#Lords of the Charnel Ground

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Death is Not The End

This work depicts Smashana Adipati, Lords of the Charnel Ground. Animated by ecstatic dance and laughter, this skeleton pair expresses the joy of being free from attachment. Modeled in rich detail against the red background, the male grips a skeleton club and a skull cup, while the female holds a staff and a vase. They lord over (adipati) cremation grounds (smashana), depicted in the lower corners of the painting.

Tantric yogins meditate on impermanence at such places while practicing the tantric visualization and rituals of “severance of ego” (chod), which is said to liberate them from the cycle of rebirth. When there is no attachment to self, there is no desire or other afflictive emotions to propel one’s consciousness in this cycle of suffering.

To learn more about notions of death and the afterlife in Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity, and to see this work in person, visit our current exhibition, "Death Is Not the End," on view until January 2024. ________ Smashana Adipati, Lords of the Charnel Ground; Tibet; 15th century; pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Art; gift of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; F1996.16.5 (HAR 462)

[Rubin Museum of Art]

[captainmazzic]

The Sith Lord leaned in as far as his chains would allow, his eerie grin curling even wider. He licked his cracked lips, and his voice came as a whisper, silky and almost sensual. “The taste of your fear is all the sustenance I require. More palatable than the most opulent of feasts.”

----

Meet Darth Virulen, Master of Massacres, Duskborne Assassin, the Butcher of Sluis Van. The man so infamous for turning capital ships into slaughterhouses and battlefields into charnel grounds that his genetic blueprint was requested by the Sith Alchemist Lord Fulminiss for the development of the Harrower Sithspawn.

He is a Squamatan by birth, but was raised by a nomadic clan of Nagai that ultimately settled near the Stygian Caldera, and had close ties with the Sith Empire within. He joined the Sith at an early age, and a few years before he gained the title of Darth he engaged in a duel with a, uh, certain fellow apprentice of his master. The duel ended with him receiving a lightsaber blade to the face, permanently scarring him. He wears his disfigurement with pride, and he tattooed around his eyes and nose for his face to even more closely resemble that of a skull.

He knows of the Shadow Imperium and the Sith Tribunal, but his heart beats for the Empire. He is one of the deadliest subtle murder machines the Empire has - his specialty is killing, both en masse and silent targeted elimination. He has been responsible for countless massacres, disappearings, assassinations, and genocides. His strong code of honor that guides his violence ensures that almost all of his opponents face him directly, their deaths personal, rather than behind a screen or the push of a button. His worldview dovetails closely with the culture of his adoptive Nagai, and it was partly this culture and mindset that drove his master to select him as a second apprentice. As his master before him (and his former fellow apprentice), he values honesty and integrity. He keeps his promises, he is true to his word.

The jury is still out on whether that makes him less scary, or even more terrifying. :)

Anyway he's one of the two main characters for the new thing I'm writing (tentatively titled Like a Fine Wine), that (hopefully) won't be very long. I don't intend for it to be much longer than 3 or 4 chapters, and I already have the first two done. It's set in the same AU as Opening Dialogue, but takes place a year or two after.

I'll be drawing the other main character in the new fic probably tonight or tomorrow, in between all the writing XD

[santoschristos]

Citipati: The Dancing SkeletonsThis happy couple is also called the ‘Lord and Lady of the Charnel Grounds’ and they are the principal Dharma protectors that are associated with the tantric systems of Vajrayogini. Lama Thanka Painting School@lama_thankaSending ghoulish greetings and monster-sized fun this Halloween.

“Although you appear in earthly form Your essence is pure Consciousness. You are the fearless guardian of Divine Light. So come, return to the root of the root of your own soul.” ― Rumi, Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved

[mahayanapilgrim]

Lion-Faced Ḍākinī

The Tantric Sources

The Lion-Faced Ḍākinī (Tib: Senge Dongma, Skt: Siṃhamukhā) is a female deity considered to be especially effective for dispelling black magic, curses, obstacles and harm-doers. In the Nyingma terma tradition, she is considered as one of the many forms of Padmasambhava, specifically a secret form of Guru Rinpoche manifested to avert spiritual obstacles and negativity. In the Sarma traditions she arises out of the Chakrasamvara cycle of tantras and belongs to the Highest Yoga Tantra ‘wisdom’ classification.

