清淨道論 身至念 — 三十二行Visuddhimagga · Mindfulness of the Body — Thirty-Two Parts

The second blade meets the fantasy: “This body is an attractive whole.”

The method is almost stubbornly plain. Begin by reciting aloud—head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin—forward and backward, hundreds and thousands of times, until all thirty-two names stand out like links in a hand-chain. Then look at each part through color, shape, direction, location, and delimitation, followed by fivefold repulsiveness. When the analysis is complete, a garland of thirty-two colors appears all at once, and passing humans and animals remain only “heaps of parts.” The illusion of a unified attraction can no longer be put back together.

The crucial point: this is not hatred of the body but clear seeing. Turning it into self-loathing means slipping into the near enemy. This teaching arises only when a Buddha appears; a practitioner who completes the dismantling can reach absorption on every individual part—Mallaka Thera gained thirty-two first jhānas in the thirty-two parts.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine), made from the public-domain PTS text.

§2.1 Kāyagatāsati: Mindfulness of the Body—Introduction, Scriptural Testimony, and Word-by-Word Explanation 〔Vism VIII·pp.239–241〕

Second: Mindfulness of the Body

Now there is a [meditation subject]¹ that, apart from the appearance of a Buddha, has never arisen and lies beyond the domain of all outside systems. In various discourses the Blessed One praised it in many ways: “Bhikkhus, a single quality, when cultivated and repeatedly practiced, leads to great urgency, leads to great benefit, leads to great security, leads to great mindfulness and clear comprehension, leads to the acquisition of knowledge and vision, leads to a pleasant abiding here and now, and leads to realization of the fruit of knowledge and liberation. What single quality? Mindfulness of the body. Bhikkhus, those who enjoy mindfulness of the body enjoy the deathless; bhikkhus, those who do not enjoy mindfulness of the body do not enjoy the deathless. Bhikkhus, the deathless has been enjoyed by them . . . not enjoyed . . . has been lost . . . not lost . . . has been missed . . . not missed—by those who have aroused mindfulness of the body.”

Having praised it in this way, the Blessed One also taught the meditation subject of mindfulness of the body through fourteen sections³—the section on breathing, the section on the postures, the section on the four kinds of clear comprehension, the section on attention to repulsiveness, the section on attention to elements, and the sections on the charnel grounds—beginning: “Bhikkhus, how is mindfulness of the body cultivated and repeatedly practiced so that it has great fruit and great benefit? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, gone to the forest . . .” Its exposition of cultivation is now due.

Among these, the section on the postures, the section on the four kinds of clear comprehension, and the section on attention to elements are taught by way of insight;⁴ the sections on the charnel grounds are taught, among the kinds of insight knowledge, by way of contemplation of danger alone;⁵ and whatever cultivation of concentration may succeed here on the bloated corpse and the other [foul signs] has already been explained in the exposition of foulness.⁶

Only the section on breathing and the section on attention to repulsiveness are taught here by way of concentration. Of these, the section on breathing constitutes an independent meditation subject by way of mindfulness of breathing.

But the teaching that says, “Again, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu reviews this very body, upward from the soles of the feet, downward from the tips of the head-hairs, bounded by the skin, filled with many kinds of impurity: in this body there are head-hairs, body-hairs . . . pe . . . urine”—the meditation subject of the thirty-two aspects,⁷ which includes the brain under marrow and is taught by way of attention to repulsiveness—is what is meant here by “mindfulness of the body.”

Here the exposition of cultivation, preceded by an explanation of the canonical text, is as follows. “This very body” means this foul body made of the four great elements. “Upward from the soles of the feet” means upward from the soles. “Downward from the tips of the head-hairs” means downward from the tips of the hairs. “Bounded by the skin” means delimited across by the skin. “Reviews it as filled with many kinds of impurity” means seeing, “This body is filled with many kinds of impurity, beginning with head-hairs.” How does the practitioner see this? “In this body there are head-hairs . . . pe . . . urine.”

Here “there are” means “they exist.” “In this” means in what is called “upward from the soles of the feet, downward from the tips of the head-hairs, bounded by the skin, filled with many kinds of impurity.” “Body” means the physical frame: because the physical frame is an accumulation of impurity and a place of origin (āya) for repulsive head-hairs and the rest, as well as for a hundred illnesses such as eye disease, it is called “body” (kāya). “Head-hairs, body-hairs” means these thirty-two aspects beginning with head-hairs.

The connection should be understood in this way: “In this body there are head-hairs; in this body there are body-hairs.” For within this fathom-long frame of such dimensions—upward from the soles of the feet, downward from the tips of the head-hairs, and bounded all around from the skin—a person searching in every way sees no pure thing even the size of a particle of dust, whether pearl, gem, beryl, agarwood, saffron, camphor, scented powder, or anything of the kind. What the person sees is only impurity of many kinds, divided into head-hairs, body-hairs, and the rest, extremely foul-smelling, repulsive, and ill-looking (assirika).⁸ Therefore it is said: “In this body there are head-hairs, body-hairs . . . pe . . . urine.”

This is the explanation here according to the connection of the words.

A beginning clansman⁹ who wishes to cultivate this meditation subject should approach the good friend previously described and receive the meditation subject from that friend. The [teacher]¹⁰ who explains it should teach the beginner seven kinds of skill in learning and ten kinds of skill in attention.

§2.2 Sattadhā uggahakosallam: Seven Kinds of Skill in Learning 〔Vism VIII·pp.241–243〕

The seven kinds of skill in learning¹¹ should be taught as follows: by speech, by mind, by color, by shape, by direction, by location, and by delimitation. In this meditation subject of attention to repulsiveness, even a person who knows the Tipiṭaka should first recite verbally when directing attention. For some practitioners, the meditation subject becomes evident during the very act of recitation, as it did for the two elders who learned the meditation subject under Mahādeva, resident of Malaya. It is said that when they requested a meditation subject, the elder gave them the canonical passage of the thirty-two aspects and said, “For four months, do only this recitation.” Although the two were proficient in two or three Nikāyas, because they received the instruction respectfully and well, they recited only the thirty-two aspects for four months and became stream-enterers.¹² Therefore the teacher explaining the meditation subject should tell the pupil, “First recite it verbally.”

The person reciting should divide the skin pentad¹³ and the other groups and recite them forward and backward. First say, “head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin,” and then in reverse, “skin, teeth, nails, body-hairs, head-hairs.” Immediately afterward, for the kidney pentad, say, “flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidney,” and then in reverse, “kidney, marrow, bones, sinews, flesh, skin, teeth, nails, body-hairs, head-hairs.”

Next, for the lungs pentad, say, “heart, liver, membranes, spleen, lungs,” and then in reverse, “lungs, spleen, membranes, liver, heart, kidney, marrow, bones, sinews, flesh, skin, teeth, nails, body-hairs, head-hairs.”

