Question asked by Danny
Dear Pastors, I've noticed when performing the Setrap liturgy, we call him and his entourage from the Twenty-Four Holy Places, and the Eight Great Charnel Grounds .My question is, where are these places found in relation to our world? Are there actual geographic locations? I've heard there are power places here on Earth, like Stonehenge and Mt Shasta. Is this a similar concept?












































































































Dear Danny,
You are right that there are many power places here on Earth such as Stonehenge and Mt Shasta. However both the Twenty-Four Holy Places and the Eight Great Charnel Grounds are referring to very specific sites linked with Buddhist practice, especially those of tantra. The Twenty-Four Holy Places most commonly referred to are twenty-four physical locations relating to Heruka Chakrasamvara and his consort Vajravarahi(Vajrayogini).
Buddha Shaykamuni arose in the form of Heruka to counter the desirous energies of the god Mahadeva. This god had a retinue of twenty-four male deities, each who had his own consort. This retinue came to reside at twenty-four sites on earth, and so these sites become sacred to this particular god. Heruka manifested his entire mandala in these power places to counter the energies there and provide people a beneficial environment to practice towards enlightenment. Usually the tantric deities dissolve the mandala back into themselves after performing certain functions, such as giving teachings or other enlightened activities. In the case of Heruka, he did not dissolve these mandalas back into himself. Therefore in essence, we consider these twenty-four places, the actual mandala of Heruka. They have become imbedded into the physical landscape of the place.
These places are very powerful energy centres, in fact if we engage in practices at these twenty-four power places, the various beings who aid tantric practice such as various dakas, dakinis and Dharma protectors will come to bless practitioners. Therefore it is mentioned in many prayers, that we invoke the enlightened beings to come from these places, to wherever we are to aid us in our practice.
Similarly the Eight Great Charnel grounds are actual cemeteries from ancient India. In ancient times it was here that great masters attained many ‘siddhis’ or attainments. Many of the great tantric adepts of the past practiced in cemeteries. They did so for a number of reasons. One is that they were able to meditate on death more clearly, which on an ultimate level is useful to realise the impermanence of the self as a means to realise the true nature of existence. The other is that it can be used to overcome fear, as most people are fearful of such places. These are also places where the wrathful deities are said to reside, hence in some prayers we invoked them from these places as well.
I hope this helps to answer your question, please do ask more if I was not clear.