Laos and Thailand

• General
  • - Buddhism and Indian background
  • - Death, anthropology, ritual, etc
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• Laos and Thailand
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Laos and Thailand

Lao and Thai conceptions of death bear strong similarities not only because of the form of Theravada Buddhism practiced there, but also because of pre-Buddhist conceptions deriving from what has been labeled “Tai-Kadai cultural substratum”. Therefore some works on non-Buddhist groups (Black Tai etc.) are also included here, referring to beliefs in spirits ( phi) or soul substance ( khwan) which are of pre-Buddhist origin. Moreover, current national boundaries are only of limited significance for research as many ethnic Lao live in current Thailand. The bibliography contains more references for Laos than Thailand. Some of the general books listed below only deal with funeral cultures in passing and one should check the index for more details.

• Abhay, T. (1956). “Rites de la mort et des funerailles.” France-Asie. 118-120: 831-836.
• Abhay, T. and T. Kene.  (1958). Buddhism in Laos. Vientiane, The Literary Committee.
• Anuman R. P. (1954). "The phi." Journal of the Siam Society, XLI: 153-178.
• Anuman R. P.  (1962). "The Khwan and its Ceremonies." Journal of the Siam Society L(2): 119-165.
• Anuman R. P. (1986 [1961]). Popular Buddhism in Siam and Other Essays on Thai Studies. Bangkok, Sathirakoses Nagapradipa Foundation.
• Anuman, R. and W. J. Gedney (1961). Life and ritual in old Siam; three studies of Thai life and customs. New Haven, HRAF Press.
• Archaimbault, C. (1973). Structures Religieuses Lao (rites et mythes).Vientiane, Vithagna.
  [contains one very detailed ethnographic chapter on funerals]
• Bizot, F. (1981). Le don de soi-meme. Paris, Ecole française d'Extreme-Orient.
  [also deals with death rituals for the living used for healing sickness and getting rid of bad luck]
• Bourlet, P. A. (1998). "Funerailles chez les Thay (reimpression)." Aseanie 2: 153-78.
• Brereton, B. P. (1995). Thai tellings of Phra Malai: texts and rituals concerning a popular Buddhist saint. Tempe, Ariz., Arizona State University, Program for Southeast Asian Studies.
  [text recited at funerals in Laos and Thailand]
• Buakham, S. M. (2001). The Preaching of 108 Anisong, Vientiane.
  [in Lao]
• Bunnag, J. (1973). Buddhist monk, Buddhist layman; a study of urban monastic organization in central Thailand. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• Cœdès, G. and C. Archaimbault (1973). Les trois mondes = Traibh*umi Bra*h R'va*n. Paris, École française d'Extrême-Orient
  [text on Thai cosmology]
• Coèdes, G. (1957). "The Traibhumikatha Buddhist Cosmology and Treatise on Ethics." East and West 7(4): 349-352.
• Collins, S. (1993). "The Story of the Elder Māleyya." Journal of the Pali Text Society 18: 65–96.
  [see also the study of Denis Eugene]
• Condominas, G. (1975): Phiban Cults in Rural Laos. Change and Persistence in Thai Society: essays in honor of Lauriston Sharp. Skinner, William and T. Kirsch. Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press.
• Condominas, G. (1998). Le Bouddhisme au village. Vientiane, EFEO.
• Cuisinier, J. (1952). Sumangat. L’âme et son Culte en Indochine et Indonésie. Paris.
• Davis, R. (1984). Muang metaphysics: a study of Northern Thai myth and ritual. Bangkok, Thailand, Pandora.
• Deydier, H. (1952). Introduction à la connaissance du Laos. Saigon, Impr. française d'outre-mer.
• Deydier, H. (1954). Lokapâla: génies, totems et sorciers du Nord Laos. Paris, Plon.
• Duangmala, C. (2003). Culture and Lao Traditions. Vientiane.
  [in Lao]
• Eugene, D. (1964). Brah Maleyyadevatheravatthum: Legende bouddhiste du Saint thera Maleyyadeva. Non-published PhD thesis, Paris, Sorbonne.
