The Black Wrathful Lady, Skt. Krodhakālī, Tib. Tröma Nakmo (khros ma nag mo). Courtesy of Chorten Dodrupchen Monastery.

Khandro Gegyang

The Loud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs or Khandro Gegyang (མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་, mkha' 'gro'i gad rgyangs) is the famed ‘severance’ or chö practice of the Longchen Nyingtik and one of the most popular severance practices inside and even outside the Nyingma tradition.

Once, when Dola Jigme Kalzang, a close disciple of the Dodrupchen Jigme Trinle Özer, was about to start a three-year retreat in a cave by the Machu River (Yellow River):

“he heard a pilgrim chanting, with an incredibly moving melody, the chö offering revealed as a terma by Jigme Lingpa. Dola Jigme could not resist coming out of his retreat and asking the pilgrim about this particular liturgy. The pilgrim answered that Jigme Lingpa had passed away but that his chief disciple, Jigme Trinley Özer, was living in Golok. Upon hearing Trinley Özer’s name, Dola Jigme felt boundless devotion. Driven by a deep yearning, he left his retreat and found his way into the presence of the one who was to become his root master.”
— Matthieu Ricard, Enlightened Vagabond - The Life and Teachings of Patrul Rinpoche

Dola Jigme Kalzang, courtesy of Treasury of Lives .

Nyoshul Lungtok explains the practice of severance to Khenpo Ngakchung in the following passage:

“Now,” he continued, “there is a practice for accumulating merit based upon the practitioner’s own body, which is called the Kusali’s Accumulation. This is easy to do and extremely effective. Although the Great Omniscient One, in his Resting in the Nature of Mind, taught this in conjunction with guru yoga, the Omniscient Jigme Lingpa taught it in combination with the outer and inner methods of accumulating merit in the mandala offering practice. Regardless, it is an important practice in its own right,” he said.
He gave me an elaborate description of the stages of visualization for the four great feasts. “You should undertake the white feast offering in the morning, the variegated feast offering at noon, and the red feast offering in the evening. The black feast offering is unnecessary at this point. One is actually supposed to go to a haunted place and remain there until spiritual eruptions have ceased to arise over a prolonged period of time, or, if not, until they have been overcome, or otherwise, at least until they have settled. However, there isn’t anyone who knows how to distinguish this sequence.” With that, he gave an oral explanation, combining the Coming of Age of the Six Transcendent Perfections (phyin drug lang tsho ), which is an explanation of the Object of Severance: Wild Laughter of the Dakinis (gcod yul mkha’ ‘gro’i gad rgyangs), with Abu’s explanation, entitled Profound Pith Instructions of the Object of Severance: Wild Laughter of the Dakinis.
Accordingly, I did the mandala offering practice in conjunction with the body offering of the Kusali ‘s Accumulation. Every night I dreamed of a large charnel ground filled with fresh and rotting corpses and myriad birds and wild beasts. There, I ejected my consciousness out of my body, transformed it into the Wrathful Black Mother Khrodakali (Troma Nakmo), and made a feast offering of my body to the many birds, beasts, and charnel-ground guardians. ”
— Wondrous Dance of Illusion, Khenpo Ngawang Palzang, Nevin and Leschly, pg 43.

The Third Dodrupchen, Jigme Tenpe Nyima explains in his Collection of Advice:[1]

“The Loud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs is a practice where yogis of the Great Perfection display the act of offering their body to wild animals, enabling them to bring yogic conduct onto the path. At all times, they bring to mind the meaning of the Mother (Prajñāpāramitā) and to take to heart the key points of the practice of cutting through (Trekchö), resting naturally in the unity of basic space and awareness. Through this practice alone they sever the four demons into basic space. According to this system, one only meditates on the practice of cutting through, and there are no other introductions to the meaning of the Mother such as ‘opening the door of space’. Therefore, practitioners of this system must first gain some degree of confidence in the realization of primordial purity through cutting through. There is thus a great difference between this and other practices of severance. ”
— Jigme Tenpe Nyima, Collection of Advice
 

Tantric text warning

Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra. Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage. The responsibility for reading these texts or for sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.

