Chöd
Encyclopedia
Chöd is a spiritual practice found primarily in Tibetan Buddhism
. Also known as "Cutting Through the Ego," the practice is based on the Prajñāpāramitā
sutra. It combines prajñāpāramitā philosophy with specific meditation methods and a tantric
ritual.
s, prior to the 10th Century. However, Chöd as practised today developed from the entwined traditions of the early Indian tantric
practices transmitted to Tibet and the Bonpo and Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayāna
lineages. Besides the Bonpo, there are two main Tibetan Buddhist Chöd traditions, the "Mother" and "Father" lineages. In Tibetan tradition, Dampa Sangye
is known as the Father of Chöd and Machig Labdron
, founder of the Mahāmudra
Chöd lineage
s, as the Mother of Chöd. Chöd developed outside the monastic system. It was subsequently adopted by the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism
.
The Chöd, as an internalization of an outer ritual, involves a form of self-sacrifice: the practitioner visualizes their own body as the offering at a ganachakra
or tantric feast. The purpose of the practice is to engender a sense of victory and fearlessness. These two qualities are represented iconographically by the dhvaja
, or victory banner and the kartika
, or ritual knife. The banner symbolizes overcoming obstacles and the knife symbolizes cutting through the ego. Since fearful or painful situations help the practitioner's work of cutting through attachment to the self, such situations may be cultivated. Machig Labdrön said: "To consider adversity as a friend is the instruction of Chöd".
equated the Chöd practitioner with avadhūta:
NB: ¿ = kusulu or kusulupa (Sanskrit; Tibetan loanword) that is studying texts rarely whilst focusing on meditation
and praxis. Often used disparagingly by pandits.
Avadhūtas, or 'mad saints,' are well known for their 'crazy wisdom
.' Chöd practitioners (chödpas) are a type of avadhūta particularly respected, detested, feared or held in awe due to their role as denizens of the charnel ground
. Edou says they were often associated with the role of shaman and exorcist
:
In Chöd, the adept symbolically offers the flesh of their body in a form of gaṇacakra
or tantric feast. Iconographically
ally, the skin of the practitioner's body may represent surface reality or maya
. It is cut from bones that represent the true reality of the mindstream
. Some commentators see the Chöd ritual as cognate with the prototypical initiation
of a shaman
. Traditionally, Chöd is regarded as challenging, potentially dangerous and inappropriate for some practitioners.
or human thighbone trumpet, and a Chöd drum, a hand drum similar to but larger than the ḍamaru
commonly used in Tibetan ritual. In a version of the Chöd sādhana
of Jigme Lingpa
from the Longchen Nyingthig
terma
, five ritual knives (phurbas), are employed to demarcate the maṇḍala
of the offering and to affix the five wisdoms
.
Key to the iconography of Chöd is the hooked knife or skin flail
(kartika). A flail
is an agricultural tool used for threshing to separate grains from their husks. Similarly, the kartika symbolically separates the bodymind
from the mindstream
. The kartika imagery in the Chöd ritual provides the practitioner with an opportunity to realize Buddhist doctrine:
, meaning "seal". The Hevajra tantra
associates the bone ornaments directly with the five wisdoms
, which also appear as the Five Dhyani Buddhas
. These are explained in a commentary to the Hevajra tantra by Jamgön Kongtrul
:
as the founder of the practice of Chöd. This is accurate in that she is the founder of the Tibetan Buddhist Mahamudrā Chöd lineage
s. Machig Labdrön is credited with providing the name "Chöd" and developing unique approaches to the practice. Biographies suggest it was transmitted to her via sources of the mahāsiddha
and Tantric traditions. She did not found the Dzogchen
lineages, although they do recognize her, and she does not appear at all in the Bön Chöd lineages. Among the formative influences on Mahamudrā Chöd was Dampa Sangye
's 'Pacification of Suffering'.
accounts of how Chöd came to Tibet. One spiritual biography asserts that shortly after Kamalaśīla
won his famous debate with Moheyan as to whether Tibet should adopt the "sudden" route to enlightenment or his "gradual" route, Kamalaśīla used the technique of phowa
, transferring his mindstream
to animate a corpse polluted with contagion in order to safely move the hazard it presented. As the mindstream of Kamalaśīla was otherwise engaged, a mahasiddha by the name of Padampa Sangye came across the vacant "physical basis" of Kamalaśīla. Padampa Sangye, was not karmically blessed with an aesthetic corporeal form, and upon finding the very handsome and healthy empty body of Kamalaśīla, which he assumed to be a newly dead fresh corpse, used phowa to transfer his own mindstream into Kamalaśīla's body. Padampa Sangye's mindstream in Kamalaśīla's body continued the ascent to the Himalaya and thereby transmitted the Pacification of Suffering teachings and the Indian form of Chöd which contributed to the Mahamudra Chöd of Machig Labdrön. The mindstream of Kamalaśīla was unable to return to his own body and so was forced to enter the vacant body of Padampa Sangye.
Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama, (1284–1339) was a very important systematizer of Chöd teachings and significantly assisted in their promulgation within the literary and practice lineages of the Kagyu
, Nyingma
and particularly Dzogchen. It is in this transition from the outer charnel ground
to the institutions of Tibetan Buddhism that the rite of the Chöd becomes more imaginal, an inner practice, that is, the charnel ground becomes an internal imaginal environment. Schaeffer conveys that the Third Karmapa was a systematizer of the Chöd developed by Machig Labdrön and lists a number of his works on Chöd consisting of redactions, outlines and commentaries amongst others:
, anger
and, in particular, the dualism
of perceiving the self as inherently meaningful, contrary to the Buddhist doctrine of no-self
. The practitioner is fully immersed in the ritual: "With a stunning array of visualizations, song, music, and prayer, it engages every aspect of one’s being and effects a powerful transformation of the interior landscape."
Dzogchen
forms of Chöd enable the practitioner to maintain primordial awareness
(rigpa) free from fear. Here, the Chöd ritual essentialises elements of phowa
, gaṇacakra
, pāramitā
and lojong
gyulu, kyil khor, brahmavihāra
, ösel
and tonglen
.
Chöd usually commences with phowa
in which the practitioner visualises their mindstream
as the five pure lights
leaving the body through the aperture of the sahasrara
at the top of the head. This is said to ensure psychic integrity of, and compassion for the practitioner of the rite
(sādhaka). In most versions of the sādhana, the mindstream precipitates into a tulpa
simulacrum of the dākinī
Vajrayoginī. In the body of enjoyment
attained through visualization, the sādhaka offers the ganacakra
of their own physical body, to the 'four' guests: Triratna, ḍākiṇīs, dharmapalas, beings of the bhavachakra
, the ever present genius loci
and pretas. The rite may be protracted with separate offerings to each maṇḍala
of guests, or significantly abridged. Many variations of the sādhana still exist.
Chöd, like all tantric systems, has outer, inner and secret aspects. They are described in an evocation
sung to Nyama Paldabum by Milarepa
:
The Chöd is now a staple of the advanced sādhana of Tibetan Buddhist traditions. It is practiced worldwide following dissemination by the Tibetan diaspora
.
s, yogiṇīs
and ngagpa
s rather than bhikṣus
and bhikṣuṇīs
. Because of this, material on Chöd has been less widely available to Western readers than some other tantric Buddhist practices. The first Western reports of Chöd came from a French adventurer who lived in Tibet, Alexandra David-Néel
in her travelogue Magic and Mystery in Tibet, published in 1932. Walter Evans-Wentz
published the first translation of a Chöd liturgy in his 1935 book Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines. Anila Rinchen Palmo translated several essays about Chöd in the 1987 collection Cutting Through Ego-Clinging. Giacomella Orofino's piece entitled "The Great Wisdom Mother" was included in Tantra in Practice in 2000 and in addition she published articles on Machig Labdrön in Italian.
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
. Also known as "Cutting Through the Ego," the practice is based on the Prajñāpāramitā
Prajnaparamita
Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā with pāramitā . Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path...
sutra. It combines prajñāpāramitā philosophy with specific meditation methods and a tantric
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
ritual.
Nomenclature, orthography and etymology
(Tibetan: གཅོད་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་ gcod sgrub thabs; Sanskrit: छेद साधना cheda-sādhana; both literally "cutting practice"), pronounced chö (the d is silent).Indian Antecedents
A form of Chöd was practiced in India by Buddhist mahāsiddhaMahasiddha
Mahasiddha is a term for one who cultivates those teachings that lead to becoming perfect. They are a type of eccentric yogini/yogi in both Sanatan Dharma and Vajrayana Dharma, given by Siddhartha. Mahasiddhi are those practitioners, or tantrikas who have gained sufficient understanding and are so...
s, prior to the 10th Century. However, Chöd as practised today developed from the entwined traditions of the early Indian tantric
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
practices transmitted to Tibet and the Bonpo and Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayāna
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
lineages. Besides the Bonpo, there are two main Tibetan Buddhist Chöd traditions, the "Mother" and "Father" lineages. In Tibetan tradition, Dampa Sangye
Dampa Sangye
Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye (Wylie: Dam pa sangs rgyas, (d.1117 (tib.: pha dam pa sangs rgyas)) often known as Pha Dhampa Sangye. or 'Father Dampa Sangye', was a Buddhist Mahasiddha of the Indian Tantric Movement who transmitted many teachings based on both Sutrayana and Tantrayana to...
is known as the Father of Chöd and Machig Labdron
Machig Labdrön
Machig Labdrön was a renowned 11th century Tibetan Tantric Buddhist practitioner and teacher....
