Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This fragmentary text provides instructions for the visualization of the Eight Charnel Grounds, a ritual space central to Vajrayana practice. The work functions as a technical manual for mental construction, directing the practitioner to visualize a specific cosmological arrangement that includes the eight fields, eight world-protectors, and eight families of nāga kings. By specifying particular entities, such as the son of the nāga king Vāsuki and the bicolor rain-cloud Purāṇa, the text commits the reader to a precise iconographic and spatial order. The inclusion of an invocation to Hevajra suggests the text belongs to a specific tantric cycle, where the charnel ground serves as a symbolic site for transforming mundane perception into enlightened awareness. The translation is attributed to the Indian abbot Ratnaśrīmitra and the monk Śākya Yeshe, indicating a formal transmission from Sanskrit to Tibetan.
Provenance
About this text
Directing the practitioner in the visualization of the eight charnel grounds, the Aṣṭaśmaśāna is a work of the Non-dual Tantra tradition. The text begins with an invocation to Hevajra and provides a technical guide for the mental construction of a ritual space. It instructs the practitioner to visualize the eight fields in their proper order, alongside the eight world-protectors, the eight families of nāga kings, and the deities governing the rain clouds, trees, and fields. Specific entities are identified for this spatial arrangement, including the rain-cloud Purāṇa and the son of the nāga king Vāsuki. The work was translated into classical Tibetan by the Indian abbot Ratnaśrīmitra and the monk Śākya Yeshe. This translation is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཇ, where the work appears under the Tibetan title dur khrod brgyad and extends over two pages. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the precise iconographic and cosmological requirements for establishing the charnel ground as a site of practice, as well as to study the formal transmission of these instructions from India to Tibet.
The text is significant for its documentation of the precise ritual geography used in Hevajra tantra practices. For the modern reader, it illustrates the intersection of Buddhist cosmology and ritual visualization, where the charnel ground represents the site of death and transcendence.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1-2
Introduction and Visualization Instructions
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, an invocation to Hevajra, and a list of entities to be visualized within the eight fields.
Themes
Ritual Visualization (1-2)
Cosmology and Naga Entities (1-2)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Aṣṭaśmaśānanāma. In the language of Tibet: Dur khrod brgyad ces bya ba (The Eight Charnel Grounds). Homage to Hevajra!
One should visualize the eight fields and so forth, along with the eight world-protectors, the eight families of nāga kings, the deities who are the lords of the fields, the trees, and the rain clouds, in their proper order.
First, in the east, there is the nāgapuṣpa tree, the Aṭṭahasa [mountain], Indra, the nāga king Mahāpadma, and the rain cloud called Ghora, which is the color of saffron.
In the south, there is the mango tree, the Caritra [mountain], Yama, the nāga king Kulika, and the rain cloud called Caṇḍa, which is blue.
In the west, there is the aśvattha tree, the Kolagiri [mountain], Varuṇa, the nāga king Karkoṭaka, and the rain cloud called Ghana, which is white in color.
In the north, there is the punnāga tree, the Jayanti [mountain], Kubera, the nāga king Śaṅkhapāla, and the rain cloud called Aparajita, which is yellow in color.
In the northeast, there is the nyagrodha tree, the Ujjayini [mountain], Rudra, the nāga king Takṣaka, and the rain cloud called Garjita, which is black in color.
In the southeast, there is the karañja tree, the Prayāga [mountain], Agni, the nāga king Padma, and the rain cloud called Garbhita, which is multicolored.
In the southwest, there is the latājāta tree, the Karṇāṭasama [mountain], the rākṣasa, the nāga king Ananta, and the rain cloud called Varṣa, which is black.
In the northwest, there is the udumbara tree, the Devīkoṭa [mountain], and...
Wind.
And the son of the nāga king Vāsuki, and the rain-cloud called Purāṇa, which is white and black in color—one should understand these fields according to their respective order. Translated by the Indian abbot Ratnaśrīmitra and the monk Śākya Yeshe.