According to Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, the original scriptural source for Simhamukha is the Drwa-ba’i sdom-pa’i rgyud. This Tantra, where Simhamukha is linked with the eight wrathful Gauris (ke’u-ri-ma brgyad) and the eight Tramenmas or animal-headed sorceresses (phra-men-ma brgyad), appears to be connected with the Guhyagarbha Mayajala cycle (sGyu-‘phrul drwa-ba). In the “Tibetan Book of the Dead” (Bar-do thos grol), these Gauri witches, representing the eight types of mundane consciousness, and these eight animal-headed sorceresses, representing the eight objects of consciousness, appear to the deceased consciousness on the twelfth and thirteenth days of the Bardo experience after death. However, it is mainly through the Termas or hidden treasure texts discovered since the 11th century that Simhamukha is practiced among the Nyingmapas.

According to some sources, it is said that ”at the time of Buddha Amitabha, many aeons even before Shakyamuni Buddha, there was a demon called Garab Wangchuk whose daughter was a lion-faced demoness called Tramen Sengdongma. She delighted in taking the lives of countless beings, and by harming practitioners she increased the negative forces in the world and undermined the Amitabha Buddha’s doctrine.

All the buddhas gathered together and concluded that to tame her they would need to manifest an identical-looking being. The enlightened beings’ collective wisdom arose in the form of a wisdom being – the Lion-faced Dakini, empowered by all the Buddhas of the ten directions with their power and compassion to tame the demoness. The Dakini became far more powerful than the demoness, who then began to lose her strength. While the Dakini was in a deep samadhi of taming the maras, countless dakinis emanated from her and subdued all the demons. Tramen Sengdongma, now pacified, took an oath to serve the dharma and became a protector.

In the time of the 100-year lifespans, Buddha Shakyamuni appeared in the world and turned the wheel of dharma in many places such as Varanasi, Bodhgaya, Vulture’s Peak, and the charnel ground of Lanka, teaching on many levels including Vajrayana. He said that at that time it was as if the sun was in the center of the sky, and there was no darkness anywhere, but when the sun went down then the darkness of ignorance would arise. But Lord Buddha continued that there would be a method to dispel this ignorance, and so Vajrapani requested that Lord Buddha teach this method. Shakyamuni Buddha rested in the samadhi of taming the maras, and then taught the whole cycle of the Lion-Faced Ḍākinī. He taught in many different ways, and these transmissions were concealed by Vajrapani as treasures after he received them.”

Lion-Faced Ḍākinī

The Lion-Faced Ḍākinī is a fully enlightened deity and not a protector spirit or dakini alone. As one source says:

It is important to understand that, despite her exceedingly wrathful appearance and animal head, she is not a guardian spirit (srung-ma), subdued by magic, converted to the Dharma, and bound by oaths of service by some powerful Mahasiddha in the past. Rather, she is a wrathful manifestation of Guhyajnana Dakini, who, according to the Nyingmapa tradition, was the principal Dakini teacher of Padmasambhava in the country of Uddiyana. Therefore, although Simhamukha is a Dakini in her aspect, she functions as a Yidam or meditation deity and her special functions are averting and repulsing (bzlog-pa) psychic attacks that may assault the practitioner and the subduing of negative female energy as personified by the Matrikas or Mamos. These latter are wild uncontrolled female spirits inhabiting the wilderness, both the mountains and the forests, beyond the confines of patriarchal civilization. These female spirits are generally hostile to the male gender. Simhamukha appears in a form wrathful, feminine, and demonic; indeed, her form is said to be actually that of a Matrikia or Mamo, not because her nature is evil or demonic, but because her wrathful aspect (khro gzugs) skillfully overcomes and subdues those violent negative energies. Simhamukha is a Jnana Dakini or wisdom goddess. According to Jigmed Lingpa (1726-1798), the famous Nyingmapa master and discoverer of hidden treasure texts or Termas, Simhamukha represents a Nirmanakaya manifestation, appearing in time and history, whereas her Sambhogakaya aspect is Vajravarahi and her Dharmakaya aspect is Samantabhadri, the Primordial Wisdom herself.

[lamathanka]

Shri Shmashana Adhipati, Father-Mother (the Glorious Lords of the Charnel Ground, Father and Mother).

