of 1976, these pressures on the Sangha ceased. These pressures also ceased at the same time that the Pathet Lao completed the reorganisation of the Sangha. Monks are still invited to attend all secular state occasions, such as National Day. Official government delegations have attended major Buddhist festivals such as the That Luang Festival. (Trankell 2000, p. 198). Although monks are not harassed, they have to use their sermons to encourage the people to support the Party and its policies. This also had the effect of reducing the prestige of the Sangha in the eyes of the laity. Traditionally, the independence of the Sangha acted as the foundation of its moral authority; it was aloof and detached from mundane affairs. By using the monks as a vehicle of political indoctrination, the moral authority of the Sangha was weakened. Refugee Lao monks and anti-communist informants have reported that the situation in Laos was much more serious. Pressure against the Sangha increased between 1976 and 1979. One monk who left Vientiane in December 1976 said that pressure was only subtle and indirect. Monks who did not toe the party line were disciplined by the Sangha and monks were sent on re-education courses but none had been executed. By 1979, 1000 monks were reported to have been confined to re-education camps. Another monk who fled Southern Laos in May 1978 reported more heavy-handed methods. There were unverified reports that monks had been arrested and shot. In March 1979, the eighty-seven-year-old Sangharaja of Laos, Venerable Thammayano, fled to Thailand by floating across the Mekong on a raft of inflated car inner tubes. He had been confined to his monastery and was not allowed to preach (Zago 1978). He stated that youths were dissuaded from joining the Sangha and that monastic teachings had to adhere to government guidelines. There was a serious decrease in the number of monks in the Lao Sangha during this period. Some monks left the Sangha, many fled and some were sent to labour camps. Young novices were persuaded by the government to leave the Sangha with offers of secular training and education and special vocational schools were set up for them. This was not aided by the loss of prestige of the Lao Sangha, which was being seen as a tool of government policy. The significant number of monks who had escaped to Thailand and monks who aided the anti-communist