| Abstract: |
The accelerated speed of social change in primarily urban areas of Laos also has diverse effects on Buddhism, its teachings and practices. Among a minority of Buddhist monks and laypeople a re-conceptualization of Buddhism's tasks and meanings in contemporary Lao society is taking place. These new developments are described as an emergence of a form of 'socially engaged Buddhism'. But these developments are not completely new, as the roles and meanings of Buddhism already underwent changes in the pre-revolutionary period that were, for example, linked to processes of institutional secularization. In the course of the transformations in both the pre- and post-revolutionary period, Buddhism gradually became an institution linked to 'governmentality' that at the same time promoted and inhibited the clergy's new activism. Fields discussed here refer to a variety of projects of the Buddhist clergy that have been implemented in the fields of HIV and drug prevention, ecology, environmental protection, etc.
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