Chöd

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Chöd or gcod (Tib., gcod, ‘cutting’). A meditation prominent in Tibetan Buddhism, which is traced to the great female yoginī Machig Labdron (ma.gcig lab.sgron) and her teacher Father Dampa Sangye (pha.dam.pasangs.rgyas; equated in one legend with Bod.-hidharma). The meditation is normally performed in a charnel ground or known haunted place, where the yogin, with the aid of mantra, hand-drum and human thigh-bone trumpet, visualizes the cutting up of his own body and the offering of it to demons as sacrificial food.

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