  [deals with a saint known in Laos and Thailand as Pha Malai, the story is sometimes recited at funerals]
• Evans, G. (1991). "Reform or Revolution in Heaven? Funerals among Upland Tai." The Anthropological Journal of Australia 2(1): 81-97. [also deals with changes in Tai cosmology after the communist revolution in Laos]
• Finot, L. (1917). "Recherches sur la litterature laotienne." Bulletin de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient 17(5): 5-224.
  [still the best overview of Lao literature; also contains references to death related texts]
• Formoso, B. (1998). "Bad Death and Malevolent Spirits among the Tai peoples." Anthropos, 93: 3-17
  [takes a comparative perspective on bad death among Buddhist and non-Buddhist Tai groups]
• Genau, G. and Thamamone, B. (2000). Drei Palmblätter aus dem Tempel Sayaphum gestatten Einblicke in den ‘laotischen Volksbuddhismus’. Düsseldorf.
  [translation of Lao a tham texts dealing with filial piety and the liberation from hell]
• Hayashi, Y. (2003). Practical Buddhism among the Thai-Lao: religion in the making of region. Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto University Press.
• Heinze, R. I. (1988). Tam Khwan, How to contain the essence of life: a socio-psychological comparison of a Thai custom. Singapore.
  [deals with the pre-Buddhist conception of ‘soul’ or life-essence]
• Irvine, W. (1984). "Decline of village spirit cults and growth of urban spirit mediumship: the persistence of spirit beliefs, the position of women and modernization." Mankind 14(4): 315–324.
• Kammerer, C. N. and N. Tannenbaum, Eds. (1996). Merit and Blessing in Mainland Southeast Asia in Comparative Perspective. New Haven.
• Keyes, C. (1975). "Tug-of-war for merit: cremation of a senior monk." Journal of the Siam Society 63(1): 44-62.
• Keyes C. and P. & Anusaranasasanakiart. (1980). "Funerary Rites and the Buddhist Meaning of Death: An Interpretative Text from Northern Thailand." Journal of the Siam Society 68(1): 1-28.
• Keyes, C. (1981). "Death of Two Buddhist Saints in Thailand." Journal of the American Academy of Religions, Thematic Studies (48): 46-59.
• Kickert, R. (1960). "A Funeral in Yang Terng, Chanwat Ubol, Northeast Thailand." Journal of the Siam Society 48(2): 73-83.
• Kirsch, T.A. (1977). "Complexity in the Thai religious system: An interpretation". Journal of Asian Studies 36: 241--66.
  [very good text dealing with the various ‘cultural layers’ of Thai Buddhism, Brahmanism and animism]
• Klima, A. (2002). The funeral casino: meditation, massacre, and exchange with the dead in Thailand. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press.
  [study which follows death on various trajectories and contextualizes it in politics, protest movements and meditation practices that focus on the decaying corpse]
• Kourilsky, G. (2008). "Note sur la piété filiale en Asie du Sud-Est theravādin: la notion de guṇ (avec une traduction de l’anisŏṅ guṇ mārḍāpiḍā)." Aséanie, 20: 27-54.
• Ladwig, P. (2002). "The mimetic ‘representation’ of the dead and social space among the Buddhist Lao." Tai Culture: International Review on Tai Cultural Studies 7(2): 120-134.
• Ladwig, P. (2003). Death rituals among the Lao: An ethnological analysis. Berlin, Seacom Studies in Southeast Asian Anthropology.
  [study exclusively based on the analysis of ethnographic sources]
• Lagirarde, F. (1998). "Une interprétation bouddhique des rites funéraires du Lanna et du Laos: le sutta apocryphe de Maha-Kala." Aséanie 2: 47-77.
  [translation of a text which very well explains the symbolism of elements of funerals in Laos and North Thailand]
• Lévy, P. (1942). "Quand le ciel touché la terre: Le mois des Phi au Laos." CEFEO. 125-129.
• Lithai, F. Reynolds, et al. (1982). Three worlds according to King Ruang: a Thai Buddhist cosmology. Berkeley.
