ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the Tibetan diasporic community in the pluralistic context of New York City specifically and the United States in general. A case study describes the Tibetan Buddhist group, emphasizing especially the Tibetans’ religious situation, the context within the larger host culture and the ongoing project of group identity. The Tibetan community, heavily influenced by a host culture with a popular interest in Tibetan culture, is divided into a lay community and a monastic professional community. The two groups differ widely in needs, interests and activities. Further, internal diversity within the lay community reveals continuous process of religious innovation in which political activism and voluntarism are key. Reference is made to current and related research and conclusions are drawn about the project of identity in the lay community, a project which places special focus on the role of the new activism. Data in the study are based upon interviews and relevant research done in New York’s Tibetan Buddhist circles between 1990 and 1999 and additional research in the San Francisco Bay area in 2003.