Archive for July, 2010

The Uprising

The Chöd practitioner is a Demon Whisperer. Someone who invites the dark side, in order to resolve, heal, and cut through fixation on hope and fear. With this kind of approach, it is no surprise that even even talking about “Internet Demons” is likely to unleash a hornet’s nest of one’s personal and karmic obstacles. But these are, ultimately, harbingers of great blessing. That is the very nature of Chöd.

Thus, after my last blog, an acquaintance admonished me about my mistaken views and emailed a lengthy article explaining the nature of Shunyata, Emptiness, and the state of Mahamudra, in relation to Chöd. The implication was that, well, after all, demons are not real, are they? They are just manifestations of the mind. We need to cut through belief in these phantasmagoria and see the empty, luminous, unimpeded nature of the natural state. Whether this was the intended meaning of the enclosed article, that was its interpretation by my friend. But in fact, this same explanation of demons has been offered by a number of Western authors and scholars, and is even found in in the introduction to the translation of MaChik’s own tome, the Namshay Chenmo or The Complete Explanation.

Selective Reality

Mahamudra is an intrinsic part of Chöd, and writings such as Karma Chagmé’s 17th century Prayer to MaChik (translated by the author in 2006) express this relationship with infinite poetry, depth and subtlety. But the point is this: We cannot use Mahamudra or Dzokchen as a “selective” tool, like a hammer to nail this or that preferred object. Indeed Mahamudra (Chakgya Chenpo) means The Great Seal, because it stamps everything with its pervasive truth. Everything. That means that demons are not real, in exactly the same way that we are not real. Demons are no more real than any other phenomena, and no less real. To negate the existence of demons, or any concept we fear or dislike, is dharma in service of ego, rather than dharma that eradicates self-clinging.

Self-Illusion, Self-Illumination

Actually, the Chöd practitioner overcomes demons by dematerializing the illusion of his/her own solid self. It is well known that many Chöpa’s of old were utterly immune to contagion. Was it because they decided that “Bacteria do not exist and can’t hurt me.” Unlikely. But if “I” don’t exist, then the phenomena of contagion has nowhere to land. We could take this to its logical conclusion and state “Karma doesn’t exist. It is just an outer phenomena, a projection of my mind. Therefore I am freed of all my karma.” But as long as “I” am there, karma indeed sticks, whether we “Mahamudra-ize” it our not.

Two Different Truths

In the Ultimate state, the underlying reality from which all phenomena arises, indeed there is no becoming, no ending, no coming nor going, no being, no non-being. No karma, no demons and no “I and thou.” In the Relative world, which is co-emergent, co-arising with the Ultimate, there is a whole heck of a lot of arising and disappearing, busy-ness, impermanence, over-arching karma, disease and, yes, demons.

Being Real

Whether demons are just projections of our psychological fears is a different argument altogether, and the subject of the next part of this article. But for now, we can rest assured that demons are no more real than we are. And not an iota less. And throwing concepts of emptiness at them, and not at the perceiver and the rest of the “good stuff” is itself… demonic.

Coming Events

Remote Healing Chöd

Our first group of DNA identity packets will be heading to Eastern Bhutan in mid-August. We are fortunate in having someone to handy carry these directly from San Francisco to Tsewong Rinpoche’s monastery. There, participants will receive over 60 or more remote Chöd and other tantric healing rituals over a 12 month period. http://www.tibetanchod.com/remote-healing/

Tibetan Land Healing

Our first 2-day Tibetan Land Healing training will take place in early October in Toronto, Canada. Participants will learn the Tibetan shamanic practices of Blessing, Energizing, Enriching and Clearing the environment; This in turn has profound ramifications on all aspects of our life, health, relationships and spiritual development.
www.tibetanlandhealing.com

