The most important thing to remember while doing Chod is to remember that it is not really a ritual for worldly achievements or to elongate one’s life, to get good health or to become rich. The ultimate aim of Chod is to cut one’s own attachment or ego to reach enlightenment. In the process of giving away one’s body to spirits, one many enjoy good health or appease harmful spirits as a result of giving but Chod is essentially a practice to let go of one’s attachment to oneself.

Thus, Milarepa puts the essence of Chod in three forms: To cut off oneself from the world and live in solitary is the outer Chod. To cut off and give away one’s body as food to the spirits is the inner Chod. To cut off and do away with one’s ego is the ultimate Chod.

One must make sure that the Chod practice challenges one’s sense of attachment and ego. It should take one out of the normal situation to put one’s spiritual abilities to test. Otherwise, there is every risk that the practice becomes an empty ritual performed in the comfort of temple halls in large groups or even turn into a musical entertainment or recreational pastime. A Chod practitioner must take it beyond religious ritual to the point of hurting one’s ego. One may end the practice with the prayer that oneself and others follow the path of non-self and selflessness and reach Buddhahood, where all fetters of the self are full cut off.

Karma Phuntsho is the Director of Shejun Agency for Bhutan’s Cultural Documentation and Research, founder of the Loden Foundation and the author of The History of Bhutan. The piece was initially published in Bhutan’s national newspaper Kuensel in a series called Why we do what we do.