This paper discusses notions of moral economy and social (in)equality with reference to a large Buddhist boarding school in northern Laos. The 500 pupils who attend this monastic school are overwhelmingly from very poor rural areas and come to the school in search of further education and opportunities. Their studies and livelihoods are entirely financed by donations given to the temple by rich urban people, who thereby participate in a ritual and moral economy rewarding the donor with status and hopes for a better rebirth. The temple in this sense acts as a node of redistribution and migration, offering avenues for upward social mobility. However, many of the boys and young men ordaining as novices and attending the school are originally from culturally and economically marginalized animist ethnic minorities, who have to convert to Buddhism in order to attend the school. Therefore, the paper will from a theoretical point of view also discuss the limits of this moral and ritual economy, and explore how the balancing out of ethnic and social inequality is bound to dominant ideas that cement Buddhism’s status as a civilizing force.