Next, for the brain pentad, say, “bowels, mesentery, stomach-contents, feces, brain,” and then in reverse, “brain, feces, stomach-contents, mesentery, bowels, lungs, spleen, membranes, liver, heart, kidney, marrow, bones, sinews, flesh, skin, teeth, nails, body-hairs, head-hairs.”

Next, for the fat sextad, say, “bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat,” and then in reverse, “fat, sweat, blood, pus, phlegm, bile, brain, feces, stomach-contents, mesentery, bowels, lungs, spleen, membranes, liver, heart, kidney, marrow, bones, sinews, flesh, skin, teeth, nails, body-hairs, head-hairs.”

Next, for the urine sextad, say, “tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil-of-the-joints, urine,” and then in reverse, “urine, oil-of-the-joints, snot, spittle, grease, tears, fat, sweat, blood, pus, phlegm, bile, brain, feces, stomach-contents, mesentery, bowels, lungs, spleen, membranes, liver, heart, kidney, marrow, bones, sinews, flesh, skin, teeth, nails, body-hairs, head-hairs.”

In this way it should be recited verbally even a hundred times, a thousand times, a hundred thousand times. Through verbal recitation the wording of the meditation subject becomes familiar, the mind does not run here and there, and the parts become distinct, appearing like a hand-chain and like a row of fence posts.

Just as it is recited by speech, it should also be recited by mind. Verbal recitation is the condition for mental recitation, and mental recitation is the condition for penetrating the characteristics.

“By color” means that the color of head-hairs and the other parts should be determined. “By shape” means that their shapes should be determined. “By direction”: in this physical frame, above the navel is the upper direction and below the navel is the lower direction; therefore determine the direction as, “This part is in such-and-such a direction.” “By location” means determining the location of each as, “This part is established in such-and-such a location.” “By delimitation”: delimitation is of two kinds, homogeneous delimitation and heterogeneous delimitation.¹⁴ Homogeneous delimitation should be understood as, “Below, above, and across, this part is delimited by such-and-such.” Heterogeneous delimitation should be understood through non-mixture as, “Head-hairs are not body-hairs; body-hairs are not head-hairs.”

When teaching these seven kinds of skill in learning, the teacher should also know and explain that this meditation subject is taught by way of repulsiveness in some discourses and by way of elements in others. In the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta it is taught solely by way of repulsiveness; in the Mahāhatthipadopama Sutta, Mahārāhulovāda Sutta, and Dhātuvibhaṅga Sutta, by way of elements. In the Kāyagatāsati Sutta, four jhānas are distinguished with reference to a practitioner to whom the subject appears by way of color. Teaching it by way of elements makes it an insight meditation subject, while teaching it by way of repulsiveness makes it a serenity meditation subject; here it is solely a serenity meditation subject. Having taught the seven kinds of skill in learning in this way, the teacher should then teach ten kinds of skill in attention: in sequence, not too quickly, not too slowly, by warding off distraction, by transcending the concept, by successive release, by absorption, and the three discourses.¹⁵

§2.3 Manasikārakosallam: Ten Kinds of Skill in Attention—The First Seven 〔Vism VIII·pp.243–246〕

Here, “in sequence” means that from the beginning with recitation, attention should proceed in order, without skipping a [part]. A person who attends by skipping resembles an unskilled person who climbs every other rung of a thirty-two-rung ladder, grows physically weary, falls, and fails to complete the ascent. In the same way, because the practitioner does not obtain the savor to be gained through success in cultivation, the mind grows weary, falls away, and fails to complete the cultivation.

Even when attending in sequence, the practitioner should attend “not too quickly.” A person who attends too quickly resembles a traveler who sets out on a three-league road without noticing where to turn onto or leave it and merely runs back and forth swiftly a hundred times. Although the traveler covers the distance, the traveler still has to ask directions all along the way to reach the destination. Likewise, although the meditation subject reaches its end, it remains indistinct and brings no distinction. Therefore it should be attended to not too quickly.

As with not too quickly, so too with “not too slowly.” A person who attends too slowly resembles a traveler intending to complete a three-league journey that day but lingering at trees, mountains, ponds, and other places along the way; the journey is not completed and takes two or three days. In the same way, the meditation subject does not reach its end and cannot become a condition for attaining distinction.

“By warding off distraction” means warding off the mind’s distraction outward among diverse objects after abandoning the meditation subject. A person who does not ward it off resembles a traveler on a single-foot-wide path over a precipice who fails to attend to each foothold, looks here and there, misses a step, and falls into a precipice a hundred persons deep. In the same way, when external distraction occurs, the meditation subject declines and is destroyed. Therefore attention should proceed by warding off distraction.

“By transcending the concept” means transcending the concept (paññatti)¹⁶ “head-hairs, body-hairs” and establishing the mind on “repulsiveness.” When water is scarce, people who find a well in a forest tie some marker there, such as a palm leaf, and return by means of that marker to bathe and drink. Later, after frequent travel makes the path there and back clear, they no longer need the marker but go whenever they wish to bathe and drink. Likewise, when attention is initially directed by way of the concepts “head-hairs, body-hairs,” their nature as repulsive becomes evident. Thereafter, the concepts “head-hairs, body-hairs” should be transcended and the mind established only on the nature of repulsiveness.

“By successive release” means letting go of each part that does not appear and attending through successive release. When a beginner attends to “head-hairs,” attention proceeds only as far as the final part, “urine,” and stops there; when the beginner attends to “urine,” attention proceeds only as far as the first part, “head-hairs,” and stops there. While the beginner attends in this way, some parts appear and some do not. Work should first be done on those that appear. Continue until only two appear; when either of those appears more distinctly, the practitioner should attend to that repeatedly and cause absorption to arise.

Here is a simile. A hunter wishing to catch a monkey living in a palm grove of thirty-two palm trees shoots an arrow through a leaf of the foremost tree and gives a shout. The monkey lands on each tree in sequence and flees to the last. When the hunter arrives there and does the same, the monkey returns by the same method to the first tree. Driven again and again in this way and springing up only where the shout is heard, the monkey gradually alights on a particular palm, firmly grasps the needle of the unopened palm leaf at the tree’s center, and no longer springs up even when shot. The correspondence should be understood in this way.

