Making the Old New Again and Again

568 Pages·2013·4.13 MB·English

Making the Old New Again and Again:
Legitimation and Innovation in the
Tibetan Buddhist Chöd Tradition

Michelle Janet Sorensen

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
2013
© 2013
Michelle Janet Sorensen
All rights reserved
ABSTRACT

Making the Old New Again and Again:
Legitimation and Innovation in the Tibetan Buddhist Chöd Tradition

Michelle Janet Sorensen

My dissertation offers a revisionary history of the early development of Chöd, a philosophy and
practice that became integral to all Tibetan Buddhist schools. Recent scholars have interpreted
Chöd ahistorically, considering it as a shamanic tradition consonant with indigenous Tibetan
practices. In contrast, through a study of the inception, lineages, and praxis of Chöd, my
dissertation argues that Chöd evolved through its responses to particular Buddhist ideas and
developments during the “later spread” of Buddhism in Tibet. I examine the efforts of Machik
Labdrön (1055-1153), the founder of Chöd and the first woman to develop a Buddhist tradition
in Tibet, simultaneously to legitimate her teachings as authentically Buddhist and to differentiate
them from those of male charismatic teachers. In contrast to the prevailing scholarly view which
exoticizes central Chöd practices—such as the visualized offering of the body to demons—I
examine them as a manifestation of key Buddhist tenets from the Prajñāpāramitā corpus and
Vajrayāna traditions on the virtue of generosity, the problem of ego-clinging, and the ontology of
emptiness. Finally, my translation and discussion of the texts of the Third Karmapa Rangjung
Dorjé (1284-1339), including the earliest extant commentary on a text of Machik Labdrön’s,
focuses on new ways to appreciate the transmission and institutionalization of Chöd. I argue not
only that Chöd praxis has been an ongoing project of innovation and renewal, but also that we
can properly understand modern incarnations of Chöd only through a nuanced appreciation of its
historical and philosophical developments.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
List of Tables and Illustrations iii
Introduction 1
1. Historical Contexts 26
a. The Period of the Later Spread
b. Dharma lineages in the Later Spread
c. Chöd in the Period of the Later Spread
2. Chöd Transmissions and Lineages 43
a. Chöd Precursors

 b.

 Transmission
Lineages

3. Philosophical Foundations of Chöd 103
a. Chöd as Tantra: Machig and Vajrayoginī
b. Chöd as Sūtra and Tantra
c. Anti-Legitimation and Innovation
4. Cutting Through the Body 140
a. Body
b. Dehadāna
5. Cutting through the Mind 191
a. Chöd and Universal Base Consciousness
b. Opening the Gate of Space
c. Internal Yoga
d. Düd (bdud)

i
Page
6. Texts 225
a. The Great Speech Chapter and Rangjung Dorjé’s Commentaries
b. The Supplementary Chapter, The Quintessential Chapter,
and The Supplementary Sections
Bibliography 288
Appendices 313
Appendix One: The Great Speech Chapter, the textual tradition of the oral instructions of the
profound Chöd of Prajñāpāramitā (Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa zab mo gcod kyi man ngag gi
gzhung bka’ tshoms chen mo, or the Bka’ tshoms chen mo)
Appendix Two: The Supplementary Chapter of oral instructions of the Prajñāpāramitā (Shes
rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag yang tshoms zhus lan ma, or the Yang tshoms)
Appendix Three: The Quintessential Chapter of the Chöd System of Negative Forces, The
Instructions of the Prajñāpāramitā (Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag snying tshoms
chos kyi rtsa ba, or the Snying tshoms)
Appendix Four: The Common Eightfold Supplementary Section (Thun mong gi le lag brgyad)
Appendix Five: The Uncommon Eightfold Supplementary Section (Thun mong ma yin pa’i le’u
lag brgyad pa)

Appendix Six: The Distinctive Eightfold Supplementary Section (Khyad par gyi le lag brgyad
pa)

Appendix Seven: An Outline of the Great Speech Chapter of Chöd (Gcod bka’ tshoms chen
mo’i sa bcad)

