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| − | <poem>
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| − | Chöd (Tibetan: གཅོད, Wylie: gcod lit. 'to sever'[1]), is a spiritual practice found primarily in [[Tibetan Buddhism]]. Also known as "Cutting Through the Ego,"the practice is based on the [[Prajñā]]pāramitā [[Sutra]]. It combines [[Prajñā]]pāramitā philosophy with specific [[Meditation]] methods and a tantric ritual.
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| − | Chöd (Skt: ccheda-sadhana, Tib: gChod sgrub thabs). Chöd-practice, cutting through [[Delusion]]'s root, is haunting, strange and mysteriously beautiful all at the same time. This practice involves a whirling dance, accompanied by drum and [[Bell]]. Chöd is a special type of mysticism that unites shamanic practice with profound yogic [[Meditation]].
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| − | Chöd has long been a way of seeking direct and personal experiences of [[Mind]] and divinity outside of conventional and institutional frameworks.
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| − | In Chöd-practice, the yogi or yogini journeys into the night [[World]]— the dangerous regions of ghosts, spirits and the damned, to bless all souls lost for a time on the [[Wheel]] of existence. The selflessness of the practitioner's [[Compassion]], his or her contact with spirits of the other- [[World]], and the making of himself into a vehicle of [[Healing]], all tends to become a path for the hero to win the noetic [[Mind]]-Jewel of true [[Awakening]].
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| − | Chöd is a practice that combines Buddhist [[Meditation]] with ancient Tibeto-Siberian shamanic ritual. The "liturgy" of Chöd is sung to the accompaniment of drum, [[Bell]] and a thigh-bone horn. The word
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| − | "Chöd" means to cut through, to "chop," and what is chopped off is ultimately the Ego. Initially this begins with cutting all [[Attachment]] to the [[Body]] and to material things. When identification with the finite [[Mind]]-[[Body]] complex is let go of, then the pure awareness is set free to perceive reality as it really is. The whole [[World]] becomes potent as a place of [[Blessing]] [[Power]] and awareness.
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| − | Nomenclature, orthography and etymology
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| − | (Tibetan: གཅོད་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས་ gcod sgrub thabs; [[Sanskrit]]: छेद साधना cheda-sādhana; both literally "cutting practice"), pronounced chö (the d is silent).
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| − | Indian Antecedents
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| − | “ ...Chöd was never a unique, monolithic tradition. One should really speak of Chöd traditions and lineages since Chöd has never constituted a school. ”
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| − | A [[Form]] of Chöd was practiced in [[India]] by Buddhist mahāsiddhas, 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 Mahā[[Mudra]] Chöd lineages, as the Mother of Chöd. Chöd developed outside the monastic system. It was subsequently adopted by the four main schools of [[Tibetan Buddhism]].
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| − | 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".
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| − | Pa Dampa Sangye, the "Father" of Chöd
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| − | Pa Dampa Sangye was a dark skinned South Indian saddhu who lived in the eleventh century. He came to Tibet and introduced a system of [[Meditation]] called Zhi-jye, the pacification of [[Suffering]]. The Zhi-jye teachings are founded on the [[Doctrine]] of Transcendental [[Wisdom]] ([[Arya]]-[[Prajna]]-paramita) and [[Meditation]]. Dampa Sangye visited Tibet five times at widely spaced intervals and imparted teachings to disciples more numerous than all the stars visible in the night sky. He met with the poet-saint [[Milarepa]] toward the end of the latter's [[Life]].
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| − | Pa Dampa Sanggye is said, according to one tradition, to have been the [[Reincarnation]] of [[Bodhidharma]] (c. 560 AD) who introduced [[Zen]] [[Buddhism]] into China1. Another figure in history who is credited with representing an earlier lifetime of Padampa Sanggye is Kamalashila (c. 800 AD). Kamalashila was the [[Disciple]] of the learned sage Shantiraksita. After the [[Death]] of the latter, Kamalashila came to Tibet to carry on his master's work.
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| − | During Kamalashila's stay in Tibet a fierce debate grew up around a Chinese [[Monk]] named Hwa-shang [[Mahayana]], who was preaching very favorably amongst the Tibetan people. Hwa-shang represented the "Cittamatra" point of view, while Kamalashila taught the view known as "[[Madhyamaka]]-[[Yogacara]]." It is hard to know from the differing accounts exactly who "won" this debate, but it is said that after the debate the Chinese faction poisoned Kamalashila, and he died in Tibet. According to the Ri-tro Chos, or Hermitage Instructions, of [[Karma Chagme]], the [[Consciousness]] of Kamalashila was then reborn in the far south of [[India]] amongst the dark skinned Tamil people. He grew up to become a very saintly Tamil sage and saddhu. It was in this [[Form]] that he eventually returned to Tibet as the [[Wisdom]]-master "Father" Dampa Sanggye.
