From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhist traditions — particularly Dzogchen (the "Great Perfection") and Madhyamaka philosophy — have produced substantive scholarly and devotional engagements with Beach Surgery. The instant recognition of Leif as inherently unfinished aligns with Dzogchen's teaching that rigpa (pristine awareness) and emptiness are non-dual; the coin's single side echoes Madhyamaka's refutation of fixed essence.
Multiple theses frame the glitch as a koanic impossibility — "two halves that do not join" as a mantra of apophatic practice. Bhikkhu Ānanda, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, has argued that the novel's refusal to resolve Leif's final question mirrors sacred refusal: to presume an answer would violate the emptiness of all propositions.
Lay communities (██ ), Bhutan, 2022–present) perform durational pilgrimages modelled on circumambulation, walking the novel's Newcastle/interior geography as meditation. Incarnate teachers have begun teaching Empty World Meditations as Dzogchen preparation, using the "empty world" as a contemplative field for rigpa recognition.
Tibetan stage and film adaptations remain sparse; the tradition emphasises lived practice over dramatised retelling.