Thursday, July 30, 2026

Tibetan nun dared to teach yoga (Chöd)



Machig Labdrön (Tibetan མ་གཅིག་ལབ་སྒྲོན་, sometimes referred to as ཨ་སྒྲོན་ཆོས་སྒྲོན or Ahdrön Chödron་) [1], the "Singular Mother Torch from Lab" (1055–1149) [2].

She was a Tibetan Buddhist nun (ani) believed to be a reincarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal.

Machig Labdrön was the renowned 11th-century Tibetan tantric Buddhist master and yogini who originated several Tibetan lineages of the Vajrayana practice of Chöd (Tibetan གཅོད་).

Buddhist leader Chökyi Drönma
Nyingma
scholar Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche states that the Chöd tradition developed by Machig Labdrön is "a radical synthesis of the Prajnaparamita tradition and tantra guru yoga that 'cuts' through the ego" [3].
 
Historical texts portray Machig Labdrön as the originator of the Chöd lineage, which she developed in Tibet.

This was confirmed in her own lifetime by Indian Brahmin priests and others, and Machig Labdron's creation of the Chöd lineage is not doubted by its modern practitioners [4].
Vajravarahi mandala
The influences of other practices on Chöd are debated. Some posit Machig Labdron may have come from a Yungdrung Bön [black magic shaman] family, a position that contradicts historical records [5].

According to Namkhai Norbu, Chöd might be interpreted through combining native Tibetan shamanism with the Dzogchen teachings.

Other Buddhist teachers and scholars offer differing interpretations of the origins of Chöd. Not all of them agree that Chöd has Bön shamanistic roots [6]. More

The Tibetan Yoga of Dreaming
Tibetan tantric dream yoga (milam) In the yoga of dreaming (rmi lam), the yogi and yogini learn to remain aware (lucid dream) during the states of dreaming and use this skill to practice yoga in the dream... The Yoga of the Dream State is a suite of advanced tantric daily practices (sadhana) of the entwined Mantrayana (Vajrayana) lineages of Dzogchen (Nyingmapa, Ngagpa, Mahasiddha, Kagyu, and Bönpo). It consists of tantric processes and techniques in the trance bardos [liminal spaces] of dream and sleep or the Six Dharmas of Naropa, the "dream body" and the "bardo body" being identified with the "vision body" (yid lus)...

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