Any body is a Dying Bag of Bones!
All formations, all
constructions, mental as physical, are truly transient...
It is their nature to arise and cease right there, where they arose...
Having arisen these captivating
discrete mental states instantly pass away!
The calming, stilling & ceasing of these momentary appearances is happiness.
Therefore: Even in the present every being dies millions of times per
second!
So also will they die in any possible future. So have they always died...
In the same way then: I shall surely die! There is no doubt in me about
this.
Uncertain is life, but certain is death. I shall surely die. Death will be
the
termination of my life. Life is very insecure, but death is sure,
death is certain!
Not long, alas! This my beloved puppet-like body will lie
as frozen upon the
earth!
Rejected, void of consciousness, disgusting, and as useless as a rotten log
of wood...
This very body, from the
skin soles of the feet up to the crown of the head,
is a just a bag of bones surrounded by skin, full of various mean
foul
impurities:
Hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews,
bones,
marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, membranes, spleen, lungs, bowel, intestines,
slime, excrement, brain, bile, lymph, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears,
tallow,
spit, snot, joint-fluid, and stinking urine... Just a bag of bones, flesh and skin,
A rotten
heap of Suffering...
Comments:
Keeping this precious and very
realistic imagery in mind, will then gradually
reduce and weaken these violent lusts, voracious greeds and uncontrollable
wanton desires, that attract beings into self-destructive forms of suffering
such as: Porno-mania, pedophilia, HIV-transmitting sexuality, over-eating,
abuse of drugs, alcohol, and pills, all addictions to the manifold and
diverse
forms, feelings, perceptions, mental constructions and variants of (doped)
consciousness... All this - though fascinating - remains just
an ensnaring and
enthralling Suffering (Dukkha),
disguised as pleasure and satisfaction....
More on this
Buddhist ultra-realism regarding the Death of the Body:
Kāyagatāsati,
Meditation_On_the_Body,
The_9_Corpse_Meditations,
Body_as_only_Form,
Evil-smelling_body
The_32_Parts,
Foul_Frame,
Meditation_On_the_Body_Kayagata-Sati,
The_Skeleton,
End_Making
Body_Contemplation,
Corpse_Meditation,
Body_Awareness,
Death,
Death_Contemplation,
Game_Over,
Momentary_Life,
The_Problem,
Inevitable_but_not_the_End,
Ageing_and_Death,
Ageing_Again,
The_Thorn!
JUST A FORM OF FRAME
This body is always worn out, a fragile form, a nest of disease,
a rotting mass of deception, since its life surely and always
ends in Decay and Death ...
Dhammapada
Background Story 148
A BAG OF BONES
Like withered leaves scattered by the autumn wind
are these pale and whitened bones. What happiness
can there ever be in them?
Dhammapada
Background Story 149
MY PRECIOUS AND ADORED BODY!
It is a bag held up by bones, plastered with skin,
full of blood and flesh. In it lives only ageing, sickness,
death, pride and petty self-deceit...
Dhammapada
Background Story 150
Source: BPS
Wheel no 54 (Edited
Excerpt):
The Mirror of the Dhamma. A Manual of
Buddhist
Devotional Texts.
By Nārada Thera and Bhikkhu Kassapa. Revised By Bhikkhu
Khantipālo:
http://www.bps.lk/wh054-u.html
