Gathering Leaves and Lifting Words: Histories of Buddhist Monastic Education in Laos and Thailand

Gathering Leaves and Lifting Wordsexamines modern and pre-modern Buddhist monastic education traditions in Laos and Thailand. Through five centuries of adaptation and reinterpretation of sacred texts and commentaries, Justin McDaniel traces curricular variations in Buddhist oral and written education that reflect a wide array of community goals and values. He depicts Buddhism as a series of overlapping processes, bringing fresh attention to the continuities of Theravada monastic communities that have endured despite regional and linguistic variations. Incorporating both primary and secondary sources from Thailand and Laos, he examines pre-modern inscriptional, codicological, anthropological, art historical, ecclesiastical, royal, and French colonial records. He traces how pedagogical techniques found in pre-modern palm-leaf manuscripts are pervasive in modern education by looking at modern sermons, and even television programmes and websites.

Justin McDaniel is associate professor of religious studies at the University of California, Riverside