Appendix Eight: A Commentary on the Great Speech Chapter of Chöd (Gcod kyi TIKA, or the
Bka’ tshom chen mo’i ‘grel pa)
Appendix Nine: A reconstructed outline of the Bka’ tshoms TIKA

ii
LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Tables Page
Table One: Dualistic and Non-dualistic Consciousness 203
Table Two: The Transformation of Universal Base Consciousness 206
Table Three: Poisons, Negative Forces, and Primordial Wisdoms 238

Figure
Figure One: Thang ga from Spitok 139

iii
1

INTRODUCTION
The Tibetan Mahāyāna Buddhist praxis of Chöd (gcod; chedikā) incorporates a variety of
techniques for the development of compassion, wisdom, and the spirit of enlightenment. “Chöd”
is a Tibetan verb that can be translated into English as “to cut” or "to sever,” with a
corresponding noun form of “cutting” or “severance.”1 Chöd uses meditative practices of
“cutting” through one's instinctual attachment to ego as techniques for liberation from the
existential suffering of cyclic existence (‘khor ba; saṃsāra). A traditional Buddhist view is that
attachment to ego, or “self-grasping” (bdag ‘dzin; atmagraha), is the root of ignorance (ma rig
pa; avidyā) causing mental afflictions (nyon mongs pa; kleśa), which in turn generate suffering
and perpetuate one’s cyclic existence. This sense of one’s own self, or ego, is reinforced by
quotidian activities premised in constructs of “self” and “other,” and habitual practices that
produce, and are produced by, emotional reactions rather than mindful activities. The techniques
prescribed by Chöd enable the practitioner to analyze and become aware of the nature of the
“ego” that is to be cut, including the aspects of consciousness that support and construct the ego.
According to Mahāyāna Buddhist teachings, one’s sense of an individual and independent ego
arises from ignorance of the non-duality of subject and object. The praxis of Chöd includes
theories and methods for cutting through the aspect of consciousness that is characterized by
self-grasping and discriminative thinking in order to realize the matrix of consciousness free
from subject/object discrimination.
Chöd practitioners use various techniques to achieve the aim of cutting the root of mind,
including visualizations, meditations, recitations, physical movements and music. Chöd

*My field research for this dissertation has been supported by fellowships from the American Institute of Indian
Studies and Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute.

1 The Tibetan word “gcod” is pronounced “chö” or “chöd,” depending on the Tibetan dialect.
2

methodology, in alignment with conventional Buddhist teachings, can be understood as two-fold.
One aspect is akin to the Buddhist practice of calmly abiding through experiences of mental
turmoil (zhi gnas; śamatha); the other aspect can be seen as parallel to the Buddhist practice of
meditative analysis of the constructed nature of one’s experiences as dependent on one’s mental
conditioning and functioning (lhag mthong; vipaśyanā). Using these two types of practice, the
practitioner aims to deepen her understanding of the fundamentally empty nature of all
phenomena. Buddhist Chöd texts emphasize that Chöd should be practiced in accordance with
the ideal standpoint of the Mahāyāna bodhisattva, the ultimate aim being the liberation of all
sentient beings from the realm of suffering. Thus, the perspective of the twofold bodhicitta—the
relative consciousness of awakening which includes the aspiration and action toward
enlightenment and the ultimate mind of awakening—is also central to Chöd.
Chöd texts frequently emphasize practicing in appropriate physical locations.
Practitioners seek out sublime sites such as on mountain peaks, near rushing rivers, and in
charnel grounds. Because the fear created by such situations generates attachment to one’s life
and identity, these locations exacerbate the self-grasping that Chöd takes as its object. Generally
speaking, such visualizations operate through the Buddhist logic of emptiness: by facing objects
which cause fear and other obscurations and employing one’s knowledge of the Buddhist
teachings on the true nature of reality as fundamentally empty of both subject and object, one
builds one’s capacity to release oneself from illusory appearances of self and other. Indeed,
one’s mind—with its habit of seeing reality in terms of subject and object, self and other—is
itself the obstruction, the obstructor and the obstructed. Through Chöd practice, the
unenlightened standpoint that translates all experience into binary relationships of subject and
object is replaced by insight into the interconnected relationship of all phenomena.
3