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#heritage #lamathankapaintingschool #himalayanart #thangka #thankapainting #chamdance #Shmashana #Adhipati #lord #dancingskeleton #tantra #wrath #chitipati #dharampala

[fiercerthanyou]

Smashana Adipati, “Lords of the Charnel Ground” (18th century), Tibet,

Painted terracotta,

Rubin Museum of Art, C2002.36.1 (HAR 65149)

Photograph by David De Armas, Rubin Museum of Art, 2012

[v-l-d-s]

Blood Ascendant

Necromantic might comes in many forms, but a singular, ancient source is the blood curse of vampirism. Though it promises much—immortality, agility, charm—it comes paired with insidious drawbacks, from the stinging burn of sunlight to a perpetual thirst for blood. Necromancers that wish to capture a measure of this power without suffering its myriad weaknesses perform a special ritual with vampiric blood in order to become Blood Ascendants. In doing so, they fall deathly pale and lose their reflection within mirrors, but learn to slowly pry out vampiric powers without fully succumbing to the all-devouring curse.

ENTHRALL HUMANOID Starting when you choose this ambition at 3rd level, you can use your action to touch an incapacitated humanoid, attempting to bring them under your necromantic control. The creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it becomes enthralled by you. On a success, you can’t use this feature against the creature for 24 hours. While enthralled, the creature is charmed by you and follows your commands. It remains enthralled until a remove curse spell is cast on it, the charmed condition is removed from it, you use this feature again, or you release the creature as an action. An enthralled creature counts against the total number of thralls under your control and the total CR of thralls you can control. If the creature is of a higher CR than the total CR of thralls you control, you can’t enthrall it. You can release thralls under your control as a part of the action used to enthrall a creature.

CHARNEL DRAIN At 3rd level, you drain the essence of those you slay. When you reduce a hostile creature or an enthralled humanoid to 0 hit points with your Charnel Touch, you regain hit points equal to your Intelligence modifier + your necromancer level (minimum 3). Additionally, you can choose to knock the target unconscious instead of killing it.

VAMPIRIC TRANSFORMATION Starting at 6th level, you can use your action and expend 15 Charnel Touch points to transform for up to 1 hour, or until you drop to 0 hit points or revert on your turn as an action. Anything you are wearing transforms with you, but objects you are carrying fall to the ground in your space. Choose one of the following transformations: Bat. You transform into a Tiny bat. While in bat form, you can’t speak, your walking speed is 5 feet, and you have a flying speed of 30 feet. Your statistics, other than your size and speed, are unchanged. Mist. You transform into a Medium cloud of mist. While in mist form, you can’t take any actions, speak, or manipulate objects. You are weightless, have a flying speed of 20 feet, can hover, and can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. In addition, if air can pass through a space, you can do so without squeezing, and you can’t pass through water. You have advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, and you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT By 10th level, the hordes of the night answer to your beck and call. When you perform your Animate Thralls ritual, you can summon one or more wolves, swarms of bats, or swarms of rats to serve as your thralls. You command these creatures as your thralls. When one of these creatures is reduced to 0 hit points or released by you, it vanishes in a cloud of mist.

LICHDOM: NOSFERATU At 20th level, you have reached the pinnacle of necromancy and transformed yourself into a lich. You have embraced the blood curse of vampirism to become a vampire lord in all but name: a nosferatu. Coffin Phylactery. Your phylactery is a coffin filled with grave dirt. When you drop to 0 hit points, you reform in your coffin after 1 hour. You are permanently weakened until you spend 24 hours resting in the coffin. During this time, your hit point maximum is reduced to 1, and you drop to 0 hit points if you begin your turn in sunlight. Regeneration. At the start of each of your turns, you regain 10 hit points. You don’t gain this benefit if you have 0 hit points or you are in direct sunlight. Vampiric Agility. Your speed is doubled. Additionally, you can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

[human-antithesis]

La Grande Danse Macabre

Lyrics: This ghastly skeleton, bone bare on ghostly nag Gallops through space No spurs, no whips And yet his steed pants towards apocalypse Nostrils a-snort in epeleptic fit Headlong they rush, athwart the infinite With rash and trampling hoof The cavalier, his flashing sword aflame Glashes - now here, now there

Amongst the nameless slaughtered horde Then goes inspecting like some manor-lord The charnel ground, chill and unbound where Under a bleak suns pallid leaden glare Histories great sepulchered masses lie From the ages near And the ages long gone by

Death can on both black and white horses ride Across the threshold of infinity he you guide Death can step along smiling within the dance And as a pawn in a game of chess you stand no chance Death can also beat a drum He drums hard and he drums soft The time has come for you to leave the mortal croft All your dreams he beats into dust Die, die, die you must

I svängen lätta I dansens ringar I stigen yra I nöjets lag Och myrten blommar och lyran klingar Men över tröskeln stiger jag Då stannar dansen Då sänkas ljuden Då vissnar kransen Då bleknar bruden...

