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This translation of the most famous biography of Machig Labdron, founder of the unique Mahamudra Chod tradition, is presented together with a comprehensive overview of Chod's historical and doctrinal origins in Indian Buddhism, and its subsequent transmission to Tibet.
Machig Labdron is popularly considered to be both a dakini and a deity, an emanation of Yum Chenmo or Prajnaparamita, the embodiment of the wisdom of the buddhas. Historically, this Tibetan woman, a contemporary of Milarepa, was an adept, an outstanding teacher, a mother and the founder of a unique transmission lineage known as the Chod of Mahamudra.
Chod refers to cutting through the grasping at a self and its attendant emotional afflictions. Most famous for its teaching on transforming the aggregates into an offering of food for demons as a compassionate act of self sacrifice, Chod aims to free the mind from all fear and to arouse realization of its true nature, primordially clear bliss and emptiness.
Machig Labdron and the Foundation of Chod, Jerome Edou, Snow Lion Publications, 236 Pages, 1995, Paperback, $19.95
Jerome Edou has been studying with Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche since 1976. He has been an interpreter for various lamas for more than ten years, and is an author and translator of works on Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. He currently lives in Kathmandu.
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Contents: Machig Labdron and the Foundation of Chod |
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Preface |
ix |
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Introduction |
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| 1. |
The Second Propagation of Buddhism in Tibet |
1 |
| 2. |
Machig Labdron |
3 |
| 3. |
The Chd Tradition |
6 |
| 4. |
Chd as Viewed by the West |
8 |
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PART ONE: The Chod Tradition |
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| I. |
The Grand Poem on the Perfection of Wisdom by Aryadeva the Brahmin |
15 |
| II. |
The Prajnaparamita |
25 |
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1. The Heart Sutra |
25 |
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2. The Mother of the Buddhas |
28 |
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3. The Indian Tradition |
29 |
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4. Dampa Sangy and the Tibetan Tradition |
31 |
| III. |
The Chd of Machig |
39 |
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1. The Practice of the Bodhisattvas |
39 |
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2. The Chd of Mahamudra |
42 |
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3. Union of Consciousness and Space |
47 |
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4. Transforming the Aggregates into an Offering of Food |
50 |
| IV. |
Gods and Demons |
57 |
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1. The Mad Saints |
57 |
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2. Cutting through Gods and Demons |
63 |
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3. The Four Demons of Chd |
67 |
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4. The Level of Final Accomplishment |
72 |
| V. |
Transmission |
79 |
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1. The Three Chd Traditions of Machig |
79 |
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The Sutra Tradition |
81 |
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The Tantra Tradition |
85 |
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The Combined Sutra and Tantra Tradition |
88 |
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2. Machig's Lineage Descendants |
89 |
| VI. |
Biographies of Machig |
95 |
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1. The Marvelous and the Imaginary |
95 |
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2. The Dakini of Primordial Wisdom |
100 |
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3. The Tradition of The Grand Exposition |
105 |
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4. Comparative Study of the Tibetan Sources |
110 |
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PART TWO: The Marvelous Life of Machig Labdron, A Translation of Chapters I and II of An Exposition of Transforming the Aggregates into an Offering of Food, Illuminating the Meaning of Chd |
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| VII. |
Machig's Previous Life, Her Birth and Early Years |
119 |
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1. The Previous Life |
119 |
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2. The Birth of Machig |
122 |
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3. Labdrn |
127 |
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4. Dampa Sangy |
131 |
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5. The Initiation |
133 |
| VIII. |
Her Achievements |
141 |
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1. The Meeting with Thpa Bhadra |
141 |
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2. The Return to Lat |
145 |
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3. Zangri, the Copper Mountain |
148 |
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4. Arya Tara |
150 |
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5. Machig's Children |
153 |
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6. The Indian Acaryas |
158 |
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Machig's Last Instructions |
165 |
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Abbreviations |
171 |
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Notes |
175 |
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Tibetan-English Lexicon of Chd Terminology |
209 |
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Bibliography |
219 |
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General Index |
233 |
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Index of Tibetan and Sanskrit Names |
239 |
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Features
>"...provides some wonderful material on the Chod lineage, Machig Labdron's biography, and the origins of Mahamudra Chod.... With its publication, we come a little bit closer to feeling the spirit and incisive wisdom of this great yogini."-Tsultrim Allione, author of Women of Wisdom
"...skillfully balances the historical and hagiographical, and deftly expounds her great teaching of the Mahamudra Chod....Consider reading this book as a spiritual investment."-Dr. Elizabeth Benard, author of Chinnamasta, the Aweful Buddhist and Hindu Tantric Goddess.
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