Chöd Pacification of Suffering Practice --- (this listing is for the entire thangka image. I usually print on archival heaviweight paper; you can order it to be printed or canvas for larger sizes if you like - see the drop down menu.)

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This painting shows the entire visualization of the ancient practice of Chod - cutting through fear and the delusions of ego by feeding that which you usually avoid, and not fighting it. It dates back before any of the known religions of our time and has roots in ancient shamanic practices.

Chöd is a practice for self-realization, as well as an instrument for helping others by clearing away the demons of poor health of the body mind and spirit.

Traditional Chöd thangkas are geared towards people with Himalayan heritage. I decided to paint one that was geared towards the western mind, to help western practitioners learn the practice.

The practice visualization goes like this:
A practitioner (bottom right) leaves the monastery at night to go to a cemetery to do Chöd practice. Chöd is traditionally done at a place where there is confusion or tension, like a crowded crossroad area, or cemetaries or places where the veil between this world and the next is thin.

Above it all dances Troma Nagmo, (Kali), the main deity of the practice, vast as space, arisen from the practitioner's mind. She is fierce, on fire with the intensity of her compassion. She is surrounded by the cosmos, strewn with vast amounts of offerings, mounds of flesh and blood and bones, and anything else the illness-causing creatures might want; money, material things - whatever it is they want, more than they can ever need. A skullcup is below her. The practitioner visualizes placing his offering in it to the demons, the gods of the place, teachers, passersby, and enlightened beings -- all of humanity. His simple offering is transformed into the most desirable elixir by the fire of his commitment to the practice and his wish to give. Rainbows emanate from the elixir, created from the selfless, fearless giving.

Around Troma Nagmo/Kali is a lineage field, the teachers of this practice, and below them, the sea of humanity. The sky becomes lighter and iridescently luminous, the farther up the canvas goes. Small dakinis fly through the air, bringing copper cups of the amrita skullcup offerings to the deities, teachers, people and spirits above.

Above the lineage field are the Buddhas representing the five Buddha families, and to their sides are the yidams - protective deities for those who practice Chod: Marchungma, White Mahakala, Palden Lhamo, Green Tara, and Avalokitesvara.

Above Troma is Vajra Varahi, representing the energy and vitality of life itself, and at the top is Prajnaparamita, the ancient goddess who personifies the potency of space, potent awareness. She is the first deity acknowledged when the practice starts. Around her are Vajrasattva, Samantabhadra, and Vajradhara.

By giving, the practitioner pacifies and satisfies the dark illness-causing forces to allow health to re-emerge.

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★ NOTE: Sizes are approximate. Please wait to buy a frame until you have the art in hand. Framed examples included in listing images are included to give you ideas on how you might frame your purchase, but I don't sell framed prints unless one is specifically listed on a drop down menu.

★ A WORD ABOUT ARCHIVAL GICLÉE PRINTS : Artwork is scanned via what looks like a really big "camera"/computer and then printed with a sophisticated inkjet printer, which is 6 feet wide, onto artists' archival heavyweight watercolor paper. This makes the most crisp accurate print available in fine art printing technology. People often mistake the prints for actual paintings.

© Laura Santi