This is the correspondence. Just as there are thirty-two palm trees in the grove, there are thirty-two parts in this body. The monkey is like the mind and the hunter like the practitioner. The monkey’s dwelling in a grove of thirty-two palm trees is like the practitioner’s mind roaming by way of its object through the body of thirty-two parts. After the hunter shoots through a leaf of the foremost tree and shouts, the monkey lands on each tree and flees to the last, just as, when the practitioner begins attending to “head-hairs,” the mind proceeds in sequence and stops only at the final part. The return follows the same method. The monkey, repeatedly driven, springs up only where there is a shout, just as, during repeated attention, the practitioner lets go of the [parts] that do not appear and performs the preliminary work¹⁷ on those that appear. The monkey gradually alights on a particular palm, firmly grasps the needle of the unopened palm leaf at the tree’s center, and does not spring up even when shot, just as, when only two finally appear, the practitioner takes whichever appears more distinctly, attends to it repeatedly, and causes absorption to arise.

Here is another simile. An alms-going bhikkhu lives supported by a village of thirty-two houses. At the first house he receives two portions of alms and then omits a later house; on the second day he receives three portions and omits two later houses; on the third day his bowl is filled at the first house, and he goes to the sitting hall to eat. This correspondence should also be understood. The thirty-two-house village is like the thirty-two aspects; the alms-going bhikkhu is like the practitioner; his dwelling supported by the village is like the practitioner’s preliminary work on the thirty-two aspects. His receiving two portions at the first house and omitting a later house, then receiving three on the second day and omitting two later houses, is like repeatedly attending, releasing those that do not appear, and performing preliminary work on each that does appear until only two parts remain. His receiving a full bowl at the first house on the third day and eating while seated in the sitting hall is like taking whichever of the two appears more distinctly, attending to it repeatedly, and causing absorption to arise.

“By absorption”: with regard to a part for absorption, it should be understood that absorption is available in each part beginning with head-hairs. This is the meaning here.

§2.4 Tayo ca suttantā: The Three Discourses—The Higher Mind, Coolness, and Skill in Awakening Factors 〔Vism VIII·pp.246–248〕

“And the three discourses”: it should be understood that the three discourses on the higher mind, coolness, and skill in awakening factors are [taught] for joining energy with concentration. This is the meaning here.

First: “Bhikkhus, a bhikkhu devoted to the higher mind should from time to time attend to three signs. From time to time the bhikkhu should attend to the sign of concentration, from time to time to the sign of exertion, and from time to time to the sign of equanimity. Bhikkhus, if a bhikkhu devoted to the higher mind were to attend exclusively to the sign of concentration, the mind might tend toward slackness. Bhikkhus, if a bhikkhu devoted to the higher mind were to attend exclusively to the sign of exertion, the mind might tend toward agitation. Bhikkhus, if a bhikkhu devoted to the higher mind were to attend exclusively to the sign of equanimity, the mind might not become rightly concentrated for the exhaustion of the taints. But, bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu devoted to the higher mind attends from time to time to the sign of concentration, the sign of exertion, and the sign of equanimity, the mind becomes malleable, workable, luminous, and not brittle, and becomes rightly concentrated for the exhaustion of the taints.

Bhikkhus, suppose a goldsmith or goldsmith’s apprentice sets up a furnace, lights its mouth, takes raw gold with tongs and places it in the furnace, then from time to time blows on it, from time to time sprinkles it with water, and from time to time looks on. Bhikkhus, if the goldsmith or apprentice were exclusively to blow on the raw gold, it might burn; if exclusively to sprinkle it with water, it might cool; if exclusively to look on, it might not reach proper maturity. But, bhikkhus, when the goldsmith or apprentice from time to time blows on the raw gold, from time to time sprinkles it with water, and from time to time looks on, the raw gold becomes malleable, workable, luminous, and not brittle, and is ready for work. Whatever kind of ornament the goldsmith wishes to make—whether a girdle, earrings, a necklace, or a golden garland—the gold serves that purpose.

In the same way, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu devoted to the higher mind . . . pe . . . becomes rightly concentrated for the exhaustion of the taints; and for whatever quality to be realized by direct knowledge the bhikkhu inclines the mind toward realization by direct knowledge, wherever the requisite basis exists, the bhikkhu becomes capable of realizing it.” This discourse should be understood as “the higher mind.”

“Bhikkhus, a bhikkhu endowed with six qualities is capable of realizing supreme coolness. What six? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu restrains the mind when it should be restrained, exerts the mind when it should be exerted, gladdens the mind when it should be gladdened, and looks on at the mind when it should be looked on at; the bhikkhu is resolved on the sublime and delights in Nibbāna. Bhikkhus, a bhikkhu endowed with these six qualities is capable of realizing supreme coolness.” This discourse should be understood as “supreme coolness.”

As for “skill in awakening factors”: “Bhikkhus, likewise, when the mind is sluggish, that is not the time to cultivate the tranquillity awakening factor.” This has already been explained in the discussion of skill in absorption.¹⁸

§2.5 Tacapañcake: The Skin Pentad—Taking the Sign; Head-Hairs, Body-Hairs, Nails, Teeth, and Skin 〔Vism VIII·pp.248–252〕

Having thoroughly learned these seven kinds of skill in learning and properly determined these ten kinds of skill in attention, the practitioner should learn the meditation subject well through both kinds of skill.

If it is convenient for the practitioner to live in the same monastery as the teacher, there is no need to request a detailed explanation. The practitioner should determine the meditation subject well, devote themself to it, attain distinction, and then request progressive explanation. A practitioner wishing to live elsewhere should ask for a detailed explanation in the manner already stated, turn it over repeatedly, and cut through every knotty point. Then, as described in the exposition of the earth kasiṇa, the practitioner should abandon an unsuitable lodging, live in a suitable monastery, remove minor impediments, and perform the preliminary work in attention to repulsiveness.

When performing the preliminary work, the practitioner should first take the sign in head-hairs. How? Pluck out one or two head-hairs, place them on the palm, and first determine their color. Head-hairs may also be examined where they have been cut off, in a water bowl, or in a rice-gruel bowl. Seeing black, attend to “black”; seeing white, attend to “white”; when colors are mixed, attend according to whichever predominates. As with head-hairs, so too throughout the skin pentad: the sign should be taken only after direct sight.

After taking the sign in this way, each part should be determined by color, shape, direction, location, and delimitation, and its repulsiveness should be determined fivefold by color, shape, odor, support, and location.¹⁹ The sequential explanation for all the parts begins with “head-hairs.” In their natural color they are black, the color of wet addāriṭṭhaka seeds. In shape they are long and round, like the beam of a balance. In direction they arise above. In location they are bounded on both sides by the rims of the ears, in front by the edge of the forehead, and behind by the nape; the wet skin covering the skull is their location. By delimitation: head-hairs are bounded below by the surface of their own roots, which are established about a louse-head’s depth (vihagga) in the skin covering the head; above by space; and across by each other. No two head-hairs are joined together—this is homogeneous delimitation. “Head-hairs are not body-hairs, and body-hairs are not head-hairs”; thus they are not mixed with the other thirty-one parts. “Head-hairs are a separate individual part”—this is heterogeneous delimitation. This is the determination of head-hairs by color and the rest.