[trummerfrau]

Lord and Lady of the Charnel ground

[themaskfromsupermario2]

I learned about the deity Palden Lhamo for the first time today and I’m amazed.

“Palden Lhamo means "Glorious Goddess" and can feature a wide range of wrathful female protectors and dakinis. Usually, Palden Lhamo refers to the Gelugpa version of her as a wrathful emanation of Saraswati, otherwise known as Magzor Gyalmo and Remati.

Magzor Gyalmo was said to be named Remati during the time she was married to the evil king of Lanka, both of them rakshasas according to one version. Remati vowed that if she failed to convert the king to Buddhism and dispel his wickedness, she would end his dynasty. She tried many times to convert him to avoiding the killing of dharma practitioners, but failed along with their son being raised to kill Buddhists. With no choice, she slaughtered her son while her husband was out hunting. She ate her son's flesh, drank his blood with his skull as a kapala or cup, and flayed his skin to make a saddle. Thus, she escaped out towards the north. Just as she left on a mule, the king returned and found out about his son's murder. Enraged, he shot the rump of the mule that Remati was riding. In response, Remati healed the wound and transformed it into an eye by stating, "May the wound of my mount become an eye large enough to watch over the twenty-four regions, and may I myself be the one to extirpate the lineage of the malignant kings of Lanka!" There, she traveled onwards through India to Tibet to China to Mongolia and was said to have finally settled down on the mountain, Oikhan in eastern Siberia.

When she died, she was reborn in hell and fought her way out of the hell, stealing a bag of diseases and a sword. When she escaped to the charnel grounds, she found no peace and prayed to the Buddha for a reason to live. The Buddha Vajradhara (tantric Shakyamuni) appeared before her and requested her to protect the dharma. Astonished, Remati agreed and thus arose as the dharmapala she is, only using her weapons against enemies of Buddhism. She was also appointed as a guardian of dharma by Yama, lord of death. Her retinue consists of the lion-headed dakini Simhamukha (Sengdongma) behind her and the Makara-headed dakini Makaravaktra holding the reins of the mule in front of Palden Lhamo. Surrounding them are the 4 Goddesses of the Seasons, the 5 Sisters of Long Life, and the 12 Tenma goddesses.”

[whumpster-fire]

A Curated Selection of Tweets from Dread Lord K'thyzyxathrax The Soul Flayer's account @KthyzyxathraXXX

Dread Lord K'thyzyxathrax the Soul Flayer is an evil overlord, accomplished lich king, and one of the most dangerous necromancers in the world. He is also terrible at using Twitter. These are some of his recent misadventures.

CW for dark humor, satire, genocide references, animal death,

The Sans Undertale Incident

I fucking hate all you people trying to "destigmatize" skeletons but especially Toby Fox. People dont even think a walking skeleton is scary anymore. Fuck off its a dead guy walking around with no muscles or tendons. This is an abomination against Gods and nature.

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I'm trying to strike terror into the populace here and you are making my job way harder. I'm not saying challenge doesnt breed innovation, wait til you see the shit I have in my dungeon rn, just sayin if I hear one more Sans Undertale joke some of you are gonna have a bad time

~~

Curator's note: replies omitted but you can imagine what they were like

Motherfucker. He says that? How the fuck was I supposed to know, I don't play your stupid preschooler video game about being nice to people.

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Shut up all of you. I am not your funny video game skeleton teenager. Power Word: BLOCKED

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The next motherfucker who remixes my ominous entrance music with Megalovania will be slowly flayed alive over a hundred year period, and also sued for copyright infringement.

The Mortuary Supply Drama

Since Charnel Chuck's Mortuary Supply Co. has refused to lift my "lifetime ban" on the grounds that they only approve of necromancy for "peaceful purposes" and with the "consent" of those whose remains are being used and have deleted my 1 star Yelp reviews (1/3)

(2/3) I have no choice but to take my grievance to Twitter. Your "code of ethics" is completely discriminatory against my desire to use undead to murder people. Go fuck yourselves. Your business is shit and even if you lift my ban I will never patronize your establishment (2/3)

(3/3) again after the way I have been treated. Your customer service is appalling. And another thing, any "lifetime" ban on me should have expired like a thousand years ago so double fuck you. @CharnelChucks www.CharnelChucksMortuary.com follower horde ratio them. Get their asses

Curator's Note: A followup tweet also posted the address of the business in question. This has not been reproduced due to our policy against doxxing, although it is available on their website.

