Course Overview

Chod is a powerful practice of accepting willingly what is undesirable, cutting through our concepts, reducing our self-cherishing nature, leading us closer to our own true nature. The main obstacle to our own enlightenment is our clinging to our own ego, our own existence. When fear, fixation, and self-clinging are cut through, giving rise to the awareness of the pure nature of emotions and the emptiness of mental obscurations.

Machig Labdron is the creator of a unique form of Mahamudra chöd practice. She is the manifestation of Prajnaparamita, the Great Mother who gives birth to realisation of emptiness. Furthermore, Machig Labdron is also the manifestation of Arya Tara, who gives birth to compassion. A chod practitioner can cut through anything and therefore his or her main intention should be to unify understanding of emptiness and loving kindness and compassion, just as Machig Labdron did.

Khentrul Rinpoche has received the Chod transmission in multiple traditions such as the Nyingma Kagyu, Jonang and the Gelug traditions. He had the pleasure of practicing Chod Retreat and receiving transmission from Kalka Jetsun Dhampa considered to be a reincarnation of Taranatha and the spiritual head of Mongolia.

Throughout Buddhist history, female practitioners have been models of leadership in virtuous conduct, meditation, discipline and practice. Machig Labdron is an extraordinary example of a highly realised female practitioner. One of Rinpoche’s aspirations is to cultivate more realised female practitioners around the world and we hope this practice inspires the prominence and proliferation of more female Buddhist masters.

  • Who is this course for?

    This course is designed for practitioners with interest in cutting through their fears and obstacles to familiarize your mind with emptiness.

  • What will you learn?

    You will learn various ways to practice Chöd. We will go over various sadhanas and ways to face our fears in our life.

  • How will this benefit you?

    Chod practice increases courage and determination to devote one's whole being to practice to achieve complete renunciation and significant realization.

Empowerments and Sadhanas

A Pearl Garland Narration of the Chöd Empowerment that Opens the Gate to the Sky text from the mindstream of Jetsun Taranatha contains many inspiring stories of Machig Landrön. We have translated this into many languages for the benefit of the event.

  • "Subduing through Splendour: An Offering of the Body in Accordance with the Profound Meaning" by Mangé Kalden, from the Jonang Tradition

  • "A Brief Practice of Object Severance" by Shar Khentrul Rinpoché

  • "A Condensed Offering of the Body" by Dudjom Rinpoche, from the Nyingma Tradition

Suggested Reading

Unveiling Your Sacred Truth Book 2

Rinpoche talks about the practice of Chöd as a supplement to your Kalachakra practice in his series Unveiling Your Sacred Truth.
Purchase the Book

Instructors

Khentrul Rinpoche

Jonang Kalachakra and Rimé Master

Khentrul Rinpoché Jamphel Lodrö is the founder and spiritual director of Dzokden. Rinpoche is the author of Unveiling Your Sacred Truth, The Great Middle Way: Clarifying the Jonang View of Other-Emptiness, A Happier Life, and The Hidden Treasure of the Profound Path. Rinpoche spent the first 20 years of his life herding yak and chanting mantras on the plateaus of Tibet. Inspired by the bodhisattvas, he left his family to study in a variety of monasteries under the guidance of over twenty-five masters in all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Due to his non-sectarian approach, he earned himself the title of Rimé (unbiased) Master and was identified as the reincarnation of the famous Kalachakra Master Ngawang Chözin Gyatso. While at the core of his teachings is the recognition that there is great value in the diversity of all spiritual traditions found in this world; he focuses on the Jonang-Shambhala tradition. Kalachakra (wheel of time) teachings contain profound methods to harmonize our external environment with the inner world of body and mind, ultimately bringing about the golden age of peace and harmony (dzokden).

Karma Shadpa

Lama & Yogi

Karma Shadpa Lama is a yogi living in California, USA. He practiced and received teachings from Khentrul Rinpoche’s root Guru, Lama Lobsang Trinle. He has practiced Chöd for a long time and completed several Chöd retreats in many traditions including the Nyingma, Kagyu, Gelug and Jonang. He received the Chöd empowerment in the Nyingma, Kagyu and Jonang traditions including the initiation in Taranatha’s Opening the Gates to the Sky empowerment which this retreat is based upon. He has taught students in the Dzokden community Tibetan language via private tutorship since 2018.