Female Deities: List of female Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

Machig Labdrön

Yidam and historical figure - the founder of Chöd

The eleventh-century Tibetan founder of the chd (cutting) practice, Machig Labdrön is usually depicted in deified form as a peaceful white dancing figure with three eyes, playing a damaru (two-sided drum) with her right hand and holding a bell with her left (she is also depicted in seated form). She also appears in wrathful form as the dark-blue yidam Trma Nagmo.

Machig's name is variously translated as One-Mother, Torch of Lab - Lab being the name of her home district - or One-Mother, Liberator of Lab.

Books:

• Machig Labdrön and the Foundations of Chöd, by Jérôme Edou (Snow Lion, ISBN 978-1-55939-039-2)
• A Study of the Profound Path of Gcod: The Mahayana Buddhist Meditation Tradition of Tibet's Great Woman Saint Machig Labdrön, by Carol D. Savvas (dissertation)
• Machik's Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chöd, by Sarah Harding (Snow Lion, ISBN 1559391820)
• Women of Wisdom, by Tsultrim Allione (Penguin Books, 1984, ISBN 5551244113)