(4/4) fuck I didn't add enough parts. Your products are also shoddy and overpriced and your storefront is inappropriately brightly lit for your industry. I hope your vampire customers sue you for using fluorescent lights.

(5/4) @CharnelChucks unblock me you fucking cowards. I saw that fucking statement you made disavowing all association with me, and you have no room to talk shit. You still sell products over Amazon.com after the scandal over them staffing their warehouses with (5/4)

(6/4) reanimated corpses of employees who said the word "Union" on the messenger app. Y'all can't take a stand for "respecting wishes of the deceased" and "ethical necromancy" while picking and choosing which evil overlords you work with. Also you refused to honor (6/4)

(7/4) your buy-2-get-1-free sale on crematory urns on my order of 600 urns. There was nothing on your sign about a 3-urn maximum. You assholes owe me $79,999.76. I'm opening my grimoire right now and looking up Power Word: Go Fuck Yourself

The Washington Monument Restoration

To everyone tagging me while they watched the evening news last night:

1: I didn't do it, that was my friend @CardinalCarnage

2: I wish I'd thought of it first, that was fucking hilarious, and I'm impressed with him for getting two 50' solid marble orbs onto the National Mall

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3: The Washington Monument was supposed to have balls and a glans in the original plans, but the confederates got custody of the balls in the civil war and at the time an aluminum cap of that size was too expensive so it was downsized.

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So actually it's a restoration not a defacement.

4: If you want to see what defacing a monument looks like it wait 'til you see Mt Rushmore

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I didnt fucking do anything to Mt Rushmore you idiots, they literally carved it into a sacred mountain just to be dicks to Native Americans. Fucking mortals. But hey thanks for the idea

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As an evil overlord I think carving your face into the monument of a people you conquered and oppressed is a pretty swag move but doing dead guys' faces instead of your own is just sad.

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I was thinking about re-carving all the major statues into my own face when I take over America but since I'm skeletal people will probably just think it's the same guys except accurately depicting how they look now since they're dead. But then again thats also a power move so still considering it

~~

Retweeted from @CardinalCarnage:

No, I only did the Monument, @KthyzyxathraXXX deserves full credit for filling the Reflecting Pool with blood. Nice job bro, my cultists think it's really cool and so do the boys in Hell

Thanks. Turns out it takes a lot of people to fill that with blood. Really wish there was more of it per body, had to keep healing the sacrifices because I didn't bring enough.

Vulture Culture, The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Cincinnati

Really loving the Vulture Culture pinterest boards for inspiration when making new unholy abominations. Newbie necromancers take note: don't limit yourself to using human remains, you will stifle your creativity.

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Been making so many "pets" lately I'm actually running out of space, so I'm adopting some of them out. I made this little fella from roadkill on I-64. He's free to a good home. I am not responsible for odor or leakage of putrefying bodily fluids onto your carpet.

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Replying to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

Yes those are crow skulls. Nicely spotted!

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Replying to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

I didn't sign any goddamn migratory bird treaty.

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Replying to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

Fine, I removed and destroyed all the bird parts. JFC tell your followers to cool their jets. I cant believe I found a government body more annoying than the IRS

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Tweet made at the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Come get your game wardens. Sorry not sorry but they wandered into my labyrinth of terror and fell in a spike pit. You have 1 week to recover their bodies or I'm using them.

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Replying to OSHA:

Don't you fucking start. It's a dungeon it's supposed to be full of deadly booby traps. If you tell me I'm supposed to have railings on a spike pit I installed with the express purpose of people falling in it and dying you'll be first to go when I conquer this wretched land

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Replying to OSHA:

No I'm not fucking removing them. Shove a traffic cone up your asses. No weight that's the DOT's thing. What do you even do again?

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Really disappointed in the lack of adoption offers. How can you resist a face like this? Yeah the flesh is peeling off. I think the kids today call that Skrungly.

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Man this hobby is really addictive. Fuck I'm supposed to be raising armies and pillaging cities but I just spent the last 4 hours sewing a dozen raccoon arms to a dead coyote's neck.

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NVM I gave it a petrifying bite and a chain reanimation spell so killing two birds with one stone. Might also transmit rabies. Oh this is gonna be FUN. USFWS don't @ me because I said "killing two birds"

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I meant P U T R E F Y I N G bite. Fucking autocorrect. Petrifying bite and chain reanimation would be useless.

