The Dhutanga of Visiting a Charnel Ground

The Dhutanga of Visiting a Charnel Ground

There is the dhutanga of going to visit and dwell in a charnel ground. Presently, it doesn’t make much sense to visit charnel grounds outside of the monastery, since charnel grounds have changed a lot in recent times. There aren’t many real charnel grounds left where you can observe the corpse. 

This is because the “intelligence” of the defilements has progressed and developed to the point where they conceal death, not wanting anyone to view it. They are afraid people might come to know and see the true Dhamma. Now, there are special techniques for hiding the corpse as it’s cremated. There are special technologies which keep it from rotting. There are techniques for keeping the smell from causing trouble and disturbing us. The “superior intelligence” of the defilements has led to this kind of “progress”, for they would prefer to keep people from seeing the true nature of the Dhamma.   

Visiting a charnel ground in this day in age isn’t like visiting the deserted and desolate charnel grounds of old, which were in eerie forests with frightening gnarled trees. There might be a few of these places left, but not many. Since that’s the way it is now, and most locations don’t have a proper charnel ground to visit, we visit and observe the charnel ground sitting right here, lying down right here, walking right here, eating here, defecating here. 

We are a charnel ground of things that were bom and are headed toward death. Whenever the breath of “That which was born and is headed toward death” stops, it is then something “dead.” If we’re wandering around hoping to view something that has died, that movement isn’t so different from the movement of something already dead. 

How can there be no difference between  breathing and not breathing? Head hair is like this. 

Body hair is like this, nails are like this, teeth are like this, skin is like this. "Breathing and not breathing" are one-in-the-same.  

So if you want to go visit a charnel ground, look right into this thing we call “My life”, and you will have the opportunity to see a real charnel ground. Once the breath stops, it will no longer be within our power to go visit a charnel ground and investigate the death of the body.   

The real “thudong” is traveling in to every point in the body: liver, lungs, intestines; there’s just a pile of dead stuff. This is called “Visiting a charnel ground”, and is pure Dhamma which wipes out the defilements.   

We went to pay respects to Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī during the rains. He had us listen to some of his thoughts, saying, 

“In the present day, monks go thudong. They go to the train station, board a train, and go as far north as they can. Then they return, heading south as far as they can go. Then they keep going all the way east, sample some of this and that, then come back and disrobe. They were only seeking to give up the training all along. They die away from the high mountain of the noble ones. These days, monks go ‘thaloo-dong’, not ‘thudong.’”^1

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^1. This is a play on words. “Thaloo” (ทะลุ) is a Thai word meaning to pass through. “Dong”(ดง) is a word for jungle/forest. So going “thaloo-dong” means that one just goes passing through the forest, like a tourist.

The original word "thudong" is a Thai word derived from the Pali word dhutanga. Although dhutanga specifically means Buddhist ascetic practices, the Thai word thudong refers to the monastic practice of wandering, seeking seclusion and relying on unsolicited gifts of food.

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From The Dhutanga of Visiting a Charnel Ground. Translated from Thai by Luang Pu Baen's students from Wat Doi Dhammachedi.