Short introduction of programme
For those who seriously wish to take Chod as one of their main practices, it is necessary for them to first receive a Chod initiation from a qualified Vajra master. During this retreat, Rinpoche will be giving the Chod Empowerment, oral transmission and instruction as well as leading the participants on the practice.

Origin of the Practice
During the second sermon, Lord Buddha Shakyamuni Buddha gave the Prajnaparamitta teaching to his followers. The essence of this teaching is to develop the perfect wisdom of Enlightenment. Later on, an Indian saint Dampa Sangye and a Tibetan great master Machig Labdron introduced a unique method for cutting ego clinging instantly, based on the essence of the
Prajnaparamitta teaching. In Tibetan this is called Chod. This practice then flourished and spread throughout the entire Himalayan region.

In Tibet, the practitioners of the Chod practice established the Shijed Tradition. Many masters practised Chod and attained Enlightenment within one lifetime. One of the main lineage holders in the later years was the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. Through His Holiness, the lineage of Shijed flowed to the Karma Kagyu tradition and is being extensively practiced in the monasteries and hermitages of the Karma Kagyu practitioners.

The practice awakens one’s awareness of the pure nature of emotions and the emptiness of mental obscurations.

Benefit of the Practice
Chod is a method using a drum and a bell and has been practiced for centuries both for healing and to cut through the root of defilement, that is the ego clinging or the attachment to self and phenomena, and all the subsequent defilements such as hatred, desire, pride fear, fixation and ignorance that arise from it. The practice is also a powerful mean for accumulating merit because one practices the generosity of offering one’s body to the objects of refuge, lamas, meditational deities, dakinis, protectors, as well as to the gods and spirits and to many other beings to whom we owe karmic debts.