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Check this out. This buck's antlers carry a whole rack of Multiple Indepently Maneuvering Possums.

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Really Autocorrect? You correct Petrifying but let Indepently slide? Whatever. Anyway got a pretty good army going after all. Those possums are MEAN. City of Cincinnati pray to your impotent Gods because I'm coming for you. That'll teach you to lose the superbowl.

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Yeah, yeah, I only got as far as Covington and Newport. Fuck off, I know most of you have never invaded a metropolitan area. This was easier in medieval times when infrastructure wasn't so car dependent. 40k casualties is still a productive weekend

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I can cross running water just fine. I stopped south of the river on purpose because seeing the other side reminded me of how much Ohio sucks so I decided I don't want it.

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Okay fine. I swore a blood oath to never set foot in Ohio again after losing a hundred bucks on the superbowl this February. Exact wording was "until an Ohio team wins a Major League Sports championship" so in practice never.

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Catapulting diseased corpses across the river is fair game. Have fun with that.

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@CardinalCarnage appreciate the offer but seriously don't worry about it, that city sucks anyway. Just gonna let it go, pretty sure making "Ohio" no longer exist as a political entity cancels the oath anyway so shouldn't be too long even if their teams keep sucking ass

[talonabraxas]

Lord and Lady of the Cemetery (Citipati)The Skeleton dance is a sacred Tibetan ritual found in Himalayan Buddhist lineages. The skeletons depicted are Chitipati (or Citipati), a pair of lovers known as the Lord and Lady of the charnel ground whose dance represents the eternal dance of death, as well as the attainment of perfect consciousness.

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Tuesday 27 May 1834

6 40

12 ¼

fine F54° at 8 perfectly quiet last night breakfast at 8 ½ - found fault at being charged ¼ per mile instead of 1/3, as elsewhere, except at Staindrop, which, from inadvertence, I had not noticed there - too dearer bill than at Staindrop - but we had been comfortable - off from the King’s head Masham at 9 ½ and at Hackfall (3 miles) at 10 5 – ¾ hour in the grounds – much spoilt since I saw them 2 years ago, by the Marques of Aislesbury’s wood on the opposite bank of the Ure (river) being cut down - Miss W- disappointed and much tired - brought away 3 cream cheeses the village (Gruelthorpe) [Grewelthorpe] far-famed for them - off again at 11 50 and at Brimham-rocks house at 2 ¼ (ten miles) – bad road, certainly, on the moor, but our horses worse – the old postboy meant to have left the carriage in ¼ mile from the house, locked up, among the heather but I would not let him – on arriving ordered fried eggs and bacon, and with these and our cold roll of veal and bread and ginger beer made a goodish dinner about 3 - and Miss W- then refreshed enough to scramble among the rocks -  with the woman of the house as our guide - only herself and little girl - pays Lord Grantley £10 a yard for the house - and [shew] the rocks, the more interesting, being immediately about the house – e.g. the 3 rocking stones, the Canon rock, the cleft rock, and the more striking cavernous parts - really worth seeing - a sort of chaos said to be scattered over 40 acres of the high heather covered moor from which fine view into the vale below or surrounding basin - all rough sandstone grit - the ‘rock of a very singular shape, which Mr Hargrove supposes to have

SH:7/ML/E/17/0038

been a rock-idol, or stone consecrated to some principal deity’  (46ft. in circumference) did not seem to me to have been separated from the adjoining rock - it’s general shape is perhaps rather that of a swan’s egg pear, tho’ its sides are broken into 2 or 3 hedges one could pass almost along round the stone - I had fancied it might be phallus-like - but it is not at all - ‘the pedestal on which it rests, is, at the top only 1ft. by 2ft. 7in. the marks of the tool are visible in many places, particularly on the base of the pedestal’ - vide Beauties of England and Wales Yorkshire p. 709-10 this singular scene of natural convulsion may have been used by the Druids but it 931 did not strike me that it was at all the work of their own hand - we saw nothing like circles of stones, and the woman said she did not know of any - In returning retraced a good deal of the way by which we came - passed close by Newby Park Lord Grantley’s - the Brimham woman said he was a very fine gentleman but laid heavy rents on his tenants and lived in Suffolk? or Sussex? passed close under Studley Park, and by Bishopton and at Ripon (the Unicorn) at 7 50 in 2 10 hours – tired to death of the slowness of our journey (9 miles) - the man at Ripon, too, would charge ¼ a mile so said we would sleep at Boroughbridge and return to see Studley and Newby Hall tomorrow - ¾ hour in the minster§ - very neatly kept – a new oak roof over the nave like the old one – very well done and an handsome new stone walk groined roof over the choir exactly like that there was before the tower (steeple) fell in and destroyed it - the charnel-house beautifully neat - the skulls and other bones (shins and shoulders) piled up as in the catacombs at Paris - some of the bones said to be 3 centuries old - this charnel-house unique in England?  The minister very pretty but not near so pretty (or so large?) as that at Beverley - at Boroughbridge in about 40 minutes (6 miles) at 8 43 – tea – very comfortable – all sorts of good bread and butter - honey and 2 glasses of good sweetmeat - wrote the above of today till 10 40 at which hour F48 1/2 - very fine day and beautiful evening.

