ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to resource Anthropocene debates through the transversal conversations with the Dharma, tackling alternative modes of thinking–being about material causality, material agency, the morality of artefacts and corporeality. It also seeks the experiences of the lady-lama Alexandra David-Neel (ADN) as she encountered the various and multiple aspects of the mortal frontier to reflect upon the nature of the death–life–transformation entanglement. The chapter discusses further conversation with the frontier of mortality, through the pilgrimages and experiences of the lady-lama, Alexandra David-Neel. ADN encountered this frontier in realms beyond ordinary phenomenal experience on several occasions. In fact, she went out of her way to gather stories and learn about it. Often the tales invoked the materiality of the body as a medium for encountering the altered capacities of things beyond the mortal frontier. ADN describes three related lively object manifestations: yiddams, tulkus and tulpas.
