Machig Labdrön
Encyclopedia
Machig Labdrön (1055 - 1149) was a renowned 11th century Tibet
an Tantric
Buddhist practitioner and teacher.
Machig Lapdrön was a great Tibetan yogini
who originated several Tibetan lineages of the Indian tantric
practice of Chöd
. Machig may have came from a Bönpo family and, according to Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
, developed Chöd by combining native Tibetan Bönpo shamanism with the Dzogchen
teachings.
, a representation of enlightened female energy. She holds a drum (damaru) in her right hand and a bell in her left. Her right leg is often lifted and the standing left leg is bent in motion. Machig is white in color with three eyes and wears the Six Bone Ornaments of the charnel grounds, which is traditional for a practicing yogini.
dakinis wear 5 bone ornaments; they are themselves the wisdom paramita...
predicted that Yeshe Tsogyel would be reborn as Machig Lapdron; her consort, Atsara Sale, would become Topabhadra, Machig’s husband; her assistant and Padmasambhava's secondary consort, Tashi Khyidren, would be reborn as Machig’s only daughter, and so on. All of the important figures in Tsogyel's life were to be reborn in the life of Machig Lapdron, including Padmasambhava himself, who would become Phadampa Sangye.
emanation (tulku
) of another great yogini, Yeshe Tsogyal
, as well as "an emanation of the 'Great Mother of Wisdom,' Yum Chenmo, and of Arya Tara
, who transmitted to her [Machig] teachings and initiations." This pattern of reincarnations and emanations continued into the life just before her birth as Machig Labdrön. In the lifetime before, she was the Indian yogi, Mönlam Drub. After his death, the body of the twenty-year-old Mönlam Drub is said to have remained "alive" in the cave of Potari in Southern India.
According to tradition, it was Mönlam Drub's mindstream which entered the womb of Bum Cham ("Great Noble Woman"), who lived in the area of Labchi Eli Gangwar in Tibet, which caused the birth of Machig. According to the biography of Machig that appears in Tsultrim Allione
's work Women of Wisdom, her mother experienced auspicious dreams of dakini
s shortly after conception, dreams which contained the vase and the conch of the Ashtamangala
:
As a child and young woman, Machig made a living as a liturgy reader. She was fortunate to be literate and patrons would hire her to read the Prajna Paramita Sutra or 'The Perfection of Wisdom', a Mahayana Sutra, in their homes as a form of blessing and to gain merit. Machig was known to be a fast reader and so was in much demand as this meant that she could complete the entire text quickly and her patrons would have to pay for fewer meals for her while she read.
The namthar entitled Secret Biography of Machig Labdron relates the struggles that she underwent in order to avoid traditional marriage and eventually left home to practice the Dharma
as her life's calling. After leaving the monastic order in Yuchong, she married Indian Pandita Topa Draya. (thod-pa gra-ya), also a Buddhist practitioner, who supported Machig in her practices. Together, they had two sons and one daughter (or three sons and two daughters by some accounts). Her second son, Tonyon Samdru (thod-smyon bsam-grub), became one of her main successors and a propagator of Machig Labdron's teachings. He became a monk at the age of 15 under the tutorship of Pha Dampa Sangye
. Pha Dampa Sangye's original name was Dampa Sangye. Tonyon Samdru treated him as stepfather and called him Pha Dampa Sangye, with "Pha" meaning "father" and many Tibetans call him Phadampa Sangye to this day.
Some say that Machig received instructions from Pha Dampa Sangye
, as her Guru
and the reincarnation of Padmasambhava
which led to profound realizations. However, for several years Machig's main practice was one of tantric union with her spiritual consort and husband, Topabhadra, an emanation of Buddha Shakyamuni (according to a prediction given to Machig by Arya Tara
), with whom she raised a family, living the "Red & White essence."
Even though Machig spent some time living with monastics, she was not a celibate nun; she partnered and had both daughters and sons who became lineage holders. One of her sons even started out as a thief. Machig was eventually able to bring him to the Dharma and became his teacher: "You may think that Gods are the one's who give you benefits, and Demons cause damage; but it may be the other way round. Those who cause pain teach you to be patient, and those who give you presents may keep you from practising the Dharma. So it depends on their effect on you if they are Gods or Demons," she said. Machig also had female disciples and the four main women disciples were called Machig's Gyen, or Ornaments.
