Hi all,

I just bought a handful of Buddhist books, one of which is Feeding Your Demons by Tsultrim Allione. I've read about half of it and while I'm not sure about the details of the practice Allione presents, I have found the basics of it and the general approach to be helpful and illuminating.

The book is basically Allione's version of a Tibetan practice called Chöd that originated with the teacher Machig Labdron. Chöd means "cutting through." The basic idea is that instead of trying to conquer, repress, or run away from the "demons" one encounters, one faces them, gets to know them and what they want, and offers one's body to them as the food they desire. The end result is that the demons become allies. (Both Machig and Allione understand demons as projections of the mind, not metaphysical entities.)

I deal with, and have met, a lot of "demons" on my path. Reading Allione's book and about Chöd in general was striking to me because it so closely resembles spontaneous visions and practices I've done along the way--naming and giving a form to personal "demons," befriending them and enlisting them as allies.

There are demons of doubt, self-loathing, fear of loss, and so on, and these often have the power of completely dominating experience. The interesting thing about Chöd is that working with demons as this way opens up the potential for clear seeing that is otherwise obscured by the demons. This resonates with my own experience, in which identifying demons takes away their power and allows me to relax into "just sitting" or the "just thus" of the moment. As in Buddha being able to recognize Mara and say, "Mara, I know you."

I find that there's a lot of the Tantric approach, at least based in my (probably limited) understanding of it (especially Mahamudra) that resonates very deeply with Zen, especially Soto. The basic similarity being that one takes everything one experiences as the path, as a manifestation of Truth/Reality, and works with it accordingly. Chöd is an expression of, and part of the Mahamudra lineage--a Tibetan practice similar to Zen--which might seem odd, given the vivid talk of demons and visualization practices. But it all boils down to looking directly at experience and not fighting with it. Asking "What is this?" even to a very persistent demon.

Does anyone else here face a lot of demons in your practice? If so, is there any particular way you deal with them? What do people think of Chöd?

Stephanie