The Texts

  • Jigme Lingpa, The Ḍākinī's Loud Laughter Chö Practice, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (gcod - klong chen snying gi thig le las/ gcod yul mkha' 'gro'i gad rgyangs)

  • Jigme Lingpa, A Commentary on the Way of Severance Practitioners: the Six Pāramitās' Youthfulness (མཅོད་མཁན་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ཉེ་བར་སྤྱད་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་ཕྱིན་དྲུག་ལང་ཚོ)

  • Chöpal Gyatso, A Lineage Prayer for the Severance Practice of the Laud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ཀྱི་བརྒྱུད་འདེབས།) (ཆོས་དཔལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ)

  • Kunzang Shenpen (1st Dodrupchen), The Words of Krodhakālī, Tamer of Demons, from the Severance Practice of the Laud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ལས་གདོན་འདུལ་ཁྲོས་མའི་ཞལ་ལུང་།) (ཀུན་བཟང་གཞན་ཕན)

  • Kunzang Shenpen (1st Dodrupchen), The Excellent Path to Awakening, A Guidance Practice (Nedren) for the Six Types of Beings, from the Severance Practice of the Laud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ལས་རིགས་དྲུག་གནས་འདྲེན་བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་བཟང་།) (ཀུན་བཟང་གཞན་ཕན།)

  • Kunzang Shenpen (1st Dodrupchen), A Song of Realization from Afar on Giving Your Body Away, from the Severance Practice of the Laud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ལས་ལུས་ཚོགས་མཆོད་སྦྱིན་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱང་གླུ།) (ཀུན་བཟང་གཞན་ཕན)

  • Jigme Trinle Özer, A Commentary on the Visualization of the Severance Practice of the Laud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs, Including Enhancement (??) Practices (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ཀྱི་དམིགས་ཁྲིད་སྤོགས་ཆོག་དང་བཅས་པ།) (འཇིགས་མེད་འཕྲིན་ལས་འོད་ཟེར)།

  • Dodrupchen Jigme Trinle Özer, The Clarifying Husk: Crucial Points for the Visualization of The Ḍākinī's Loud Laughter Severance Practice (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱང་གི་དམིགས་གནད་འགྲེལ་པ་གསལ་བྱེད་སྙེ་མ)

  • Chöpal Gyatso, Stanzas on Magnetizing and Overpowering through the Severance Practice of the Laud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ཀྱི་དབང་སྡུད་ཟིལ་གནོན་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ།)(ཆོས་དཔལ་རྒྱལ་མཚོ)

  • Künkhyen Drarampa, An Ornament of Khyentse’s Wisdom Mind: An Instruction Manual for the Severance Practice of the Laud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs Explaining the Unity of Sūtra and Tantra (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་མདོ་སྔགས་ཟུང་འཇུག་ཏུ་བཀྲལ་བའི་ཁྲིད་ཡིག་མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་དགོངས་རྒྱན།) (ཀུན་མཁྱེན་སྒྲ་རམ་པ)

  • Patrul Rinpoche/ Dodrup Tenpe Nyima (?), Profound Pith Instructions for the Ḍākinī's Loud Laughter Severance Practice (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ཀྱི་མན་ངག་ཟབ་མོ)

  • Kunzang Shenpen (1st Dodrupchen), A Concise Meaning Commentary on the Severance Practice of the Loud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ཀྱི་དོན་ཁྲིད་བསྡུས་པ།) (ཀུན་བཟང་གཞན་ཕན)

  • Jigme Tenpe Gyaltsen, Dance of Compassion and Altruism, A Ritual to Purify the Suffering of the Dead, from the Activities of the Profound Practice of Severance (ཟབ་མོ་གཅོད་ཀྱི་ལས་ཚོགས་གཤིན་པོའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་སྦྱོང་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཆོ་ག་གཞན་ཕན་ཐུགས་རྗེའི་ཟློས་གར།) (འཇིགས་མེད་བསྟན་པའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན)