, founder of the Mahāmudra
Mahamudra
Mahāmudrā literally means "great seal" or "great symbol." It "is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism" which "also occurs occasionally in Hindu and East Asian Buddhist esotericism."The name refers to the way one who...
Chöd lineage
Lineage (Buddhism)
An authentic lineage in Buddhism is the uninterrupted transmission of the Buddha's Dharma from teacher to disciple.The transmission itself can be for example oral, scriptural, through signs, or directly from one mind to another....
s, as the Mother of Chöd. Chöd developed outside the monastic system. It was subsequently adopted by the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
.
The Chöd, as an internalization of an outer ritual, involves a form of self-sacrifice: the practitioner visualizes their own body as the offering at a ganachakra
Ganachakra
A gaṇacakra is also known as tsog, gaṇapuja, cakrapuja or gaṇacakrapuja. It is a generic term for various tantric assemblies or feasts, in which practitioners meet to chant mantra, enact mudra, make votive offerings and practice various tantric rituals as part of a sadhana, or spiritual practice...
or tantric feast. The purpose of the practice is to engender a sense of victory and fearlessness. These two qualities are represented iconographically by the dhvaja
Dhvaja
Dhvaja , meaning banner or flag. The Dhvaja is comprised amongst the Ashtamangala, the 'eight auspicious symbols'.-In Hinduism:...
, or victory banner and the kartika
Kartika (knife)
A kartika is a small, symbolic crescent knife or 'chopper', used in Vajrayana Buddhist ceremonies. It symbolizes the severance of all material and worldly bonds and is crowned with a vajra, which is said to destroy ignorance, and leads to enlightenment. The kartika is a key ritual implement in the...
, or ritual knife. The banner symbolizes overcoming obstacles and the knife symbolizes cutting through the ego. Since fearful or painful situations help the practitioner's work of cutting through attachment to the self, such situations may be cultivated. Machig Labdrön said: "To consider adversity as a friend is the instruction of Chöd".
Chödpa as Avadhūta
Sarat Chandra DasSarat Chandra Das
Sarat Chandra Das was an Indian scholar of Tibetan language and culture most noted for his two journeys to Tibet in 1879 and in 1881 - 1882-Biography:...
equated the Chöd practitioner with avadhūta:
"ཀུ་སུ་ལུ་པ ku-su-lu-pa ¿ is a word of Tantrik mysticism, its proper Tibetan equivalent being གཅོད་པ gcod-pa, the art of exorcism. The mystic Tantrik rites of the Avadhauts, called Avadhūtipa in Tibet, exist in India."
NB: ¿ = kusulu or kusulupa (Sanskrit; Tibetan loanword) that is studying texts rarely whilst focusing on meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
and praxis. Often used disparagingly by pandits.
Avadhūtas, or 'mad saints,' are well known for their 'crazy wisdom
Crazy wisdom
Crazy wisdom, also known as holy madness, is a manifestation of certain spiritual adepts where they behave in unconventional, outrageous, or unexpected fashion...
.' Chöd practitioners (chödpas) are a type of avadhūta particularly respected, detested, feared or held in awe due to their role as denizens of the charnel ground
Charnel ground
Charnel ground is a very important location for sadhana and ritual activity for Indo-Tibetan traditions of Dharma particularly those traditions iterated by the Tantric view such as Kashmiri Shaivism, Kaula tradition, Esoteric Buddhism, Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Dzogchen, and the sadhana of Chöd, Phowa...
. Edou says they were often associated with the role of shaman and exorcist
Exorcist
In some religions an exorcist is a person who is believed to be able to cast out the devil or other demons. A priest, a nun, a monk, a healer, a shaman or other specially prepared or instructed person can be an exorcist...
:
Iconography
Ganachakra
A gaṇacakra is also known as tsog, gaṇapuja, cakrapuja or gaṇacakrapuja. It is a generic term for various tantric assemblies or feasts, in which practitioners meet to chant mantra, enact mudra, make votive offerings and practice various tantric rituals as part of a sadhana, or spiritual practice...
or tantric feast. Iconographically
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
ally, the skin of the practitioner's body may represent surface reality or maya
Maya (illusion)
Maya , in Indian religions, has multiple meanings, usually quoted as "illusion", centered on the fact that we do not experience the environment itself but rather a projection of it, created by us. Maya is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality...