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| − | When Pa Dampa Sangye came to Tibet, he found the people in the county of Tingri, which is near Mt. Everest on the Tibetan side, to be especially amenable to his instruction. He therefore settled in Tingri and established a school of Yoga practice there. A young Tibetan woman named [[Machig Labdrön]] (1055-1153) was one of those who became his [[Disciple]].
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| − | Machig and her [[Guru]] Dampa Sangye are generally viewed as the founders of the Chöd system. However, it would appear that Chöd itself is a blending together of Pa Dampa Sangye's teachings and Machig's native inheritance. Pa Dampa Sangye taught Machig the rudiments of Mahamudra [[Meditation]]. Fairly soon after her meeting with Pa Dampa Sangye, the Tibetan woman [[Machig Labdrön]] went to live in Central Tibet, where she took up residence in a lonely cave and set herself to practice [[Meditation]].
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| − | Following her [[Guru]]'s instruction, she began by spending the first year completing the preliminary exercises (ngön-dro). Afterwards she went to a place called Zang-ri Khar-mar, which then became her residence for the rest of her [[Life]]. It was there that she developed Chöd as a definite system of practice.
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| − | Another leading [[Disciple]] of Pa Dampa Sangye was a Tibetan known as Kyton Sonam [[Lama]]. It was the latter who, we are told, would come and visit Machig
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| − | in her cave residence, and pass along further teachings from the [[Guru]] Dampa Sanggye to her. Through the interaction of these three, the Chöd system grew into an amazingly beautiful and profound method of spiritual development
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| − | Chödpa as Avadhūta
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| − | Sarat Chandra Das equated the Chöd practitioner (Tibetan: གཅོད་པ, Wylie: chod pa) with avadhūta:
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| − | "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]]."
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| − | NB: ¿ = kusulu or kusulupa ([[Sanskrit]]; Tibetan loanword) that is studying texts rarely whilst focusing on [[Meditation]] and praxis. Often used disparagingly by pandits.
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| − | 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:
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| − | "The Chö[d]pa's very lifestyle on the fringe of society - dwelling in the solitude of burial grounds and haunted places, added to the mad behavior and contact with the [[World]] of darkness and mystery - was enough for credulous people to view the Chödpa in a role usually attributed to shamans and other exorcists, an assimilation which also happened to medieval European shepherds. Only someone who has visited one of Tibet's charnel fields and witnessed the [[Offering]] of a corpse to the vultures may be able to understand the full impact of what the Chöd tradition refers to as places that inspire terror."
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| − | Chöd, combining Yoga and Shamanism
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| − | Chöd therefore is a subtle blend of the Buddhist path to [[Enlightenment]] (as represented by the Mahamudra-master Dampa Sanggye) brought from [[India]], and an ancient [[Form]] of Shamanic ritual (introduced by the woman [[Machig Labdrön]]) that was native to Tibet. It was the merging of these two streams which resulted in the actual emergence of Chöd as a practice used by yogins today, in their desire to gain [[Enlightenment]] by the shortest possible path.
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| − | Thus Chöd is a more advanced [[Form]] of shamanism, which has been raised to a higher level of perfection by [[Virtue]] of its blending together with the innermost teachings of Mahamudra.
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| − | Machig herself said: "My system of Chöd consists of the intrinsic teachings of Mahamudra. This Mahamudra cannot be explained in words. Yet, although it is beyond verbal expression, it may be indicated [by means of the symbolism of Chöd]."
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| − | Traditionally speaking, the path of yoga is a path of self-[[Mastery]] and the yogin is one, whether male or female, who aims for perfect [[Enlightenment]]. This is not a shamanic path.
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| − | The way of the shaman, on the other hand, has always been a path involving communion with other powers and spirits, and in many cases the attainment of [[Enlightenment]] may not be perceived as its goal at all. A shaman or shamaness, by definition (vide Prof. Hutton, Shamans, Hambledon & London, London 2001), is "someone who works with spirits to help others." The shaman channels these spirits, to accomplish definite ends, such as [[Healing]] or gaining access to [[Knowledge]] of some kind. But Chöd combines the path of [[Enlightenment]] and Shamanism into one
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| − | Iconography
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| − | In Chöd, the adept symbolically offers the flesh of their [[Body]] in a [[Form]] of gaṇacakra or tantric feast. Iconographically, 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.
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| − | Ritual objects
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| − | Practitioners of the Chöd ritual, Chödpa, use a kangling 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]].
