Voice of Clear Light
Volume 14, Number 2 / April 2014
Ligmincha Research Director’s Presentation on Chod
Featured on Rice University’s Website
Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, Director of Research for Ligmincha Institute, recently gave a presentation at Rice University based on his book, Chod Practice in the Bon Tradition.
Ale, who received his Ph.D. in Tibetan religions at Rice University, is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's Integrative Medicine Program. He is a member of the Ligmincha Institute Council and also leads meditation and Tibetan yoga retreats throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe.
His talk at the Asia Society Texas Center to a crowd of about 100 community members focused on Chod, a Tibetan Bon Buddhist meditation technique used to confront fear and attachment to one's identity, symbolized by the "cutting" of one's body and offering it as a feast to enlightened and other beings. Accompanied by melody and chanting, this meditative practice is used to cut through one's ego and move closer to enlightenment.
Using Chod's meaning of cutting, Chaoul told the group, religious tolerance can be enhanced from an understanding that comes from breaking down boundaries—whether those boundaries are limits of one's body and mind, or factions between and within religious groups.
Ale's presentation was featured in a website article of Rice University's Boniuk Institute—For the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance, which collaborated with the Asia Society on the event.
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