Mamo chant recitations during the Dön Season
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, there is a period before Tibetan New Year (Shambhala Day/ Lhosar) when accumulated karma comes to fruition and societal obstacles arise. Monday, February 1 until Wednesday, February 10, we will do 7 or 21 repetitions.
This entire chanting session, perhaps an hour long or more, is a contemplation of cause and effect, of wrathful compassion and awareness. It’s also a contemplation of a kind of sacred outlook that restores balance in the world. By leaning into the message of the mamos, we pacify them and also their effect on us.
At this time, when we look around the world, there seems to be no relief from suffering and no escape from the karmic baggage we humans have created.
This time of obstacles is known as the “dön season.” Döns are negative forces that arise out of the environment, causing humans to do things that are self-destructive and mindless. On a personal level, the best protection against döns is increasing one’s mindfulness. Therefore, this season is an especially good time for meditation practice.
“Mamos” are another source of obstacles during this period. They are symbolized in the form of deities called dakinis. Mamos are mostly a worldly variety of dakini, unenlightened aspects of the feminine principle. Mamos become enraged when people lose touch with their own intelligence, and therefore with reality.
As always, with protectors, döns, mamos, and other deities, one can see them as external to oneself, or as aspects of one’s own mind. By doing rituals that are directed outward, towards mamos and döns, we are also working on our own minds. As we pacify one, we pacify the other.
Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8208379652?pwd=UEo1ZXlJcS9rNXo3U3FyeGNqcE9Gdz09#success
(in case you are requested a password, it is: “Goodness”)