This is their fivefold determination as repulsive by color and the rest. Head-hairs are repulsive by color, by shape, by odor, by support, and by location. Even in an agreeable bowl of rice gruel or cooked rice, when people see something the color of head-hairs, they say with disgust, “This has a hair mixed in it! Take it away!” Thus head-hairs are repulsive by color. A person eating at night who touches a thread from akka bark or makaci bark shaped like a hair is likewise disgusted; thus they are repulsive by shape. If head-hairs have not been treated with oil, flowers, perfume, and the like, their odor is extremely repulsive; thrown into a fire, they are still more repulsive. Head-hairs might not be repulsive in color and shape, but by odor they certainly are. A young child’s feces are the color of turmeric and shaped like a lump of turmeric; a bloated black dog’s corpse thrown on a rubbish heap is the color of ripe palm fruit, shaped like a rolled and discarded mudinga drum, with canine teeth like jasmine buds. Both may not be repulsive in color and shape, but certainly are repulsive by odor. Likewise, head-hairs might not be repulsive in color and shape, but certainly are repulsive by odor.

Leaves for curry grown in an impure place from a village’s sewage are repulsive to townspeople and unfit to eat. Likewise, because head-hairs grow from the drainage of pus, blood, urine, feces, bile, phlegm, and the rest, they are repulsive; this is their repulsiveness by support. These head-hairs grow on the heap of the other thirty-one parts like mushrooms on a heap of dung. Because they grow in an impure place, like wild greens in a charnel ground or rubbish heap, or lotus and water-lily flowers in a ditch, they are extremely repulsive; this is their repulsiveness by location.

As with head-hairs, the repulsiveness of every part should be determined fivefold by color, shape, odor, support, and location; every part should also be separately determined by color, shape, direction, location, and delimitation.

First, “body-hairs”: in their natural color they are not unmixed black like head-hairs but brownish black. In shape their tips bend downward like palm roots. In direction they arise in both directions. In location, apart from the place where head-hairs are established and the palms and soles, they grow mostly on the skin covering the rest of the body. By delimitation, body-hairs are bounded below by the surface of their own roots, established about a nit’s depth (likhā)²⁰ in the skin covering the body; above by space; and across by each other. No two body-hairs are joined together—this is their homogeneous delimitation. Their heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Nails” is the name for the twenty nail plates. All are white in color and shaped like fish scales. In direction, toenails arise below and fingernails above, so they arise in both directions. In location they are established on the backs of the tips of the digits. By delimitation, on both sides they are bounded by the flesh at the tips of the digits, inside by the flesh on the backs of the digits, outside and at the tips by space, and across by each other. No two nails are joined together. This is their homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Teeth” are the thirty-two tooth-bones of a person with a full set. They too are white in color. Their shapes are varied. First, the four middle teeth in the lower row are like gourd seeds placed in sequence in a lump of clay. On either side of those four is a tooth with a single root and a single point, shaped like a jasmine bud. Farther outward on either side is a tooth with two roots and two points, shaped like the support of a cart; farther outward are two teeth on either side with three roots and three points, then two on either side with four roots and four points. The upper row follows the same method. In direction they arise above. In location they are established in the two jawbones. By delimitation they are bounded below by the surface of their own roots established in the lower jawbone, above by space, and across by each other. No two teeth are joined together. This is their homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Skin” is the membrane that envelops the whole frame. Above it is the outer skin (chavi),²¹ whose colors include black, brown, and yellow; even if scraped together from the entire frame, the outer skin would make a lump only the size of a jujube seed. The skin itself is only white in color. Its whiteness becomes evident when the outer skin is destroyed through burning by a flame, a blow, a weapon strike, or the like. In shape it has the shape of the physical frame. This is the brief account.

In detail: the skin of the toes is shaped like silkworm cocoons; the skin of the tops of the feet like shoes tied as a packet; the skin of the calves like packets of cooked rice in palm leaves; the skin of the thighs like long bags full of rice; the skin of the buttocks like a water-straining cloth full of water; the skin of the back like hide stretched over a board; the skin of the abdomen like skin stretched over the trough of a lute; the skin of the chest is generally square; the skin of both arms like hide stretched over quivers; the skin of the backs of the hands like razor sheaths or comb bags; the skin of the fingers like key bags; the skin of the neck like a neck cloth; the skin of the face like a worm’s nest full of holes; and the skin of the head like a bowl bag.

A practitioner apprehending the skin should begin at the upper lip, direct knowledge upward, and first determine the skin enveloping the face. Next comes the skin of the forehead bone. Then, as though inserting a hand between a bag and a bowl inside it, direct knowledge between the skull and scalp, separate the skin’s attachment to the bone, and determine the scalp. Next determine the skin of the shoulders; then the skin of the right hand forward and backward; the left hand in the same way; the skin of the back; the right foot forward and backward; and the left foot in the same way. Next, in sequence, determine the skin at the bladder, abdomen, heart, and neck. After the skin of the neck, determine the skin of the lower jaw, ending at the lower lip. As the practitioner apprehends the gross parts in this way, the subtle parts also become evident.

In direction, skin arises in both directions. In location it envelops the entire physical frame. By delimitation it is bounded below by the surface on which it rests and above by space—this is its homogeneous delimitation. Heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

§2.6 Vakkapañcake: The Kidney Pentad—Flesh, Sinews, Bones, Marrow, and Kidney 〔Vism VIII·pp.252–256〕

“Flesh” means nine hundred pieces of flesh. All flesh is red like a kiṃsuka flower. Its shape differs by location: the flesh of the calves is shaped like cooked rice wrapped in a palm leaf; thigh flesh like a small grinding stone; buttock flesh like the end of a hearth; back flesh like a slab of palm sugar; flesh on the two sides like a thin layer of clay spread inside a granary; breast flesh like a rounded lump of clay thrown down; and flesh of the two arms like a large skinned rat folded in two and laid down. Apprehending the gross parts in this way makes the subtle parts clear. In direction it arises in both directions. In location it remains plastered over three hundred and twenty bones.²² By delimitation it is bounded below by the surface resting on the collection of bones, above by the skin, and across by each piece. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Sinews” means nine hundred sinews. In color they are all white, while their shapes vary. From the upper part of the neck, five great sinews bind the body and descend along the front, five along the back, five along the right, and five along the left. Five bind the right hand along its front and five along its back; likewise for the left hand. Five bind the right foot along its front and five along its back; likewise for the left foot. Thus sixty great sinews called “supporters of the body” bind the body and descend. Also called tendons, they are all shaped like kandala buds. Others, spread over their respective regions, are finer and shaped like threads; others finer still, like rotten creepers; others finer still, like strings of a great lute; and others like thick thread. Sinews on the backs of the hands and feet resemble birds’ feet; those on the head a child’s head-net; those on the back a wet net spread in the sun. The rest, following the various limbs, resemble a net coat put on the body. In direction they arise in both directions. In location they bind together the bones throughout the body. By delimitation they are bounded below by the surfaces resting on three hundred bones, above where they touch flesh and skin, and across by each other. This is their homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Bones,” apart from the thirty-two tooth-bones, comprise sixty-four bones of the hands, sixty-four of the feet, sixty-four soft bones supported by flesh, two heel bones, two ankle bones in each foot, two shin bones, a knee bone, a thigh bone, two hip bones, eighteen vertebrae, twenty-four ribs, fourteen breast bones, a heart bone, two collarbones, two shoulder-blade bones, two upper-arm bones, two forearm bones on each side, seven neck bones, two jawbones, a nose bone, two eye bones, two ear bones, a forehead bone, a crown bone, and nine skull bones—about three hundred bones in all.

