Chö

Chö means "cutting" and is the practice in which the practitioner gives away their own body in visualisation in order to sever clinging to a self. What gets cut is not the body, nor the demons of the stories. It is the assumption that there is a self here needing protection.

The offer nobody wants to make

The practice goes back to Machig Labdrön, a Tibetan woman of the eleventh century. Her teaching is the only one that arose in Tibet and was then carried back to India, unheard of at the time. She brought together the emptiness teachings of the Prajñāpāramitā with an instruction so practical you can begin with it straight away.

In the visualisation the practitioner summons everything that is hungry: beings, forces, creditors from former lives. Then they offer their own body, in pieces, holding nothing back. Generosity is carried through to the point where we normally stop.

Classically, chö is practised in places people would rather avoid. Charnel grounds, crossroads, mountain passes at night. This is not theatre. Fear is the working material, and fear is hard to summon in a warm shrine room. The damaru drum, the bell and the thighbone trumpet belong to the melody, because chö is sung.

Practising together

Chö is practised in every Tibetan school, which among tantric practices is unusual. Within the Nyingma it is closely bound up with the dakini practices. The chö we do comes from the Düdjom Tersar, the terma cycle revealed by Dudjom Lingpa.

Above all it is a practice that sounds. The liturgy is chanted, damaru and bell go together, and the kangling calls in what we would rather keep at a distance. Doing this in a group is not the same as doing it alone on a cushion. The sound carries, and it cuts straight through the running commentary that would otherwise simply continue.

Underneath it all the motivation remains the whole point. Anyone who gives away their body while an expectation still runs quietly along, about merit or about how far they must be by now, has missed it. This is bodhicitta or it is nothing. That is why the Ngöndro belongs with it, not as a hurdle placed in front but as the ground chö grows out of.

At Rigdzin Dzogchen Ling we practise chö every Sunday at 11.00 in Hoofddorp. No experience is needed. Let us know you are coming and a text and instruments will be ready for you.