How many times have you thought, “Enough is enough, I’m turning over a new leaf?”
It is a powerful statement and sometimes hard to stick to.
Turning over a new leaf means to let go of what no longer serves you! A simple concept, but a tricky practice.
I have thought this many times. Sometimes it was easy, other times difficult, and sometimes nothing happened, especially when it comes to relationships or a huge lifestyle shift. Walking a full-on spiritual path is no mean feat; it takes courage, dedication, commitment, discipline and support.
Tibetan Buddhist Approach
Letting go of what no longer serves you in life and the world around you usually means moving towards new challenges. It can also involve severance or Chod.
In Tibetan Buddhism, in the severance tradition of Machig Labdrön, we encounter the practice known as Dulzhug. The literal translation of this phrase is “turning over a new leaf.” It can also mean “moving toward difficulties” and “severing or letting go of what no longer serves you.”
It involves the idea that we can overcome the dualistic mind, loosening its grip, and entering a new way of being that reflects our spiritual understanding and inner wisdom.
The practice of Dulzhug leads us to transform and transcend any outdated inner programs we still hold.
Dulzhug is a powerful practice of turning towards and leaning into our perceived obstacles and difficulties.
As we walk our path, we all begin to yearn for freedom from illusion, from the incomplete and distorted stories that we keep telling ourselves and that have been handed to us that we carry and believe.
The key to our path back to Truth is taking the opportunity to practice Dulzhug.
In Tibetan Buddhism, Dulzhug or Dul-sgrub literally means “vanquishing conduct” or “yogic conduct”.
To many of us, it simply means a powerful awakening, a healing practice of letting go and moving forward.
Dulzhug can be a rigorous, advanced extension of the Chöd or severance practice. It is designed to sever the ego and conquer attachments to negative thoughts, emotions and energies: our fears, our sense of lack and the need for comfort that the ego persists in convincing us are real.
Yes! The ego holds our need for both the positive and negative aspects of ourselves. Dulzhug is the practice of both letting go altogether of and the concept of a separate self.
Advanced Chod practitioners walk a disciplined path and often take a solitary journey to retreat into the wilderness overnight or for weeks on end. They frequently and deliberately go into fearful, lonely places where their mind can play havoc.
Pause and take a breath
What spiritual path am I on?
What teachings do I follow?
What is my regular spiritual practice?
Is my current practice transforming my inner programs?
Is my spiritual practice working for me?
Am I ready to face my inner demons?
Buddhist Core Elements of Severance
Vanquishing Conduct
Vanquishing conduct is the physical, emotional and mental challenge of remaining totally fearless, undisturbed, present and at peace in harsh situations and environments. Remaining solid and focused when challenged and alone, or if you are in an isolated space or experience.
Outer Practice and Inner Practice
Outer practice involves physical endurance, often in wild, harsh landscapes such as mountains, jungles, deserts or in the wilderness.
Inner practice involves embracing the pain within. It means you “feed your demons”, your own ego fears, desires and pain, to ultimately clear away all obstacles and obstructions that you hold to Truth. You experience intense pain as you remove blocks and attain Enlightenment.
Integration
Ultimately, Dulzhug practice creates the bridge between meditation and advanced, consistent or tantric practice and the direct worldly experience. It is a bridge. Everything is assimilated and balanced within our consciousness so that we realise the empty nature of the universal mind and move to become one with the higher mind.
We realise the luminous mind and begin walking the earth as an evolved, enlightened being rather than as a human stuck in survival mode.
“Self-manifestation, which has never existed as such, is erroneously seen as an object.
Through ignorance, self-awareness is mistakenly experienced as an “I.”
Through attachment to this duality
We are caught in the conditioned world.
May the root of confusion be found.
- The Third Karmapa, Mahamudra: Boundless Joy and Freedom
Modern Day Practice
Of course, as modern-day spiritual practitioners in the Western world, it is not always convenient to hike off into the mountains, desert or wilderness to discover our luminous mind. So, we adapt. Many of us live in an urban jungle. Sometimes our workplace or home life can feel like a rocky terrain or a prison.
I had jobs over the years where I clock-watched all day, longing to go home. Funny how that always made the day longer.
Pause and take a breath
What present-day surroundings often seem like a physical endurance test to me?
