Chod as a tantric practice consists of the following essential ingredients:
A. The Blessing of the Lineage
In
Tantric Buddhism lineage, meaning an unbroken line of proper
transmissions of the teachings, is essential to practice and
realization. This is because what is transmitted is not just the words
but something spiritual and special. Through proper transmissions the
blessings of all the generations of teachers are bestowed on the
disciples. Without such blessings no one can even enter the invisible
gate of Tantra. Tantric practices without the blessing of lineage may
be likened to automobiles out of gas.
In Tantric Buddhism
lineage is always emphasized and the teachers are revered as the root
of blessings. In Sutra-yanas the importance of lineage is often
overlooked by scholars who lack interest in practice and ordinary
Buddhist followers. This is probably the main reason why in Tantric
Buddhism blessings can often be directly sensed by practitioners while
in Sutra-yanas such experiences are less frequently encountered.
All
tantric practices derive their special effectiveness from the blessing
that is transmitted through the lineage. In the case of Chod, the
blessing from Machig Labdron is the source of such blessings. All other
teachers that form the various lineages of Chod are also indispensable
to the continuation of these lineages; without their accomplishments
and devoted services to the Dharma, the teachings would not be still
available today. Therefore, we should remember their grace and always
hold them in reverence.
To a practitioner who is fortunate
enough to have received the blessings of a lineage, the meaning of
lineage becomes his devotion, with all his heart and soul, to carry on,
to preserve and transmit the teachings for all generations (of
disciples, the real beneficiaries,) to come.
B. The Wisdom of Recognition and Transformation
Self-clinging
is the fundamental hindrance to Enlightenment and the fundamental cause
of transmigration in samsara. Although it is the main obstacle for a
Buddhist practitioner to eradicate, its subtle nature and elusive ways
are beyond easy comprehension. Even the very attempt to attack or
reduce self-clinging might very well be indeed an expression of
egocentrism, if the motive is limited to self-interest. Facing the
dilemma of an invisible enemy who is possibly lurking behind one's
every move, it amounts to an almost impossible task! Thanks to the
wisdom insight of Machig Labdron, the root of self-clinging has been
singled out to be the body. Once this is made clear, and the body being
a concrete object, the remaining task is much simpler, though not
easier.
According to the wisdom insight of Machig Labdron, the
real demons are everything that hinders the attainment of liberation.
Keeping this wisdom insight in mind, on one hand, all judgments based
on personal preferences and interests should be given up, and on the
other hand, all obstacles and adversaries could be transformed by one's
efforts into helping hands on the path toward liberation. For example,
a gain could be a hindrance to liberation if one is attached to it,
while an injury could be a help to liberation if one uses it to
practice tolerance, forgiveness and compassion.
Applying this
wisdom insight to the root of self-clinging, the body, Machig Labdron
formulated the visualization of Chod, and thereby transformed the root
of hindrance into the tool for attaining compassion and liberation.
C. Impermanence and Complete Renunciation
The
body is the very foundation of our physical existence. Even after it
has been recognized to be the root of self-clinging, it is still very
difficult to see how to treat it to bring about spiritual transcendence
and liberation. Destroying the body would certainly end the possibility
of further spiritual advancement in this life but not necessarily the
self-clinging. The fact that beings are transmigrating from life to
life attests to this. Ascetic practices may temporarily check the grip
of physical desires over spiritual clarity and purity, but
transcendence depending on physical abuse can hardly be accepted as
genuine liberation. The Buddha had clearly taught that the right path
is the middle one away from the extremes of asceticism and hedonism.
A
fundamental and common approach of Buddhist teachings is to remind
everyone of the fact of Impermanence. All things are in constant
changes, even though some changes are not readily recognizable. The
change from being alive to dead could occur at any moment and could
happen in just an instant. Keeping impermanence in mind, one can
clearly see that all our attachments to the body are based primarily on
wishful thinking. To be ready for and able to transcend the events of
life and death one needs to see in advance that all worldly
possessions, including the body, will be lost sooner or later. Hence, a
determination to renounce all worldly possessions is the first step
toward spiritual awakening and liberation. Chod as a Buddhist practice
is also based on such awareness of impermanence and complete
renunciation. In fact, many Chodpas adopt not just the ritual practice
but also a way of life that exemplifies such awakening. Many Chodpas
are devout beggars or wondering yogis who stay only in cemeteries or
desolate places and do not stay in one place for more than seven
consecutive days.
The offering of the body through visualization
in a Chod ritual is an ingenious way to counter our usual attitude
toward the body; instead of possession, attachment, and tender, loving
care, the ritual offers new perspectives as to what could happen to the
body as a physical object and thereby reduces the practitioners'
fixation with the body, enlarge their perspectives, and help them to
appreciate the position of the body on the cosmic scale. Chodpas would
fully realize that the body is also impermanent, become free from
attachment to it, and ready to renounce it when the time comes. When
one is ready to renounce even the body, the rest of the worldly
possessions and affairs are no longer of vital concern, only then can
one make steadfast advancement on the quest for Enlightenment.
