Machig Labdrön

Iconographically, Machig Labdrön is depicted holding a large drum (Skt. damaru), a specific ritual item in the practice of Chöd, in her right hand and a bell (Skt. ghaṇṭa) () in her left. Her right leg is often lifted and the standing left leg is bent in motion, in a dancing posture. Machig Labdron is depicted as white in color with three eyes and a pleasing countenance. She wears the Six Bone Ornaments of the charnel grounds, and stands on a lotus. Above Machig Labdron is Buddha Shakyamuni and mahasiddhas and the Chöd lineage masters, while specific teachers and lineage holders are on either side. Below her is a tantric deity holding a Chod bone trumpet and swinging skins, while Gesar and a wrathful tantric dakini are on either side. ==Biography==

Names Apart from the name Machig Labdrön used here, the following spellings and transliterations are also found, all referring to the same person: • Machik Lapkyi Drönma (Wylie: ma gcig lab kyi sgron ma), • Machig Lapdrönme (Wylie: ma gcig lab sgron ma), • Machik Labdron (Wylie: ma gcig lab sgron), • Maji Lab Dran (Wylie: ma gcig lab sgron), and • Machig Laphyi (Wylie: ma-gcig la-phyi sgron-ma) referring to her place of birth, La-phyi, in the region of Ü-Tsang. • Machik Labdronma, the often used name by Tibetans One of Machig Labdrön's teachers, Sönam Lama, gave her the tantric name of Dorje Wangchuma (), which means "Diamond Independent Goddess." Predictions of her birth In the Life of Yeshe Tsogyel, Padmasambhava predicted that Yeshe Tsogyal would be reborn as Machig Labdrön, and her consort, Atsara Sale, would become Topa Bhadra, Machig Labdron's consort. Her assistant and Padmasambhava's secondary consort, Tashi Khyidren, would be reborn as Machig Labdron's daughter, and so on. All of the important figures in Yeshe Tsogyel's life were to be reborn in the life of Machig Labdron, including Padmasambhava himself, who would become Phadampa Sangye. Tibetan Buddhists believe Machig Labdron was the Mind Stream emanation (tulku) of Yeshe Tsogyal, as well as "an emanation of the 'Great Mother of Wisdom,' Yum Chenmo, (prajnaparamita) and of Arya Tara, who transmitted to her teachings and initiations." Buddhists believe this pattern of reincarnations and emanations continued into the life just before her birth as Machig Labdrön and that in the lifetime before, she was the Indian yogi, Mönlam Drub. After his death, the body of the twenty-year-old Mönlam Drub is said to have remained "alive" in the cave of Potari in South India. According to tradition, it was Mönlam Drub's mindstream which entered the womb of Bum Cham "Great Noble Woman", who lived in the area of Labchi Eli Gangwar in Tibet, which caused the birth of Machig Labdron. According to one version of Machig Labdron's biography, Machig Labdron's mother experienced auspicious dreams of dakinis shortly after conception, dreams which contained the vase and the conch of the Ashtamangala: Dreams continued for her mother until the birth and Machig Labdron's sister also had prophetic dreams. Directly before the birth, Machig Labdron instructed her mother on preparations for her swaddling, and Bum Chan also felt the sounds of the reciting syllables "ah" and "ha ri ni sa". She was born in a fortressed village called Tsomer in Tamsho, in the Labshi region. relates the struggles that Machig Labdron underwent in order to avoid traditional marriage and eventually leave home to practice Buddhism as her life's calling. Machig Labdron's early teacher, Drapa Ngongshechen, gave her the reading transmissions for the Many Sutras, the Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Verses, in Twenty-Five Thousand Verses and in Eight Thousand Verses. She assimilated the sutras and commentaries, and realization arose. With her realizations, Machig Labdron began to cut attachments to places and started to travel and live spontaneously as a yogini, while eating what she found, sleeping wherever, and wearing clothes of a beggar. When she was twenty years of age, Sonam Lama conferred a series of empowerments on Machig Labdron at a temple in Ei Gangwa, during which her famous ultimate empowerments into the nature of reality from the sambhogakaya occurred. Later, Sonam Lama also conferred tantra, the Five Deities of Varahi, Secret Yoga Mantra, and transmissions which empower explanation, composition, and debate. Sonam Lama gave Machig Labdron the name of Queen of Vajra Space (rdo rje dbyings phyug ma) Machig Labdron and Topa Bhadra met during her recitations and became spiritual consorts, while the prophesies that the union would lead to great benefit for beings were actualized. She was 23 years of age. He was also a Buddhist practitioner that later supported Machig Labdron in her practices. She then lived with him, and received some criticism for disregarding ordinary societal norms that contradicted the radical nature of Chöd. Machig Labdron's teachers are also listed as Lama Shamarpa, Lama Beton (possibly the same as Aton), Lama Yartingpa, and Phamtingpa, from which she received vajrayana teachings, Great Completion Dzogchen empowerments and transmissions, and Mahamudra empowerments and transmissions. after moving to Red House where Machig Labdron's seat was located. Tonyon Samdrup was known as the "Snowman of Shampogang" and began the tradition of black hat-wearing Chod practitioners named "Gangpa". ==Machig Labdrön's life as a spiritual master==