During Machig's lifetime, the Buddhist teachings that came from India were considered authentic and there were none that originated in Tibet. As one of Machig's biographies states:
As a result, there was so much controversy over Machig's teachings that a delegation of Brahmins was sent from India to Tibet to assess Machig's qualifications and teachings. After her students gathered with her at Zangri Khangmar (Machig's home in Tibet from the age of 39 until her death at the age of 99), Machig taught and debated with the pandits. In addition, a delegation was sent to southern India to find the relics
of Mönlam Drub as Machig instructed, thus adding further validity to her status as a teacher and lineage holder. As a result, of these and other events, it was determined that Machig's teachings were indeed authentic and established that the Chöd teachings were the first Buddhist teachings to emerge in Tibet. One source says: "Word of the widespread practice of Mahāmudra Chö in Tibet and Nepal was first viewed in India with great scepticism. A delegation of ācāryas was sent from Bodh Gayā to Tibet to test Machig Labrön and her teaching resulted in the acceptance of Mahāmudrā Chö as a valid and authentic Mahāyāna tradition. Thereafter its practice spread even to India."
. It is in this transition from the outer charnel ground
to the institutions of Tibetan Buddhism that the rite of the Chod becomes more imaginal, an inner practice. That is, the charnel ground becomes an internal imaginal environment. Schaeffer (1995: p. 15) conveys that the Third Karmapa was a systematizer of the Chöd developed by Machig Labdrön and lists a number of his works on Chod consisting of redactions, outlines and commentaries amongst others:
Machig's Chöd is still practiced today in Tibet, India, the west, and other parts of the world.
Vajrayoginī is a key figure in the advanced Tibetan Buddhist practice of Chöd, where she appears in her Kālikā (Tibetan: Khros ma nag mo) or Vajravārāhī (Tibetan:rDo rje phag mo) forms. The practices of Tröma Nagmo (The Extremely Wrathful Black Mother) associated with the Dakini Troma Nagmo (the black form of Vajrayogini), were also propagated by the great Machig Labdron, who became the most famous female practitioner in Tibet and attained complete enlightenment by this method. "The particular transmission which His Holiness will give descends from Dudjom Lingpa
, who received it in a direct vision of the Indian Mahasiddha, Saraha
. This practice emphasizes cutting through grasping at the dualistic mind to realize complete selfless compassion.
It is said that one of Machig's children has been her dharma heir. This information says, "Her son Tönyön Samdrup was the holder of her lineage and was ordained by Dampa Sangyé."
Sonam Lama gave her the tantric name of Dorje Wangchuma(rdo-rje dbang-phyug-ma), which means "Diamond Independent Goddess."
In more recent history, Machig Labdrön has incarnated and emanated both in Tibet and in the West. In Tibet, the great yogini Jetsun Rigdzin Chönyi Zangmo (1852–1953)—also called Ani Lochen and Shugseb Jetsun Rinpoche—was a recognized incarnation of Machig. Shugsheb Jetsun Rinpoche—also called the great female master, Lochen Chönyi Zangmo—founded the Shuksep or Shugsep (shug gseb) nunnery located thirty miles from Lhasa on the slopes of Mount Gangri Thökar.
In the west, Lama Tsultrim Allione
(1947- ) was recently recognized as an emanation of Machig Labdrön at Zangri Khangmar, Tibet, the place where Machig Labdrön lived from ages 37 to 99, and where she died, by the resident Lama, Karma Nyitön Kunkhyab Chökyi Dorje. Lama Karma Nyitön Kunkhyab Chökyi Dorje offered Lama Tsultrim a self-arisen golden crystal phurba
(ceremonial dagger), the only remaining tsa tsa made from the ashes of Machig's body (a mixture of clay and ash imprinted with an image of Machig dancing), texts of Machig's teachings, a hat with symbolic meaning designed by Machig, and various other treasures.
