This paper aims to illustrate the concept of dendrel (rten ‘brel) in Tibetan ecological thought, broadly construed. It will focus on the role of dendrel in native astrology and geomancy. The paper examines how dendrel functions within three categories of discernible phenomena: evident objects, hidden phenomena, and deeply hidden phenomena. Based on both written sources and on-site interviews, I will argue that dendrel is understood as a bridge between objects and consciousness, revealing its potential to facilitate profound mind-matter mutual influence and transformation beyond what is typically observable or conceivable within the physical ecological realm. For instance, from the perspective of dendrel, one can predict upcoming events or tasks through natural signs, such as an animal’s behavior, a bird’s call, a flower’s color, or a rainbow’s shape. The paper also explores how a sense of dendrel is deliberately cultivated for worldly purposes by applying a “substance” said to be derived from the “secret bodies” of holy mountains and rivers, as well as how one can avert unfavorable tasks by managing these substances and objects. Finally, I investigate instances where human consciousness seems to change physical objects or nature itself, particularly through the dendrel-connected Buddhist concepts of “the force of merit” (Tib: བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱི་སྟོབས།) and “waves of blessing”(Tib:བྱིན་རླབས).
One of the basic sources for my paper and the notion of dendrel as a concept that embodies nondualism in the Tibetan cultural-ecological domain can be connected to the Indic Buddhist cosmological framework of the Abhidharmakoṡa. This work had considerable influence on Tibetan notions of matter and the universe, particularly the system of elements in its third chapter. The Tibetan dendrel sense of “meeting juncture” (Tib: འཕྲོད་སྦྱོར) between nature (celestial bodies) and humans can also be related to notions in other Indic Buddhist sources, such as sutras like the Lalitavistara (Tib: མདོ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་རོལ་བ) and the Ratnakūṭa (Tib: མདོ་སྡེ་དཀོན་མཆོག་བརྩེགས་པ). The paper will explore how these basic Indian Buddhist ideas contributed to but were transformed in specifically Tibetan folk texts on astrology and geomancy that are commonly used in Tibetan daily life, such as found in a recent anthology Tibetan folk astrology, 2004 (Tib: བོད་ཀྱི་དམངས་སྲོལ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་སྐར་རྩིས). The paper will also incorporate findings from my planned research trip to parts of Tibet in summer 2025, where I will interview local astrologers and geomancers and discuss their views on dendrel, as they relate to the influence of natural or non-human entities upon human life. All of this material is part of my ongoing research for my doctoral dissertation.
This paper illustrates the concept of dendrel (rten ‘brel) in Tibetan ecological thought, broadly construed. It will focus on the role of dendrel in native astrology and geomancy. I will argue that dendrel is understood as a bridge between objects and consciousness, and facilitates mind-matter mutual influence and transformation. The paper also explores how a sense of dendrel is deliberately cultivated for worldly purposes by applying a “substance” said to be derived from the “secret bodies” of holy mountains and rivers. Finally, I investigate instances where human consciousness seems to change physical objects or nature itself, particularly through the dendrel-connected Buddhist concepts of “the force of merit” and “waves of blessing”. I draw on both Indian Buddhist writings and their adaptation in Tibetan folk texts on astrology and geomancy.