Eight great charnel grounds

On the ordinary level, the charnel ground (Ski. shmashana; Wyl. dur khrod) is simply a place where bodies are disposed of, either by cremation or burial. From a spiritual point of view however, the charnel ground is full of significance. It represents the death of ego, and the end of:

• attachment to this body and life
• craving for a body and life in the future
• fear of death
• and aversion to the decay of impermanence.

They are terrifying places, full of roaming spirits and hunting ghosts. There are bodies everywhere: fresh bodies, decaying bodies, skeletons and scattered bones. There are rivers of blood, poisonous waterfalls, and dangerous wild beasts. But they are also peaceful places of solitude. There are pleasant groves, wild flowers and fruit, song-birds, tame lions and tigers, and the vast open sky above. There are no conventions to conform to and no distractions to be seduced by. Ḍākas and ḍākinīs gather there to celebrate ceremonial "feasts" (Skt. ganachakra). The roar of Dharma discourses resound, and the light of the inner joy of bliss radiates.

Right now, our minds are very fickle. Sometimes you like a certain place, and it inspires, and yet with that same place, if you stay too long, it bores you. […] As you practise more and more, one day this kind of habit, this fickle mind will just go. Then you will search for the bindu interpretation of the right place, and according to the classic tantric texts, that is usually what they call the “eight great charnel grounds”. So then, you have to go to a cemetery, especially to one of the eight cemeteries. There, under a tree, in the charnel ground, wearing a tiger skin skirt, holding a kapāla and having this indifference between relatives and enemies, indifference between food and shit, you will practise. Then your bindu will flow. At that time, you will know how to have intercourse between emptiness and appearance.

• Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, from Longchen Nyingtik Practice Manual (page 66).

In the life in which a pratyekabuddha attains the fruit of their path, they are naturally drawn to charnel grounds. When reflecting on the bones found there, they ask "Where do these bones come from?" This awakens their many lifetimes of investigation into the twelve links of dependant origination. These twelve links then unfold in their understanding, in forward and reverse order, and on the basis of that they gain realisation.

The Eight Great Charnel Grounds

On the ordinary level, the eight great charnel grounds (Ski. ashtamahashmashana; Wyl. dur khrod chen po brgyad) are the disposition of burial sites around a city to accomodate the rituals of the different Indian castes. From the spiritual point of view, they are the places where the dismembered parts of Rudra's body came to rest, after the were scattered from the top of Mount Malaya. The energy centres of his body - the head, heart, naval, and genitals - fell in the four cardinal directions; his four limbs fell in the four intermediate directions. From these parts, eight great trees arose, and around these trees developed the eight great charnel grounds. All of the eight great charnel grounds contain certain elements, the symbolism of which may be understood as follows:

• The great trees represent the central channel of the practitioner.
• The charnel ground itself represents the complete paths of sutra and tantra.
• The four kinds of corpses are

1. Fresh corpses representing cyclic existence - the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death.
2. Impaled, hanging, dismembered and decaying corpses symbolise the death of ego.
3. Skeletons represent emptiness.
4. Zombies or mindless corpses symbolise selflessness.

• Devouring animals symbolise the realisation of the 'generation stage' (Wyl. bskyed rim) - the animals devour the 'corpses' of ordinary appearances and perceptions.
• Lakes symbolise relative bodhichitta.
• The clouds above are the white drops of bodhichitta at the crown of the head.
• Fires symbolise the 'inner heat' (Wyl. gtum mo).
• The directional protectors symbolise the ‘downward-voiding wind’, located just below the navel.
• The realm protectors symbolise the ‘life-supporting wind’, located at the heart.
• Mountains symbolise the immovability of medative equipoise placed single-pointedly on the union of great bliss and emptiness.
• Stupas represent the attainment of the three kayas of the Buddha.
• Nagas symbolise the cultivation of the ten perfections.
• The gems held by the nagas represent the four ways of gathering disciples.
• The yogins and yoginis are those practitioners at the level of upholding the tantric commitments.
• Human and divine knowledge holders (Skt. vidyadhara; Wyl. rig 'dzin) are those who have attained the realisation of the ‘generation stage’ (Wyl. bskyed rim).
• The Mahasiddhas are those who have attained the realisation of the ‘completion stage’ (Wyl. rdzogs rim).

The Eight Great Charnel Grounds are:

• Shitavana, the Chilly Grove, in the east;
• Perfected in Body, in the south;
• Lotus Mound in the west;
• Lanka Mound in the north;
• Spontaneous Mound in the south-east;
• Display of Great Mystery in the south-west;
• All-pervading Utter Joy in the north-west and
• Mound of the World in the north-east.