Tibetan Energy Healing

Balancing the 5 Elements is the key to rapid and deep healing of body and mind. In Level 1 of Tibetan Energy Healing, we will disclose the ancient Tibetan esoteric methods for using light and sound to regenerate the structure of Earth, flow of Water, energy of Fire, motility of Air and integration of the Space element.
www.tibetanenergyhealing.com

Tibetan Healing Chö

Module 1 of the world’s only comprehensive training in the practice of Chöd will take place in Canada this fall. Apart from the empowerment of the Sky Door, students will learn basic meanings and principles behind Chöd and five important beginning practices. Much of the teaching is from original Tibetan sources, never translated before. Audiovisual presentation includes over 120 slides and a CD of all ritual melodies, teachings and PDFs of all practices.
www.tibetancho.com
www.instituteoftraditionalmedicine.com

What’s A Nyensa Anyway?

I was chatting with a dharma practitioner the other day, and she mentioned that she and her friends regularly met on the internet to do Chöd together, via Skype. I immediately said “What does that do to the Nyensa?” She replied: “What’s a Nyensa?”  I wanted to say, “A Nyensa is the thing you really need to know about before you do Chöd on the internet!” But I decided to blog about it instead.

A Nyensa by Any Other Name

Because Nyensa is, in all cases, an essential understanding of Chöd. Chöd is the most “location-oriented” of any dharma practice. Actually, it is meant to be done in the wild, outside one’s know territory, one’ comfort zone, one’s normal parameters. In the traditional Tibetan literature of Chöd, whole texts are devoted to the characteristics of the Nyensa. Those kinds of details are fully discussed in the context of the School of Tibetan Healing Chö (www.tibetancho.com), and in my forthcoming book (Tibetan Chö: Cutting Through to Freedom). But here, the core point is that a progressive training is needed.

Stranger in a Strange Land

One goes to a peaceful, non-threatening, safe place—like one’s home, dharma center, or in a group setting. Here one practices only the White Feast, offering to the Higher Guests. Once the student becomes more mature in their practice, with various meditative experiences and small realizations under their belt, they progress towards less comfortable sites. Even then, it is suggested that one go “semi-wrathful,” before taking it to the ultimate level of the wrathful Nyensa.

Enter the Nyensa

This is a haunted area, whose vibe is threatening, spooky, and downright scary. It is unpleasant and malevolent; We have a natural revulsion to even sitting there. Traditionally, this might be an abandoned house, under a solitary tree, near the water’s edge, or anywhere that seems anomalous and distorted. Many urban landscapes come to mind, as well as parks, areas of human excavation and disruption. In fact, it is hard to go a block anywhere, without seeing somewhere that is not a little sketchy. Here real demons, disembodied spirits, and our own deepest fears and rigidity lives. The practitioner engages in the Red Feast, with its vivid and violent meditations. Uprising come about, that must be processed—processed in the crucible of the yogi’s grasp of the fundamental nature of self and other.

Electric Lady Land

So what about the internet? What lives there? Are we safe from “cosmic spam?” Or is this the greatest repository of demonic forces, malicious entities, human madness, emotional toxins, pain and excess, confused ideas, psychospiritual impurities, karmic stains and evil spirits this world has ever seen? It may well be. And so Chöpas everywhere, rejoice! No more going to haunted cemeteries and places of sickness and death. No more trudging through the cold night with the thin sliver of the moon the only light to keep the demons at bay. We can just stay home on the wifi, open up Facebook, Google, Skype and Hotmail, and off we go, kangling in hand.

To Everything a Season

But friends, maybe before one embarks on such a journey, caution is necessary. Before we say “come and eat me, release all karma, you vicious demons, rolling like a red fog up the side of my desktop,” we might want to be prepared for what we call up. As Shenpen Dawa Rinpoche said, “Chöd is not for the faint-hearted.” Well, on further reflection, maybe I will just stick to chatting and making friends over the invisible airwaves, instead of leaving the doors wide open all night, waiting to see who shows up next morning. Until I am ready.
www.machikcholing.com