Posted by Jens
"gCod [chod] is like taking a jet plane to Enlightenment rather than walking."
Source: Savvas, "A Study of the Profound Path of Gcod," 83. This was told to her by "the great gCod master the Venerable Zong Rinpoche" in personal communication in India, 1980.
When Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche was asked why he is focusing on the study and practice of Chöd nowadays he explained the following: The time is ripe (dus la bab) for the teachings of Chöd and Tara to spread. This is due to our previous karma and aspirations as well as due to the kindness of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Furthermore, this is the dark age of degeneration (snyig ma’i dus), which is teeming with people who are greedy, disturbed, distracted, attached to material wealth, always busy with the body, speech, and mind, and so forth. However, at this time, people are also very sharp and very interested in the study. Chöd is extremely effective in helping one let go of any kind of clinging and attachment to outer phenomena, to one’s body, and to the notion of a personal self. If one wants to be truly kind to oneself, one should strive in this way for enlightenment and practice the “undeluded view.” Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, “Teachings on Chöd,” Pharping, annual fall seminar retreat, November 27, 2015.
I was told by a student who had undertaken the three-year retreat under Kalu Rinpoche, that Rinpoche recommended Tara and Chöd as, particularly effective practices in these times.
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Posted by Ryan
Not a quote, but on an intuitive level, this seems to be true. The Buddhist landscape is full of teachings and practices which purport to be the "quick path," and I suppose it depends on our individual karmic resonances. But Cho certainly operates on a level that is hard to grasp with discriminating consciousness. I sometimes experience it a bit when we arrive at the part of the sadhana where we rest in emptiness. The struggle with the mechanics of the practice and all of the attendant negative thought and emotion is over. There is a confidence that all of the demons have been given exactly what they've wanted, and it's actually possible just to rest, if only for a few moments.
In the context of the pantheon of Buddhist practices, the element of feeding seems to be key. It's not just about separating oneself from the demons by utilizing discernment, developing samadhi, having great faith in an alternative, adopting the view of emptiness, or adhering to a particular mode of conduct. All of these are good, but there's a way that they still offer the ego a hiding-place. The radical compassion of Cho seems uniquely effective for cutting through that--that's the possibility I sense anyway.