McNamara 1

Daniel McNamara
Chod encyclopedia article (unpublished)
DRAFT: DO NOT DISTRIBUTE OR CITE WITHOUT PERMISSION
Chod1, literally severance, is a ritual and meditative system codified in Tibet in
the early 12th century CE. While predominantly Buddhist, it also figures in the Bon
religion of Tibet. Chod practice is best known by western scholars for its incorporation
of music and dance into meditative praxis, and for its seemingly macabre visualizations
of offering ones body to demons. It is renowned amongst Tibetan Buddhists for its
soteriological efficacy and for the purported healing abilities of advanced practitioners.
Chod is practiced throughout Tibet and also in Buddhist areas of Mongolia,
Bhutan, Nepal and India. It has more recently become popular amongst Western
Buddhists, particularly those affiliated with the Kagyu and Nyingma sects.
Early History and Formation
Chod is properly known as either the chod of the great seal or the severance
(chod) of the demonic object. It was originally propagated by the female saint Macig
Labdron (1055-1145/54)2, but whether her system represents a novel innovation or a
redaction of earlier sources is disputed. It is clear, however, that Macigs chod is based
largely on Indic sources, in the form of scripture and also the teachings of Padampa
Sangye (d. 1117).

Textual Sources

Tibetan words are given in phonetic form. All translations and photographs are my own unless otherwise
noted.
2
See sections on Magic Labdron and Padampa Sangye below

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The earliest scriptural sources for chod are the Perfection of Wisdom sutras,
particularly the sutra in 100,000 verses. Macig spent much of her youth as a ritual reader
of these texts; her hagiographies attest that she attained enlightenment while reading the
chapter on demons in the 100,000 verse sutra. The chod tradition views itself as a means
to realize the import of these sutras, the perfection of wisdom. Frequent citation is also
made of a Jataka tale of the Buddhas previous life, in which he feeds his body to a
hungry tigress which would have otherwise eaten her children to survive.
Karma Chagme (1609-1672), an authoritative commentator on chod practice,
lists four Indic textual sources:
(1) The Grand Poem on the Perfection of Wisdom by Aryadeva the Brahmin
(2) The Equal Taste (ro snyoms) by Naropa
(3) The Pacification of Suffering (sdug bsngal zhi byed) by Padampa Sangye
(4) The Severance of Delusion (khrul bcod) by Padmasambhava
Of these, it is difficult to accept (2) and (4) from a historical-critical standpoint.
No text by the name ro snyoms has to date been found, and the very historicity of
Padmasambhava - famed for bringing tantric Buddhism to Tibet - remains in dispute (see
Padmasambhava). Hagiographies of both Padampa Sangye and Macig Labdron count
Padampa as one of Macigs main teachers. There is little doubt that Macig was deeply
inspired by Padampa, if not by this particular text.
Padampa Sangye
The most direct Indian source for chod practice is Padampa Sangye and his
teachings on the pacification of suffering (dugngal shiche, hereafter shiche). Padampa is
sometimes thought to be identical to the Indian saint Bodhidharma, credited with
bringing the teachings of chan to China (see Chan, Zen). Padampa is also sometimes

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equated with the scholar-monk Kamalashila, despite the latters having passed away in
the early 9th century.
Born in South India in the mid-11th century, Padampa made five separate trips to
Tibet. He spent the last twenty years of his life in the area surrounding the village of
Dingri, a few hundred miles from the modern Nepal/Tibet border. Padampas life story
contains several hagiographical tropes, e.g. studying at the monastic college of
Vikramashila and training with many of Indias greatest tantric masters. It is difficult to
say much about his early life with certainty, but from his writings it is clear that he was a
well-trained tantric virtuoso.
Padampas teaching of shiche centers on pacifying suffering by realizing the
perfection of wisdom. Shiche mainly consists in techniques for using fear and other
strong emotional states to increase ones awareness of selflessness, and recommends
practitioners to engage in unconventional behaviors to free themselves from the
habituations that lead to suffering. In Tibetan doxography, shiche is listed as one of the
Eight Practice Lineages, and so was regarded as an independent system, though the
practice was later subsumed as a part of chod.
Ronald Davidson identifies five lineages of shiche, noting an apparent lack of any
core teaching3. Aryadevas Grand Poem gives more of a sense of coherence to the
system. Despite the poems somewhat dubious status, it was translated twice into
Tibetan and can be dated to before the 13th century, which lends it some credibility. The
poem advocates common mahayana practices such as the six perfections, also giving
specific techniques for when fear arises or when the practitioner has a vision of demons.
The Grand Poem also describes circumstances in which a meditator should offer their
3

Tibetan Renaissance. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. pp. 290-3.

