THE SNOW LION BUDDHIST NEWS & CATALOG

While inner practice of Chöd is pervasive in Mahayana, dealing as it does with realization of conventional and ultimate bodhichitta, the outer practice was kept carefully hidden. It is a mark of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche's confidence of realization that, at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he was willing to cross cultural boundaries and teach Western students the most profound secrets of Tantra and Chöd. Laying bare the path to enlightenment, he urged purity of practice and inspired disciples through his unique example.

In order to practice Chöd, we should go to a cemetery, or wherever there are spirits. The best place is the more frightful. Why is this? It is easier to practice in a graveyard because identifying the self-grasping mind that clings to an independent self is accomplished more quickly and easily in a terrifying place. That is why such places are chosen. However, we should seek fearful places only in accordance with our experience and bravery. As our strength of mind develops, we should definitely seek more terrifying places such as graveyards and mountaintops, but to begin with, we should practice in our rooms until we are accustomed to the sadhana, and then we can begin to practice without a candle. Also, a good place to begin is anywhere that has been blessed by earlier great teachers.Only when a practitioner is highly realized should he or she go alone to cemeteries....

Initially, we should practice Chöd alone in our rooms at night, quietly, with less fear. It is by gradually developing bodhichitta and wisdom realizing emptiness—not by just becoming braver—that we can confidently realize that whatever appears or happens can be transformed into the path. At that point, we should become more determined in our place of practice. Do not, under any circumstances, endanger your life in the choice of place. Unless we have great experience, we should never do this practice in any place that is threatened by falling rocks or trees, possible floods, or the threat of a collapsing house. Eventually, when we achieve full confidence in Chod, there is no need to go to violent places at all. This is because terrifying visions will appear wherever we are. That is important because we need terrifying visions of spirits if we are to practice Chod sincerely.

People have different mental capacities for fear. Some are too brave, some are too afraid. Both of these types of people will find Chod difficult.

We must have some fear for this practice to be successful. A desperate search for the "I" causes fear to develop. The best method for overcoming this fear is bodhichitta and wisdom realizing emptiness. It is because of the need for fear that practice should be done alone. Any group retreat on Chod lessens the fear involved. Engaging in the practice at night also increases the necessary fear.

If we are going to practice in cemeteries or places like that, we must avoid unnecessary fear. Carefully examine the place in daylight so as to distinguish what is there. One graveyard in Tibet had a reliquary house for tsa-tsa statues that was surrounded by nettles. A Chod practitioner did not examine this cemetery beforehand, so when he experienced fear during his practice, he mistook the reliquary house for a spirit, and the nettles and branches for the spirit's arms. As a result, when he fell into the nettles and felt his robe caught by the branches, he experienced such fear that he ran away, leaving his damaru next to the reliquary house!

We should not be too afraid. We must train the mind carefully. Whatever appears to us, our minds should remain calm. We may see images and hear sounds. Developing fear, our hair may stand up and we may want to flee.

But it is precisely at this moment of fear that we should search carefully for the "I" that is afraid. We should then give up this "I" by offering our bodies to our fears, and mixing our minds with space. In this way we will find that the "I" does not exist, and we will realize emptiness.

It is difficult to identify the object negated in emptiness if we only do this practice in our rooms, however. We need to go to frightful places to clarify the "I" that is to be negated. It is through examining our fears that we attain precious results. If our minds are mixed with space, and our bodies have been offered to spirits, then where is a concrete, independent "I," or self? It seems that it must be there with the body or the mind, yet both of these no longer exist in the way they did before. Realizing spacelike emptiness, all our fears will be pacified.

The purpose of doing Chod practice in frightful places is not only to realize emptiness, but also to develop bodhichitta. Having offered our body to the spirits, there is no longer any need to care about it. We should really visualize our blood as an ocean for the spirits to drink, our body as food for the spirits to eat. It is for the sake of all mother sentient beings that we give up our bodies. "Exchanging self for others" in a graveyard is a very powerful method for developing bodhichitta, because all attachment to the body ceases.

Without fear, Chod cannot be practiced. It is fear for the "I" that causes the desperate search for an "I" to hold on to. When the nonexistence of an inherently existent, independent "I" is directly perceived, then we are realizing emptiness. The antidote to such fear is bodhichitta motivation.

This is very significant. The place of Chod practice amplifies the necessary fear.

It is essential to understand the significance of the syllables OM AH HUM in the blessing of the inner offering. HUM is the seed syllable of Buddha Akshobya, whose nature is the wisdom of dharmadhatu, the vajra mind of all the Buddhas. At the time of the result, when we become Buddhas, we are never separated from this wisdom of dharmadhatu, the wisdom that realizes emptiness directly. This dharmadhatu wisdom purifies all delusion, negativities, and other faults. The wisdom realizing emptiness is so powerful that it can easily purify the substances in the skullcup. That is why HUM is visualized as descending into and purifying the skullcup substances.

