Chöd

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Chöd
Tibetan: གཅོད།
Wylie: Gcod

Chöd (Skt: ccheda-sadhana, Tib: gChod sgrub thabs)[1] is a ritual practice belonging to the entwined traditions of certain Indian Tantric sects, the sadhana of a coterie of Mahasiddha, Bonpo and of particular Himalayan Buddhist Mantrayana lineages, orthographically represented variously as: Shee Ché, Shijed, Zibyed and Zhi-je (zhi-byed-pa) (Tibetan: ཞི་བྱེད།; Wylie: Zhi-byed) which may be rendered as "Pacifying Pain". The linguistic commonality and practical similarity of "Zhi-je" and Zhitro demonstrates their similar functionality.[citation needed] Chöd as a practice of consummate self-sacrifice which engenders a fearlessness and victory that are iconographically represented by the kartika[2] and the dhvaja, respectively.

Contents

[edit] Key elements of sadhana

Tibetan Board Carving of Varjayogini Dakini
Tibetan Board Carving of Varjayogini Dakini

To ensure psychic integrity of, and compassion to, the sadhaka, the Chöd always commences with phowa in which the mindstream of the practitioner is visualized as the Five Pure Lights leaving the body through the aperture of the Sahasrara. In most traditions and versions of the sadhana, the mindstream precipitates into a tulpa simulacrum of the dakini, Vajrayogini. In the sambhogakaya or 'imaginal' form (to employ Jean Houston's nomenclature) of Vajrayogini, the sadhaka then visualizes the ganachakra of their own kuten or physical basis, offering the sacrifice to the Four Guests: Triratna, dakinis, Dharmapalas, beings of the Bhavachakra, the ever present genius loci and pretas. The rite may be protracted, involving separate offerings to each mandala of guests, or significantly abridged. Many variations of the sadhana are extant.[3]

[edit] Exegesis

Chöd (literally "cutting through") is practiced as an upaya to cut through hindrances and obscurations (eg. karma, ignorance, anger), but in particular dualism of perceiving the Self as an individual, separate and independent identity to that of the Other) and allows the practitioner to abide in the natural state of rigpa free from fear. This expansive and inclusive view of the Self is what is denoted by pratitya-samutpada and is what in India is called ahamkara flayed by ātmayajña[4], rendered as "self-sacrifice" by Ananda Coomaraswamy. Chöd is a chthonic charnal ground sadhana that subsumes within its auspice elements of phowa, ganachakra, paramita, lojong[5] gyulu, kyil khor, brahmavihara, ösel and tonglen[6].

Sources describe this practice as if the adept is offering the flesh of their body[7], to be severed and cut to pieces and devoured by the gods, dæmons (asura) and wild animals, etc. The ritual is cognate with the prototypical initiation of a shaman though the attributed meaning may differ given tradition. This particular type of trance sadhana is held to be extremely challenging, potentially dangerous and even contraindicated for certain practitioners.[8]

Beyer (1973) holds that the founder of the practice of Chöd was Machig Labdrön, the consort of Padampa Sangye.[9] This is a misattribution. Machig Labdrön, provided the practice with its modern nomenclature of "Chöd", but the practice was transmitted to her via other confluent sources of the practice such as Mahasiddha and Tantric traditions.[10]

Chöd, like all tantric systems, has an outer, inner and secret aspects, as per the evocation or mantra that Milarepa sings to Nyama Paldabum:

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.[11]

The Chöd is now a staple of the senior sadhana of all the contemporary traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and due to the dissemination yielded by the Himalayan diaspora, practiced throughout the World.

[edit] Teaching story

There is a morality tale, allegory and teaching story inherent within the transmission of Chöd to Tibet that has been culturally remembered as a Cham Dance. In this sacred dance, Moheyan is generally depicted as of ample girth goaded by children.[12] Chöd is a product of both the Indian and Chinese transmissions of Buddhism into the Himalaya. For a discussion of the Dunhuang fulcrum of the entwined relationship of Chinese and Indian Buddhism refer van Schaik and Dalton (2004).[13]