One Chöd method of eradicating self-grasping is an offering of one’s body to other
sentient beings. One visualizes discriminating—or cutting—one’s body into pieces. One then
transforms these pieces into an abundance of offerings that will satisfy the needs and desires of
all other sentient beings. This exemplary act of the perfection of generosity (dānapāramitā;
sbyin pa'i pha rol tu phyin pa) is an enactment of the fundamental philosophy of Chöd: the
cutting through attachment to the self to achieve liberation from suffering. At its most
fundamental level, Chöd provides an interpretation of Buddhist teachings on the persistence of
suffering within the realm of saṃsāra contrasted with the possibility for awakening oneself to the
ultimate nature of reality and thus being capable of liberating oneself and others from this cycle
of suffering. In line with mainstream Buddhist theory, Chöd teachings correlate the conditions
of suffering with the causes of fundamental ignorance and the subsequent habits of perpetuating
a belief in an independent subjective self amidst a world of objective others.
Chöd was first fully articulated by the female Tibetan philosopher-adept Machik Labdrön
(Ma gcig labs kyi sgron ma, ca. 1055-1149).2 The Chöd praxis of Machik, grounded in the
Mahāyāna Buddhist Prajñāpāramitā teachings, is directed toward cutting through ego-clinging
and erroneous patterns of thinking. It was adopted by various monastic and lay lineages of
Tibetan Buddhism and it also has a Bon corollary. The life story of Machik has been recounted
in several different Tibetan biographies (rnam thar), including two complementary versions in
The Explanation of Casting Off the Psycho-Physical Aggregates: Clarifying the Meaning of
Chöd, often referred to as The Great Explanation and attributed to Machik (Phung po gzan skyur
gyi rnam bshad gcod kyi don gsal byed, or the Rnam bshad chen mo), a version in The Blue
Annals (Deb ther sngon po) by Gö Lotsawa Zhonnupel (‘Gos lo tswa ba Gzhon nu dpal), and a

2 Alternate Tibetan spellings of her name include “Ma cig,” “Ma gcig labs gron,” and “Ma gcig kyi lab sgron ma.”
Dates that have been given include: b. 1031, 1049 or 1055; d. 1126, 1129, 1143 or 1149.
4

version in Dharmasenggé’s Zhijé and Chöd Dharma History (Zhi byed dang gcod yul gyi chos
'byung rin po che'i phreng ba thar pa'i rgyan). According to these sources, Machik was born in
a village called “Tshomer” (“Mtsho mer”) situated in lower Tamshö (Tam shod) in E Gangwa
(E’i Gang ba) of the Labchi (Labs phyi) region.3 Her father, Chökyi Dawa (Chos kyi zla ba),
was the chief of Tshomer village; her mother, Lungmo Bumcam (Klungs mo ‘Bum lcam), gave
birth to two other children: a son, Lotsawa Kheugang Korlodrag (Lo tsa tswa ba Khe’u gang
‘Khor lo grags) and a daughter, Bumé (Bu med).
Machik took an early interest in Buddhist teachings and became a student of Drapa
Ngonshé (Grwa pa Mngon shes, 1012-1090). She would prove an able reader of the
Prajñāpāramitāsūtra texts and would provide this service to lay persons on behalf of her teacher.
Drapa Ngonshé eventually advised her to study with Kyotön Sonam Lama (Skyo ston Bsod nams
Bla ma), from whom she received an initiation for the teaching named the “Cycle of Māyā”
(“phyir ‘khor ba’i l lam du sgyu ‘phrul”). Following an encounter with a peripatetic Indian yogi
known as Töpa Baré (Thod pa ‘Ba’ re), she became his partner and bore three sons—Nyingpo
Drubpa (Snying po Grub pa), Drubchung (Grub chung) and Yangdrub (Yang grub)—and two
daughters—Kongcham (Kong lcam) and Lacham (La lcam).4 Later in her adult life, Machik
returned to dressing as a spiritual practitioner with a shaved head and travelling to receive
teachings. She eventually settled in a cave at Zangri Khangmar (Zangs ri Khang dmar), where a
community formed around her.
Machik’s principal male disciples included Gyalwa Dondrub (Rgyal ba Don grub, also
known as Rgyal ba Grub che), who would become a principal lineage holder of her teachings.

3 Alternatively, Gye’i Labs and Khe’u Gang, in the eastern part of the Yar klungs valley.

4 Other sources, such as the Rnam bshad chen mo, suggest that she had only two sons, Grub pa and Kong po Khyab,
and one daughter, Drub Chung ma.