Chöd, has been widespread in Tibet since Machig's lifetime. It is also called "The Beggars' Offering" or "The Cutting-Off-Ritual." Chöd is a visionary Buddhist practice of cutting attachment to one’s corporeal form (in terms of the dualistic proclivity to relate to one's corporeal form as a reference-point that proves one’s existence). This means that a practitioner offers the mandala
of their own body in a ganacakra rite. The practitioner works entirely with their own mind, visualizing the offering, and—by practicing in lonely and dreaded places, like cemeteries—works to overcome all fear. This is also why Chöd was often used to overcome sickness in order to heal oneself and others. In some lineages of the Chöd practice, chodpas and chodmas (practitioners of Chöd) use a bell, small drum (a Chöd damaru), and a thigh-bone trumpet (kangling) made of human bone (often obtained from the charnel ground of sky burial
s).
s, it is clear from Machig Labdron's writings that the entities being dealt with in Chöd practices are formulations of the human mind, rather than supernatural
beings. Tsultrim Allione
has worked with Labdron's practice since 1973, and in 2007 was herself recognised as an emanation of Machig Labdrön. She quotes from Machig Labdrön's teachings on Chöd
:
According to Anila Rinchen at Kagyu Ling in Burgundy, France, the Tibetan term for "demon" should be translated as "neurosis".
are associated with her.
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an Tantric
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
Buddhist practitioner and teacher.
Machig Lapdrön was a great Tibetan yogini
Yogini
Yogini is the complete form source word of the masculine yogi- and neutral/plural "yogin." Far from being merely a gender tag to the all things yogi, "Yogini" represents both a female master practitioner of Yoga, and a formal term of respect for a category of modern female spiritual teachers in...
who originated several Tibetan lineages of the Indian tantric
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
practice of Chöd
Chöd
Chöd , is a spiritual practice found primarily in Tibetan Buddhism. Also known as "Cutting Through the Ego," the practice is based on the Prajñāpāramitā sutra...
. Machig may have came from a Bönpo family and, according to Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is a Dzogchen teacher who was born in Derge, Kham district on 8 December 1938. When he was two years old, Namkhai Norbu was recognized as the 'mindstream emanation', a tulku, of the great Dzogchen teacher, Adzom Drugpa , at five he was also recognized as a mindstream...
, developed Chöd by combining native Tibetan Bönpo shamanism with the Dzogchen
Dzogchen
According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
teachings.
Iconography
Iconographically, Machig Labdrön is often depicted with the attributes of a dakiniDakini
A dakini is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'. The dakini, in...
, a representation of enlightened female energy. She holds a drum (damaru) in her right hand and a bell in her left. Her right leg is often lifted and the standing left leg is bent in motion. Machig is white in color with three eyes and wears the Six Bone Ornaments of the charnel grounds, which is traditional for a practicing yogini.
dakinis wear 5 bone ornaments; they are themselves the wisdom paramita...
Predictions of her Birth
In the Life of Yeshe Tsogyel, PadmasambhavaPadmasambhava
Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...
predicted that Yeshe Tsogyel would be reborn as Machig Lapdron; her consort, Atsara Sale, would become Topabhadra, Machig’s husband; her assistant and Padmasambhava's secondary consort, Tashi Khyidren, would be reborn as Machig’s only daughter, and so on. All of the important figures in Tsogyel's life were to be reborn in the life of Machig Lapdron, including Padmasambhava himself, who would become Phadampa Sangye.
Biography
Machig was the mindstreamMindstream
Mindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
emanation (tulku
Tulku
In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a particular high-ranking lama, of whom the Dalai Lama is one, who can choose the manner of his rebirth. Normally the lama would be reincarnated as a human, and of the same sex as his predecessor. In contrast to a tulku, all other sentient beings including other...
) of another great yogini, Yeshe Tsogyal
Yeshe Tsogyal
Yeshe Tsogyal , was the consort of the great Indian tantric teacher Padmasambhava, the founder-figure of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Nyingma tradition considers her equal in realization to Padmasambhava himself. The meditational practices related to her, stress her enlightened...
, as well as "an emanation of the 'Great Mother of Wisdom,' Yum Chenmo, and of Arya Tara
Tara (Buddhism)
Tara or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements...
, who transmitted to her [Machig] teachings and initiations." This pattern of reincarnations and emanations continued into the life just before her birth as Machig Labdrön. In the lifetime before, she was the Indian yogi, Mönlam Drub. After his death, the body of the twenty-year-old Mönlam Drub is said to have remained "alive" in the cave of Potari in Southern India.
According to tradition, it was Mönlam Drub's mindstream which entered the womb of Bum Cham ("Great Noble Woman"), who lived in the area of Labchi Eli Gangwar in Tibet, which caused the birth of Machig. According to the biography of Machig that appears in Tsultrim Allione
Tsultrim Allione
Lama Tsultrim Allione is an author and teacher who has studied in the Tibetan Buddhist lineage. She was born in 1947 in Maine, in the United States, and given the name Joan Rousmanière Ewing. She first travelled to India and Nepal in 1967, returned in 1969 and in 1970 she became one of the first...
