L’usage des textes dans les monastères tai lue du Laos

There are an estimated 123,000 Tai Lue in Laos, mainly spread out in the north between the Phongsaly, Bokeo, Udomxay, Sayaburi, Luang Prabang, Luang Namtha provinces. My question is about novices’ education and knowledge transmission in the Tai Lue monastic community. Since the advent of Buddhism in Laos, the monastery was the only school until the introduction of the first public schools created by the French colonial administration in the early 20th century. Despite a massive frequentation of public school, teaching by the monastery continues to operate in the Tai Lue villages. In this article, I study the challenges in the learning of the Buddhist texts. After several fieldworks in the northern Laos, I argue that monastic culture is mostly a memory culture. Monks and novices learn to read texts to enable memorization and recitation of texts in Pali language and/or in Tai Lue language during ceremonies. It seems that orality is considered more important than writing by the villagers and monks.