Do I sometimes feel I am in a wilderness?
Do I feel alone?
What triggers my inner pain?
What triggers my inner longing and desires?
Do I work to embrace my inner pain?
Do I “feed my demons” willingly?
Do I work to release and transcend obstacles?
Do I catch my ego before it takes hold of my mind, emotions and energy?
How can my present-day surroundings and circumstances help me to practice twenty- first-century Dulzhug in the Western world?
Our relationships are always a strong trigger and our home life reflects our unhealed aspects. Our place of work, even if we work from home, can manifest as our wilderness, jungle or desert. The people closest to us always stir our loves, hates, loneliness and challenge us to clear and heal all the human traits so that we can open to a luminous mind.
No one triggers my inner demons as well as my husband. He is an expert at it.
Being Certain in Uncertainty
When life is intense, there are moments when uncertainty is all we know. It is all we are certain of. It can feel like a deep loneliness, or a painful inner cave that journeys deep inside with no roof, floor, beginning or end.
These moments touch each of us deeply. They can affect us in meaningful, transformational ways.
Embracing Transformation
The 11th-century Buddhist teacher Master Machig Labdron, or Ahndron Chodron, was the early teacher of Chöd or severance practice. Originally a Buddhist nun, she was recognised as the reincarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal, an eleventh-century Tibetan tantric master and yogini. Yeshe Tsogyal was the preceptor of several Tibetan lineages of Vajrayana practice of Chod. Machig Labdrön developed the Chod lineage in Tibet and is revered as the originator of the Chod lineage and practice.
Master Machig Labdrön taught this powerful transformation practice in the eleventh century, creating a path for extreme healing that remains relevant in the twenty-first century and is very needed. The Chod practice is an intense, no-holds-barred system for cutting through the ego.
Machig Labdrön is depicted similarly to other Tibetan yoginis, with her right leg lifted and her left leg slightly bent as she is always in motion. She stands on a lotus flower, holding a large drum in her right hand and a bell in her left. She dances, is pure white with three eyes and is always attractive.
Chod practice can seem radical to a Western practitioner, as we sometimes misinterpret healing as being a gentle, peaceful journey. In Chod, we practice letting go. We sever what does not serve us by triggering the core of our suffering in a powerful, quite brutal way.
When we identify the cause of suffering, we nurture it; we sit with it. We embrace the uncertainty and call Light and Love. As we struggle with the deep issue, the struggle gradually subsides and we relax. The layers peel away, giving rise to compassion, for ourselves and for all beings everywhere.
Awareness opens to see through and far beyond the gripping, troubling thoughts, feelings, emotions and energies of the ego.
Practice of Chod Today – Dealing with the Demons
To practice Chod, you need to have a calling to heal and awaken. You have to be ready and willing to ask the universe to speed up your journey.
Pause and take a breath
Who in my life triggers my anger, jealousy, rage, pride, desire and fear?
What are my deepest triggers?
How do I feel when they rise?
Do they grip me?
As you consider the triggers for your inner demons, you begin to set up the space to heal them. It can be a physical space, either in nature or a private room.
I already have an established practice to heal my inner demons.
I am ready to “feed my demons”, to trigger my inner pain deliberately.
I recognise when my unhealed issues are triggered.
I recognise the social situation and context that triggers my pain.
I recognise the culture, climate and social setting.
I recognise the mood, vibe and ambience that affects me.
I set up my physical space to heal.
I acknowledge the surroundings and habits.
I am aware of the atmosphere or aura around me.
Embrace the Three Jewels – On Any Path
Buddhist practice revolves around the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. These are the core foundation, the central pillars of the faith. The Three Jewels are also known as the Three Refuges or Triple Gem.
At every stage of my journey so far, I have needed to turn to one of the Three Jewels at some point.
You do not have to be Buddhist to follow the Three Jewels; they can work as a basic support for any spiritual path.
The Three Jewels or Elements
The Buddha
The teacher, the fully enlightened being. In Buddhism, this is Siddhartha Gautama, the original Buddha, the Awakened One. Having seen things as they truly are. Buddha represents the inherent potential for awakening in all beings. To truly follow a spiritual path, we need the guidance of a teacher.