All bones are white in color and varied in shape. The terminal toe bones resemble kataka seeds; the next middle joints resemble paṇasa seeds; the root joints resemble paṇava drums. The bones on the tops of the feet resemble heaps of chopped kandala roots. The heel bone resembles the seed of a single-seeded palm fruit. The ankle bones resemble paired play balls tied together; where the shin bones rest upon them resembles a skinned sindi shoot. The small shin bone resembles a bow stave, the large bone the back of a withered snake. The knee bone resembles foam worn away on a single side; where the shin bone rests in it resembles the tip of a very sharp cow horn. The thigh bone resembles a roughly hewn axe or adze handle; where it rests in the hip bone resembles a play ball, and where the hip bone rests upon it resembles a large puṇṇāga fruit with the tip cut off. The two hip bones joined together resemble a potter’s furnace; separately, each resembles the rope knot on a smith’s hammer. The tailbone at their end resembles a snake’s hood held upside down, pierced with large and small holes at seven places. From within, the vertebrae resemble superimposed rolls of headcloth; from outside, a chain of rings; between them are two or three spines like saw teeth. Of the twenty-four ribs, the incomplete ones resemble incomplete swords and the complete ones complete swords; together they resemble the spread wings of a white fowl. The fourteen breast bones resemble the frame of a decayed carriage. The heart bone resembles the face of a spoon. The collarbones resemble handles of small iron chisels. The shoulder blades resemble Ceylonese hoes worn down on a single side. The upper-arm bones resemble mirror handles, and the forearm bones paired palm-root stems. The wrist bones resemble rolls of headcloth laid touching each other. The root joints of the finger bones resemble paṇava drums, their middle joints incomplete paṇasa seeds, and their terminal joints kataka seeds. The seven neck bones resemble discs of bamboo shoots pierced by a stick and arranged in sequence. The lower jaw resembles the rope knot on a smith’s iron hammer; the upper jaw a scraping knife. The bones of the eye sockets and nostrils resemble young palm kernels with the marrow removed. The forehead bone resembles a fragment of a conch bowl laid face down. The bones at the roots of the ears resemble a barber’s razor sheath. The bone above the forehead and ear roots, at the place where a headcloth is tied, resembles a fragment of wrinkled membrane filled with ghee. The crown bone resembles a curved coconut with its mouth cut off. The skull bones resemble pieces of an old broken gourd shell stitched together.

In direction bones arise in both directions. In location, without distinction they occupy the whole body; distinguished individually, the skull bones rest on the neck bones, the neck bones on the vertebrae, the vertebrae on the hip bones, the hip bones on the thigh bones, the thigh bones on the knee bones, the knee bones on the shin bones, the shin bones on the ankle bones, and the ankle bones on the bones on top of the feet. By delimitation, they are bounded inside by marrow, above by flesh, and at the tips and roots by each other. This is their homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Marrow” means the marrow inside the various bones. In color it is white.²³ In shape, marrow in the very large bones resembles a large cane shoot steamed inside a bamboo tube; that in the smaller bones resembles a fine cane shoot steamed inside a bamboo joint. In direction it arises in both directions. In location it is established inside the bones. By delimitation it is bounded by the inner surfaces of the bones. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Kidney” means two lumps of flesh joined at a single stem. In color it is pale red, like the color of pālibhaddaka seeds. In shape it resembles a child’s paired play balls, or two mango fruits attached to a single stem. In direction it arises above. In location, a thick sinew leaves the base of the throat, goes a short way, divides in two, binds it, and surrounds the flesh of the heart. By delimitation the kidney is bounded by the kidney itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

§2.7 Papphāsapañcake: The Lungs Pentad—Heart, Liver, Membranes, Spleen, and Lungs 〔Vism VIII·pp.256–258〕

“Heart” means the flesh of the heart. In color it is red like the back of a lotus petal. In shape it resembles a lotus bud with its outer petals removed and placed face down: smooth outside, within like the inside of a loofah fruit. In a wise person it is slightly open; in a person of dull wisdom it remains only a closed bud. Within is a hollow large enough to hold a puṇṇāga seed, containing about half a pasata of blood; supported by it, the mind element and mind-consciousness element occur. This blood is red in a person of greedy temperament, black in a person of hating temperament, like meat-washing water in a person of deluded temperament, like kulattha bean broth in a person of speculative temperament, like a kaṇikāra flower in a person of faithful temperament, and clear, bright, unclouded, pale, and pure in a person of wise temperament, appearing luminous like a polished gem of the finest water.²⁴ In direction it arises above. In location it is established inside the body between the two breasts. By delimitation the heart is bounded by the heart itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Liver” means a double slab of flesh. In color it is red tinged with yellow, not excessively red, like the back of a water-lily petal. In shape it is single at the root and double at the tip, like a kovilāra leaf. A dull person has a single large piece; a wise person has two or three small pieces. In direction it arises above. In location it remains inside the two breasts toward the right side. By delimitation the liver is bounded by the liver itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Membranes” means enveloping flesh of two kinds, concealed and unconcealed. Both are white, the color of a worn dukūla cloth. Their shape follows their location. In direction the concealed membrane arises above and the other in both directions. In location the concealed membrane covers the heart and kidneys; the unconcealed membrane extends through the whole body, enveloping the flesh beneath the skin. By delimitation it is bounded below by flesh, above by skin, and across by the portion of membrane. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Spleen” means the tongue-like flesh in the abdomen. In color it is blue like a niggundi flower. In shape it is about seven fingers long, unattached, and resembles the tongue of a black calf. In direction it arises above. In location it remains to the left of the heart, supported by the upper side of the stomach lining; if a blow forces it outside, the being’s life ends. By delimitation it is bounded by the spleen itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Lungs” means lung flesh divided into thirty-two pieces. In color it is red like a not-quite-ripe udumbara fruit. In shape it resembles an unevenly cut piece of thick cake. When there is no food or drink within it, it is assaulted by the heat of rising kamma-produced fire and becomes flavorless and without nutriment, like a chewed lump of straw. In direction it arises above. In location it hangs inside the body between the two breasts, covering the heart and liver from above. By delimitation it is bounded by the parts of the lungs. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

