Chö

Chö (Tib. གཅོད་, Wyl. gcod) (literally 'cutting'), also known as the accumulation of the kusulu, is a practice, based on the prajnaparamita, involving a visualization in which the physical body is offered as food to various guests, including evil forces or dangerous spirits, the purpose of which is to destroy or 'cut' the four maras and especially one’s own ego-clinging. Chö was introduced to Tibet by the Indian master Padampa Sangye and his Tibetan disciple, the yogini Machik Labdrön.

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

• Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche, St Paul’s Crescent, London, UK, November 1984, weekend teaching on Chöd
• Sogyal Rinpoche, Lerab Ling, 12 August 1996
• Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche, Dharma Mati, Germany, 9-10 September 2023

Further Reading

Nyingma Tradition

• Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher (Boston: Shambhala, Revised edition, 1998), Part Two, Chapter 5, 'The Kusali's Accumulation'.
• Khenpo Ngawang Palzang, A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2004), Part Two, Chapter 5, 'The Kusali's Accumulation'.
• Dudjom Lingpa, ‘Dudjom Lingpa's Chöd’, Translated by Lama Chönam & Sangye Khandro (‘An Ambrosia Ocean of Sublime Explanations’, by Pema Lungtok Gyatso; ‘The Profound Heart Essence of Saraha’, by Heruka Dudjom Lingpa), Light of Berotsana, 2014.

Kagyü Tradition

• Tenga Rinpoche, Cho: The Garden of All Joy & Generosity of the Body, Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Trust Publications, 2008.
• Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye and the Fourteenth Karmapa, Thekchok Dorje, Chod Practice Manual and Commentary, Snow Lion Publications, 2007.

Gelug Tradition

• Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Chod in the Ganden Tradition—The Oral Instructions of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, edited by David Molk, Snow Lion, 2006.

Internal Links

• Eight practice lineages
• Jewel Garland of Chö
• Khandro Gegyang
• karmic debt
• Tröma Nakmo