Mamos Season, or 'the Season of the Witch' :)

Vajrayana practitioners everywhere are kicking in some intensive practice leading up to the Tibetan New Year, or Losar (which usually is also the same day as Chinese New Year, and this year is also Valentines' Day, which lead to some really crude jokes not worth repeating here :)).    What is especially stressed is Dharma Protectors practice to deal with some of the karma of the previous year.  This time of year is called the 'Mamos Season'.  The iconography of the Mamos is of fierce powerful female beings.  So, I suppose it could also be called, with apologies to Donovan, 'the Season of the Witch' :).   I've talked about the Protectors a bit already, but I couldn't explain them in this seasonal context as well as Ken Rawie, one of Khandro Rinpoche's senior students and one of the 'old dogs' (sorry, Ken :)) that studied with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.   So, with his permission, I am reproducing an email he sent to the DC Shambhala Center email list explaining all this.  Take it away, Ken...

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This year Shambhala Center's "Winter Practice Intensive" is Feb 3-12, but I hurt my back last week, so I'm feeling guilty I'm not helping with the Mamos rota. 

Maybe to ride the energy of my guilt, I can give a little scholarship on the subject of Döns, Mamos, and Protectors. I hope everybody will come and practice as much as they can. I'll be practicing at home until I feel strong enough to join the Intensive. Go, team! -- Ken

To start with, the DCSC's web site explains: "The winter practice intensive closes out the Tibetan lunar calendar year. The end of the lunar calendar year, is often referred to as 'the dön season.' " [1]

So, what are döns? The Rigpa Wiki site translates the word as "harmful influences." [2] The Shambhala News Service last year said: "Döns" refer to sudden attacks of depression, resentment, anger, or other negative emotions -- like an unpredictable flu that takes us over. [3] Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche adds that döns can "bring about disease and accidents for those who lack mindfulness." [4]

It seems this negativity and chaos comes to a head at the end of the lunar year. Maybe it's the short days of deep winter; maybe it comes from the changing of annual cycles. More likely, the causes of the dön season are complex. In the Tibetan tradition, we designate the last ten days of the lunar year for working with döns, but personally, I think they struck early this year. 

One of the things we do to work with this "seasonal affect" [5] is to invoke dharma protectors like Mahakala and Vetali, but at this time we also work a lot with "Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos." As another web page says:

Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos is traditionally recited by vajrayana practitioners . . . [but] it is the Sakyong's wish to invite all practitioners to participate in the mamo recitation practice . . . By reciting the chant, we tune into the protector principle of awareness and reconnect with sacred outlook.

This practice is free and open to all; advance registration is not required. [6]

There is one day (Feb 8) where sitting and stroke practice will still be open, but the mamos chants will be "restricted" to sadhakas doing a Vajrayogini feast. But on every other day (up through Feb 12), everybody is invited to help "pacify the mamos!" 

If you want to learn more about the protector principle that wards off the döns, the DCSC site has a link to a really good description: Protector Principle: Averting the Negativity of the Old Year, by the Dorje Loppön, Lodrö Dorje

I hope everyone will participate in all ten days of the DC Center's "Winter Practice Intensive," Feb 3-12!

Ken

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References:
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[1] The DC Center's "Winter Practice Intensive" web page 

[2] Rigpa Wiki on "harmful influences, (Tib. pronunciation: dön; Transliteration: gdon)"

[3] Shambhala News Service last year describing döns

[4] definition of döns from the glossary at the end of Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche's commentary on Mipham's Sherab Raltri, the commentary entitled The Blazing Lights of the Sun and Moon 

[5] Wikipedia, "Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression or winter blues . . . "

[6] Dons Season Mamo Chants (for the Chicago Shambhala Center. Their dates are a little different from DC.)

[7] Protector Principle: Averting the Negativity of the Old Year, by the Dorje Loppön, Lodrö Dorje