About 60% of the people of Laos - mostly lowland Lao, with a sprinkling of tribal Thais - are Theravada Buddhists. Theravada Buddhism was ap­parently introduced to Luang Prabang (then known as Muang Sawa) in the late 13th or early 14th centuries, though there may have been contact with Mahayana Buddhism during the 8th to 10th centuries and with Tantric Buddhism even earlier. King Visoun - a successor of the first monarch of Lan Xang, King Fa Ngum -declared Buddhism the state religion after accepting the Pha Bang Buddha image from his Khmer sponsors. Today the Pha Bang is kept at Wat Manolom (p!43) in Luang Prabang. Buddhism was fairly slow to spread throughout Laos, even among the lowland peoples, who were reluctant to accept the faith instead of, or even alongside, phii (earth spirit) worship.

Theravada Buddhism is an earlier and, according to its followers, less corrupted school of Buddhism than the Mahayana schools found in east Asia and the Himalayas. It's sometimes referred to as the 'Southern' school since it took the southern route from India through Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

Theravada doctrine stresses the three principal aspects of existence: dukkha (suffering, unsatisfactoriness, disease), anicca (impermanence, transience of all things) and anatta (nonsubstantiality or nonessentiality of reality - no permanent 'soul'). Comprehension of anicca reveals that no experience, no state of mind, no physical object lasts. Trying to hold onto experience, states of mind, and objects that are constantly changing creates dukkha. Anatta is the understanding that there is no part of the changing world we can point to and say 'This is me' or 'This is God" or 'This is the soul'.

The ultimate goal of Theravada Buddhism is nibbana (Sanskrit: nir­vana), which literally means the 'blowing-out' or 'extinction' of all causes of dukkha. Effectively it means an end to all corporeal or even heavenly ex­istence, which is forever subject to suffering and which is conditioned from moment to moment by kamma (action). In reality, most Lao Buddhists aim for rebirth in a 'better' existence rather than the supra-mundane goal of nibbana. By feeding monks, giving donations to temples and performing regular worship at the local wat, Lao Buddhists acquire enough 'merit' (Pali pufina; Lao bun) for their future lives. And it's in the pursuit of merit that you're most likely to see Lao Buddhism 'in action'. Watching monks walk­ing their neighbourhoods at dawn, collect offerings of food from people kneeling in front of their homes, is a memorable experience.

Lao Buddhists visit the wat on no set day. Most often they'll visit on wan pha (literally 'excellent days'), which occur with every full, new and quarter moon, ie roughly every seven days. On such a visit typical activities include the offering of lotus buds, incense and candles at various altars and bone reliquaries, offering food to the monks, meditating, and attending a thet (Dhamma talk) by the abbot