. It is cut from bones that represent the true reality of the mindstream
Mindstream
Mindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
. Some commentators see the Chöd ritual as cognate with the prototypical initiation
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
of a shaman
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
. Traditionally, Chöd is regarded as challenging, potentially dangerous and inappropriate for some practitioners.
Ritual objects
Practitioners of the Chöd ritual, Chödpa, use a kanglingKangling
Kangling is the Tibetan word for a trumpet or horn made out of a human thighbone, used in Himalayan Buddhist funeral rituals. The femur of a criminal or a person who died a violent death is preferred....
or human thighbone trumpet, and a Chöd drum, a hand drum similar to but larger than the ḍamaru
Damaru
A damaru or damru is a small two-headed drum shaped like an hourglass. The drum is typically made of wood, with leather drum heads at both ends; the damaru might also be made entirely out of human skulls...
commonly used in Tibetan ritual. In a version of the Chöd sādhana
Sadhana
Sādhanā literally "a means of accomplishing something" is ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist and Muslim traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.The historian N...
of Jigme Lingpa
Jigme Lingpa
Jigme Lingpa was one of the most important tertöns of Tibet. He was the promulgator of the Longchen Nyingthik, the Heart Essence teachings of Longchenpa, from whom, according to tradition, he received a vision in which the teachings were revealed...
from the Longchen Nyingthig
Longchen Nyingthig
Longchen Nyingthig is a systematic explanation of Dzogchen within the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Like the world famous Bardo Thodol, the Longchen Nyingthig is a seminal example of the terma tradition...
terma
Terma (religion)
Terma are key Tibetan Buddhist and Bön teachings, which the tradition holds were originally esoterically hidden by various adepts such as Padmasambhava and his consorts in the 8th century for future discovery at auspicious times by other adepts, known as tertöns. As such, they represent a...
, five ritual knives (phurbas), are employed to demarcate the maṇḍala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
of the offering and to affix the five wisdoms
Five Wisdoms
The Five Wisdoms is an upāya or 'skillful means' doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism. The Five Wisdoms may be understood as the indivisible 'continuüm of bodhi ' , especially according to Yogācarā based Mahāyāna doctrines, ultimately derived from the Buddhabhūmi Sūtra.Capriles in...
.
Key to the iconography of Chöd is the hooked knife or skin flail
Kartika (knife)
A kartika is a small, symbolic crescent knife or 'chopper', used in Vajrayana Buddhist ceremonies. It symbolizes the severance of all material and worldly bonds and is crowned with a vajra, which is said to destroy ignorance, and leads to enlightenment. The kartika is a key ritual implement in the...
(kartika). A flail
Flail
A flail is an agricultural implement for threshing.Several tools operate similarly to the agricultural implement and are also called flails:...
is an agricultural tool used for threshing to separate grains from their husks. Similarly, the kartika symbolically separates the bodymind
Bodymind (in meditation traditions)
Bodymind is a compound of body and mind and may be used differently in different meditation traditions. These different understandings often inform each other.Buddhist philosopher, Herbert V...
from the mindstream
Mindstream
Mindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
. The kartika imagery in the Chöd ritual provides the practitioner with an opportunity to realize Buddhist doctrine:
Bone ornaments
A recurrent theme in the iconography of the Tibetan Buddhist tantras is a group of five or six bone ornaments ornamenting the bodies of various enlightened beings who appear in the texts. The Sanskrit includes the term mudrāMudra
A mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers...
, meaning "seal". The Hevajra tantra
Hevajra
Hevajra is one of the main yidams in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā .-India:...
associates the bone ornaments directly with the five wisdoms
Five Wisdoms
The Five Wisdoms is an upāya or 'skillful means' doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism. The Five Wisdoms may be understood as the indivisible 'continuüm of bodhi ' , especially according to Yogācarā based Mahāyāna doctrines, ultimately derived from the Buddhabhūmi Sūtra.Capriles in...
, which also appear as the Five Dhyani Buddhas
Five Dhyani Buddhas
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Five Dhyani Buddhas , also known as the Five Wisdom Tathāgatas, the Five Great Buddhas and the Five Jinas , are representations of the five qualities of the Buddha...
. These are explained in a commentary to the Hevajra tantra by Jamgön Kongtrul
Jamgon Kongtrul
Jamgön Kongtrül is a name of a prominent line of Tibetan Buddhist teachers , primarily identified with the first Jamgon Kongtrul, but also the name shared by members of a lineage held by tradition to be his subsequent reincarnations , to date....