  • Adzom Gyalse Gyurme Dorje, Brief Notes on How to Visit Haunted Places, According to the Severance Practice of the Loud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་ཐིག་ལེ་ལས་། གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ལྟར་གཉན་སར་འགྲོ་བའི་ཚུལ་མདོར་བསྡུས)

  • Adzom Gyalse Gyurme Dorje, Chariot of Faith, A Prayer to the Lineage Masters of the Severance Practice (གཅོད་ཡུལ་བརྒྱུད་པའི་གསོལ་འདེབས་དད་པའི་ཤིང་རྟ།) (འགྱུར་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ)

  • Chöpal Gyatso, Subjugating Appearance and Existence, Visualization for Magnetizing according to the Severance Practice of the Loud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ལས་དབང་སྡུད་སྐོར་གྱི་དམིགས་པ་སྣང་སྲིད་ཟིལ་གནོན།) (ཆོས་དཔལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ)

  • Rigdzin Nangdze Dorje, The Ḍākinīs’ Secret Treasury: An Excellent Vase of Nectar, A Commentary on the Severance Practice of the Loud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs, from the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse (ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་ཐིག་གི་གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་གད་རྒྱང་གི་འགྲེལ་པ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གསང་མཛོད་བདུད་རྩི་བུམ་བཟང)

  • Jamyang Drime, Blazing Wisdom, A Guide to the Severance Practice of the Loud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ཀྱི་ཁྲིད་ཡིག་ཡེ་ཤེས་རབ་འབར།) (འཇམ་དབྱངས་དྲི་མེད)

  • Jikme Khachö Dorje (TBRC P1KG14683, 'jigs med mkha' spyod rdo rje), The Spontaneous Song that Delights the Great Secret: A Commentary on the Severance Practice of the Loud Laughter of the Ḍākinīs (གཅོད་ཡུལ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ཀྱི་འགྲེལ་པ་གསང་ཆེན་དགྱེས་པའི་ཐོལ་གླུ་)

Footnotes

[1] 'Jigs med bstan pa'i nyi ma. gsung 'bum/ 'jigs med bstan pa'i nyi ma, vol 7, pg 193. si khron dpe skrun tshogs pa/ si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang (2006). W1KG4239. མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གད་རྒྱངས་ནི། རྫོགས་ཆེན་སྒོམ་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་པས་བརྟུལ་ཞུགས་ལམ་འཁྱེར་གྱི་ཆེད་དུ་ཕུང་པོ་གཟན་སྐྱུར་ཙམ་བསྟན་པ་སྟེ། གོང་འོག་ཏུ་ཡུམ་དོན་སྐྱོང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཁྲེགས་ཆོད་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་རིག་སྲེ་བའི་ཅོག་བཞག་གི་གནད་ཁོ་ནར་བྱེད་ཅིང་། བདུད་བཞི་དབྱིངས་གཅོད་ཀྱང་དེ་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་བྱེད་པས། འདིའི་ལུགས་ལ་ཁྲེགས་ཆོད་སྒོམ་པ་མིན་པའི་ཡུམ་དོན་ངོ་སྤྲོད་ནམ་མཁའ་སྒོ་འབྱེད་སོགས་ཟུར་བ་མེད་དོ། །དེས་ན་འདི་ཉམས་སུ་ལེན་མཁན་གྱིས་དང་པོར་ཀ་དག་ཁྲེགས་ཆོད་ཀྱི་རྟོགས་པའི་གདེང་ཅི་རིགས་རེ་ཐོབ་དགོས་སོ། །དེའི་ཕྱིར་གཅོད་གཞུང་སྤྱི་དང་འདི་གཉིས་ལ་ཐུན་ཁྱད་ཀྱི་ཁྱད་པར་ཆེའོ།