§ the old painted altar-screen removed and replaced by a handsome one in stone so much lower as to allow the window above to be deepened by the 2 lower rows (tiers)  of arms, the window that was before far too low for its breadth being now much better proportioned tho’ still not tall enough - went upstairs at 11

[vajranam]

Daily Pratice Yamanthaka

༄༅། །འཇམ་དཔལ་གཤིན་རྗེའི་རྒྱུན་ཁྱེར་བཞུགས།

A Daily Practice of Mañjuśrī Yamāntaka

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

 སྐྱབས་སེམས་སྔོན་དུ་འགྲོ་བས།

With refuge and bodhicitta as a preliminary, recite the following:

ཨྱཻ།  ཨེ་ཉིད་སྟོང་པ་ཆོས་འབྱུང་སྟེ།  །

ayai, é nyi tongpa chöjung té

Ayai! From the dharmadhātu, the empty space of É as such,

མ་སྐྱེས་འགགས་པ་མེད་པ་ལས།  །

makyé gakpa mepa lé

Which is unborn and does not cease,

རང་བཞིན་གནས་པ་དྲན་པར་བྱ།  །

rangshyin nepa drenpar ja

I bring to mind that which is naturally present:

ཨཻ་ཡི་ཕོ་བྲང་ཆེན་པོའི་ནང་།  །

ai yi podrang chenpö nang

Within the great palace of Ai,

རྒྱུ་དང་རྐྱེན་ལས་མ་བསྐྱེད་པར།  །

gyu dang kyen lé makyepar

Not created through causes and conditions,

ཀླུ་གཉན་ས་བདག་རུ་ཏྲ་དང་།  །

lunyen sadak rudra dang

Mañjuśrī arises out of awareness, like a fish leaping from water,

མ་ཧེ་ཉི་ཟླ་པདྨའི་སྟེང་།  །

mahé nyida pemé teng

In a form of overwhelming splendour,

རིག་པ་ཆུ་ལས་ཉ་འཕར་ཚུལ།  །

rigpa chu lé nya par tsul

And standing upon nāgas, nyen, earth lords, rudras,

འཇམ་དཔལ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཟིལ་གྱིས་གནོན།  །

jampal chakgya zil gyi nön

Buffaloes, sun, moon and lotus.

དབུ་གསུམ་ཕྱག་དྲུག་ཞབས་བཞི་བསྒྲད།  །

u sum chak druk shyab shyi dré

He has three faces, six arms and four striding feet,

གཡས་དཀར་གཡོན་དམར་དབུས་མཐིང་ཞལ།  །

yé kar yön mar ü ting shyal

The right face is white, the left face red, and the central face blue.

འཁོར་ལོ་རལ་གྲི་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཡས།  །

khorlo raldri dorjé yé

In his right hands he holds a wheel, sword and vajra;

བེ་ཅོན་གཏུན་ཤིང་སྡིག་མཛུབ་གཡོན།  །

bechön tün shing dik dzub yön

With his left hands he holds a club and wooden pestle and makes a threatening mudrā.

རིགས་ལྔའི་ཁྲོ་བོས་དབུ་ལ་བརྒྱན།  །

rik ngé trowö u la gyen

The wrathful ones of the five families adorn his crown

དཔལ་གྱི་ཆས་རྫོགས་དུར་ཁྲོད་བརྒྱན།  །

pal gyi ché dzok durtrö gyen

And he has all the glorious attributes and ornaments of the charnel ground.

ཡུམ་ནི་གཉིས་མེད་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས།  །

yum ni nyimé chö kyi ying

His consort, indivisible within the dharmadhātu,

མཐིང་ནག་ཙིཏྟ་བྷན་དམར་སྟོབས།  །

tingnak tsitta bhen mar tob

Is dark blue and proffers a heart and blood-filled skullcup.

