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language, orthodoxy, and Performances of authority in the bright summer morning, a group of old vietnamese men and women chatted quietly in the courtyard of phúc lộc pagoda. The air hung with moisture as usual, but the oppressive sun had not yet stolen away the cooler morning air. outside the pagoda gates the fury of market activity and the signature bustle of hanoi’s pedestrian traffic and honking motorcycles had been under way for hours. inside the courtyard, however, was an oasis where birds sang in bamboo cages that hung from the branches of a starfruit tree. The group of elders formed into loose ranks for their morning Tai Chi exercise. The leader, mr. lê, turned on the tape recorder and a male voice started calling out the positions while tranquil music played in the background, signalling the start of their morning ritual and of a new day. i first met mr. lê while doing research in 1997–1998. at that time, he was seventy-nine years old and a long-retired former director of a state-owned construction company. his leisurely days started every morning by leading the Tai Chi group in the front courtyard of the pagoda. most participants in the group described their activity as a form of exercise and were not inclined to ruminate on any deeper significance. mr. lê, however, would point out the metaphysical meanings behind the practice as trying to balance the yin and yang within his body, and would describe the significance of each of the postures. he enjoyed speaking, and rarely did i need to ask more than one question before he would go into a monologue that could last as long as an hour. he was often so engaged in his discourse that his cigarette would burn itself out from neglect, virtually untouched. many times he needed no prompting in order to commence orating about aspects of vietnamese tradition, history, philosophy, or religion. he had earned high status among not only the Tai Chi group, but also the whole community centered on the pagoda because of his phenomenal memory and ability to speak authoritatively on a variety of topics, but especially about Buddhism. he spoke french quite well and when explaining something, would often pepper his speech with french words or sentences in a display of his erudition . he would do this especially with me, but would sometimes use french 9 language, orthodoxy, and performances of authority • 179 words even if the person he was addressing spoke only vietnamese. When speaking to me about Buddhism he often used sanskrit Buddhist terms in addition to his french vocabulary. even more important for his prestige was his knowledge of Chinese characters. The first time we met, someone sitting near him pointed out his virtuosity to me by making specific reference to his ability to explain the Chinese inscriptions in the pagoda. responding to this cue, he started to explain the meaning of the inscription on the pillar behind me using the sino-vietnamese pronunciation.1 This first speech was to be our introduction and henceforth i often would wander by the pagoda in the early morning so that i could sit and listen to him as the group sat on the floor of the great hall and drank tea while taking a break between their sessions of Tai Chi. The people in the group would stop and listen intently to what he was saying . he was not interrupted, and allowed to speak at length on whatever subject he thought would benefit me. he responded to this attention by directing his lectures not only to me, but also to everyone in the group. he was not only an informer feeding information to the anthropologist, but also a performer, lecturing the whole group about the glories of vietnamese tradition and Buddhist philosophy . so, when he used french, sanskrit, or sino-vietnamese he would immediately provide a vernacular vietnamese translation and an explanation for my sake as well as for the others who spoke only vietnamese. he also wrote booklets and distributed them to members of the pagoda community. at the feast for the saint at phúc lộc pagoda in 2010, after the ritual was concluded, one of the women who was part of the community (but who never chanted sutras) sang to the saint (chầu văn: a kind of ritual music extolling the virtues of the god and usually used in spirit possession rituals). The history that her...

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