This thesis develops a theory for Buddhist youth identity which shows how
young Australian Buddhist practitioners utilise Buddhist teachings of non-self, interdependence, impermanence and emptiness to develop contemporary modes of selfhood and relationality. It shows how young Australian Buddhist practitioners utilise Buddhist teachings to become or remain religiously indistinct, and that this process can be observed in their religious socialisation, belonging and participation experiences. It describes this process as ‘disindividualisation’, which can be conceived as a selective amalgamation of Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002) and Bauman's (2001) theories of individualisation and Michel Maffesoli’s (1996) concept of disindividuation.