Philosophy; Religion and Theology; Communication and The Arts; Social Sciences; Liturgy; Meditation; Music; Ritual; Tibetan
摘要
The Tibetan female ascetic Ma gcig Lab sgron1 (1055-1153) developed the tantric Chöd ritual practice, a meditation practice method through which a practitioner can rapidly increase his or her level of bodhicitta and "cut" (Tib. gcod) 2 attachment to the habitually mistaken notion of a truly-existent "self" with the antidote to "self-grasping" ignorance: the realisation of the emptiness of all phenomena. The Chöd practitioner learns to develop bodhicitta and operationalise the experience of fear to reverse the habitual tendency to cherish the self above others and thereby attain enlightenment. Inviting all beings throughout the universe with the thighbone trumpet (Tib. rkang gling) for a feast and to pay down one's karmic debt to them, the Chöd practitioner plays the symbolic ritual instruments and sings the mgur style "songs of meditation experience" (the same genre in which the famous Tibetan poet saint Mi la ras pa composed). Chöd performance involves the detailed visualising of giving the body away to various guests in a succession of distributions, including: the Buddhas, bodhisattvas and dharma protectors and the invited spirits.
