Into the Haunted Ground

Personal experiences, anecdotes, and wisdom teachings from Chod, a Tibetan Buddhist practice for cutting attachment to ego and severing the root of our emotional suffering. This work combines historical summary, personal experience, description of tantric methods, and explanations of the ultimate nature of phenomena, based on the Tibetan practice of Chod, or "cutting through." Anam Thubten offers straightforward teachings on this swift tantric method to cut through ego-clinging in many forms. For those who feel caught in endless deliberation and overanalysis, this book offers teachings on directly cutting through our conflicting emotions, right on the spot with rigorous honesty. Chod was established in the eleventh century by the female yogini Machik Labdron and is a method practiced throughout the Himalayas and increasingly worldwide. In straightforward and accessible language, Anam Thubten brings to life for readers the deeper meaning of this practice, revealing its core teaching of fearless self-awareness with particular relevance to our difficult times. He shows that the heart of Chod practice is to face our inner demons by venturing with an open heart into real and imaginative dark places, what he calls the "haunted grounds" of everyday life, with courage, compassion and resilience.