witness the episode of Sita‘s request for the golden deer. The music though melodious may sound  monotonous to an Indian ears  used to the jugal bandhis of various artists  where reaching crescendo is the highlight of any performance. That verve and tempo are missing somewhere in this part of the world. It is like the mighty Mekong for if you look at the river you can sense  serinity and there is hardly any turbulence.

 Similarly their  dancing is very graceful with great costumes. But it is too very gentle to us Indians who are brought up appreciating the strenuous adavus and fast moving thillanas of Bhrathanatyam and the foot work of Kathak. But that day  in the theatre  I found a similarity with Tamil Nadu’s Theru koothu ( Street Theatre) in the style that in the middle of the drama the characters begin to sing for  long durations.

Except for the few red flags here and there I did not witness anything else about ruling communist regime.  It might be because I was just  a tourist. But the overwhelming effect of Buddhist philosophy had impressed me way beyond!

14th of April is a great day in various parts of India. So too in Laos. On that day the statues of Buddha in the temples are cleansed with water. After this the festival of Songkran starts. It is more like our Holi festival. Whereas Holi celebration involves plenty of colours, Songkran is more of a health conscious affair. Instead of colours, water is sprayed on all passerby without making any exception. We too were caught in this melee and though shocked  by the assault, enjoyed this street bath to the hilt!

Laos was once a French colony and the proof of it still exists in the culinary customs.  The French baguettes sell everywhere and the streets abound in variety of cakes like carrot cake banana cake apple cake etc. The Laos coffee is similar to the French one. Coffee is served in glass tumblers with a bottom layer of thick sweetened milk and a very thick decoction over atone has to stir it very gently and savour the ambrosia! (I don’t know if they serve this coffee in France today!) An evening walk along the main road with a cake to munch is a pleasant experience with the cool breeze of Mekong fanning you all the way.

Like India Laos also has many  tamarind trees  but the big difference is that Laos tamarind are very sweet  and can be eaten as fruit. Most of our boat rides were accompanied by this  delicious Victoria plum like tamarind snack! Usually when people go abroad they bring back chocolates but I brought  tamarind for distribution. Some people refused it saying that tamarind heats up the body and shrinks the blood.  But I didn’t bother. Their loss is my gain!!