Introduction
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Are dharma practitioners nowadays unaware of the fact that previously the Buddha ⁄›kyamuni actually gave away without hesitation his head, limbs, appendages, and anything that anyone desired? Or are they aware but say “these days it isn’t necessary” and ignore the Buddha’s paradigm? (chapter 3)
Other elements of Chöd practice can also be found both in so-called shamanic practices and in Indian Buddhist sources. These include the practice of separating mind and body in ejecting consciousness (powa), the use of the hand drum and human bones, ritual feasting, the dances, and the complex offerings. Most of all, the incorporation of a whole set of indigenous spirits commingling with those transferred from Buddhism indicate that Chöd is truly a Tibetan Buddhist system. That is to say, it is virtually impossible to separate out what might have been preexisting elements and those of Buddhist origins, especially since all of it has been fully imbued with Buddhist intent. And for the practitioner, there is little benefit in doing so. The Practice Environment Chöd is practiced widely in one form or another in all sects of Tibetan Buddhism as well as in the Bön tradition. The vagrant lifestyle enjoined upon Chöd yogins probably contributed to the fact that a network of monastic institutions of its own was never established. Indeed, one class of Chödrelated practice is named “the mendicant’s practice” (kusali or kusulu), and the homeless and unconventional (even outrageous) lifestyle is an integral aspect of Chöd. In the West it is most famous as a “charnel ground practice,” and people who don’t know the name Chöd will recognize it by that appellation. In general, the life of a mendicant is part of a larger picture of Buddhist lifestyles tracing back to yogic and forest traditions that are often seen in contrast to the established monastic forms.64 This lifestyle is obviously conducive to the Buddhist ideal of nonattachment to the usual worldly concerns and possessions. In addition, within Vajray›na Buddhism, it falls into a category of prescribed behaviors for the enhancement (bogs ’don) of meditation experience, which depend on the type of tantra in question. In the case of Chöd, Kongtrul mentions specifically “vanquishing conduct [to train] awareness” (rig pa brtul zhugs). According to another great author, Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (1513-1587), this conduct is associated with the “essential practice” (grub