Machig Labdron then returned to living as a renunciate at the age of 37, shaved her head and moved to a cave at Zangri Kangmar in the Copper Mountain. Her students gathered there and a community formed around her seat At the age of 42, Topa Bhadra brought her younger son, Drupse, and her daughter, Drup Chungma, to the Red House before leaving for India. Both were already practicing and accomplishing sadhanas. Machig Labdron cured Drupse from an illness before he became the monk named Tonyon Samdrup, and the main lineage holder of Chod. Students Along with her daughter(s) and son(s), prominent among Machig Labdron's students were four main female students which were called Machig Labdrön's Gyen or "Ornaments", and called the "Four Daughters". Their names are Gyaltsen Ne, Sonam Gyaltsen, Palden Gyen, and Bumso Rinchen Gyen. They propagated a distinct Gyen lineage of Chöd, developed from the oral lineage of Chod and the tantric lineage of Vajrayana Chöd. Many of Machig Labdrön's teachings were given in direct response to the questions of her students. In addition to her son Tonyon Samdrup, another student named Gyelwa Drubche, or Gyelwa Dondrub, was her heart student and another main lineage holder. Sources state it's unlikely he was her biological son named Drubpa, and state Drubpa married into local royalty and did not practice Buddhism. Kugom Choyki Sengge was also a student and lineage holder that propagated the Chöd teachings. Parinirvana ==Emanations==