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| − | 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]]:
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| − | The Kartika (Skt.) or curved knife symbolizes the cutting of conventional [[Wisdom]] by the ultimate [[Insight]] into [[Emptiness]]. It is usually present as a pair, together with the [[Skullcup]], filled with [[Wisdom]] nectar. On a more simple level, the skull is a reminder of (our) [[Impermanence]]. Between the knife and the handle is a makara-head, a mythical monster.
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| − | Bone ornaments
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| − | 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 mudrā, 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:
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| − | the [[Wheel]]-like[16] crown ornament (sometimes called "crown jewel"), symbolic of [[Akṣobhya]] and mirror-like pristine awareness
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| − | the earrings[19] representing [[Amitābha]] and the pristine awareness of discernment
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| − | the necklace[21] symbolizing Ratnasambhāva and the pristine awareness of total sameness
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| − | the bracelets[23] and anklets symbolic of Vairocāna and the pristine awareness of the ultimate dimension of [[Phenomena]]
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| − | the girdle[26] symbolizing [[Amoghasiddhi]] and the accomplishing pristine awareness
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| − | The sixth ornament sometimes referred to is ash from a [[Cremation]] ground smeared on the [[Body]].
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| − | Origins of the practice
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| − | Sources such as Stephen Beyer have described [[Machig Labdrön]] as the founder of the practice of Chöd. This is accurate in that she is the founder of the [[Tibetan Buddhist]] Mahamudrā Chöd lineages. [[Machig Labdrön]] is credited with providing the name "Chöd" and developing unique approaches to the practice.[30] 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]]'.
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| − | The transmission of Chöd to Tibet
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| − | There are several hagiographic accounts of how Chöd came to Tibet. One spiritual biography[32] 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.
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| − | This article/section is written like a an academic, not encyclopaedic account rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (February 2010)
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| − | Third [[Karmapa]]: systematizer of Chöd
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| − | 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:
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| − | The nonconventional attitude of living on the fringe of society kept the Chödpas aloof from the wealthy monastic institutions and printing houses. As a result, the original Chöd texts and commentaries, often copied by hand, never enjoyed any wide circulation, and many have been lost forever.
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| − | [[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[38] 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:
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| − | Rang byung was renowned as a systematizer of the Gcod teachings developed by Ma gcig lab sgron. His texts on Gcod include the Gcod kyi khrid yig; the Gcod bka' tshoms chen mo'i sa bcad which consists of a topical outline of and commentary on Ma gcig lab sgron's Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa zab mo gcod kyi man ngag gi gzhung bka' tshoms chen mo ; the Tshogs las yon tan kun 'byung ; the lengthy Gcod kyi tshogs las rin po che'i phrenb ba 'don bsgrigs bltas chog tu bdod pa gcod kyi lugs sor bzhag; the Ma lab sgron la gsol ba 'deb pa'i mgur ma; the Zab mo bdud kyi gcod yil kyi khrid yig, and finally the Gcod kyi nyams len.
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| − | Key elements of the Practice
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| − | Chöd literally means "cutting through". It cuts through hindrances and obscuration, sometimes called 'demons' or 'gods'. Examples of demons are [[Ignorance]], [[Anger]] and, in particular, the dualism of perceiving the self as inherently meaningful, contrary to the Buddhist [[Doctrine]] of no-self.[40] 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."
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| − | [[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]].
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| − | 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).[citation needed] In most versions of the sādhana, the [[Mindstream]] precipitates into a tulpa simulacrum of the dākinī Vajrayoginī. In the [[Body]] of enjoyment[44] 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.
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| − | Chöd, like all tantric systems, has outer, inner and secret aspects. They are described in an evocation sung to Nyama Paldabum by [[Milarepa]]:
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| − | External chod is to wander in fearful places where there are deities and demons. Internal chod is to offer one's own [[Body]] as [[Food]] to the deities and demons. Ultimate chod is to realize the true nature of the [[Mind]] and cut through the fine strand of [[Hair]] of subtle [[Ignorance]]. I am the yogi who has these three kinds of chod practice.
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| − | The Chöd is now a staple of the advanced sādhana of [[Tibetan Buddhist]] traditions. It is practiced worldwide following dissemination by the Tibetan diaspora.
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| − | Western reports on Chöd practices
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| − | Chöd was mostly practised outside the Tibetan [[Monastery]] system by chödpas, who were yogis, yogiṇīs and [[Ngagpas]] rather than bhikṣus and [[Bhikṣuṇī]]s. 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.
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| − | </poem>
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| − | {{R}}
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| − | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%B6d en.wikipedia.org]
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| − | [[Category:Buddhist Terms]]
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| − | [[Category:Tibetan Buddhism]]
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| − | [[Category:Vajrayana]]
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| − | [[Category:Tantras]]
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