§2.8 Matthalungapañcake: The Brain Pentad—Bowels, Mesentery, Stomach-Contents, Feces, and Brain 〔Vism VIII·pp.258–260〕

“Bowels” means the intestinal tube, thirty-two cubits long in a man and twenty-eight in a woman, coiled at twenty-one places. In color it is white like sand and lime. In shape it resembles a decapitated snake coiled and placed in a trough of blood. In direction it arises in both directions. In location, because it is bound above at the base of the throat and below at the fecal passage, it extends inside the body from the base of the throat to the end of the fecal passage. By delimitation it is bounded by its coils. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Mesentery” means the binding at the coils of the bowels. In color it is white like the root of dakasītalika; in shape it likewise resembles that root. In direction it arises in both directions. In location it binds the intestinal coils so they do not fall apart and remains among the twenty-one coils, like a machine cord binding machine boards when craftsmen pull a device to make hoes, axes, and the like, or like a cord sewn into the middle of the round pad on a foot-wiping rope. By delimitation it is bounded by the part of the mesentery. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Stomach-contents” means what has been eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted in the stomach. Its color is that of the food swallowed. In shape it resembles rice loosely wrapped in a water-strainer. In direction it arises above. In location it remains in the stomach. What is called the “stomach” is a section of intestinal membrane, like a swelling in the middle of a wet cloth twisted at both ends; it is smooth outside, while inside it resembles a filthy pāvāraka flower wrapped in scraps of flesh, or the inside of a rotten paṇasa fruit. There live worms divided into thirty-two families—taḷ-koṭakā, gaṇḍuppādakā, tālahīrakā, sūcimukhakā, paṭatantukā, suttakā, and others—tangled together and moving in swarms. When there is no food or drink, they leap and cry, striking the flesh of the heart; when food and drink are swallowed, they raise their heads and hurriedly seize the first two or three mouthfuls. The [stomach] is these worms’ birthing room, latrine, infirmary, and charnel ground.

Suppose that in the sewage pit at the gate of a caṇḍāla village, when great drops of rain fall in summer and runoff flows, various kinds of corpse-filth—urine, feces, fragments of skin, bones, sinews, spittle, snot, blood, and the rest—are washed in and mixed with muddy water. After two or three days, swarms of worms arise; heated by the sun, the mass boils, gives off layer upon layer of foam and bubbles, becomes deep blue, extremely foul-smelling and repulsive, unfit to approach or look at, much less to smell or taste. In the same way, various foods and drinks are crushed by the pestles of the teeth, turned by the tongue and hands, and moistened by spittle. In that very moment they lose their fine color, odor, taste, and other qualities and become like a weaver’s paste trough or a dog’s vomit. After falling, they are enveloped in bile, phlegm, and wind, boiled by the force of the stomach fire’s heat, filled with swarms of worms, and release layer upon layer of foam and bubbles. They remain as an extremely filthy, foul-smelling, repulsive mass. Merely hearing this establishes distaste for food and drink; how much more seeing it with the eye of wisdom.

Food fallen there divides into five parts: worms eat a part, the stomach fire burns a part, a part becomes urine, a part becomes feces, and a part turns into nutritive essence and sustains blood, flesh, and the rest. By delimitation it is bounded by the stomach lining and the stomach-contents. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Feces” means excrement. Its color is generally that of the food swallowed. Its shape follows its location. In direction it arises below. In location it remains in the receptacle for digested food. This receptacle lies below the navel and the base of the spine at the end of the bowels, is about eight fingers high, and resembles a length of bamboo tube. Just as rainwater fallen on high ground runs down and fills a low place, food and drink entering the receptacle for undigested food are cooked by the stomach fire until foaming, cooked repeatedly, ground fine as though on a grinding stone, repeatedly pass through the opening of the bowels, and are compressed. They accumulate like yellow clay packed into a bamboo joint. By delimitation feces are bounded by the membrane of the receptacle for digested food and by the feces themselves. This is their homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Brain” means the mass of marrow inside the skull. In color it is white like a lump of mushrooms, or like spoiled milk not yet curdled. Its shape follows its location. In direction it arises above. In location it is gathered inside the skull along four suture lines, like four lumps of dough placed together. By delimitation it is bounded by the inner surface of the skull and by the brain itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

§2.9 Medachakke: The Fat Sextad—Bile, Phlegm, Pus, Blood, Sweat, and Fat 〔Vism VIII·pp.260–262〕

