I came across this astonishing shot. Perhaps taken from a drone? I don’t know. The picture has been shared around, so I don’t know who may own it. (Contact me if you think it’s you!)

With all the talk, revelations and realizations about those teachers and lamas of Tibetan Buddhism who are corrupt and abusive, it’s good to remember from time to time that – even though they are depressingly common – the bad ones are far from the whole of the tradition. So here’s a link about someone working for others in obscurity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjO-wIAACwk&index=6&list=WL&t=322s

I performed the chöd “concise feast” in the dark, lower levels of a newly-bought house in Pontremoli, dating back a large but unknown number of centuries. Not known to be haunted, but the new owners do seem to like that the practice was done there!

The practice of chöd is not really an exorcism. Rather is it an acknowledgement of the karmic debts we owe to uncountable sentient beings who have cared for, worked for and died for us since beginningless time. We call them to the feast, where we offer ourselves to them. In that way they are satisfied and pacified.

The understanding is that “external” demons only get their power from our internal demons – willful stupidity, hatred, grasping, egotistical pride and jealousy. The demons dissolve as we recognize that inner and outer are two sides of the same magical show. Hence its occasional use as an exorcism.