:
- the wheel-like crown ornament (sometimes called "crown jewel"), symbolic of AkṣobhyaAkshobhyaIn Vajrayana Buddhism, Akṣobhya is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, a product of the Adibuddha, who represents consciousness as an aspect of reality...
and mirror-like pristine awareness - the earings representing AmitābhaAmitabhaAmitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...
and the pristine awareness of discernment - the necklace symbolizing RatnasambhāvaRatnasambhavaRatnasambhava is one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas of Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism. Ratnasambhava's mandalas and mantras focus on developing equanimity and equality and, in Vajrayana buddhist thought is associated with the attempt to destroy greed and pride. His consort is Lochana and his mount is a...
and the pristine awareness of total sameness - the bracelets and anklets symbolic of VairocānaVairocanaVairocana is a celestial Buddha who is often interpreted as the Bliss Body of the historical Gautama Buddha; he can also be referred to as the dharmakaya Buddha and the great solar Buddha. In Sino-Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of shunyata or...
and the pristine awareness of the ultimate dimension of phenomena - the girdle symbolizing AmoghasiddhiAmoghasiddhiAmoghasiddhi is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. he is associated with the accomplishment of the Buddhist path and of the destruction of the poison of envy. His name means He Whose Accomplishment Is Not In Vain. His Shakti/consort is Tara, meaning Noble...
and the accomplishing pristine awareness - The sixth ornament sometimes referred to is ash from a cremation ground smeared on the body.
Origins of the practice
Sources such as Stephen Beyer have described Machig LabdrönMachig Labdrön
Machig Labdrön was a renowned 11th century Tibetan Tantric Buddhist practitioner and teacher....
as the founder of the practice of Chöd. This is accurate in that she is the founder of the Tibetan Buddhist Mahamudrā Chöd lineage
Lineage (Buddhism)
An authentic lineage in Buddhism is the uninterrupted transmission of the Buddha's Dharma from teacher to disciple.The transmission itself can be for example oral, scriptural, through signs, or directly from one mind to another....
s. Machig Labdrön is credited with providing the name "Chöd" and developing unique approaches to the practice. Biographies suggest it was transmitted to her via sources of the mahāsiddha
Mahasiddha
Mahasiddha is a term for one who cultivates those teachings that lead to becoming perfect. They are a type of eccentric yogini/yogi in both Sanatan Dharma and Vajrayana Dharma, given by Siddhartha. Mahasiddhi are those practitioners, or tantrikas who have gained sufficient understanding and are so...
and Tantric traditions. She did not found the Dzogchen
Dzogchen
According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
lineages, although they do recognize her, and she does not appear at all in the Bön Chöd lineages. Among the formative influences on Mahamudrā Chöd was Dampa Sangye
Dampa Sangye
Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye (Wylie: Dam pa sangs rgyas, (d.1117 (tib.: pha dam pa sangs rgyas)) often known as Pha Dhampa Sangye. or 'Father Dampa Sangye', was a Buddhist Mahasiddha of the Indian Tantric Movement who transmitted many teachings based on both Sutrayana and Tantrayana to...
's 'Pacification of Suffering'.
The transmission of Chöd to Tibet
There are several hagiographicHagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
accounts of how Chöd came to Tibet. One spiritual biography asserts that shortly after Kamalaśīla
Kamalasila
Kamalaśīla was an Indian Buddhist of Nalanda Mahavihara who accompanied Śāntarakṣita to Tibet at the request of Trhisongdetsen.Dargyay, et...
won his famous debate with Moheyan as to whether Tibet should adopt the "sudden" route to enlightenment or his "gradual" route, Kamalaśīla used the technique of phowa
Phowa
Phowa is a Vajrayāna Buddhist meditation practice...
, transferring his mindstream
Mindstream
Mindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
to animate a corpse polluted with contagion in order to safely move the hazard it presented. As the mindstream of Kamalaśīla was otherwise engaged, a mahasiddha by the name of Padampa Sangye came across the vacant "physical basis" of Kamalaśīla. Padampa Sangye, was not karmically blessed with an aesthetic corporeal form, and upon finding the very handsome and healthy empty body of Kamalaśīla, which he assumed to be a newly dead fresh corpse, used phowa to transfer his own mindstream into Kamalaśīla's body. Padampa Sangye's mindstream in Kamalaśīla's body continued the ascent to the Himalaya and thereby transmitted the Pacification of Suffering teachings and the Indian form of Chöd which contributed to the Mahamudra Chöd of Machig Labdrön. The mindstream of Kamalaśīla was unable to return to his own body and so was forced to enter the vacant body of Padampa Sangye.
