The Sound of Vultures' Wings: The Tibetan Buddhist Chöd Ritual Practice of the Female Buddha Machik Labdrön

The Sound of Vultures' Wings offers the first in-depth exploration of the music of the Tibetan Ch?d tradition, which is based on the liturgical song-poems of the twelfth-century Tibetan female ascetic Machik Labdr?n (1055-1153). Ch?d is a musical-meditative Vajrayāna method for cutting off the root of suffering, our mistaken view of a self. The Ch?d practitioner applies the antidote to self-cherishing by developing bodhicitta (altruistic awakening mind) and the antidote to self-grasping through the realization of the ultimate nature of reality: the correct view of emptiness. Ch?d is regarded by many Tibetan Lamas as one of the most effective Buddhist practices for spiritual and social transformation. Jeffrey W. Cupchik details the significance of the complex, interwoven performative aspects of this meditative ritual and explains how its practice can bring about experiences of insight and inner transformation. In doing so, he undoes the notion of meditation being exclusively an experience of silence and stillness.