Machig Labdrön

Machig Labdrön (= mother of Lab [a region in Central Tibet]) lived between 1055 and 1153. During these times, she became unusually old. Her main teacher Padampa Sangye quickly recognized her realization (both were consorts as Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal – here in their respective emanations).

Machig Labdrön married early in her life. After their children could take care of themselves, she left the family and retreated into the forests. That’s why only very little is known about her second half of her life.

She gave the Chöd practice (cutting through ego-clinging) to the world. It was not her invention but it can be seen as an essence oft he Prajnaparamita teachings. Often only seen as an extreme exotic Buddhist practice (e.g. offering one’s body during a white or red feast; practicing on burial grounds etc.), Chöd contained a highly social and healthwise responsibility, as Hannah Nydahl once explained: „Chöd practitioners were a kind of hygiene-police – when epidemics occurred such as leprosy, pox or plague, these practitioners went in and hauled the sick and dead ones out of their houses and villages without ever being infected.“