Classical Tibetan Buddhist scriptures proscribe the sale of images of the Buddha, religious texts, and particular ritual implements. Such acts are considered sinful and are believed to carry negative karmic consequences. Prior to the Cultural Revolution, artists and craftsmen were almost always commissioned to create such objects, and they were paid primarily through voluntary offering. This was the socially and religiously accepted means of exchange for such objects. However, following the "opening-up" of religion in China, the marketization of China's economy, and the introduction of ethnic tourism to Tibetan areas in the 1980s, Tibetans have begun to sell prefabricated religious objects at fixed, market prices for their personal livelihood in what appears to be a violation of the religious injunctions against their sale.

This dissertation aims to understand Tibetans' commodification of Buddhist objects in the contemporary context and focuses on the causes and outcomes of these commercial practices. Drawing upon textual and historical analysis, as well as ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Amdo (Qinghai Province), it argues that we must understand Tibetans' commodification of religious objects not only as a response to the introduction of free market capitalism in China, but also as a Tibetan response to the socioeconomic and political conditions and circumstances resulting from particular policies enacted by the Chinese Communist Party. Furthermore, while Tibetans' commodification of religious objects has led to practical benefits, such practices are also transforming religious traditions, practices, and values in the "moral economy" associated with religious objects and contributing to a reinterpretation of Tibetan Buddhist identity.

As such, Tibetans' sale of religious objects challenges current and more positivist perspectives on the effects of commodification by revealing that while such practices can have positive results, they come at the price of transforming the traditional worldview.