Chöd Practice and the Hero’s Journey
Have you tried the practice of Chöd, which combines Buddhist meditation with ancient Tibeto-Siberian shamanic ritual?
Understanding the Chöd Practice
By Mark Stavish
Our heroes are comparable to ancient yogis and Chöd practitioners, going to extremes at high risk to their sanity—as well as to life and limb. Like Odin, they suffer for their knowledge; like Christ, they give their flesh and blood for the salvation of others. They travel in the dark and haunted places, the modern equivalent of the Indian and Tibetan carnal grounds. Their weapon of choice is the blade and fire, be it a silver-bladed knife, hatchet, sword of St. Michael, or machete; often, decapitation is the means of liberating oneself from the oppressive demons being confronted. Fire burns away the roots of attachments for the hungry ghosts they encounter, and whiskey or beer, the offerings given in the Dharmapalas (Tibetan: “Guardians of the Tradition”), is the alcohol of choice.
Chöd has long been a way of seeking direct and personal experiences of mind and divinity outside of conventional and institutional frameworks.
In Chöd practice, the yogi [male] or yogini [female] journeys into the night world – the dangerous region 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 tend to become a path for the hero to win the noetic Mind-Jewel of true awakening.
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 thigh-bone horn. The word “Chöd” means to cut through, to “chop,” and what is chopped is ultimately the Ego. Initially, this begins with cutting all attachments 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 knowledge.
Also, read Chöd: An Advanced Type of Shamanism” from the Dharma Fellowship, Library
Deepening into the Chöd Concept
Chöd is a Tibetan word that means “cut or shorten.” According to the Dzogchen teachings, the practice of Chöd means “to cut completely” or “to cut at once.” With Chöd’s practices, we are instantly and directly cutting ignorance, the main cause of our unhappiness. “Cutting through,” i.e., severing erroneous concepts about the world of appearances and all illusions regarding the existence of a personal self. The practice of Chöd is an advanced skillful method that enables practitioners to become free of clinging to false notions and beliefs regarding the inherent existence of appearances and experiences and therefore of an individual self. Attachment and clinging to self-care forces that give rise to the defilements, which are the source of anguish and pain. Chöd is the practice that enables disciples to understand the emptiness of all appearances that are fit to arise and therefore can be apprehended. It is an exceptional practice.
One needs to eradicate unfavorable delusions and hindrances and accomplish favorable conditions to realize and manifest perfect awakening. Adverse conditions are all harmful habits that conceal the pure vision of reality. There are three types of unfavorable conditions: (1) delusions caused by past evil deeds, (2) delusions that are present and manifest as disturbing and therefore harmful emotions and (3) the illusion of not knowing the true nature of all things. These delusions need to be purified. Furthermore, a disciple needs to accumulate favorable conditions, accomplished by practicing the six paramitas. The six paramitas that bodhisattva practices to achieve the highest goal of awakening are generosity, ethical conduct, patience, joyful endeavor, meditation, and wisdom-awareness. The first paramita (“perfection”) is transcendent giving that dissipates scarcity and wants that beings living in poverty endure. General generosity is giving clothes, food, medicine and other everyday necessities to those who are destitute.
Note: To practice Chöd, the sincere disciple must have received transmission and permission from an authentic lineage-holder. The transmission is a spiritual blessing that is passed down in an unbroken lineage, and as such protects the student on this quite advanced path of practice. By Kenneth F. Thornton II
You will also enjoy How to Practice Emotional Clearing
