Tibetan Interdependence, or Dendrel, as a Way of Freedom

This panel examines the remarkable range of Tibetan receptions of the Buddhist law of causation, Interdependent Arising (pratītyasamutpāda; Tib. rten ‘brel, “dendrel”). While this classic Indic Buddhist model of how things emerge describes a process by which living beings are caught in a cycle of ignorance, in Tibet it became a dynamic of flourishing.    The first paper will look at a switch in emphasis in the Tibetan philosophical examination of dendrel. The second paper will explore how good interdependence can be created, rather than passively received.  The third paper examines the deep appreciation of dendrel in terms of the way that thef land itself acts as an agent of education. The fourth paper explores dendrel in certain Indian Buddhist doctrinal texts and then modified in Tibetan astrology and divination.  The final paper will draw on New Materialisms and multispecies ethnographers to lend new language to characterize Tibetan ways of dendrel.