For simplicity, the Indian tantric transmission may be characterized as "gradual" (Tibetan: rim gyis ‘jug pa; Chinese: tun-wu) and the Chinese Ch'an transmission may be characterized as "direct" (Tibetan: cig car gyi ‘jug pa; Chinese: chien-wu).[14] It needs to be emphasized that this neat dichotomy in characterization of these two approaches to the Dharma, is only valid for the historical context of the great debate between Kamalashila and Mo Ho Yen, arranged by Trisong Detsen and even then it is still open to dialectic. This debate has been named the "Council of Samye" by Giuseppe Tucci but is generally known as the "Council of Lhasa". According to the general Tibetan tradition, the two years of the debate transpired at Samye, a significant distance from Lhasa. According to the lore of the orthodox, prevailing Tibetan cultural tradition, Kamalashila, a mahapandita and scholar educated at Nalanda, advocated the "gradual" process to enlightenment; whereas, Mo Ho Yen, as a trance and meditation master advocated the "direct" awakening of original mind through the nirodha (Sanskrit) of discursive thought, the cessation of the mind of ideation. The historicity of this debate has been drawn into question by Gomez (1983)[15] and Ruegg (1992)[16] though this does not lessen its importance in defining the religious and cultural traditions of Tibet.[17] Kamalashila was very handsome and a great orator and historically "won" the debate: Though there are conflicting primary sources and secondary accounts.

As it may not be conclusively ascertained as to whether or not Kamalashila was vain, it is pointed that directly after this debate with Mo Ho Yen, as he was making his way down from the Himalaya to the Indian lowlands, he was incited to enact phowa and chodnatmak prakriya through compassionate duress, transferring his mindstream to animate a corpse polluted with contagion; and thereby, safely moving the hazard it presented. As the mindstream of Kamalashila was otherwise engaged, a Mahasidda by the name of Padampa Sangye came across the vacant kuten or "physical basis" of Kamalashila. Padampa Sangye, was not karmically blessed with an aesthetic corporeal form, and upon finding the very handsome and healthy empty body of Kamalashila, which he perceived as a newly dead fresh corpse, transferred his mindstream into Kamalashila's body. Padampa Sangye's mindstream in Kamalashila's body continued the ascent to the Himalaya and thereby transmitted the Chöd. The mindstream of Kamalashila upon endeavouring to return to his kuten was unable to do so and resorted by necessity to the vacant body of Padampa Sangye.[18] The mindstream of Padampa Sangye continued in this body, and it is in this body that the transmission of Chod was made to Machig Labdrön.[19]

[edit] Ritual objects

Practitioners of Tantric Chöd frequently use a Kangling (thighbone trumpet) and a Chöd drum, a hand drum similar to, but much larger than, a damaru. In a version of the Chöd sadhana of Jigme Lingpa from the Longchen Nyingtik terma, five ritual "stakes" (Tibetan: Phurba; Sanskrit: Vajrakilaya) are employed to demarcate the kyil khor of the offering and to affix the Five Wisdoms (Tibetan: ye shes lgna).[20] Endemic to the iconography of Chöd is the hooked knife or skin flail[21] (T: gri-gug, S: kartika), which is also evident throughout the iconography of the Indian religions.[22]

The polyvalent symbol and tantric tool and attribute of the mindstream that the kartika signifies is entwined with the skullcap, anitya and the makara:

The Kartika (Skt.) or curved knife symbolises the cutting of conventional wisdom by the ultimate insight into emptiness. Is 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.[23]