The Dharma
The teachings and universal truths. The Buddha discovered these after enduring great hardship through fasting and strict practices. He sat under a great Bodhi tree while in deep meditation and gained many new kinds of knowledge, including Karma.
Karma is the Sanskrit word for intentional action that produces an effect. Buddha realised he was free from desire, attachment to existence and clinging to old, fixed and false views of life. The aim for all of us who walk a spiritual path, irrespective of the path we walk.
“It is liberated . . . birth is exhausted, the Holy Life has been lived out, what was to be done has been done, there is no more to come.”- Buddha
The Sangha
The Sangha is our spiritual community, the followers who study, practice and live out Buddha’s teachings.
Even today, being part of a community of fellow practitioners who are on a similar path is vital.
My sangha has been essential to my journey. It would be impossible to do this alone. The support of my teachers, spiritual soul brothers and sisters, my friends and fellow travellers has been crucial. We all need someone we can laugh with, cry with, eat with, shop with, meditate and practice with along the path to truth.
I turn to the three pillars for guidance, protection, and a safe direction toward awakening, healing and freedom from suffering.
Pause and take a breath
I know what spiritual path I am on.
I have a structured system for my path.
I have a support system for my spiritual journey.
I have a wise teacher to guide me along the way.
I have dear Soul brothers and sisters to love and support me.
My practice aids the transformation of my heart.
I feel myself moving beyond the world’s negative human delusions.
My heart is healing from knowing shame, guilt, apathy, grief, fear, desire, anger, pride and any other unfavourable emotions I can feel.
I choose to live mindfully.
I choose to live compassionately.
I know the nature of truth cannot be told in words.
I strive to know the nature of truth in my heart.
To “take refuge” is to return home. It means we remember again and again where we are from and where we are returning to. Taking refuge leads us back into the heart. It is the heart-space of belonging, knowledge and truth.
Whatever path we follow, we can “take refuge” in the Three Jewels, entrusting ourselves to the wisdom of our teacher, the transformational power of the teachings, and the support of the sangha or community.
The Practice of Taking Refuge
To connect more easily with the Three Jewels, we can use a mantra.
Om Mani Padme Hum – “The Jewel in the Lotus” – Tibetan ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྂ
One of the most widely known and practiced mantras in Tibetan Buddhism.
It is the sacred mantra of Chenrezig, also known as Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of pure Compassion.
In Mahayana Buddhism, Chenrezig embodies the boundless compassion of all Buddhas.
The Mantra helps us to settle our energies, focus and align in our daily practice.
It helps us to transform and transcend an impure body, impure speech, and mind into the pure, enlightened state of a Buddha, bringing together compassion and wisdom.
Pause and take a breath
When the world is too much to bear, if you feel yourself spinning with all the negatives of “I can’t do it, I’m not good enough, the world is against me.”
Tune into your breath.
Feel your breath flow in and out.
On your out breath, let any tension go.
Be aware of a blue-white diamond light above your head.
Feel it flow down through your crown.
Be aware of any emotions.
Gently pull the emotions together.
Focus on the one that feels the strongest.
Hold the energy of these emotions as if they are particles of light.
Recite or sing the mantra, either out loud or in your heart:
“Om Mani Padme Hum” “Om Mani Padme Hum”
“Om Mani Padme Hum” “Om Mani Padme Hum”
“Om Mani Padme Hum”. “Om Mani Padme Hum”
I feel the peace, beauty and calmness of being still.
The mantra flows into my heart.
It flows through my body.
I invoke blessings from the Light of my faith.
I let go of and purify negativity.
I develop selflessness.
I am silent and still.
I am at peace.
I listen only to the silence.
I connect to the deeper, higher aspect of my truth.
I give thanks to the beautiful, positive Jewels of my spiritual practice.
When you are ready, return to your breath, reflect and slowly begin to move.
When we think “enough is enough, that’s it, I’m turning over a new leaf.” We need to commit to it and we need help. The practice of Chod, severing the old and Dulzhag, turning over a new leaf, is intense, even drastic. Still, when practiced with guidance, pure wisdom teachings and support from fellow travellers, it is a beautiful way to journey back to Enlightened Truth.
“All compounded things are impermanent, strive on heedfully” – Buddha’s last words
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