's work Women of Wisdom, her mother experienced auspicious dreams of dakini
Dakini
A dakini is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini is rendered khandroma which means 'she who traverses the sky' or 'she who moves in space'. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as 'sky dancer' or 'sky walker'. The dakini, in...
s shortly after conception, dreams which contained the vase and the conch of the Ashtamangala
Ashtamangala
Ashtamangala or Zhaxi Daggyai are a sacred suite of Eight Auspicious Signs endemic to a number of Dharmic Traditions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. The symbols or 'symbolic attributes' are yidam and teaching tools...
:
When consciousness entered the womb of the mother on the fifteenth day, she dreamt that four white dakinis carrying four white vases poured water on her head and afterwards she felt purified. Then seven dakinis, red, yellow, green, etc., were around her making offerings, saying “Honor the mother, stay well our mother to be.”
After that, a wrathful dark-blue dakini wearing bone ornaments and carrying a hooked knife and a retinue of four blue dakinis carrying hooked knives and skull cups, surrounded her, in front of her, behind her, and to the left and right. All five were in the sky in front of Bum Cham. The central dakini was a forearm’s length higher than the rest.
She raised her hooked knife and said to the mother: “Now I will take out this ignorant heart.”
She took her knife and plunged it into the mother’s heart, took out the heart and put it in the skull cup of the dakini in front of her, and they all ate it. Then the central dakini took a conch which spiraled to the right and blew it. The sound resounded all over the world. In the middle of the conch was a luminous white “A”.
She said” “Now I will replace your heart with this white conch shell”...
Even after she woke up she felt great bliss.
As a child and young woman, Machig made a living as a liturgy reader. She was fortunate to be literate and patrons would hire her to read the Prajna Paramita Sutra or 'The Perfection of Wisdom', a Mahayana Sutra, in their homes as a form of blessing and to gain merit. Machig was known to be a fast reader and so was in much demand as this meant that she could complete the entire text quickly and her patrons would have to pay for fewer meals for her while she read.
The namthar entitled Secret Biography of Machig Labdron relates the struggles that she underwent in order to avoid traditional marriage and eventually left home to practice the Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
as her life's calling. After leaving the monastic order in Yuchong, she married Indian Pandita Topa Draya. (thod-pa gra-ya), also a Buddhist practitioner, who supported Machig in her practices. Together, they had two sons and one daughter (or three sons and two daughters by some accounts). Her second son, Tonyon Samdru (thod-smyon bsam-grub), became one of her main successors and a propagator of Machig Labdron's teachings. He became a monk at the age of 15 under the tutorship of Pha Dampa Sangye
Dampa Sangye
Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye (Wylie: Dam pa sangs rgyas, (d.1117 (tib.: pha dam pa sangs rgyas)) often known as Pha Dhampa Sangye. or 'Father Dampa Sangye', was a Buddhist Mahasiddha of the Indian Tantric Movement who transmitted many teachings based on both Sutrayana and Tantrayana to...
. Pha Dampa Sangye's original name was Dampa Sangye. Tonyon Samdru treated him as stepfather and called him Pha Dampa Sangye, with "Pha" meaning "father" and many Tibetans call him Phadampa Sangye to this day.
Some say that Machig received instructions from Pha Dampa Sangye
Dampa Sangye
Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye (Wylie: Dam pa sangs rgyas, (d.1117 (tib.: pha dam pa sangs rgyas)) often known as Pha Dhampa Sangye. or 'Father Dampa Sangye', was a Buddhist Mahasiddha of the Indian Tantric Movement who transmitted many teachings based on both Sutrayana and Tantrayana to...
, as her Guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
and the reincarnation of Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...
which led to profound realizations. However, for several years Machig's main practice was one of tantric union with her spiritual consort and husband, Topabhadra, an emanation of Buddha Shakyamuni (according to a prediction given to Machig by Arya Tara
Tara (Buddhism)
Tara or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements...
), with whom she raised a family, living the "Red & White essence."