Machig Labdrön stated she accomplished the state of a non-returner, and would emanate instead of reincarnate. She has emanated in Tibet, Bhutan and in the West. • Jomo Menmo In Tibet, it is said that Machig Labdrön emanated as Jomo Menmo (1248–1283). According to the information given by the website of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Jomo Menmo was born as a "karmic emanation" of Yeshe Tsogyal. • Chokyi Dorje The first Samding Dorje Phagmo, Chökyi Drönma (1422–1455), a female tulku lineage of Vajravārāhī, was understood to be an emanation of Machig Labdrön. • Shukseb Jetsun Choying Zangmo In more recent history, in Tibet, the great yogini Shukseb Jetsun Choying Zangmo (1852–1953)—also called Ani Lochen, Lochen Chönyi Zangmo, and Shukseb Jetsun Rinpoche—was a recognized emanation of Machig Labdron. Shuksheb Jetsun reinvigorated the Shuksep gompa () of the Kagyü thirty miles from Lhasa on the slopes of Mount Gangri Thökar. • Khandro Sonam Peldron In the 12th century, Khandro Sonam Peldron of Wang Dharlung, Bhutan is said to be a main emanation of Machik Labdron. Khandro Sonam was the wife of Phajo Drugom Zhipo of Tibet, who were crucial in the establishment of the Drukpa Lineage of Kagyü in Bhutan. Phajo Drugom Zhigpo was sent to Bhutan by Tsangpa Gyarey Yeshey Dorji of Druk Ralung, Tibet, to establish the Drukpa Lineage in Bhutan. Phajo and Khandro had four sons and a daughter together. The bridge where Phajo and Khandro met in Thimphu still exists today, known as Lungtenzampa. Khandro Sonam Peldron is known to have achieved the supreme enlightenment called Zha lue Phochen and is known to have flown to the heavenly Dali I abode from near Tango monastery in Thimphu. • Lama Tsultrim Allione Lama Tsultrim Allione (born 1947), an American Buddhist teacher, was recognized in 2007 as an emanation of Machig Labdrön at Zangri Khangmar, Tibet, the place where Machig Labdrön lived from ages 37 to 99, a from where she passed into the state of non-returner. She was recognized by the resident Rinpoche, Karma Nyitön Kunkhyab Chökyi Dorje, himself a reincarnation of the brother of the 8th Karmapa. Karma Nyitön Kunkhyab Chökyi Dorje asked Lama Tsultrim to sit on the throne, and offered Lama Tsultrim a self-arisen golden crystal kīla or ceremonial dagger, the only remaining tsa tsa (icon) made from the ashes of Machig's body (a mixture of clay and ash imprinted with an image of Machig dancing), texts of Machig's teachings, a hat with symbolic meaning designed by Machig, and various other treasures. Afterwards, Lama Tsultrim Allione was also recognized in Nepal as an emanation of Machig Labdrön by Lama Tshering Wangdu Rinpoche, holder of the lineage of Dampa Sangye. ==Machig Labdrön's Chöd==

Machig Labdrön's Chöd, also known as Mahamudra Chöd, has been widespread in Tibet since Machig's lifetime. It is also called "The Beggars' Offering" or "The Cutting-Off-Ritual." Chöd is a visionary Buddhist practice of cutting attachment to one's corporeal form (in terms of the dualistic proclivity to relate to one's corporeal form as a reference-point that proves one's existence). This means that a practitioner offers the mandala of their own body in a ganachakra rite. The practitioner works entirely with their own mind, visualizing the offering, and—by practicing in lonely and dreaded places, like cemeteries—works to overcome all fear. This is also why Chöd was often used to overcome sickness in order to heal oneself and others. In some lineages of the Chöd practice, chodpas and chodmas (practitioners of Chöd) use a ritual bell, a specialized drum called a Chöd damaru, and a human thigh-bone trumpet (often obtained from the charnel ground of sky burials). Machig Labdron's Texts The 10 texts on the profound Dharma of Chöd: • Great Collection of Precepts on Chöd • The Further Collection • The Quintessential Collection • The Appendices • The Steps of the Crucial Points • Refutation of Detractors • The Secret Symbol Dharma • The Three Cycles of Recitation • Taking the Ground as the Path • The Special Esoteric Instructions "Demons" in Machig Labdron's Chöd One of the distinct features of Machig Labdrön's Chöd is the focus on what are sometimes called either demons ('dre) or devils (bdud). It is clear from Machig Labdrön's writings and teachings that the entities being dealt with in Chöd practices are formulations of the human mind, rather than supernatural beings. One of Machig Labdrön's unique contributions to Chöd is her understanding of demons. As Machig Labdrön explained in answer to the questions of one of her students, Gangpa Muksang, In another teaching, Machig Labdrön said: ==Pilgrimage sites associated with Machig Labdron and Chöd==

There are many pilgrimage sites in Tibet associated with Machig Labdrön. Among these are the Tselha Namsum meditation caves near Gyamda in Tibet. ==See also==