Class
Article
College
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
"From Chod to Feeding Your Demons: A Western Adaptation of Tibetan Tantra Tanner McAlister and Dr. Dominic Sur (Mentor), Religious Studies. This research examines how Chod, a tantric Buddhist ritual traced to eleventh-century Tibet, has been altered in the West by Buddhist teacher, Lama Tsultrim Allione. The analysis aims to uncover whether the soteriological dimension of Chod has been altered from buddhahood to psychological well-being. Chod's transmission to the West and its scope as a non-traditional practice is a recent phenomenon tracing back to just the last decade of the twentieth century. Although publications on Chod as practiced in Tibet have been done by a number of Western scholars since the early twentieth century, the first and only written description and liturgical guide aimed at a Western audience, Feeding Your Demons, was published by Allione in 2008. The research conducted regarding Chod's contemporary Western practice is, therefore, unique to the field of Tibetan Buddhist studies. The approach of this study is a structural comparison of Machik's Complete Explanation an English translation of a text attributed to Chod's founder, Machik Labdron to Allione's rendition as expressed in her book, Feeding Your Demons. This comparison aims to discover the varying ideas and practices that animate these two putatively different methods. The varying methodological approaches are further accentuated through interviews with an authorized Buddhist teacher and associate of Allione, Lopon Chandra Easton. The interviews reveal the pedagogical approaches used at Allione's retreat center, Tara Mandala, and how the practice is being implemented by Buddhist and non-Buddhist mental health professionals. Through demonstrating the differences in practice, ideology, and pedagogy, this study aims to uncover the impact of Western culture on Buddhist ritual, adding to existing scholarship on the nature of Buddhism in the West and the development of American Buddhism.
Location
Room 208
Start Date
4-10-2019 12:00 PM
End Date
4-10-2019 1:15 PM
Included in
From Chod to Feeding Your Demons: A Western Approach to Tibetan Tantra
Room 208
"From Chod to Feeding Your Demons: A Western Adaptation of Tibetan Tantra Tanner McAlister and Dr. Dominic Sur (Mentor), Religious Studies. This research examines how Chod, a tantric Buddhist ritual traced to eleventh-century Tibet, has been altered in the West by Buddhist teacher, Lama Tsultrim Allione. The analysis aims to uncover whether the soteriological dimension of Chod has been altered from buddhahood to psychological well-being. Chod's transmission to the West and its scope as a non-traditional practice is a recent phenomenon tracing back to just the last decade of the twentieth century. Although publications on Chod as practiced in Tibet have been done by a number of Western scholars since the early twentieth century, the first and only written description and liturgical guide aimed at a Western audience, Feeding Your Demons, was published by Allione in 2008. The research conducted regarding Chod's contemporary Western practice is, therefore, unique to the field of Tibetan Buddhist studies. The approach of this study is a structural comparison of Machik's Complete Explanation an English translation of a text attributed to Chod's founder, Machik Labdron to Allione's rendition as expressed in her book, Feeding Your Demons. This comparison aims to discover the varying ideas and practices that animate these two putatively different methods. The varying methodological approaches are further accentuated through interviews with an authorized Buddhist teacher and associate of Allione, Lopon Chandra Easton. The interviews reveal the pedagogical approaches used at Allione's retreat center, Tara Mandala, and how the practice is being implemented by Buddhist and non-Buddhist mental health professionals. Through demonstrating the differences in practice, ideology, and pedagogy, this study aims to uncover the impact of Western culture on Buddhist ritual, adding to existing scholarship on the nature of Buddhism in the West and the development of American Buddhism.