Subject: Charnel Grounds Study Guide

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Charnel Grounds Page

Charnel Grounds
—- Study Guide Outline —-

Definition of Cemeteries/Charnel Grounds:
- corpse depositing
- burning corpses
- impure
- dangerous
- outcasts
- carnivorous animals
- ghosts & spirits

Literature:
- Tantra source texts:
--- Shmashanalankara-tantraraja
--- The Glorious King of Tantras That Resolves All Secrets
- Commentaries
- Tantric cycles
- Components Description

Numbers of Cemeteries (Charnel Grounds):
- eight great cemeteries
- sixteen cemeteries (Kalachakra)
- multiple lists (Sources: Tantra text & commentaries)
- geographic corresponding locations
- Same name, different locations (duplicate cemeteries)
- Same location, different names
- Duplicate models (Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, possibly Mongolia)

Known Cemeteries:
- Sitavana (Outside of Bodhgaya)
- Jigrung (Between Bodhgaya & Rajgir)
- Wild Laughing (At Bodhgaya)
- Rajpur, Dehradun
- Swayambhunath (bottom, south side)
- Others...

Mahasiddha & Cemeteries:
- siddha & heruka appearance
- systems of siddhas & cemeteries
- no system
- artistic convention

Deities Related to Charnel Grounds:
- Shmashana Adhipati (Chitipati)
- Shadbhuja Mahakala (Shangpa Tradition)
- Drogdze Wangmo
- Krodha Kali
- Others...

Charnel Ground Ornaments:
- wrathful ornaments
- semi-peaceful semi-wrathful ornaments
- meaning & symbolism

Figurative Art & Cemeteries:
- wrathful deities/appearance
- semi-peaceful & semi-wrathful deities/appearance

Narrative Art & Cemeteries:
- Life stories (Jataka & Avadana)
- Tibetan teachers
- others...

Diagrammatic Art & Cemeteries:
- mandala paintings
- cemeteries inside the mandala
- cemeteries outside the mandala
- kangdze offerings

Charnel Grounds & Religious Practice:
- Ganapuja
- Severance (Cho)
- others...

Jeff Watt 9-2020