Dancing with the Demon

“With a loving mind, cherish more than a child
 the hostile gods and demons of apparent existence,
 and tenderly surround yourself with them”
 Machig Labdrön (1055 – 1145)

Demons in the sense that we are using the word are not ghosts, goblins, or minions of Satan. When Machig Labdrön was directly asked by her son Tönyon Samdrup to define demons, she replied this way: “That which is called a demon is not some great black thing that petrifies whoever sees it. A demon is anything that obstructs the achievement of freedom…. There is no greater devil than this fixation to a self. So until this ego-fixation is cut off, all the demons wait with open mouths. For this reason, you need to exert yourself at a skillful method to sever the devil of ego-fixation.”
(Tara Mandala)


What a concept, to name everyone and everything that keeps us away from freedom a demon. In a dream I once met my demon in form of an aggressive body-builder who wanted to rape me, but after some initial shock, I kept him at arm’s length fairly easily. How I deal with him is entirely my choice. I can keep repressing him and will experience bouts of hostility when pushed against the wall, or I can assert myself, manifest my dreams and see him cheering me on alongside of it. We are here with a mission to complete. ‘Freedom’ is the right to express our idiosyncratic nature. Just as Machig Labdrön put it a thousand years ago, with a loving mind, and the heart of a child, face your demons and dance your Self into freedom.