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physical body as food for disrupting spirits, a practice which becomes the hallmark of
chod. While it is not indubitable that this poem was written by either Aryadeva or
Padampa, if it is in fact a product of the shiche tradition then it presents itself as a clear
pre-cursor to the chod system of Macig Labdron.
Macig Labdron
Macigs life is primarily known from two hagiographies: the Concise Life Story,
(translated by Allione, Edou and Harding), and the Hagiography of Macig. Like
Padampas hagiographies, they are rife with fantasy, but still contain some reliable data.
She was born in 1055 in Labchi province (hence her name, light of Labchi), and
devoted herself completely to Buddhism from a very early age. She lived either ninety or
ninety-nine years.
Macig is by far the most renowned female saint in Tibetan Buddhism, and is
regarded as an emanation of Yum Chenmo (the Great Mother, a deification of wisdom)
and also the goddess Tara. She had visions of Tara throughout her life and many of her
apparently unique teachings are described as direct transmissions from the goddess.
It is notable that her life story invariably includes a description of her previous
birth as an Indian yogi who left his body and took birth as a woman in Tibet to spread
Buddhist teachings. That Macig is described as actually being an Indian man raises
important issues about gender and authenticity in Tibetan history. It also lends credence
to her prominent role in the creation (or redaction) of chod, which would necessitate steps
to legitimate her.
Macig is described in some sources as a nun who broke her vows when she united
with the Indian yogi Thopa Bhadra, with whom she had at least three children. In spite of

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her motherhood, Macig seems to have led mendicants lifestyle, wandering everywhere
and frequenting cemeteries. This provides a model for chod practitioners, who are
encouraged to wander on the fringes of society without attachment or regard for comfort.

Statue of Macig Labdron, 14th-15th centuries (Gyantse Stupa, photo by author)

Chod Practice
Chod begins with the common tantric preliminary practices of taking refuge in
enlightened beings and their teachings, and arousing compassion. After this, the
practitioner invites the guests for the offering by blowing three times on a trumpet
traditionally carved from a human thigh bone. These guests include all sentient beings,

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particularly ghosts and those to whom the practitioner owes debts. Again taking refuge,
enlightened beings are invited and supplicated.
The next phase of practice is unique to chod and shiche: the transference of
consciousness (phowa) called Opening the Sky-Door. The practitioner visualizes her
consciousness leaving her body, uniting with a deity at the crown of her head. The
particular deity varies according to lineage, but it is commonly a divinized form of
Macig, the goddess Troma Nagmo (Black Wrathful One), or Dorje Phagmo
(Adamantine Sow). Singing, playing a hand drum and ringing a bell, the practitioner
(visualized as the deity) chops up the body with a curved knife. She then purifies it with
mantra and offers it to the enlightened beings, who then bless the practitioner. In a series
of elaborate visualizations, the practitioner performs phowa several times, transforming
her corpse into a variety of pleasant objects and offering it to beings ranging from
Buddhas to demons to ones own parents. The practice concludes with the dedication of
accumulated merit, benedictions and the dissolution of the visualization.
Much of this is prefigured in earlier Indian and Tibetan tantric traditions,
particularly shiche. Aryadevas Grand Poem references both phowa and offering ones
body to demons, but while these are peripheral in shiche they are the central point of
chod. It is possible that Macigs main contributions to chod were to shift the emphasis
and elaborate the rituals.

Chod Lineages

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Following Macigs life, chod practice seems to have been the purview of
wandering yogis for some time, until it was gradually integrated into monastic
institutions. While it is regarded as an independent and complete meditation system, it
never gave rise to any sectarian or institutional structures. Instead, chod is comprised of
a series of distinct teaching lineages tracing themselves either to Macig, Padampa or
Padmasambhava. It has also been co-opted and integrated into other meditation systems.
Thus, while chod is an independent lineage, it can also figure as a subsection of other
systems. Likewise, although chod rituals are decidedly tantric in orientation, separate
lineages exist of sutric, tantric and mixed chod, which vary in both view and
interpretation of ritual conduct.
All chod lineages include the unique phowa and offering of the body. Other
aspects are variable. The Nyingma chod tradition mainly consists in rediscovered
treasure texts (terma) written by Padmasambhava and hidden until the proper time for
revelation. These texts tend to focus not on Macig, but rather Yeshe Tsogyal,
Padmasambhavas consort, and on Troma Nagmo. The most widespread of these chod
terma are the Dudjom Chod of Dudjom Lingpa (1835-1904) and the Laughter of the
Dakinis of Jigme Lingpa (1729-1798), though numerous others exist.

