Chod Cutting Through the Veil

Cutting Through the Veil

In the late 11th century in Tibet the Buddhist Master and Yogini Machik Labdron set in motion a system of spiritual practice and meditation that would become one of the main systems of practice within the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism; but beyond that, it rippled all the way through time, becoming one of the most profound and loved spiritual systems within Vajrayana Buddhism in the world today - the system of Severance, or Chod.

Even though Machik was the source and origin of this system, its principles are deeply rooted in the Prajnaparamita Sutras and pull together all the main threads of the Dharma, from the Mahayana to Mahamudra and Dzogchen, woven into an elegant, provocative and profound system of practice. This is reflected in Machik's own words:

The middle or center of mind itself unites all phenomena. If one knows the center of mind [i.e., when one realizes the heart or ultimate nature], that alone guarantees that one knows the center of all phenomena. Accordingly, my tradition is the Great Middle Way. The fruit of my tradition is the great perfection of all phenomena, for all apparent phenomena of samsara and nirvana can only be perfected in the mind. In this way, if one knows how to accomplish the ultimate meaning of mind itself, that guarantees one's knowledge of the meaning of the perfection of all phenomena, in other words the Great Perfection (Dzogchen).

Beyond the extensive philosophical explanations found throughout the Buddhist teachings there are always those who feel the call towards the direct approach, the taste of the experience, the direct and unmediated connection with the fabric of being. It is within this realm that the Chod system and its practitioners move most comfortably. Within the tradition of Machik the fullness of the Dharma finds itself laid bare within a narrative that brings together the path of liberation and all relative aspects of the human condition - the good, the bad, the great and the ugly - all the confusions, problems, obstacles, pains and sorrows, but also the pleasures, desires and hopes. All of these are pulled together, invited over and released into the great space of the ultimate nature. Awakening, the direct knowing of our true nature, which is often compared to seeing the sun as the clouds dissipate, is none other than the basic condition of the mind itself, and in this sense there is nothing new to attain, it is only the mist and cloudiness of the conventional mind that seems to obscure the natural condition. Machik's words illustrate this in her own system:

That mind of awakening did not arise from a cause in the first place, nor was it generated by conditions in the middle, and in the end it is without birth, destruction, and transition. Since it is free of all recognizable essence, it is impossible to demonstrate any particular characteristic [of mind]. Natural clarity without concepts about that clarity, it is unconditional meaning. You must know that it is only this in itself. (...) Know that whatever sense perceptions appear in your mind—pleasant and unpleasant, fine and faulty, praiseworthy and blameworthy, good and bad, existent and nonexistent, happy and sad, hostile and friendly, wealth and junk, self and other, hopes and fears, pure and defiled, fear and anxiety—whatever arises is all your own mind. When you rest within the great self-liberated, unsupported mind, everything becomes inseparable. If that much happens, all dualistic appearance will be cut off in the nondual.

One of the key aspects of the yoga of Chod is the way the principles of good and evil are used, re-framed and re-contextualized again and again in multiple layers of meaning and application, all the way through to the ground itself, Prajnaparamita, the great perfection, the primordial purity; or in other words, the principles of good and evil are re-worked again and again until they are transcended and liberated into the fundamental primordial state. In the Chod texts the words 'demons', 'devils' and 'gods' are used repeatedly, and in studying the system of Chod to its full extend many different layers of meaning would be revealed to the yogi who walks this incredible path, however in general as Machik herself explains in one of her teachings from the point of view of the system of Chod the most fundamental aspect that is named a 'devil' is self-grasping, or the erroneous belief and fixation in a truly existent entity that is the 'self'; not only the 'I' of ourselves as a truly existing and autonomous entity, but the status of entity of all phenomena.

A devil is anything that obstructs the achievement of freedom. . . . Most of all, there is no greater devil than this fixation to a self. So until this ego-fixation is cut off, all the devils wait with open mouths. For that reason, you need to exert yourself at a skillful method to sever the devil of ego-fixation."

Machik's Severance tradition stands as a complete path to total awakening, it is all encompassing, profound and rich. In fact it is part of an individual 'chariot' within the Tibetan system. In the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism eight great 'chariots', or systems of the practice lineage, are listed. They are: Nyingma system from Padmasambhava and Shantarakstita from the early period; Kadam from Atisha; Lamdre from Virupa; Marpa Kagyu; Shangpa Kagyu from Niguma; the Kalachakra system; Pacification of suffering and Severance from Padampa Sangye and Machik respectively; and finally the three vajras systems from Orgyen Rinchen pal. Often perhaps we see Chod treated as just 'another practice' from within the vast repertoire found in the Vajrayana system; and often it is equated with just the outer ritual aspect, just another practice to chant and so on - however that is not the case at all as it should become clear from this short article. To engage in the path of Severance is to dive head first into a whirlpool created by all the emotional and mental movements that project the perceived reality, and it is also discover a comprehensive, extensive and extremely practical system of meditation and spiritual practice that goes far far beyond the mere outer aspects of its most often recognized 'drum and bone trumpet' outer practice.

Its important to understand that Chod is not about some ritual practice and playing the drum. Unfortunately very often when we hear about Chod these days that is all that is meant, the outer ritual sadhana. But that is not real Chod, or at least not complete. The 'real' system and practice of severance comes from the teachings of Machik and its the most important part, much more important than the chanting and the ritual. What we could call 'inner chod'. These days it seems not many people delve into the depths of Chod and are content with the outer ritual, perhaps this article will stimulate the interest and remind those that feel the importance of this teachings to thrive and continue to learn further, and to understand that the outer ritual is of secondary importance in relation to the actual 'teachings of chod'.

