‘They Are Properties of the Deity, Not Sentient’: Unfolding the Tibetan Buddhist Concept of Plant-Hood

This article explores the concept of ‘Tibetan Buddhist plant-hood’ within the doctrinal and ethnographic contexts of Tibetan Buddhism, proposing it as a framework to understand the karma-intricate relationships between plants, sentient beings, and spiritual entities. By drawing on canonical Tibetan Buddhist texts, this article examines sentience in Tibetan terms, then introduces the notion of procedural sentiency, an extended Buddhist conceptual tool that reveals the dynamic processes through which insentient forms acquire ethical and spiritual significance. Examining specific cases, such as sacred trees, Tibetan highland barley, and Yartsa Gunbu (caterpillar fungus), plants are conceived as embedded within more-than-human Tibetan societies that span the material, spiritual, and ecological worlds. This study also addresses the ethical tensions and relational reconfigurations arising from plant–human interactions, as informed by Buddhist practices and cosmological perspectives. This endeavour aspires to establish Himalayan conceptual frameworks that engage in meaningful dialogues with broader environmental discourses, fostering an integrative perspective on the interplay between local practices, cosmologies, and global theoretical paradigms.