D. Bodhicitta
Machig
Labdron emphasizes that the offering of the body in Chod practice is an
act of great compassion for all beings, especially toward the
practitioner's creditors and enemies. Great compassion knows no
partiality, hence the distinction of friends and foes, or relatives and
strangers does not apply. Great compassion transcends all attachments
to the self, hence all one's possessions, including the body, may be
offered to benefit others. In every act of visualized offering of the
bodily parts, the practitioner is converting an unquestioned attachment
into an awaken determination to sacrifice the self for the benefit of
all. In short, this is the ultimate exercise in contemplating complete
self-sacrifice for achieving an altruistic goal.
Chod is a
practice that kills two birds with one stone. On one hand, the
attachment to the body and self would be reduced through the visualized
activity of dismemberment; on the other hand, the visualized practice
of satisfying all beings, especially one's creditors and enemies,
through the ultimate and complete sacrifice of one's body would nurture
one's great compassion. When the attachment is weakened, the wisdom of
non-self would gradually reveal itself. Consequently, Chod develops
wisdom and compassion simultaneously in one practice; or to put it in
another way, Chod is a practice that nurtures the unification of wisdom
and compassion.
In Buddhism Bodhicitta refers to the ultimate
unification of wisdom and compassion, the Enlightenment, and to the
aspiration of achieving it. Therefore, we may say that Chod stems from
the Bodhicitta of Machig Labdron, guides practitioners who are with
Bodhicitta through the enactment of Bodhicitta, and would mature them
for the attainment of Bodhicitta.
Only when one is completely
devoted to the service of all sentient beings can one gain complete
liberation from self-centeredness. Just as a headlong plunge takes a
diver off the board, complete devotion to Dharma and complete
attainment of liberation happens simultaneously. Only when
considerations involving oneself is eradicated, will an act in the name
of the Dharma become indeed an act of Bodhicitta, of Enlightenment.
Developing Bodhicitta in place of self-centeredness is the effective
and indispensable approach to liberation from self, and Chod is the
epitome of this approach.
E. Meditation Stability and Visualization
The
visualization practice of Chod is not an act of imagination. Were it
just imagining things in one's mind, there is no guarantee that such
practice would not drive one insane. To practice Chod properly one
should have some attainment of meditation stability so that the
visualizations are focused and not mixed with delusive and scattered
thoughts or mental images. Indeed, Chod should be practiced as akin to
meditation in action.
To be free from attachments to the body,
we have seen above that destroying or abusing it would not do. It is
the great ingenuity of Machig Labdron to recognize that attachments
being mental tendencies can be properly corrected by mental
adjustments. Visualizations performed by practitioners with meditation
stability could have the same or even stronger effects as real
occurrences. Furthermore, visualizations can be repeated over and over
again to gradually overcome propensities until their extinction.
Using
visualization in Chod practices the body remains intact and serves as a
good foundation for the practitioner's advancement on the path to
Enlightenment, while the attachment to the body and all attachments
stemming from it are being chopped down piece by piece.
Visualizations
performed in meditation stability is a valid way of communication with
the consciousness of beings who are without corporeal existence. Hence
Chod visualizations as performed by adepts are real encounters of the
supernatural kind. They could yield miraculous results such as healing
of certain ailments or mental disorders that are caused by ghosts or
evil spirits, and exorcism that restores peace to a haunted place.
The
five essential ingredients as stated and explained above constitute the
key to the formulation of Chod as a Buddhist tantric practice. A
thorough understanding of the significance of these essentials is both
a prerequisite to and a fruit of successful Chod practices.
3. The Benefits of Chod Practice
Enlightenment
is of course the ultimate goal of Chod practice. Machig Labdron
revealed her vast spiritual experiences by indicating signs of various
stages of realization in Chod. These teachings are still well preserved
in Chod traditions. Through the References listed at the end of this
work serious readers may find some of these teachings.
In
addition to the fruits of realization as indicated above and the
application of spiritual power to healing and exorcism as mentioned
earlier, there are other benefits that may be derived from Chod
practice. Chod practice can help booster the courage and determination
to devote one's whole being to practice, beyond considerations of
physical well-being and life, thereby achieving complete renunciation
and significant realization. Chod practice could help total removal of
subconscious hindrances that are most difficult to become aware of
because these would surface only when challenged by grave situations
like dismemberment.
In a dream state I sensed the relaxing
effect of Chod; those joints of my body that were tense became relaxed
when a curved knife cut through them. The tension in our mind is
enhanced by our underlying concept of the body. By removing the mental
image of the body through Chod the tension is reduced. The natural
state of one's body exists before the arising of concepts, and hence,
to return to it one needs to transcend the grip of conceptuality.
Many
kinds of death are horrible to normal thinking; through practicing Chod
it is possible to go beyond attachment to physical existence, and have
enough spiritual experiences to understand that whatever the manner of
death may be they are just different ways to exit from the physical
existence. Such a broad perspective would enable one to remain serene
in facing unthinkable tragedies. Such an understanding would make it
easier to tolerate, forgive and forgo vengeance.