This book is the first to trace the history of Chod practice in Tibet's indigenous Bon tradition. Chod ("cutting through") is a meditative practice in which the practitioner imagines offering his or her body in sacrifice through elaborate contemplative visualization. Although a meditative practice, Chod is not done sitting comfortably on a cushion in a shrine room, but instead is often practiced in terrifying places like cemeteries or charnal grounds. The feelings of fear that result are used by the Chod practitioner to "cut through" his or her own ego. Chod contains elements of early shamanism, of sutric and tantric teachings also found in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, and of the Tibetan highest school of Dzogchen.

Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition, Alejandro Chaoul, Snow Lion Publications, Paperback, 2009, 118 pp, $24.95

Alejandro �Ale� Chaoul is a PhD, a scholar, researcher, author, teacher, and educator, with a PhD from Rice University focusing on Tibetan mind-body practices and applications in contemporary health environments. For over twenty years, Ale has researched and taught mind-body techniques to help relieve stress and support wellbeing throughout the community, including at MD Anderson�s Integrative Medicine Program and other educational, health care, and nonprofit organizations. He teaches in English and in Spanish. He is the Huffington Foundation Endowed Director of the Mind Body Spirit Institute at the Jung Center of Houston, bringing a new approach for helping healthcare professionals flourish by reducing stress and burnout, and improving health, resilience and nourish the human spirit. He holds a PhD in Tibetan religions from Rice University, and has studied in the Tibetan tradition since 1989, and for almost 30 years with Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, completing the 7-year training at Ligmincha Institute in 2000, and also training in Triten Norbutse monastery in Nepal and Menri monastery in India.

CONTENTS: Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition
Foreword by Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak	xi
Foreword by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Technical Note	xvii
Introduction: Enchanted by the Melody	1
Chod: Offering One's Body	5
Chod in the Bon Religion	21
Conclusion	57
Epilogue	61
Appendix I: The Laughter of the Skygoers	63
Appendix II: Secret Mother Tantra Index (dkar chags)	77
Appendix III: Annotated Bibliography of the Chod Texts from the Bon Tradition	79
Selected Bibliography	85
Notes	89