Even though as a system Chod stands by itself, we can find several of its key principles in the Sutras and older Indian texts. For example in the Lalitavistara Sutra a short passage illustrates this principle by pointing out that dependent arising, as emptiness, in the sense that as all phenomena are dependently arisen they are without intrinsic self-entity, and that such a realization leads to a spacious mind beyond fixations and conceptual biases, a mind that abides beyond the extremes of eternalism or nihilism, and in such a mind all appearances of conventional phenomena would naturally lose their status as either something to fear or something to desire:

upon seeing that dependently arisen phenomena are without their own entities One is endowed with the space-like mind and Is not moved by seeing the demons and their hosts."

In this reference the context is that of the realization of interdependent arising, which means the realization of the ultimate nature of phenomena, emptiness, or the Prajnaparamita. Within the vast spacious and liberated condition of the ultimate nature, the space-like mind, one is not obstructed by afflictions, disturbing emotions, grasping or self-clinging. In an important text from Aryadeva the Bhramin named the Esoteric Teachings on the practice of Prajnaparamita, it says:

To sever the root of mind itself,
And sever roots of five toxic emotions
And sever extreme views, disturbed meditation,
And hopes and fears about results in activity
To sever all inflation (ego) That is the definition of severance.

And Machik herself defines her system of practice in the following way:

Oh, noble child, everything is severing the mind. As for the mind, it is severing arrogance [self-grasping]. There is nothing whatsoever that is not included in arrogance. If one simply understands that it is merely the production of arrogance [self-grasping] , then, for example, one is like a thief in an empty house: by simply recognizing [the situation], grasping is impossible. Having correctly understood, there is no practice with an intentional objective. Because it crushes any hesitations , it is explained as Chöd. [note: the term arrogance is used to indicate clinging to a truly existent Self]

The continuous use of the most basic and raw of emotional disturbances becomes the fuel for this incredible path, because it is by facing the most basic of emotions - Fear and Hope, grasping and rejection - that it is possible to pierce directly through the veil of confusion that obscures the sun of our own true nature. In this way fear and rejection are the most fundamental meaning of the word demon, while hope and desire are truly the gods that allure us. Machik expresses this every elegantly in the following words:

The root devilry is one’s own mind. The devil lays hold through clinging and attachment in the cognition of whatever objects appear. Grasping mind as an object is corruption. Apart from being products of naturally arising mind, fixating on good gods as gods, fixating on bad demons as demons, and all thought-provoking mental hopes and fears are one’s own devils rising up to oneself."

This continuous reframing of the notions of 'god' and 'demon' in multiple layers of meaning touches deeply within the person's mind and personal world, and takes the practice of Chod into the depths of one's own conditioning, obstacles, all the way through to the root - self-grasping. As a system of practice, a path, Chod brings together the profound view, being that of Prajnaparamita or Dzogchen, and the conduct of skillful means of Vajrayana. Jigme Lingpa in the introduction to his Chod liturgy writes:

Nature Great Completion [Dzogchen Treckcho] Cuts at the root to the single ground, so it transcends cutter and cut. However for those who require elaboration in style and who would make a path of the conduct of yogic activity I show the foremost instructions for Severance.

As a way to approach the Buddhist path, Chod is an incredible journey with its own very unique flavor. The constant provocative exploration of all the layers of 'gods' and 'demons' that make up our perceived inner and outer world is a sobering affair, and most of all a very sharp blade to cut through the duality of inner-outer, self-other, conventional-ultimate. In a single sentence, Machik wrote: "Severance - means to sever conceptual thinking." In this way the system of Severance is an extremely skillful approach that takes the practitioner deeply into the convoluted web of habitual tendencies, fixations, hopes, fears, confusions, all the 'gods' and 'demons' that make up our personal inner and outer world; and most fundamentally the root delusion itself, the ignorance of the true nature of self and reality. That which is to be severed is exactly all those habitual tendencies, hopes and fears and so on, all the way through to the root - ignorance of our true nature.

Absence of hope and fear is sublime severance.
Free from the extremes of accepting and rejecting
If the rope of dualistic fixation is severed
Budhahood will definitely be reached.

In terms of the view it is generally considered that Chod is deeply connected with the Prajnaparamita, which is in turn connected to Machik's own history and background. As a practice system it is most commonly referred as Chod of Mahamudra, however that association is likely, according to some scholars, a later addition probably introduced by one of the great compilers of the Chod tradition, the 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, because in her own writings Machik places her system as integrating all expressions of the Dharma:

This dharma of mine is the fruitional dharma of the Great Completion. All phenomena including the apparent existence of cyclic existence and its transcendence are complete within mind-itself alone. Therefore, if one knows the complete way in which everything is contained within the meaning of mind alone, then the meaning of all phenomena is complete. So it is the Great Completion [Dzogchen]. Understand this, my disciples.

The fact is that the system of Chod is so practical, direct and pristine in its presentation of the view that it has been applied in harmony with both currents, that of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, and over the centuries many different practice lineages developed, some with a more Mahamudra expression, others as integrations of the Dzogchen view and path - whatever the case may be, the Severance principles, system and path of Machik stands high in the profound sky of the liberating Dharma.

by Ajanatha Das, 2021

Chod Cutting Through the Veil

Cutting Through the Veil

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