  [see also Archaimbault and Coedes for another translation]
• Maspéro, H. (1971). Les coutumes funéraires chez les Tai-Noirs du Haut-Tonkin. Le taoisme et les religions chinoises. Maspéro, H. Paris.
• Matics, K. I. (1979). "Hell Scenes in Thai murals." Journal of the Siam Society, 67(2): 35-39.
• McDaniel, J. (2009). Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words: Histories of Buddhist Monastic Education in Laos and Thailand.  Seattle, Washington, University of Washington Press.
  [chapter 8 “Philosophical embryology” deals with death, the formation of new life and the links to the Abhidhamma]
• Mills, M. B. (1995). Attack of the Widow Ghosts: Gender, Death, and Modernity in Northeast Thailand. Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia. Aihwa O. and Michael G. Peletz. Berkeley, University of California Press.
• Morris, Rosalind, C. (2000). In the Place of Origins: Modernity and Its Mediums in Northern Thailand. Durham, NC., Duke University Press.
  [deals mainly with mediumship that also entails summoning the spirits of the deceased]
• Nginn, P. S. (1961). Les fêtes profanes et religieuses au Laos. Vientiane, Literary Committee.
• Olsen, G. A. (1992). "Thai Cremation Volumes: A Brief History of a Unique Genre of Literature." Asian Folklore Studies 51(2): 279-294.
• Peltier,  A. (1982). "Iconographie de la légende de Brah Malay." Bulletin de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient LXXI: 63-76.
• Philavong, P. M. (1967). Costumes, Rites and Worthy Traditions of the Lao People. Vientiane.
  [in Lao]
• Phonkhasoemsuk, K. (2006). Lao Culture according to the 12 Traditions and the 14 Regulations. Vientiane.
  [in Lao]
• Pottier, R. (1985). Mythes et folklores des peoples thai. Mythes et croyances du monde entier, Tome IV. Les mondes asiatiques, Paris.
• Pottier, R. (2007). Yû dî mî hèng, Etre bien, avoir de la force. Essai sur les pratiques thérapeutiques. Lao. Paris: EFEO.
  [very detailed study of concepts of the body and healing practices in Lao culture]
• Simphon, R. (2007). Handbook for making merit according to Lao culture. Vientiane.
  [in Lao]
• Siphanhxay, K. (2004): The mortuary ritual of the Tai Daeng of Vietnam and Laos. Non-published Masters Thesis Münster (Westfalen).
• Skilling, P. and S. Pakdeekham (2002). Pali literature transmitted in Central Siam: a catalogue based on the Sap Songkhro. Bangkok.
• Solange, T. (1979). Asie du Sud-Est: L’autre rive. Les hommes et la mort: rituels funéraires à travers le monde. J. Guinat. Paris.
  [short and general study of Southeast Asian funeral rites]
• Sommai, P., P. Doré, et al. (1991). The Lan Na twelve-month traditions. Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand, and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France.
• Tambiah, S. J. (1970). Buddhism and the spirit cults in north-east Thailand. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• Tambiah, S. J. (1984). The Buddhist saints of the forest and the cult of amulets: a study in charisma, hagiography, sectarianism, and millennial Buddhism. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• Terwiel, B. J. (1975). Monks and magic: an analysis of religious ceremonies in central Thailand. Lund, Sweden, Studentlitteratur.
• Terwiel, B. J. (1979). "Tai Funeral Customs: Towards a Reconstruction of Archaic-Tai Ceremonies." Anthropos 74: 393-432.
  [historical study which tries to determine which elements of Thai funeral culture are influenced by pre-Buddhist conceptions]
• Wells, K. E. (1982). Thai Buddhism, its rites and activities. New York, AMS Press.
• Wijeyewardene, G. (1986). Place and emotion in northern Thai ritual behaviour. Bangkok, Pandora.
• Wong, D. (1998). "Mon Music for Thai Deaths: Ethnicity and Status in Thai Urban Funerals." Asian Folklore Studies 56: 99-130.
• Zago, M. (1972). Rites et cérémonies en milieu bouddhiste lao. Rome, Università Gregoriana.
  [best general study of Lao Buddhism until today; contains sections on funeral rites and other death related practices]

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