Every Sunday at 11:00, Dzogchen Ling hosts a weekly group practice of Chöd from the Dudjom Tersar tradition, at Hoofdweg 727 in Hoofddorp. Whether you know the practice well or want to connect with this lineage for the first time, you are welcome to join us.
What is Chöd?
The Tibetan word Chöd translates directly as "cutting through". What it cuts through is the clinging to a self: the habit of seeing everything as either a threat to "me" or something that serves "me". In the Vajrayana, that is where our suffering takes root.
Chöd doesn't teach us to avoid fear and obstacles. It teaches us to meet them with compassion and generosity. What first looks like a threat becomes working material for the practice.
Machig Labdrön and Tröma Nagmo
The practice goes back to Machig Labdrön, a Tibetan yogini of the eleventh century. Her teaching is the only one that arose in Tibet and was then carried back to India, which was unheard of at the time. She brought together the emptiness teachings of the Prajñāpāramitā with an instruction so practical that you can start working with it straight away.
In the Dudjom Tersar, the central deity of Chöd is Tröma Nagmo, the black wrathful dakini. Her wrathful appearance is not a threat. It shows how thoroughly the clinging to a self is cut through. She is the deity we practise on Sundays.
The Dudjom Tersar and Dudjom Lingpa
Our practice follows the Dudjom Tersar, the "New Treasures of Dudjom". In the Tibetan tradition a terma is a hidden teaching concealed by past masters, meant to be discovered at the moment when it is most needed.
These termas were revealed by Dudjom Lingpa (1835 - 1904), a highly revered Tibetan meditation master and tertön (treasure revealer). The practice of Tröma Nagmo belongs to this cycle too. Because these teachings were discovered relatively recently, they are said to carry a "warm breath": the transmission is fresh and direct, and speaks to the world we live in now.
Practising together
Chöd is a practice that sounds. We chant the Tibetan text together to a set melody, accompanied by the damaru drum and the bell. Doing this in a group is not the same as doing it alone on a cushion. The shared sound carries the practice and cuts through the running commentary that would otherwise simply continue.
Coming for the first time
Everyone is welcome, including those with no experience of Chöd. There is nothing to bring and you don't need to know the melody: you can listen and join in where you can. Let us know at info@rigdzin.nl if you are coming for the first time.
The Sunday practice sits alongside the weekly Ngöndro teaching on Saturday. Both are on the Programme page.