AH is the seed syllable of Buddha Amitabha, whose nature is the vajra speech of all the buddhas. "Amitabha" is actually colloquial Sanskrit. The proper name in Sanskrit is "Amita Deva." Amita means "undying," or "deathless." A is negative, and mita means "to die." The seed syllable AH dissolving into the substances transforms them into nectars of deathless immortality.

OM is the seed syllable of Vairochana, whose nature is the vajra body of all the buddhas. Vairochana represents the pure body of all the countless Buddhas. The seed syllable OM dissolving into the substances makes them inexhaustible in quantity.

All of us have the five aggregates. If these are purified, their nature becomes one with the buddhas. If we purify our physical form, this becomes Buddha Vairochana. In the same way, the feeling aggregate becomes Ratnasambhava, the discrimination aggregate becomes Amitabha, the compositional factor aggregate becomes Amoghasiddhi, and the consciousness aggregate becomes Akshobya.

To summarize, we should think that through the power of these three syllables dissolving, the skullcup substances are transformed into the three nectars—medicinal, life prolonging, and undefiled wisdom nectar. By just tasting this nectar, the sick can be healed, someone dead for up to seven days can be revived, and the wisdom of uncontaminated bliss and emptiness is experienced.

There are...four types of maras* that Chod practitioners need to understand and avoid. These four maras are termed obstructive, nonobstructive, joyfulness and arrogance. It is very important to remember these and identify them in Chod practice, as well as in the sadhana practices of Heruka and Vajrayogini.

Obstructive Maras
The first of these are called "obstructive" maras, meaning maras with material form. When practicing Chod, interferences may befall us in the form of earth, water, fire, wind, rocks, wild animals, or collapsing houses.

Nonobstructive Maras
The next maras are those called "nonobstructive," meaning maras without gross physical form. There are two types: external and internal. Sometimes it is not possible to be certain which of these two types of nonobstructive maras is involved. External, nonobstructive maras usually refer to the harm and disease caused by spirits. It is important to determine whether a disease is caused by the body's elements being out of balance, or by spirits. If it is caused by the elements being out of harmony, we should not be arrogant, thinking we are great practitioners, but should consult a doctor immediately. If, on the other hand, it is a spirit-caused sickness, it can be cured through tonglen practice, conjoined with love and compassion.

If someone has a spirit-influenced sickness, we can take that person to a dark room and offer that person's body along with our own as a sacrificial offering by engaging in Chod. This must be done with the purest motivation of bodhichitta. It is very important in this case to transfer our own and the patient's consciousness both to the deity at the crown of the head. This practice is also done for a corpse prior to its being given to the vultures for "sky-burial," and the merit is dedicated to that body's former consciousness.

Internal nonobstructive maras refer to the three poisons interrupting our Dharma practice. If we do not minimize these delusions, we will be controlled by them. If that happens, Dharma conceit and arrogance arises, and the mind becomes as tough as a scorpion when listening to teachings.

Mara of Joyfulness
The third mara is joyful expectation. This mara is an attitude that exults in thinking that Chod practice will lead to fame, the power to destroy spirits or cure people, and so on. It reflects mundane concerns for self-aggrandizement, and is attachment to the fruits of practice. This is inappropriate.

Mara of Arrogance
The fourth mara is that of arrogance. This occurs when the thought that we are protected by the empowering blessings of the gurus, yidams, and so forth leads to pride and loss of pure motivation. Instead of Chod practice severing self-grasping, this mara increases self-grasping.

Whenever we practice Chod we should feel humble, unprotected, and exposed to spirits. Feeling that spirits could seize us at any moment, we should equalize our feelings, whatever interferences occur. We should be neither pleased nor displeased by these interferences. It is not absolutely necessary to visit a hundred springs or to practice on a high cliff. We do need highly qualified places, however, when we have the capacity to meditate in such sites. Wherever we practice, we need the motivation to sacrifice ourselves, free of pride and arrogance. If we are easily frightened, our practice will be constantly interrupted, but if we are too brave, this will hinder our practice also. There was once a Chod practitioner who was too brave to feel fear. Finally, after trying many places, he decided to spend the night in the "chamber of fear," the protector room at Samye Monastery. This proved too much for him and he fled the next day. We should avoid extremes of timidity and exaggerated bravery. We can do this if we keep the correct motivation at all times and continue to meditate on emptiness, whatever appears to our minds. If violent appearances occur, dissolve them into light and dissolve this light into your heart, meditating on the spacelike emptiness of inherent existence of all phenomena. With proper attitude and mindfulness, we will receive the beneficial results.