Meditation on the Impurities of the Body Document

MEDITATION ON THE IMPURITIES OF THE BODY

Beauty is only skin deep In order to break through the wrong view and perception of pleasantness in body, in order to set aside and ultimately destroy this wrong perception, it may be necessary for some to contemplate and meditate on the foulness of body. On the 32 impurities of body. If we break the body into its main components one will find thirty two of them. e.g. teeth, nails, blood, sweat, phlegm, hair, skeleton etc. When we take each one of them by itself, we can find absolutely nothing pleasant. They are all impurities, all unpleasant. So, one can contemplate on one or more of these parts to develop the perception of impurity or foulness of body. The skeleton in particular is a fine object of meditation. Bring forth the image of the skeleton (if necessary take a look at one or at least a picture of one) and keep concentrating on it. This will bring about two results. One is that the mind will go into concentration, samadhi. The other is that it will develop the perception of impurity and dukkha. Therefore it is an invaluable meditation, worthy of development for one’s own welfare.

PERCEPTION ON THE IMPURITIES OF THE BODY

All that is lovely & delightful is of the nature to be otherwise and to separate The Buddha declared thus: " All that is lovely and delightful is of the nature to be otherwise and to separate". This is the norm of the world. This body which is regarded as lovely and delightful will eventually become otherwise and separate. The Buddha advises all to contemplate frequently on this hard truth. To the one who contemplates on it frequently, the path will dawn. At that time, impurity of body is no longer repulsive, but merely accepted as a matter of fact. Being mindful of the impurities will greatly assist in this process. It will result in carrying out the basic necessities for cleanliness, without being tormented or harassed by the truth. This is the fruit of right understanding, wisdom. One of the essential conditions for birth in the human world is the desire for sense pleasures, of which desire for body is one. This means that one perceives pleasure in body. So one clings to this pleasant perception of body. Similarly one resents the impurity and foulness of the body. Just as much as clinging to perception of pleasure will bring about dukkha, so will resentment to the foulness of body bring about duklkha. Resentment too must be set aside. This too is achieved by right understanding, wisdom. When one has completely destroyed whatever form of clinging or resentment to body, one goes beyond the realm of sense pleasure, the desire for sense pleasure no more to arise. Such a being has attained to the fruit of anägämi A very difficult attainment

indeed, but nevertheless possible.