TANTRIC CHOD PRACTICE

AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF HEALING AND TRANSFORMATION

Great Mother House · 20 September 2025

 
The techniques of the Buddhist tantric tradition are not widely known or used, but they offer incredible opportunity for the development for those resonating with tantric path. One of the fundamental practices of the Buddhist tantric tradition is the practice of CHOD, during which we visualize ourselves offering our bodies on a cosmic altar, which we then transform into Amrita—luminous nectar—the drink of the gods. By imagining the Amrita is filling whole space, we invite all sentient beings to participate in the cosmic feast to be nourished.
 
Chod is a special practice adapted from Eastern shamanic rituals. In all ancient shamanic traditions, rites of offering to nature spirits played a special role in gaining the favor of invisible forces, healing illnesses, and removing obstacles.
According to shamans, the entire frequency spectrum of existence, which we are unable to perceive, is the cause of a disturbance in harmony and an energetic imbalance between us and the world. We derive benefits from nature, animals, and plants for our own purposes. At the same time, we have no conscious connection with this world, perceiving only a narrow fraction of the reality around us. Through successive reincarnations, the constant exploitation of external resources creates a massive energetic imbalance. As a result, we face a personal deficit between what we take in from the outside and what we give.
According to shamans, all illnesses and problems are resulting from this imbalance. This is why shamanism has created so many different rituals of offerings and ransoms to the invisible world. For example, by creating a figurine representing a seriously ill person, which was sacrificed in place of the real person.
 
These practices were integrated by Indian tantric traditions, which gave them a multidimensional mystical character. The ritual where not only limited to a single specific case but became part of larger ceremonies, where all difficult situations and problems were resolved through systematic, regular, group rites of feeding the invisible spirit world and all beings with whom we share karmic past.
With the development of these methods, the practice also began to encompass the inner level. As a result, adepts also began to feed their own hungry, immature aspects, often called “inner demons” in tradition.
 
Tibetan tantric methods are known for employing magical formulas of conjuration, exorcism, and deflecting energetic attacks, often applied to negative entities. However, in many situations, instead of severing a hydra’s head, which immediately grows ten more, a feminine approach is far more effective.
Representing enlightened feminine wisdom, the Chod practice does not eliminate the problem by destroying or severing it, but chooses a path of gradual transformation through feeding it. In the spirit of the Great Mother archetype, who embraces all beings as her children, who are cared for and are nourished by her.
 
However, we know that at a deeper level, hunger can only be satisfied from a higher level than the one in which it originated. Therefore, the core part of the Chod practice, called the white feast, transforms the substance of the offered body into the luminous nectar of amrita. By feeding hungry, suffering beings or our inner aspects with this high-vibrational ethereal substance, their structure gradually heals and transforms.
 
The need to satisfy hunger and nourishment exists not only in the dense dimensions of space. We exist in an interdependent system where being in higher dimension will be higher in the food chain than beings living in a more dense dimension.
In this way, the lower part of the second density (plants) will feed on the first density (minerals), while the upper part of the second density (animals) will feed on plants and other animals.
Third density, representing humanity, will feed on second density, while fourth density, the astral dimension, will draw on energy generated by ourselves.
The prevailing rule is that the higher the frequency, the less dependency from external food source.
Through practicing Chod, by consciously feeding the astral plane around us, astral beings gradually stop feeding on us and finally disconnect from us permanently, after our deficit with the world is balanced.
 
The effect of regular Chod practice is a lasting energy balance between us and the outer world and letting go of deep, unconscious fears and attachments.
We stop focusing on what divides us, having more patience and space for the processes of those around us emerge. A greater connection with our essence opens up, along with greater sensitivity and empathy for ourselves and others. At the same time, regular removal of obstacles and harmonization of energy allows us to live with greater ease and harmony with our true nature.
 
 

Here are excerpts from Lama Tsultrim Allione’s statements in “How to Feed Your Demons” and “Overcoming Ego With the Practice of Chöd” (www.lionsroar.com)

The inner level of Chöd practice has been called – FEEDING OUR INNER DEMONS.
“Feeding our inner demons contradicts the conventional approach of fighting against everything that afflicts and torments us. However, it turns out to be a surprisingly effective path to inner integration.
Anything that drains us of energy and blocks us from experiencing full awakening is a demon.” “The approach of giving form to these inner forces and nourishing them, rather than fighting against them, is a key element of the practice of the eleventh-century Tibetan Buddhist teacher Machig Labdrön (1055–1145). The spiritual practice she developed, Chöd, yielded such remarkable results that it became widely popular and spread throughout Tibet and beyond.”
 
GENEROSITY PRACTICE
“In Chöd (…) we practice generosity to free ourselves from ego-clinging. Chöd practitioners visualize offering their bodies as sacrifices, which is a direct confrontation with their own egos. Many different guests are invited to this imaginary banquet, including personified forms of illness, fear, and demons. When the guests arrive at the banquet, Chöd practitioners maintain the image of threefold emptiness and offer their bodies, which they visualize as the nectar that satisfies all desires. The intensity of the body-sacrifice experience (…) is meant to push practitioners into a state of liberation from all clinging and attachments.
Although we may not, like Chöd practitioners, deliberately go to fearful places, we encounter many terrifying demons, such as depression, anger, and anxiety. When this happens, we have the opportunity to feed, rather than fight, these demons.” the nectar of love and compassion. It counters the seed of ego-clinging and helps transform those inner demons into our allies.”