[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Source: [1] (accessed: November 1, 2007)
  2. ^ For a representation of the kartika refer attribute held in Vajrayogini's right iconographically known as the upaya hand within the Image: Tibetan Board Carving of Varjayogini Dakini.
  3. ^ Source: [2] (Monday, November 5, 2007)
  4. ^ Ātmayajña is a conjunction of atman and yajna.
  5. ^ Thrangu, Khenchen & Klonk, Christoph (translator) & Hollmann, Gaby (editor and annotator)(2006). Chod – The Introduction & A Few Practices. Source: [3] (accessed: November 2, 2007)
  6. ^ Jigme Lingpa (revealed; undated); Liljenberg, Karen (translator; 2006). The Longchen Nyingthig Chöd Practice "The Loud Laugh of the Dakini". Source: [4] (accessed: December 13, 2007)
  7. ^ The iconographic signification of their corporeal form is often represented as skin (the obscuration, surface reality or [[Maya (illusion)|]]) flailed from the bones and skeletal structure (the the deep, underlying true reality, the Divine Mindstream).
  8. ^ Eliade (1989)
  9. ^ Beyer (1973)
  10. ^ Thrangu, Khenchen & Klonk, Christoph (translator) & Hollmann, Gaby (editor and annotator)(2006). Chod – The Introduction & A Few Practices. Source: [5] (accessed: November 2, 2007)
  11. ^ Thrangu, Khenchen & Klonk, Christoph (translator) & Hollmann, Gaby (editor and annotator)(2006). Chod – The Introduction & A Few Practices. Source: [6] (accessed: November 2, 2007)
  12. ^ An iconographic thangka depiction of Moheyan is held in the SAMA collection and may be seen here [7] (accessed: January 14, 2008)
  13. ^ van Schaik, Sam and Dalton, Jacob (2004). "Where Chan and Tantra Meet: Buddhist Syncretism in Dunhuang" in Whitfield, Susan (ed) (2004). The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith. London: British Library Press. 61–71.
  14. ^ van Schaik, Sam (2007). The Great Perfection and the Chinese Monk: rNyingmapa defences of Hwashang Mahāyāna in the Eighteenth Century. Source: [8] (accessed: January 14, 2007)
  15. ^ Gomez, Luis O. (1983). "The Direct and Gradual Approaches of Zen Master Mahāyāna: Fragments of the Teachings of Moheyan" in: Gimello, Robert M. and Peter N. Gregory (eds), Studies in Chan and Hua-yen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press: 393–434.
  16. ^ Ruegg, D. Seyfort (1992). Buddha-nature, Mind and the Problem of Gradualism in a Comparative Perspective: On the Transmission and Reception of Buddhism in India and Tibet. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
  17. ^ van Schaik, Sam (2007). The Great Perfection and the Chinese Monk: rNyingmapa defences of Hwashang Mahāyāna in the Eighteenth Century. Source: [9] (accessed: January 14, 2007)
  18. ^ Thrangu, Khenchen & Klonk, Christoph (translator) & Hollmann, Gaby (editor and annotator)(2006). Chod – The Introduction & A Few Practices. Source: [10] (accessed: November 2, 2007)
  19. ^ Source: [11] (Thursday, November 5, 2007)
  20. ^ Jigme Lingpa (revealed; undated); Liljenberg, Karen (translator; 2006). The Longchen Nyingthig Chöd Practice "The Loud Laugh of the Dakini". Source: [12] (accessed: December 13, 2007)
  21. ^ For a related iconographic tradition of "flail" refer: Flail (agriculture). A "flail" is an agricultural tool used for threshing, to separate grains from their husks. Similarly, the Kartika is employed to separate the bodymind from the mindstream.
  22. ^ Source: [13]; accessed: November 5, 2007.
  23. ^ Authorship unattributed (2006). Tantric Symbols. Source: [14] (accessed: November 9, 2007)

[edit] References

[edit] Primary

  • Jigme Lingpa (revealed; undated); Liljenberg, Karen (translator; 2006). The Longchen Nyingthig Chöd Practice "The Loud Laugh of the Dakini". Source: [15] (accessed: December 13, 2007)

[edit] Secondary

  • Allione, Tsultrim (1984/2000). "The Biography of Machig Labdron (1055-1145)." in Women of Wisdom. Pp. 165-220. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1559391413
  • 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 0520036352
  • Harding, Sarah (2003). Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chöd. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1559391820
  • 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.
  • Eliade, Mircea (1989), " Histoire des croyances et des idées religieuses" Tome 3., § 316, Ed. Payot. ISBN 28881600
  • Thrangu, Khenchen & Klonk, Christoph (translator) & Hollmann, Gaby (editor and annotator)(2006). Chod – The Introduction & A Few Practices. Source: [16] (accessed: November 2, 2007)
  • Gyatso, Janet (2006). A Partial Genealogy of the Lifestory of Yeshé Tsogyel. Harvard University. JIATS, no. 2 (August 2006), THDL #T2719, 27 pp. Source: [17] (accessed: November 16, 2007)

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