Even though Machig spent some time living with monastics, she was not a celibate nun; she partnered and had both daughters and sons who became lineage holders. One of her sons even started out as a thief. Machig was eventually able to bring him to the Dharma and became his teacher: "You may think that Gods are the one's who give you benefits, and Demons cause damage; but it may be the other way round. Those who cause pain teach you to be patient, and those who give you presents may keep you from practising the Dharma. So it depends on their effect on you if they are Gods or Demons," she said. Machig also had female disciples and the four main women disciples were called Machig's Gyen, or Ornaments.
During Machig's lifetime, the Buddhist teachings that came from India were considered authentic and there were none that originated in Tibet. As one of Machig's biographies states:
All the Dharmas originated in India
And later spread to Tibet
Only Machig's teaching, born in Tibet,
Was later introduced in India and practiced there.
As a result, there was so much controversy over Machig's teachings that a delegation of Brahmins was sent from India to Tibet to assess Machig's qualifications and teachings. After her students gathered with her at Zangri Khangmar (Machig's home in Tibet from the age of 39 until her death at the age of 99), Machig taught and debated with the pandits. In addition, a delegation was sent to southern India to find the relics
Sarira
Śarīra are generic terms for "Buddhist relics", although in common usage these terms usually refer to a kind of pearl or crystal-like bead-shaped objects that are purportedly found among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters...
of Mönlam Drub as Machig instructed, thus adding further validity to her status as a teacher and lineage holder. As a result, of these and other events, it was determined that Machig's teachings were indeed authentic and established that the Chöd teachings were the first Buddhist teachings to emerge in Tibet. One source says: "Word of the widespread practice of Mahāmudra Chö in Tibet and Nepal was first viewed in India with great scepticism. A delegation of ācāryas was sent from Bodh Gayā to Tibet to test Machig Labrön and her teaching resulted in the acceptance of Mahāmudrā Chö as a valid and authentic Mahāyāna tradition. Thereafter its practice spread even to India."
Third Karmapa: systematizer of Chod
Chod (also written Chöd), the historical nature of the practice, was a marginal and peripheral sadhana, practiced outside traditional Tibetan Buddhist and Indian Tantric institutions with a contraindication as caveat of praxis upon all but the most advanced practitioners. The Third Karmapa (1284–1339) was a very important systematizer of Chod teachings and significantly assisted in their promulgation within the literary and practice lineages of Kagyupa, Nyingmapa and particularly DzogchenDzogchen
According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
. It is in this transition from the outer charnel ground
Charnel ground
Charnel ground is a very important location for sadhana and ritual activity for Indo-Tibetan traditions of Dharma particularly those traditions iterated by the Tantric view such as Kashmiri Shaivism, Kaula tradition, Esoteric Buddhism, Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Dzogchen, and the sadhana of Chöd, Phowa...
to the institutions of Tibetan Buddhism that the rite of the Chod becomes more imaginal, an inner practice. That is, the charnel ground becomes an internal imaginal environment. Schaeffer (1995: p. 15) conveys that the Third Karmapa was a systematizer of the Chöd developed by Machig Labdrön and lists a number of his works on Chod consisting of redactions, outlines and commentaries amongst others:
" Rang byung was renowned as a systematizer of the Gcod teachings developed by Ma gcig lab sgron. His texts on Gcod include the Gcod kyi khrid yig; the Gcod bka' tshoms chen mo' i sa bcad which consists of a topical outline of and commentary on Ma gcig lab sgron's Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa zab mo gcod kyi man ngag gi gzhung bka' tshoms chen mo ; the Tshogs las yon tan kun' byung ; the lengthy Gcod kyi tshogs las rin po che' i phrenb ba' don bsgrigs bltas chog tu bdod pa gcod kyi lugs sor bzhag; the Ma lab sgron la gsol ba' deb pa' i mgur ma; the Zab mo bdud kyi gcod yil kyi khrid yig, and finally the Gcod kyi nyams len."
Machig's Chöd is still practiced today in Tibet, India, the west, and other parts of the world.
Vajrayoginī is a key figure in the advanced Tibetan Buddhist practice of Chöd, where she appears in her Kālikā (Tibetan: Khros ma nag mo) or Vajravārāhī (Tibetan:rDo rje phag mo) forms. The practices of Tröma Nagmo (The Extremely Wrathful Black Mother) associated with the Dakini Troma Nagmo (the black form of Vajrayogini), were also propagated by the great Machig Labdron, who became the most famous female practitioner in Tibet and attained complete enlightenment by this method. "The particular transmission which His Holiness will give descends from Dudjom Lingpa
Dudjom Lingpa
Dudjom Lingpa was a great 'meditation' master, visionary and terton of the Nyingma tradition of 'Mantrayana' and a Dzogchen master of the modern era of principal importance, particularly in the area of 'refining perception' or Nang Jang...
