Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Eight Charnel Grounds is a ritual or liturgical text centered on the deity Heruka. The provided fragments consist of a title page and an invocation, establishing the work's bilingual identity in Sanskrit and Tibetan. The text opens with a devotional address to Heruka, characterizing the deity as a hero who grants innate joy and the fruit of liberation. Following this, the text lists a series of fierce lords of the rain clouds, including figures such as Balabhadra and Mahāpadma, suggesting a focus on the invocation of atmospheric or elemental forces associated with the charnel ground environment. By framing the work through these specific deities and the translation efforts of Ratnaśrīmitra and Śākya Yeśes, the text commits the reader to a specific tantric praxis involving the transformation of cemetery imagery into a site of spiritual attainment.
Provenance
About this text
Dedicated to the glorious Heruka, the Aṣṭaśmaśāna (Tibetan: dur khrod brgyad) is a work within the Non-dual Tantra collection. The text entered the Tibetan language through the translation efforts of the Indian abbot Ratnaśrīmitra and the monk Śākya Yeśes, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཇ, where it extends over two pages. In its opening, the work enacts a devotional address to Heruka, the hero who bestows innate joy and the supreme fruit of eating and liberation. After a prostration to the Guru, the text lists the fierce lords of the rain clouds, including Balabhadra, Padma, Mahāpadma, and others, suggesting a focus on the invocation of elemental forces associated with the charnel grounds. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan translation to examine the specific tantric praxis of transforming cemetery imagery into a site of spiritual attainment and to study the bilingual identity of a work that maintains its Sanskrit and Tibetan titles.
The work is significant as it represents the transmission of Indo-Tibetan tantric traditions, specifically those involving the deity Heruka and the symbolic use of charnel grounds. Its importance rests on the attribution to known translators and the specific list of rain-cloud deities, which provides insight into the ritual ecology of the tradition.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Invocation
Provides the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and offers a prayer to Heruka.
2
List of Deities
Enumerates the fierce lords of the rain clouds and identifies the translators of the work.
Themes
Heruka and Liberation (1)
Elemental Deities (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 the glorious Heruka!
The glorious Heruka, the hero,
Bestows the beautiful innate joy
And the supreme fruit of eating and liberation.
Having prostrated at the lotus feet of the Guru,
I shall write this for my own recollection:
The names, directions, divisions, and locations
Of the charnel grounds, trees, directional guardians,
Nāga lords, and rain-cloud lords.
Within the Vajra Pavilion,
Arranged in groups of four in the left and right directions:
In the east and so forth, the fierce ones—
Gahvara, Jvalita, Kumbhaka, and Kapālin—
Dwell perfectly in the left directions.
Aṭṭahāsa is in the northeast;
Hutāśana is in the southeast;
Saṃvartaka is in the southwest;
And Kīlīkīla-svara is in the northwest.
With the hosts of vetālas and bhūtas,
And the terrifying sound of jackals,
The charnel grounds within the Vajra Pavilion
Appear in terrifying forms.
In this sequence,
The eight charnel grounds are situated.
What are the trees, directional guardians, nāga lords, and rain-cloud lords?
Śirīṣa, Aśvattha,
Kaṅkelli, and the Cūta tree;
Likewise, the Vaṭa and Rañjaka.
Indra and Vaiśravaṇa,
Then the Nāga lords, and Yama;
Then Agni in the northeast,
The lord of rākṣasas in the southwest, and Vāyu.
Vāsuki and Takṣaka.
Balabhadra, Padma, Mahāpadma, Huluhulu, Kulika, and Śaṅkhapāla; Garjita, Ghūrmi, Bhīma, Avarta, and Ghana; Parṣaṇa, and Pūraṇa—these are the fierce lords of the rain clouds.
Translated by the Indian abbot Ratnaśrīmitra and the monk Śākya Yeśes.