Third Karmapa: systematizer of Chöd
Chöd was a marginal and peripheral sādhana, practiced outside traditional Tibetan Buddhist and Indian Tantric institutions with a contraindication as caveat of praxis upon all but the most advanced practitioners. Edou foregrounds the textual exclusivity and rarity of the early tradition. Indeed, due to the itinerant and nomadic lifestyles of practitioners, they could carry few texts. Hence they were also known as kusulu or kusulupa: that is, studying texts rarely whilst focusing on meditation and praxis:Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama, (1284–1339) was a very important systematizer of Chöd teachings and significantly assisted in their promulgation within the literary and practice lineages of the Kagyu
Kagyu
The Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
, Nyingma
Nyingma
The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...
and particularly Dzogchen. It is in this transition from the outer charnel ground
Charnel ground
Charnel ground is a very important location for sadhana and ritual activity for Indo-Tibetan traditions of Dharma particularly those traditions iterated by the Tantric view such as Kashmiri Shaivism, Kaula tradition, Esoteric Buddhism, Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Dzogchen, and the sadhana of Chöd, Phowa...
to the institutions of Tibetan Buddhism that the rite of the Chöd becomes more imaginal, an inner practice, that is, the charnel ground becomes an internal imaginal environment. Schaeffer conveys that the Third Karmapa was a systematizer of the Chöd developed by Machig Labdrön and lists a number of his works on Chöd consisting of redactions, outlines and commentaries amongst others:
Key elements of the Practice
Chöd literally means "cutting through". It cuts through hindrances and obscuration, sometimes called 'demons' or 'gods'. Examples of demons are ignoranceIgnorance
Ignorance is a state of being uninformed . The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult...
, anger
Anger
Anger is an automatic response to ill treatment. It is the way a person indicates he or she will not tolerate certain types of behaviour. It is a feedback mechanism in which an unpleasant stimulus is met with an unpleasant response....
and, in particular, the dualism
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
of perceiving the self as inherently meaningful, contrary to the Buddhist doctrine of no-self
Anatta
In Buddhism, anattā or anātman refers to the notion of "not-self." In the early texts, the Buddha commonly uses the word in the context of teaching that all things perceived by the senses are not really "I" or "mine," and for this reason one should not cling to them.In the same vein, the Pali...
. The practitioner is fully immersed in the ritual: "With a stunning array of visualizations, song, music, and prayer, it engages every aspect of one’s being and effects a powerful transformation of the interior landscape."
Dzogchen
Dzogchen
According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
forms of Chöd enable the practitioner to maintain primordial awareness
Rigpa
Rigpa is the knowledge that ensues from recognizing one's nature i.e. one knows that there is a primordial freedom from grasping his or her mind . The opposite of rigpa is marigpa ....
(rigpa) free from fear. Here, the Chöd ritual essentialises elements of phowa
Phowa
Phowa is a Vajrayāna Buddhist meditation practice...
, gaṇacakra
Ganachakra
A gaṇacakra is also known as tsog, gaṇapuja, cakrapuja or gaṇacakrapuja. It is a generic term for various tantric assemblies or feasts, in which practitioners meet to chant mantra, enact mudra, make votive offerings and practice various tantric rituals as part of a sadhana, or spiritual practice...
, pāramitā
Paramita
Pāramitā or pāramī is "perfection" or "completeness." In Buddhism, the pāramitās refer to the perfection or culmination of certain virtues...
and lojong
Lojong
Lojong is a mind training practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition based on a set of aphorisms formulated in Tibet in the 12th century by Geshe Chekhawa...
gyulu, kyil khor, brahmavihāra
Brahmavihara
The brahmavihāras are a series of four Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables...
, ösel
Ösel (yoga)
Ösel , the Yoga of the Clear Light Ösel (tib. hod-gsal; od gsal), the Yoga of the Clear Light Ösel (tib. hod-gsal; od gsal), the Yoga of the Clear Light (often translated as 'Radiant Light' (Sanskrit: prabhasvara), referring to the 'intrinsic purity' (Tibetan: ka-dag) of the substratum of the...
and tonglen
Tonglen
Tonglen is Tibetan for 'giving and taking' , and refers to a meditation practice found in Tibetan Buddhism.-Practice:...
.
Chöd usually commences with phowa
Phowa
Phowa is a Vajrayāna Buddhist meditation practice...
in which the practitioner visualises their mindstream
Mindstream
Mindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
as the five pure lights
Five Pure Lights
The Five Pure Lights are experiential manifestations in the Dzogchen tradition of Bön and Nyingma and are aspects of non-dual clarity and primordial luminosity of dharmakaya, kunzhi and/or emptiness...
leaving the body through the aperture of the sahasrara
Sahasrara
Sahasrara/ Sahastrara is the seventh primary chakra according to Hindu tradition.-Location:Sahasrara is either located at the top of the head in that one area, or a little way above it .-Appearance:Sahasrara is described with 1,000 multi-coloured petals which are arranged in 20 layers each of them...
at the top of the head. This is said to ensure psychic integrity of, and compassion for the practitioner of the rite
Sadhaka
A sādhaka is someone who follows a particular sādhana, or a way of life designed to realize the goal of one's ultimate ideal, whether it is merging with brahman or realization of one's personal deity. The word is related to the Sanskrit sādhu, which is derived from the verb root sādh-, to accomplish...
