Chöd!!! - Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center...
Transcript of Chöd!!! - Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center...
Chöd
Definition: Tibetan: to sever, is a spiritual practice found primarily in Tibetan Buddhism. Also known as "Cutting Through the Ego," the practice is based on the Prajñāpāramitā or "Perfection of Wisdom" sutras that expound the "emptiness" concept of Buddhist philosophy. According to Mahayana Buddhists, emptiness is the ultimate wisom of understanding that all things lack inherent existence. Chod combines prajñāpāramitā philosophy with specific meditation methods and tantric ritual. The chod practitioner seeks to tap the power of fear through activities such as rituals set in graveyards, and visualisation of offering their bodies in a tantric feast in order to put their understanding of emptiness to the ultimate test. Background: A form of Chöd was practiced in India by Buddhist mahāsiddhas (meditators with superior powers), prior to the 10th Century. However, Chöd as practiced today developed from the entwined traditions of the early Indian tantric practices transmitted to Tibet and the Bonpo (indigenous religious of Tibet) and Tibetan Buddhist lineages. Chöd developed outside the monastic system. It was subsequently adopted by the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Practice: 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 tantric feast. The purpose of the practice is to engender a sense of victory and fearlessnes. The practitioner may cultivate imaginary fearful or painful situations since they help the
practitioner's work of cutting through attachment to the self. Machig Labdrön said: "To consider adversity as a friend is the instruction of Chöd". In Chöd, the practitioner symbolically offers the flesh of his/her body in a form of gaṇacakra or tantric feast. Symbolically, 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. Traditionally, Chöd is regarded as challenging, potentially dangerous and inappropriate for some practitioners.
Founder of Chöd: Machig Labdrön, a great Tibetan Yogini, is considered the founder of the practice of Chöd in the Tibetan tradition. Machig Labdrön is credited with providing the name "Chöd" and developing unique approaches to the practice.
As a symbol, Machig Labdrön is often depicted with the attributes of a dakini, a representation of enlightened female energy. She holds a drum in her right hand and a bell in her left. Her right leg is often lifted and the standing left leg is bent in motion. Symbolically, Machig is white in color with three eyes and wears the Six Bone Ornaments of the charnel grounds, which is traditional for a practicing yogini. Dakinis wear 5 bone ornaments; they are themselves the wisdom pāramitā.
According to tradition, it was the great Indian Yogi, Mönlam Drub's mindstream which entered the womb of Bum Cham ("Great Noble Woman"), who lived in the area of Labchi Eli Gangwar in Tibet, which caused the birth of Machig. According to the biography of Machig that appears in Tsultrim Allione's work Women of Wisdom, her mother experienced auspicious dreams of dakinis shortly after conception.
As a child and young woman, Machig made a living as a liturgy reader. She was fortunate to be literate and patrons would hire her to read the Prajnaparamita Sutra or 'The Perfection of Wisdom', a Mahayana Sutra, in their homes as a form of blessing and to gain merit. Machig was known to be a fast reader and so was in much demand as this meant that she could complete the entire text quickly and her patrons would have to pay for fewer meals for her while she read.
The Secret Biography of Machig Labdron relates the struggles that she underwent in order to avoid traditional marriage and eventually left home to practice the Dharma as her life's calling. After leaving the monastic order in Yuchong, she married Indian Pandita Topa Draya, also a Buddhist practitioner, who supported Machig in her practices. Together, they had two sons and one daughter (or three sons and two daughters by some accounts).
Some say that Machig received instructions from Pha Dampa Sangye, the reincarnation of Padmasambhava which led to profound realizations. However, for several years Machig's main practice was one of tantric union with her spiritual consort and husband, Topabhadra, an emanation of Buddha Shakyamuni (according to a prediction given to Machig by Arya Tara), with whom she raised a family, living the "Red & White essence."
As written above, athough Machig spent some time living with monastics, she was not a celibate nun; she partnered and had both daughters and sons who became lineage holders. One of her sons even started out as a thief. Machig was eventually able to bring him to the Dharma and became his teacher: "You may think that Gods are the ones who give you benefits, and Demons cause damage; but it may be the other way round. Those who cause pain teach you to be patient, and those who give you presents may keep you from practising the Dharma. So it depends on their effect on you if they are Gods or Demons," she said. Machig also had female disciples and the four main women disciples were called Machig's Gyen, or Ornaments.