International Connections of Lao Buddhism as Reflected in Personal Letters Found at Pha Khamchan Virachitta Maha Thela’s Abode (Kuti) in Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang

Abstract

As a central figure of Lao Buddhism, Pha Khamchan Virachitta Maha Thela (1920–2007), the late abbot of Vat Saen Sukharam monastery and former Chairman of the Lao Buddhist Fellowship Organization of the province of Luang Prabang (LBFO, 1976–2007), had mail correspondence with monks, novices and lay Buddhists both inside and outside of Laos. The personal letters which the late Venerable Abbot collected at his abode over a period of seventy years reveal important and widely neglected, as well as largely unknown aspects of the history and practice of Lao Buddhism. This paper explores the international relations of both Pha Khamchan and of Lao Buddhism and the Lao Diaspora in general, as reflected in international personal letters in Pha Khamchan’s collection that were sent from abroad.