“Bile” is of two kinds, bound and unbound. Bound bile is the color of thick madhuka oil; unbound bile the color of a withered ākulī flower. The shape of each follows its location. In direction bound bile arises above, the other in both directions. In location unbound bile pervades the rest of the body like drops of oil in water, apart from places where head-hairs, body-hairs, teeth, and nails are separate from flesh and apart from hard, dry skin. When it is disturbed, the eyes turn yellow and dizzy, and the body shakes and itches. Bound bile remains between the heart and lungs in the gall bladder, which is supported by the flesh of the liver and shaped like a large loofah pod. When it is disturbed, beings go mad, their minds become deranged, they abandon shame and moral dread, do what should not be done, say what should not be said, and think what should not be thought. By delimitation bile is bounded by the bile itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Phlegm” means the roughly bowlful of phlegm inside the body. In color it is white like the juice of nāgabalā leaves. Its shape follows its location. In direction it arises above. In location it rests on the stomach lining. When food and drink are swallowed, just as duckweed on water parts in two when a piece of wood or potsherd falls through and then closes and covers the water again, phlegm parts in two as food and drink fall through and afterward closes and covers it again. If it becomes thin, the stomach is extremely repulsive like a ripe sore or rotten egg and emits a corpse-smell; the odor rising from there makes the belch and mouth stink like a rotten corpse. People tell that person, “Go away! You stink.” But if the phlegm increases and grows thick, it seals the corpse-smell inside the stomach lining like the cover-board of a latrine. By delimitation it is bounded by the phlegm itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Pus” means pus arising from putrefied blood. In color it resembles a withered yellow leaf; on a corpse it resembles rotten, thick rice water. Its shape follows its location. In direction it arises in both directions. In location pus has no fixed place where it accumulates and remains. Wherever a part of the body is injured by a stake, thorn, weapon, flame, or the like and blood settles there and festers, or wherever a boil or similar lesion arises, pus remains there. By delimitation it is bounded by the pus itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Blood” is of two kinds, accumulated and circulating. Accumulated blood is the color of thick, well-cooked lac juice, while circulating blood is the color of clear lac juice. The shape of each follows its location. In direction accumulated blood arises above, the other in both directions. In location circulating blood pervades the entire appropriated body through the network of blood vessels, apart from places where head-hairs, body-hairs, teeth, and nails are separate from flesh and apart from hard, dry skin. Accumulated blood fills the lower part of the liver’s location, about a bowlful, and trickles little by little over the heart, kidneys, and lungs, moistening the kidneys, heart, liver, and lungs. If it does not moisten the kidneys, heart, and the rest, beings become thirsty. By delimitation it is bounded by the blood itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Sweat” means the water element flowing from pores and the like. In color it resembles clear sesame oil. Its shape follows its location. In direction it arises in both directions. In location sweat has no fixed place where it always remains as blood does. When the body is heated by fire, sun, seasonal change, and the like, sweat flows from all the pores of head-hairs and body-hairs like a bundle of unevenly cut lotus, mulāla, and water-lily stalks just pulled from water. Its shape should therefore be understood according to the pores. A practitioner apprehending sweat should attend to it as filling and remaining in those pores. By delimitation it is bounded by the sweat itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Fat” means congealed grease. In color it resembles split turmeric. In shape, in a stout body it resembles a worn strip of turmeric-colored dukūla cloth placed between skin and flesh; in a lean body it resembles a worn strip of turmeric-colored dukūla cloth folded double or triple and placed along the calf flesh, thigh flesh, back flesh supported by the spine, and abdominal-wall flesh. In direction it arises in both directions. In location it pervades the entire body of a stout person, while in a lean person it remains supported by calf flesh and the rest. Although classed as grease, it is so repulsive that people take it neither as oil for the head nor for nasal medicine and similar uses. By delimitation it is bounded below by flesh, above by skin, and across by the portion of fat. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

§2.10 Muttachakke: The Urine Sextad—Tears, Grease, Spittle, Snot, Oil-of-the-Joints, and Urine 〔Vism VIII·pp.262–265〕

“Tears” means the water element flowing from the eyes. In color they resemble clear sesame oil. Their shape follows their location. In direction they arise above. In location they remain in the eye sockets, but unlike bile in the gall bladder they do not constantly accumulate there. When beings are joyful and laugh loudly, sorrowful and cry and lament, eat unsuitable food, or have their eyes assaulted by smoke, dust, ashes, and the like, tears arise from joy, sorrow, unsuitable food, and season; they fill the eye sockets and remain or flow out. A practitioner apprehending tears should apprehend them as filling and remaining in the eye sockets. By delimitation they are bounded by the tears themselves. This is their homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Grease” means melted fat. In color it resembles coconut oil, or oil poured over rice water. In shape it resembles drops of oil dispersing and circling over clear bathwater. In direction it arises in both directions. In location it remains mostly on the palms, backs of the hands, soles, tops of the feet, nostrils, forehead, and shoulder tips. It does not always remain melted in these places; when these regions heat up through fire, sun, seasonal imbalance, or imbalance of elements, it moves here and there like drops of oil dispersing across clear bathwater. By delimitation it is bounded by the grease itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Spittle” means the water element mixed with foam inside the mouth. In color it is white like foam. Its shape follows its location, or resembles foam. In direction it arises above. In location it descends from the sides of both cheeks and rests on the tongue. It does not constantly accumulate there. When beings see or remember certain food, put something hot, bitter, pungent, salty, or sour into the mouth, feel sick at heart, or become disgusted by something, spittle arises, descends from the sides of both cheeks, and rests on the tongue. It is thin at the tip of the tongue and thick at the root. Like water in a little well dug in riverbank sand, it can moisten dry rice flakes, grains of rice, or any other chewable food put into the mouth without being exhausted. By delimitation it is bounded by the spittle itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Snot” means impurity flowing from the brain. In color it resembles the marrow of a young palm kernel. Its shape follows its location. In direction it arises above. In location it fills and remains in the nostrils, but it does not constantly accumulate there. Suppose a person wraps curds in a lotus leaf and pierces it from below with a thorn so that the curds flow through the hole and fall outside. Likewise, when beings cry, or when disturbance of the elements arises through unsuitable food or season, brain matter inside the head that has become putrid phlegm flows down through the opening at the roof of the palate, fills and remains in the nostrils, or flows out. A practitioner apprehending snot should apprehend it as filling and remaining in the nostrils. By delimitation it is bounded by the snot itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Oil-of-the-joints” means the sticky corpse-filth inside the body’s joints. In color it resembles kaṇikāra resin. Its shape follows its location. In direction it arises in both directions. In location it remains inside the one hundred and eighty joints, performing the function of lubricating the bones. When a person has little joint oil, the bones crack while the person rises, sits, moves forward, moves back, bends, and extends, and walking sounds like snapping fingers; after traveling a league or two, the wind element is disturbed and the limbs hurt. When a person has abundant joint oil, the bones do not crack while rising, sitting, and so forth; even after a long journey the wind element is not disturbed and the limbs do not hurt. By delimitation it is bounded by the oil-of-the-joints itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

“Urine” is the color of māsa bean lye. In shape it resembles water inside a water pot placed mouth down. In direction it arises below. In location it remains inside the bladder. “Bladder” means the bladder sac. Suppose a mouthless pot is thrown into a sewage pit: liquid from the pit enters it, though the route of entry cannot be seen. Likewise, urine enters from the body though its route of entry cannot be seen, while the route out is evident. When the bladder is full of urine, beings make the effort, “I shall urinate.” By delimitation urine is bounded by the inner surface of the bladder and by the urine itself. This is its homogeneous delimitation; heterogeneous delimitation is as described for head-hairs.

§2.11 Appanā: The Arising of First-Jhāna Absorption and the Benefits of Cultivation 〔Vism VIII·pp.265–266〕

Having determined the parts beginning with head-hairs by color, shape, direction, location, and delimitation, the practitioner attends in five respects—color, shape, odor, support, and location—according to the methods beginning “in sequence, not too quickly,” repeating, “Repulsive! Repulsive!” At the end of transcending the concept, just as all flowers in a garland of thirty-two colors strung on a single thread appear together, neither first nor last, to a person with sight, all those phenomena appear together, neither first nor last, to the practitioner reviewing the body as “In this body there are head-hairs.” Therefore the discussion of skill in attention says: “When a beginner attends to ‘head-hairs,’ attention proceeds and stops only at the final part, ‘urine.’”