(sādhaka). In most versions of the sādhana, the mindstream precipitates into a tulpa
Tulpa
Tulpa is an upaya concept in Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, discipline and teaching tool. The term was first rendered into English as 'Thoughtform' by Evans-Wentz :...
simulacrum of the dākinī
Dakini
A dakini is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'. The dakini, in...
Vajrayoginī. In the body of enjoyment
Sambhogakaya
The Sambhogakāya is the second mode or aspect of the Trikaya. Sambhogakaya has also been translated as the "deity dimension", "body of bliss" or "astral body". Sambhogakaya refers to the luminous form of clear light the Buddhist practitioner attains upon the reaching the highest dimensions of...
attained through visualization, the sādhaka offers the ganacakra
Ganachakra
A gaṇacakra is also known as tsog, gaṇapuja, cakrapuja or gaṇacakrapuja. It is a generic term for various tantric assemblies or feasts, in which practitioners meet to chant mantra, enact mudra, make votive offerings and practice various tantric rituals as part of a sadhana, or spiritual practice...
of their own physical body, to the 'four' guests: Triratna, ḍākiṇīs, dharmapalas, beings of the bhavachakra
Bhavacakra
The bhavacakra is a symbolic representation of samsara found on the outside walls of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Indo-Tibet region...
, the ever present genius loci
Genius loci
In classical Roman religion a genius loci was the protective spirit of a place. It was often depicted in religious iconography as a figure holding a Cornucopia, patera and/or a snake. There are many Roman altars found in Western Europe dedicated in whole or in part to the particular Genius Loci...
and pretas. The rite may be protracted with separate offerings to each maṇḍala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
of guests, or significantly abridged. Many variations of the sādhana still exist.
Chöd, like all tantric systems, has outer, inner and secret aspects. They are described in an evocation
Evocation
Evocation is the act of calling or summoning a spirit, demon, god or other supernatural agent, in the Western mystery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions.-Evocation in the Western mystery tradition:...
sung to Nyama Paldabum by Milarepa
Milarepa
Jetsun Milarepa , is generally considered one of Tibet's most famous yogis and poets. He was a student of Marpa Lotsawa, and a major figure in the history of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.- Life :...
:
The Chöd is now a staple of the advanced sādhana of Tibetan Buddhist traditions. It is practiced worldwide following dissemination by the Tibetan diaspora
Tibetan diaspora
The Tibetan diaspora is a term used to refer to the communities of Tibetan people living outside Tibet. Tibetan emigration happened in two waves: one in 1959 following the 14th Dalai Lama's self-exile in India, and the other in the 1980s when Tibet was opened to trade and tourism. The third wave...
.
Western reports on Chöd practices
Chöd was mostly practised outside the Tibetan monastery system by chödpas, who were yogiYogi
A Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
s, yogiṇīs
Yogini
Yogini is the complete form source word of the masculine yogi- and neutral/plural "yogin." Far from being merely a gender tag to the all things yogi, "Yogini" represents both a female master practitioner of Yoga, and a formal term of respect for a category of modern female spiritual teachers in...
and ngagpa
Ngagpa
In Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, a Ngakpa is a non-monastic practitioner of Vajrayana, shamanism, Tibetan medicine, Tantra and Dzogchen amongst other traditions, disciplines and arts....
s rather than bhikṣus
Bhikkhu
A Bhikkhu or Bhikṣu is an ordained male Buddhist monastic. A female monastic is called a Bhikkhuni Nepali: ). The life of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis is governed by a set of rules called the patimokkha within the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline...
and bhikṣuṇīs
Bhikkhuni
A bhikkhuni or bhikṣuṇī is a fully ordained female Buddhist monastic. Male monastics are called bhikkhus. Both bhikkhunis and bhikkhus live by the vinaya...
. Because of this, material on Chöd has been less widely available to Western readers than some other tantric Buddhist practices. The first Western reports of Chöd came from a French adventurer who lived in Tibet, Alexandra David-Néel
Alexandra David-Néel
Alexandra David-Néel born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David was a Belgian-French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1924, when it was forbidden to foreigners...
in her travelogue Magic and Mystery in Tibet, published in 1932. Walter Evans-Wentz
Walter Evans-Wentz
Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz was an anthropologist and writer who was a pioneer in the study of Tibetan Buddhism.-Biography:...
published the first translation of a Chöd liturgy in his 1935 book Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines. Anila Rinchen Palmo translated several essays about Chöd in the 1987 collection Cutting Through Ego-Clinging. Giacomella Orofino's piece entitled "The Great Wisdom Mother" was included in Tantra in Practice in 2000 and in addition she published articles on Machig Labdrön in Italian.
