'mindfulness with regard to the body',
refers sometimes (e.g. Vis.M. VIII.2) only to the contemplation on the 32 parts
of the body, sometimes (e.g. M.119) to all the various meditations comprised
under the 'contemplation of the body' (kāyānupassanā), the 1st of the
4 'foundations of mindfulness' (satipatthāna, q.v.), consisting partly
in concentration (samādhi) exercises, partly in insight (vipassanā) exercises.
On the other hand, the cemetery meditations (sīvathika, q.v.) mentioned
in the Satipatthāna S. (M.10) are nearly the same as the 10 contemplations of
loathsomeness (asubha-bhāvanā, q.v.). of Vis.M. VI, whereas elsewhere
the contemplation on the 32 parts of the body is called the 'reflection on
impurity' (patikkūla-saññā).
In such texts as: 'One thing, o monks, developed and
repeatedly practised, leads to the attainment of wisdom. It is the contemplation
on the body' (A.I), the reference is to all exercises mentioned in the 1st
Satipatthāna.
Vis.M. VIII.2 gives a detailed description and explanation
of the method of developing the contemplation on the 32 parts of the body. This
exercise can produce the 1st absorption only (jhāna, q.v.) The
stereotype text given in the Satipatthāna Sutta and elsewhere - but leaving out
the brain - runs as follows:
"And further, o monks, the monk contemplates this body from
the soles of the feet upward, and from the tops of the hairs downward, with skin
stretched over it, and filled with manifold impurities:
'This body has hairs of the head, hairs of the body, nails,
teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm,
spleen, lungs, intestines, bowels, stomach, excrement, bile, phlegm, pus, blood,
sweat, fat, tears, skin grease, spittle, nasal mucus, oil of the joints, and
urine ...."
Vis.M. VIII.2 says "By repeating the words of this
exercise one will become well acquainted with the wording, the mind will not
rush here and there, the different parts will become distinct and appear like a
row of fingers, or a row of hedge-poles. Now, just as one repeats the exercise
in words, one should do it also in mind. The repeating in mind forms the
condition for the penetration of the characteristic marks.... He who thus has
examined the parts of the body as to colour, shape, region, locality and limits,
and considers them one by one, and not too hurriedly, as something loathsome, to
such a one, while contemplating the body, all these things at the same time are
appearing distinctly clear. But also when keeping one's attention fixed
outwardly (i.e. to the bodies of other beings), and when all the parts appear
distinctly, then all men and animals moving about lose the appearance of living
beings and appear like heaps of many different things. And it looks as if those
foods and drinks, being swallowed by them, were being inserted into this heap of
things. Now, while again and again one is conceiving the idea 'Disgusting!
Disgusting!' - omitting in due course several parts - gradually the attainment -
concentration (appanā-samādhi, i.e. the concentration of the jhāna)
will be reached. In this connection, the appearing of forms ... is called the
acquired image (uggaha-nimitta), the arising of loathsomeness, however,
the counter-image (patibhāganimitta)."

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