Awareness of the Body just as a Foul Frame!
The Buddha once asked: How does one view the Body only as a Form?
Herein, Bhikkhus & Friends, the
Bhikkhu contemplates the body
from the
soles of the feet upward, and from the top of the hair
downward like this:
This filthy frame with skin stretched over it, which is
filled with many kinds
of impurities consists of head-hairs, body-hairs, nails,
teeth, skin, flesh,
sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, vomit,
diaphragm, spleen, lungs,
intestine, membranes, stomach, excrement,
brain, bile, lymph, pus, blood,
sweat, fat, tears, skin, tallow, spit,
snot, joint-fluid, and urine...
Just as if a man with good sight would
examine a sack with openings at both
ends, filled with various kinds
of grain; paddy, beans, sesame, on opening it
would recognize its
contents thus: That is paddy, this is beans, that is sesame,
this is
husked rice: Even exactly so does the Bhikkhu investigate this body...
While always
fully aware and clearly
comprehending, he thus removes
any lust,
urge, envy, frustration and discontent rooted in this world!
Such an intelligent Bhikkhu contemplates
all remote bodies as quite repulsive
carcasses of filthy and foul form, something bound to emerge, decay and
then
inevitably vanish. He does not consider the body to be 'mine', as
belonging to
'me', or as 'my self'. He does not see the body as lasting, safe, as
any
pleasant
beauty, or as happiness! In this way the intelligent Bhikkhu keeps
reviewing
any and all bodies, whether internal or external, whether his own or
others, and
he notes the cause of its arising, and the cause of its ceasing, or he
just notice:
There is this body! In this way he comes to live not clinging to
and thus
fully
independent of the body! This is the way to contemplate the body only as
a
transient empty shell...
