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Twenty-Four Holy Places & Eight Great Charnel Grounds - Tsem Rinpoche
Twenty-Four Holy Places & Eight Great Charnel Grounds - Tsem Rinpoche
Dear Friends,
Recently on the ‘Ask a Pastor’ section of this blog an online friend asked a
question about the Twenty-Four Holy Places and the Eight Great Charnel
Grounds. The Pastors were asked if these were actual places found in
relation to our world, e.g. actual geographic locations. Upon seeing the
reply, His Eminence 25th Tsem Rinpoche advised that it would be good to
write a longer explanation, as these places are often mentioned within
many liturgies to the holy beings such as the Dharma protectors Setrap and
Dorje Shugden. In such liturgies, the holy enlightened beings are invoked
to come forth from these places.
He was a very handsome and good-looking god who ruled a vast empire of
gods and goddesses, together with his four primary consorts. He was so
desirous that he would be in constant copulation with one of these four
goddesses. He would switch consorts at the juncture between the four
times of the day. He would have his consorts embrace him in full
copulation during all his activities, such as sitting, walking, sleeping and
even eating. This would not be possible for human beings, however he was
a god with immense powers.
When the other gods would meet together, Mahadeva would not attend as
he was so engrossed in his copulation, however he would use his psychic
powers to see what was happening. Instead of going himself, he would
send a symbol of his private organ to these meetings. This would float,
accompanied with attendants, canopies and music to the place where the
gods met. Due to his position as the overlord of the gods, this symbol was
given the best seat and worshipped with milk, flower garlands, food, lights
and incense. They did this to pay their respects to him. In this regard
Mahadeva was encouraging the worship of copulation. On the other hand,
if he was not honoured in such a manner, he would punish those who
would not comply and show his anger severely. This is because his need for
respect was second only to his desire. Since he was the most powerful of
the gods, this desire began to permeate into other realms due to his
widespread worship. He was powerful enough to grant boons to those who
worshipped him, and to bestow his godly assistance to others. However,
due to his primary attachment those who worshipped him became infused
and overwhelmed with a sense of sexual desire that overrode all the other
qualities that the worshipper may have, even to the point of ruining their
lives. The gods were not affected as much but the humans who worshipped
him were.
1. Puliramalaya
2. Jalandhara
3. Oddiyana
4. Arbuta
5. Godavari
6. Rameshvari
7. Devikota
8. Malava
9. Kamarupa
10. Otri
11. Trishakune
12. Kosala
13. Kalingkara
14. Lampaka
15. Kanchi
16. Himalaya
17. Pretapuri
18. Grihadeva
19. Shaurashtra
20. Suvarnadvipa
21. Nagara
22. Sindhu
23. Maruta
24. Kuluta
They are known as the Ashta Maha Smashana in Sanskrit, and were the
most important charnel grounds in Ancient India. They are known as:
From a spiritual perspective the charnel ground represents the death of the
ego, and therefore our suffering, as well as the methods of how to
accomplish this. Through (a) meditation concentrating on the various
states of decomposition of the bodies, (b) meditation on the frightening
environment, and (c) meditation on death itself, one is able to come to four
very pivotal realisations in one’s spiritual path. These are that (i) one has to
overcome attachment to the body and life, (ii) craving for a body in the
future, (iii) the fear of death itself and (iv) aversion to the decay that is a
part of impermanence.
On a more gross level it can be used to overcome fear, due to the culturally
ingrained fear people have of such places. The wrathful beings and deities
are said to reside in these Eight Great Charnel Grounds, therefore in some
prayers, we invoke the wrathful deities from these places.
Within tantric practice the Eight Great Charnel Grounds have a deeper
significance. In the practices of the wrathful yidams (meditational deities),
surrounding the mandala of the deity are eight quadrants which are
visualised as the Eight Great Charnel Grounds. These visualisations are
particularly wrathful and include corpses in various states of
decomposition and in different positions such as lying down, sitting up,
those who have been hanged, those who have been impaled, those who are
headless, rotting, etc. There are also zombies, various other wrathful
beings, and wrathful animals such as jackels, vultures, crows, etc. They
also include various dakas, dakinis, stupas, fires and wrathful yogins and
yoginis.
Each of the aspects within the visualised charnel grounds symbolise tantric
elements. There include:
The great central trees in each charnel ground represent the central
energy channel of the practitioner, known as Tsa-Uma (Tibetan) or
Sushumna (Sanskrit).
The ground itself represents the path of practice (the entire sutra and
tantra teachings).
The four types of corpses: (i) New corpses represent birth, aging,
sickness and death or cyclic existence; (ii) Decaying corpses, or those
impaled, hanging or dismembered represent the death of the
mistaken idea of the self or ego; (iii) Skeletons represent the
realisation of Shunyata or emptiness; and (iv) Reanimated and
mindless zombies represent the realisation of selflessness.
The wrathful animals represent the realisations of the generation
stage of Highest Tantra Yoga practices, as they devour the ‘corpses’ of
ordinary perception.
The various lakes represent aspiring Bodhicitta or the aspiring
thought to attain enlightenment for the benefit all of sentient beings.
The clouds in the sky represent the drops of Bodhicitta at the crown of
one’s head.
The various fires represent Tummo or Inner Heat (Sanskrit: Candali).
The various Dikpalas or direction protectors symbolise the
‘downward-voiding wind’ which is located below the navel.
The various Lokapalas or realm protectors represent the ‘life-
supporting wind’ which is located at the heart.
The mountains symbolise the immovability of meditative stability
with the inseparability of bliss and emptiness as its focus.
The various stupas represent the three bodies of a Buddha.
The Nagas represent the cultivation of the Six Paramitas.
The Yogins and Yoginis represent practitioners who hold their tantric
samaya well.
The Wisdom-Holders (Sanskrit: Vidhyadharas) represent those who
have realised the generation stage of tantric practice.
The Mahasiddhas represent those practitioners who have realised the
completion stage of tantric practice.
Conclusion
As we can see, both the Twenty-Four Holy Places and the Eight Great
Charnel Grounds have tremendous significance within Buddhism, on both
the sutra and tantra levels of practice. Therefore they are often mentioned
within various liturgies and prayers as places where we invoke the
enlightened beings from, especially those that have manifested wrathfully
out of their compassion to aid sentient beings. I hope this post has been
informative and has given some understanding as to the significance of
both these sets of powerful and holy places.
P.S. Thanks to Phng Li Kheng, Vinnie Tan and Joy Kam for assisting in this
post.
Two-Armed Heruka. Click on image to enlarge or click here for more
beautiful thangkas.
Setrap Puja
Dorje Shugden Puja
Gyenze Dorje Shugden Puja
Trakze Dorje Shugden Puja
Heruka Chakrasamvara Puja Set (Sadhana, Self-Initiation and Tsok)
Heruka Chakrasamvara Fire Puja
Vajrayogini Puja Set (Sadhana, Self-Initiation and Tsok
Vajrayogini Fire Puja