, who received it in a direct vision of the Indian Mahasiddha, Saraha
Saraha
Saraha , Sarahapa , or Sarahapāda , originally known as Rāhula or Rāhulbhadra, was the first sahajiya and one of the Mahasiddhas, and is considered to be one of the founders of Buddhist Vajrayana, and particularly of the Mahamudra tradition. His dohas are compiled in Dohakośa, the 'Treasury of...
. This practice emphasizes cutting through grasping at the dualistic mind to realize complete selfless compassion.
It is said that one of Machig's children has been her dharma heir. This information says, "Her son Tönyön Samdrup was the holder of her lineage and was ordained by Dampa Sangyé."
Names
Apart from the name Machig Labdrön used here, one also finds the following spellings and transliterations, although all refer to the same woman:
Machik Lapkyi Drönma (ma gcig lab kyi sgron ma), Machig Lapdrönme (ma gcig lab sgron ma), Machik Labdron (ma gcig lab sgron), Maji Lab Dran (ma gcig lab sgron). Last not least, the version ma-gcig la-phyi sgron-ma refers to her place of birth, La-phyi in Tsang."
Sonam Lama gave her the tantric name of Dorje Wangchuma(rdo-rje dbang-phyug-ma), which means "Diamond Independent Goddess."
Later Emanations
It is said that Machig Labdrön took incarnation as Jomo Menmo (1248–1283) and later as Khyungchen Aro Lingma (1886–1923) According to the information given by the website the Gyalwa Karmapa, Jomo Menmo was born as a karmic emanation of Yeshe Tsogyal.In more recent history, Machig Labdrön has incarnated and emanated both in Tibet and in the West. In Tibet, the great yogini Jetsun Rigdzin Chönyi Zangmo (1852–1953)—also called Ani Lochen and Shugseb Jetsun Rinpoche—was a recognized incarnation of Machig. Shugsheb Jetsun Rinpoche—also called the great female master, Lochen Chönyi Zangmo—founded the Shuksep or Shugsep (shug gseb) nunnery located thirty miles from Lhasa on the slopes of Mount Gangri Thökar.
In the west, Lama Tsultrim Allione
Tsultrim Allione
Lama Tsultrim Allione is an author and teacher who has studied in the Tibetan Buddhist lineage. She was born in 1947 in Maine, in the United States, and given the name Joan Rousmanière Ewing. She first travelled to India and Nepal in 1967, returned in 1969 and in 1970 she became one of the first...
(1947- ) was recently recognized as an emanation of Machig Labdrön at Zangri Khangmar, Tibet, the place where Machig Labdrön lived from ages 37 to 99, and where she died, by the resident Lama, Karma Nyitön Kunkhyab Chökyi Dorje. Lama Karma Nyitön Kunkhyab Chökyi Dorje offered Lama Tsultrim a self-arisen golden crystal phurba
Phurba
The kīla is a three-sided peg, stake, knife, or nail like ritual implement traditionally associated with Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Bön, and Indian Vedic traditions. The kīla is associated with the meditational deity The kīla (Sanskrit Devanagari: कील; IAST: kīla; , pronunciation between pur-ba and...
(ceremonial dagger), the only remaining tsa tsa made from the ashes of Machig's body (a mixture of clay and ash imprinted with an image of Machig dancing), texts of Machig's teachings, a hat with symbolic meaning designed by Machig, and various other treasures.
Chöd
Machig's Chöd, also known as MahamudraMahamudra
Mahāmudrā literally means "great seal" or "great symbol." It "is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism" which "also occurs occasionally in Hindu and East Asian Buddhist esotericism."The name refers to the way one who...