སྤྲུལ་པ་རྒྱན་གྱི་ལྷ་བརྒྱད་དང་།  །

trulpa gyen gyi lha gyé dang

As emanations, the eight deities of adornment

ཡེ་ཤེས་ཁྲོ་བོ་བཅུ་རྣམས་རྫོགས།  །

yeshe trowo chu nam dzok

And the ten of wisdom wrath are all present.

སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཁྲོ་ཚོགས་དཔག་མེད་དང་།  །

trulpé tro tsok pakmé dang

The deities emanate countless wrathful hosts

རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཚྭ་ཚྭ་རབ་ཏུ་འཕྲོ།  །

dorjé tsatsa rabtu tro

And an effusion of vajra sparks.

སྣང་ལ་རང་བཞིན་མེད་པར་བསྒོམ།  །

nang la rangshyin mepar gom

Visualize them all as appearing yet unreal.

ཐུགས་ཀར་ཉི་སྟེང་ཧཱུྃ་གི་མཐར།  །

tukkar nyi teng hung gi tar

Upon a sun at Yamāntaka’s heart,

སྔགས་ཀྱི་ཕྲེང་བས་བསྐོར་བ་ལས།  །

ngak kyi trengwé korwa lé

The mantra garland revolves around a syllable Hūṃ,

འོད་ཟེར་སྤྲོ་བསྡུས་དོན་གཉིས་བྱས།  །

özer trodü dön nyi jé

Emitting and absorbing rays of light to fulfil the twofold aims.

སྣང་སྲིད་ཐམས་ཅད་དཔལ་ཆེན་པོའི���  །

nangsi tamché palchenpö

All appearance and existence arises as the wisdom intent

ལྷ་སྔགས་དབྱེར་མེད་དགོངས་པར་ཤར།  །

lha ngak yermé gongpar shar

In which deity and mantra of the Great Awesome One are indivisible.

ཨོཾ་ཨཱ་ཀྲོ་ཏེ་ཀ་ཡ་མཱནྟ་ཀ་ཧ་ན་མ་ཐ་བྷཉྫ་ཧཱུྃ་ཕཊ༔

om a trotéka yamantaka hana mata bhandza hung pé

oṃ āḥ krodhika yamāntaka hana matha bhañja hūṃ phaṭ

ཞེས་སྤྱི་བསྙེན་བཟླའོ།  །

Recite this general approach mantra.

ཐུན་མཐར།

At the end of the session, conclude with:

ལྷར་སྣང་འོད་གསལ་དབྱིངས་སུ་ཐིམ།  །

lhar nangö sal ying su tim

The deity’s appearance dissolves into the sphere of luminosity.

སླར་ཡང་ཟིལ་གནོན་སྐུ་རུ་ལྡང་།  །

lar yang zilnön ku ru dang

Then arises once again in the form of overwhelming splendour.

བཛྲ་ཀཱ་ཝཱ་ཙི་རཀྵ་ཧཾ༔

benza ka wa tsi raksha hang

Vajra kāvāci rakṣa haṃ

དགེ་བ་འདི་ཡིས་མྱུར་དུ་བདག  །

gewa di yi nyurdu dak

Through the positivity and merit of this, may I swiftly

འཇམ་དཔལ་ཁྲོ་བོ་འགྲུབ་གྱུར་ནས།  །

jampal trowo drub gyur né

Attain the realization of wrathful Mañjuśrī, and thereby

འགྲོ་བ་གཅིག་ཀྱང་མ་ལུས་པ། །

drowa chik kyang malüpa

Every single sentient being

དེ་ཡི་ས་ལ་འགོད་པར་ཤོག །

dé yi sa la göpar shok

Reach his state of perfection too.

སོགས་བསྔོ་སྨོན་བྱའོ།  །

Dedicate the merit and recite prayers of aspiration.

 ཞེས་པའང་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་པས་བྲིས་པའོ།  །།  །

This was written by Chökyi Lodrö.

[mahayanapilgrim]

Shri Shmashana Adhipati, Father-Mother (the Glorious Lords of the Charnel Ground, Father and Mother).

[lamathanka]

The Dancing Skeletons

This happy couple is also called the ‘Lord and Lady of the Charnel Grounds’ and they are the principal Dharma protectors that are associated with the tantric systems of Vajrayogini.

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