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Lama Wangdu practicing Chod. Photo courtesy of Lama Wangdu.

The Kagyu tradition, the other main inheritor of chod, focuses on Macig herself as
the main deity. The most widespread forms of practice in this tradition were authored by
Rangjung Dorje, who was seminal in introducing chod into monastic traditions.
While chod does not play a significant role in the Sakya tradition, it was practiced
by Sakya Pandita, one of the traditions founders. Likewise, chod is not emphasized in
the Gelug tradition, although commentaries on the practice are attributed to its founder,
Tsongkhapa (1357-1419). The renowned 19th century Gelug master Phabongka was a
proponent of the practice, and his lineage continues in large Gelug monasteries.

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Chod and Shamanism
Mircea Eliade mentions chod in his seminal study on shamanism4, unfortunately
relying on dubious sources. Commonalities to traditional shamanism do exist in chod for example, the physical ascent to heaven, and the relationship to healing. However, it is
not presently possible to determine the extent to which chod rituals contain genuinely
shamanic features, particularly since many aspects indicative of shamanism are also
present in the Indian Buddhist tradition. Edou notes that chod features neither
transcendence nor ecstasy, nor the initiatory journey explicated by Eliade.

Chod Lineages and Contemporary Practice

Recent masters of chod include the Nyingma lama Chagdud Tulku, lineage holder
of the Dudjom Chod, and Lama Tsering Wangdu of Dingri. At the Dalai Lamas request,
Lama Wangdu founded a monastery dedicated to chod practice in Kathmandu in 2005.
He mainly propagates the Laughter of the Dakinis and the Precious Garland of Rangjung
Dorje, and travels widely in the west to teach. The Gelug practitioner Kyabje Zong
Rinpoche (1905-1983) was instrumental in spreading chod, though it remains a minor
practice for the tradition.
In America, Tsultrim Allione has emerged as a prominent teacher of chod,
holding regular retreats at her center outside Boulder, Colorado. Allione emphasizes the
Laughter of the Dakinis, and promotes chod as a means for coping with illness and
psychological trauma. Ani Choying Drolma, a Tibetan nun and award-winning singer,
became widely known for her 1997 record Cho, a performance of the Dudjom Chod

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Princeton: Bollingen Foundation/Princeton University Press,

1972.

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ceremony produced by Steve Tibbetts. Continued interest in chod amongst both Tibetan
and Western Buddhists ensures that it will remain a vibrant tradition for the foreseeable
future.

The Chod Deity Troma Nagmo

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See also
Padampa Sangye, Padmasambhava, Perfection of Wisdom, Tibetan Buddhism, Vajrayana
Further Reading
Edou, Jerome. Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1996.
Gyatso, Janet. The Development of the gCod Tradition. Soundings in Tibetan
Civilization, ed. Barbara Nimri Aziz and Matthew Kapstein. New Delhi:
Manohar Publications, 1985.
Harding, Sarah. Machiks Complete Explanation Clarifying the Meaning of Chod.
Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2003
Padampa Sangye & Chkyi Senge. Lion of Siddhas: The Life and Teachings of Padampa
Sangye, trans. David Molk with Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche. Ithaca: Snow
Lion (forthcoming).
Bibliography
Allione, Tsultrim. Women of Wisdom. London: Routlegde, 1984.
Davidson, Ronald. Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan
Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
Edou, Jerome. Machig Labdron and the Foundations of Chod. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1996.
Gyatso, Janet. The Development of the gCod Tradition. Soundings in Tibetan
Civilization, ed. Barbara Nimri Aziz and Matthew Kapstein. New Delhi:
Manohar Publications, 1985.
Harding, Sarah. Machiks Complete Explanation Clarifying the Meaning of Chod.
Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2003.
Jigme Lingpa. The Laughter of the Dakinis, trans. Chime Rigzin Lama and James Low.
ed. Younge Khachab Rinpoche. (Unpublished manuscript).
Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. The Precious Garland of Activities of the Chod Feast
Gathering, trans. David Molk. (Unpublished manuscript).
Karmapa Thekchok Dorje and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye. Chod Practice Manual and
Commentary, trans. Lama Lodo Rinpoche. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2007.
Zong Rinpoche, Kyabje. Chod in the Ganden Tradition, ed. David Molk. Ithaca: Snow
Lion, 2006.