Chöd, has been widespread in Tibet since Machig's lifetime. It is also called "The Beggars' Offering" or "The Cutting-Off-Ritual." Chöd is a visionary Buddhist practice of cutting attachment to one’s corporeal form (in terms of the dualistic proclivity to relate to one's corporeal form as a reference-point that proves one’s existence). This means that a practitioner offers the mandala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
of their own body in a ganacakra rite. The practitioner works entirely with their own mind, visualizing the offering, and—by practicing in lonely and dreaded places, like cemeteries—works to overcome all fear. This is also why Chöd was often used to overcome sickness in order to heal oneself and others. In some lineages of the Chöd practice, chodpas and chodmas (practitioners of Chöd) use a bell, small drum (a Chöd damaru), and a thigh-bone trumpet (kangling) made of human bone (often obtained from the charnel ground of sky burial
Sky burial
Sky burial, or ritual dissection, is a funerary practice in Tibet, wherein a human corpse was incised in certain locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements and animals – especially to predatory birds. The locations of preparation and sky burial are understood in the...
s).
Demons in Machig Labdron's Chöd
Although they are referred to as demonDemon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s, it is clear from Machig Labdron's writings that the entities being dealt with in Chöd practices are formulations of the human mind, rather than supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
beings. Tsultrim Allione
Tsultrim Allione
Lama Tsultrim Allione is an author and teacher who has studied in the Tibetan Buddhist lineage. She was born in 1947 in Maine, in the United States, and given the name Joan Rousmanière Ewing. She first travelled to India and Nepal in 1967, returned in 1969 and in 1970 she became one of the first...
has worked with Labdron's practice since 1973, and in 2007 was herself recognised as an emanation of Machig Labdrön. She quotes from Machig Labdrön's teachings on Chöd
Chöd
Chöd , is a spiritual practice found primarily in Tibetan Buddhism. Also known as "Cutting Through the Ego," the practice is based on the Prajñāpāramitā sutra...
:
According to Anila Rinchen at Kagyu Ling in Burgundy, France, the Tibetan term for "demon" should be translated as "neurosis".
Tselha Namsum meditation caves
The Tselha Namsum meditation caves near GyamdaGyamda
Gyamda or Ngapo Zampa is a village in Gyamda County of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China on the upper Nyang River at an altitude of 3,200 metres....
are associated with her.
See also
- Emanation
- IncarnationIncarnationIncarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
- Topabhadra
- Pha Dampa SangyeDampa SangyeDampa Sangye Dampa Sangye Dampa Sangye (Wylie: Dam pa sangs rgyas, (d.1117 (tib.: pha dam pa sangs rgyas)) often known as Pha Dhampa Sangye. or 'Father Dampa Sangye', was a Buddhist Mahasiddha of the Indian Tantric Movement who transmitted many teachings based on both Sutrayana and Tantrayana to...
- Lineage (Buddhism)Lineage (Buddhism)An authentic lineage in Buddhism is the uninterrupted transmission of the Buddha's Dharma from teacher to disciple.The transmission itself can be for example oral, scriptural, through signs, or directly from one mind to another....
- ChödChödChöd , is a spiritual practice found primarily in Tibetan Buddhism. Also known as "Cutting Through the Ego," the practice is based on the Prajñāpāramitā sutra...
- Tsultrim AllioneTsultrim AllioneLama Tsultrim Allione is an author and teacher who has studied in the Tibetan Buddhist lineage. She was born in 1947 in Maine, in the United States, and given the name Joan Rousmanière Ewing. She first travelled to India and Nepal in 1967, returned in 1969 and in 1970 she became one of the first...
- Women in BuddhismWomen in BuddhismWomen in Buddhism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those of theology, history, anthropology and feminism. Topical interests include the theological status of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societies at home and in public, the history of women in...
External links
- TBRC
- Yogini Macik Labdron and the Formation of Chod Sect - Section 2 of China Tibetology article: "Nuns of the unique Joyul (gcod-yul) Sect of Tibetan Buddhism"
- Nuns of the unique Joyul (gcod-yul)Sect of Tibetan Buddhism
- Summary of Machig's life from Jerome Edou's book http://www.snowlionpub.com/search.php?isbn=MALA
- The Mother Essence Lineage, Part 2 – Ma-gÇig Labdrön and Jomo Menmo
- Chö/Chöd/Lineages associated with Machig Labdrön
- Extract of Machig Labdron's biography by Tsultrim Allione
- Machik Labdrön's Prayer to All Lineages
- Prayer To The Lineage of Chö by Rangjung Dorje, Karmapa III
- http://www.tibetantreasures.com/tthtml/ttmerch/Padma%20Publishing/padmatexts.html see: T'hröma Nagmo*, A Practice Cycle for the Realization of the Wrathful Black Dakini