Chö

Margin

« Cutting, »or Chö, is a practice aimed at severing the four maras and especially one’s clinging to a seemingly existing self and the resulting dualistic perception. Introduced to Tibet by the yogini Machik Labdrön, who drew inspiration from the Zhijé (Pacification of Suffering) teachings of the Indian master Padampa Sangye, Chö is uniquely the only Buddhist tradition to originate in Tibet and subsequently spread to India; it is rooted in the view of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) from the second turning of the Dharma wheel, though many current Tibetan lineages—such as Tröma Nakmo in the Düdjom Tersar—integrate the third turning’s view of buddha nature within a Vajrayana framework. While Chö is often narrowly associated with the body-offering practice (lüjin), in which the practitioner visualizes transferring consciousness into the deity’s pure form and offering the physical body as food to various guests out of compassion, the complete Chö system actually encompasses the entire path from preliminaries through to Mahamudra or Dzogchen.