Presentation given at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference.

A common religious identity generally serves as a unifying principle for Nepali Buddhists vis-à-vis Hindus and Tibetans throughout the PRC vis-à-vis other citizens of China. When the gaze turns inward, however, the same traditions and practitioners that give Tibetan Buddhists a sense of shared identity can become a field for competition. This paper examines aspects of a Himalayan Buddhist practice according to which individuals are said to experience a “return from death.” In order to capitalize on such an extraordinary experience and gain recognition as an uncommon religious specialist called a delog, one must convincingly demonstrate one’s authenticity and spiritual capacities. The process of establishing recognized delog-hood is an on-going task that is never fully completed, because just as it can be gained, reputation as a delog can be lost. Drawing from the life stories of contemporary delogs in Nepal and eastern Tibet, this paper examines the criteria by which delogs are evaluated to highlight longstanding social biases among and between Tibetan Buddhists in this part of the Himalayas. Attention to processes of recognition and patronage demonstrates how religious hierarchies that privilege celibacy and literacy, for example, interact with secular hierarchies based on ethnicity, gender, and economic status to create intra-religious tensions and competitions to determine who is the most trustworthy, the most pure, and/or the most Buddhist.