If the practitioner also directs attention outward, then once all the parts have become evident in this way, passing humans, animals, and the rest give up the appearance of beings and appear only as heaps of parts. The food and drink they swallow appear as though being thrown into a heap of parts.

Afterward, as the practitioner attends repeatedly to “Repulsive! Repulsive!” by the method of successive release and the rest, absorption arises in sequence. The appearance of head-hairs and the rest by color, shape, direction, location, and delimitation is the learning sign; their appearance as repulsive in every aspect is the counterpart sign.²⁵ For a practitioner who works with and cultivates it, absorption arises only by way of the first jhāna, by the method already stated, as with the foul meditation subjects.

If only a single part is evident to a practitioner, or if the practitioner reaches absorption in a single part and does not work at another, only a single [first jhāna] arises. If many parts are evident, or if after reaching jhāna in a part the practitioner works at another, first jhānas arise according to the number of parts, as they did for Mallaka Thera.²⁶

It is said that the venerable elder took the hand of Abhaya Thera, reciter of the Dīgha Nikāya, and said, “Friend Abhaya, first learn this question.” Then he said, “Mallaka Thera attained thirty-two first jhānas in the thirty-two parts. If he enters a single attainment at night and a single attainment by day, he completes the cycle again in a little more than half a month. If he enters a single attainment each day, he completes the cycle again in a little more than a month.”

Although this meditation subject succeeds by way of the first jhāna, it is called “mindfulness of the body” because it succeeds through the power of mindfulness applied to color, shape, and the rest.

A bhikkhu devoted to mindfulness of the body endures non-delight and delight;²⁷ non-delight and delight do not overcome him, and he dwells repeatedly conquering arisen non-delight. He endures fear and dread; fear and dread do not overcome him, and he dwells repeatedly conquering arisen fear and dread. He endures cold and heat . . . pe . . . becomes capable of enduring [painful feelings] even to the point of taking life. Through differences in the colors of head-hairs and the rest, he gains the four jhānas and penetrates the six direct knowledges.²⁸

Therefore, indeed, a wise person should heedfully cultivate this mindfulness of the body, which has so many benefits.

*This is the opening for the detailed exposition of mindfulness of the body.*²⁹

Notes

¹ Meditation subject (kammaṭṭhāna): the general term for an object supporting concentration and the method of cultivating it; the treatise lists forty meditation subjects in all.

² Urgency (saṃvega): a pressing shock that arises in relation to the contemplated object, distinct from ordinary fear.

³ Section (pabba): the name for a division of a discourse, not a “chapter” or treatise “section”; this meditation subject is taught through fourteen such sections.

⁴ The sections on the postures, the four kinds of clear comprehension, and attention to elements are taught by way of insight; insight is developed in Chapter 18, not here.

⁵ Contemplation of danger is developed in Chapter 21; this chapter gives only its name.

⁶ The exposition of foulness is Chapter 6, “Foul Meditation Subjects”; the treatise itself says that the cultivation of absorption on the bloated corpse and the rest has already been explained there.

⁷ Meditation subject of the thirty-two aspects (dvattiṃsākāra-kammaṭṭhāna): contemplation of the thirty-two parts of the body by way of attention to repulsiveness.

⁸ Ill-looking (assirika): the word may also mean “lacking splendor”; because it occurs here beside “extremely foul-smelling” and “repulsive,” this edition takes it in the sense of an inauspicious appearance.

⁹ Son of good family (kulaputta): literally a son of a good family; in the treatise it is a general designation for a person who has undertaken cultivation.

¹⁰ Teacher (ācariya): the teacher who gives and explains a meditation subject.

¹¹ Seven kinds of skill in learning (sattadhā uggaha-kosalla): skill in learning the body parts through seven approaches—by speech, mind, color, shape, direction, location, and delimitation.

¹² Stream-enterer (sotāpanna): a person who has realized the first noble fruit and entered the stream of the noble path.

¹³ The skin pentad (taca-pañcaka) and the other five groups: the thirty-two parts are divided five, five, five, five, six, and six, with each group named after its final part.

¹⁴ Homogeneous delimitation (sabhāga-pariccheda) distinguishes the reach of a part below, above, and across; heterogeneous delimitation (visabhāga-pariccheda) distinguishes its non-mixture with the remaining parts.

¹⁵ Absorption (appanā-samādhi, absorption concentration): concentration in which the mind fully enters its object without wavering; the preceding level is access concentration (upacāra-samādhi), where the hindrances are suppressed but the mind has not fully entered.

¹⁶ Concept (paññatti): a designation established through language; here the practitioner is to pass beyond the names “head-hairs” and “body-hairs” and remain only with the nature of repulsiveness.

¹⁷ “Preliminary work” (parikamma): repeatedly attending to an object before absorption arises; also called “preparation.”

¹⁸ The discussion of “skill in absorption” occurs in Chapter 4, “The Earth Kasiṇa”; this section only refers back to it and does not reopen it.

¹⁹ The five items of determination (color, shape, direction, location, and delimitation) and the five modes of repulsiveness (color, shape, odor, support, and location) are distinct sets; only color, shape, and location are shared.

²⁰ Nit (likhā): a louse egg; contrasted with the “louse’s head” (vihagga) in the preceding description of head-hairs. The two similes give different measures and should not be conflated.

²¹ Outer skin (chavi): the outer layer of the skin, varying in black, brown, and yellow; “skin” (taco) among the thirty-two parts means the membrane beneath it, which is only white.

²² The base text reads “three hundred and twenty” here, which does not agree with the later total of “about three hundred” bones. This edition retains the base reading unchanged.

²³ The wording in the base text does not yield a color name here; another recension reads “white,” which also fits the context. This edition reads “white” and leaves the base text unchanged.

²⁴ The six temperaments beginning with the greedy temperament are developed in Chapter 3, “Taking a Meditation Subject”; here they are named only in relation to the color of the blood in the heart.

²⁵ Learning sign (uggaha-nimitta) and counterpart sign (paṭibhāga-nimitta): two levels of the concentration sign; their settled renderings are established at their first occurrence in Chapter 4, “The Earth Kasiṇa.”

²⁶ Mallaka Thera (Mallaka-tthera): Chapter 4 contains another episode involving an elder of the same name; this edition does not determine whether they are the same person.

²⁷ “Non-delight” (arati) and “delight” (rati): according to the treatise’s usage, these are not interpreted as “anger” and “joy.”

²⁸ Six direct knowledges (cha abhiññā): six exceptional powers of knowledge attained through the four jhānas; this section gives only their name.

²⁹ Opening for the detailed exposition (vitthārakathāmukha): the fixed closing formula after a section has been explained in detail; “detailed,” “exposition,” and “opening” correspond respectively to vitthāra, kathā, and mukha.