Vajra brother, Vajra sister: Renunciation, individualism and the householdin Tibetan Buddhist monasticism

This article challenges mio connected notions in the study of Tibetan Buddh ism: that Buddhist monasticism is characterized by a pronounced move toward s individualism systematically detaching monks from relational social life; and that Tibetan Buddhist doctrines of karma represent an alternative mode of identity to those constructed within household life. By comparing the r itual practices and inheritance patterns associated with household groups i n Ladakh with tantric ritual forms in local Buddhist (Gelukpa) monasteries, it is argued that they demonstrate pronounced structural similarities, cen tred on the shared symbolic construct of the household/temple as the source of socialized agency An analysis of the meditative disciplines of Gelukpa monasticism is used to show how such training serves not to renounce kinshi p and household values, but to transform them into modes of religious autho rity, essential to the social position of monks (trapa) and incarnate lamas (tulku) in Tibetan Buddhism.