GCOD

(Tibetan: to cut off, or to cut up), esoteric Tibetan Buddhist rite, performed only after extensive spiritual preparation under the guidance of a guru, that aims at cutting off the human ego and thus destroying the illusion of duality between samsara (the world of appearances and of death and rebirth) and Nirvana. The rite is practiced by the Zhi-byed-pa sect. The rite has been called a mystery play with but one actor. The participant performs a dance, alone, in an isolated spot, to his own accompaniment of skull drums (damarus) and thigh-bone trumpet. The ritual consists of conjuring up a number of terrifying deities to whom the participant symbolically offers himself as a sacrificial meal. Properly performed, he should remain conscious while undergoing the impression that the goddess Vajrayogini cuts off his head and uses it as a caldron to hold his dismembered body. The ritual incorporates many shamanistic as well as Buddhist features (the pre-Buddhist Tibetan religion of Bon has a similar rite) and is basically initiatory, in that the participant experiences a symbolic death and rebirth.