See also
- BodymindBodymind (in meditation traditions)Bodymind is a compound of body and mind and may be used differently in different meditation traditions. These different understandings often inform each other.Buddhist philosopher, Herbert V...
- Cham DanceCham DanceThe cham dance , also spelled tscham or chaam, is a lively masked and costumed dance associated with some sects of Buddhism, and is part of Buddhist festivals. The dance is accompanied by music played by monks using traditional Tibetan instruments...
- Dampa SangyeDampa SangyeDampa Sangye Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye (Wylie: Dam pa sangs rgyas, (d.1117 (tib.: pha dam pa sangs rgyas)) often known as Pha Dhampa Sangye. or 'Father Dampa Sangye', was a Buddhist Mahasiddha of the Indian Tantric Movement who transmitted many teachings based on both Sutrayana and Tantrayana to...
- DhvajaDhvajaDhvaja , meaning banner or flag. The Dhvaja is comprised amongst the Ashtamangala, the 'eight auspicious symbols'.-In Hinduism:...
- Machig LabdronMachig LabdrönMachig Labdrön was a renowned 11th century Tibetan Tantric Buddhist practitioner and teacher....
- MindstreamMindstreamMindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
- Sky burialSky burialSky burial, or ritual dissection, is a funerary practice in Tibet, wherein a human corpse was incised in certain locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements and animals – especially to predatory birds. The locations of preparation and sky burial are understood in the...
- Tantra techniques (Vajrayana)Tantra techniques (Vajrayana)Tantra techniques in Vajrayana Buddhism are techniques used to attain Buddhahood. Vajrayana partially relies on various tantric techniques rooted in scriptures such as tantras and various tantric commentaries and treatises...
- Tsultrim AllioneTsultrim AllioneLama Tsultrim Allione is an author and teacher who has studied in the Tibetan Buddhist lineage. She was born in 1947 in Maine, in the United States, and given the name Joan Rousmanière Ewing. She first travelled to India and Nepal in 1967, returned in 1969 and in 1970 she became one of the first...
Primary Sources
- Machik Labdron: Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod (Tsadra Foundation), Snow Lion Publications (June 25, 2003), ISBN 1-55939-182-0 (10), ISBN 978-1-55939-182-5 (13), Translation by Sarah Harding (Review by Michelle Sorensen)
Secondary Sources
- Allione, TsultrimTsultrim AllioneLama Tsultrim Allione is an author and teacher who has studied in the Tibetan Buddhist lineage. She was born in 1947 in Maine, in the United States, and given the name Joan Rousmanière Ewing. She first travelled to India and Nepal in 1967, returned in 1969 and in 1970 she became one of the first...
(1984/2000). "The Biography of Machig Labdron (1055-1145)." in Women of Wisdom. Pp. 165–220. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-141-3 - Allione, Tsultrim (1998). "Feeding the Demons." in Buddhism in America. Brian D. Hotchkiss, ed. Pp. 344–363. Rutland, VT; Boston, MA; Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
- Benard, Elisabeth Anne (1990). "Ma Chig Lab Dron.” Chos Yang 3:43-51.
- Beyer, Stephen (1973). The Cult of Tara. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03635-2
- Harding, Sarah (2003). Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chöd. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-182-0
- Kollmar-Paulenz, Karenina (1998). “Ma gcig Lab sgrn ma—The Life of a Tibetan Woman Mystic between Adaptation and Rebellion.” The Tibet Journal 23(2):11-32.
- Orofino, Giacomella (2000). “The Great Wisdom Mother and the Gcod Tradition.” in Tantra in Practice. David Gordon White, ed. Pp. 396–416. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Stott, David (1989). “Offering the Body: the Practice of gCod in Tibetan Buddhism.” Religion 19:221-226.
- Lawrence, Leslie L. (2002) "Csöd" ISBN 963-8229-76-4
External links
- The Longchen Nyingthig Chöd Practice: "The Loud Laugh of the Dakini"
- Extract: Machik's Complete Explanation, Clariyfing the Meaning of Chod
- Review: Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod: A Complete Explanation of Casting Out the Body as Food
- Chö/Chöd - Lineages associated with Machig Labdrön
- Chod – The Introduction & A Few Practices
- His Eminence Khentin Tai Situ Rinpoche: An Introduction to Chod
- Chöd: An Advanced Type of Shamanism
- School of Tibetan Healing Chö
- Everyday Chöd
- The Merit of Practice in a Cemetery
- Kapala Training
- Lochen Chönyi Zangmo, Chod practitioner
- A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Yeshé Tsogyel