Dhamma Letter No. 107

Satipatthana 31: Kayanupassana 20: The Nine Cemetery Contemplations- Asubha 부정관 1 (不淨觀, asubhnupassin, meditation on impurity)

Bhikkhuni Kosalla Vipassini

Nov 8, 2022

This is connected with the previously presented 32 body parts observations. (Dhamma letter no. 101, no. 102, no. 103)

In modern times, it is difficult to see a person's dead body up close. In Thailand, there are places that open mortuary rooms for meditators, so you can see and meditate on the actual dead body.

In life, everything is uncertain, but only death is certain. When we face death, we realize that this body we cherish is just material, nothing more, nothing less. When this body, which is considered beautiful or precious, eventually dies, only material elements remain and return to the soil as a natural phenomenon.

It is also a good meditation to immediately acquire impermanence (Anicca) and selflessness (Anatta). You can reflect on how much a human being is attached to one's body and has to suffer through it oneself.

Mahasatipatthana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 22):

1) Every time you see a corpse that has been abandoned in the cemetery and died a day or three days after it has swelled up, dark blue and decomposing,
2) Whenever I see a corpse dumped in a cemetery eaten by crows, eagles, hawks, herons, dogs, tigers, leopards, jackals, and many other animals,
3) Every time I see a corpse dumped in a cemetery turned into a skeleton (bone) attached to one another with blood-stained flesh and tendons,
4) Every time I see a corpse dumped in a cemetery, with no flesh, only blood, turned into a skeleton attached to one another by tendons,
5) Every time I see a corpse dumped in a cemetery turned into a skeleton attached to each other by tendons, without a single piece of flesh or blood,
6) The bones of the corpse dumped in the cemetery are separated from each other and scattered in all directions, here and there, hand bones, leg bones, ankle bones, knee bones, shin bones, thigh bones, vertebrae bones, spine bones, shoulder bones, cervical bones, jaw bones, teeth, whenever you see the skulls,
7) Every time I see a corpse dumped in a cemetery turned to bone as white as a seashell,
8) Every time I see a corpse dumped in a cemetery, piled up as a pile of bones for over a year,
9) Whenever I see a corpse left in a graveyard, decayed to bone dust,
He must also think of his own body.
“Indeed, this body is of the same nature. This body will be like him, and it cannot be avoided.”
In this way, he dwells contemplating the body from the inside, observing the body from the outside, and observing the body from the inside and outside. He spends his time observing phenomena occurring in the body, observing phenomena that disappear from the body, and also observing phenomena that arise and disappear simultaneously in the body.
The awareness that “this is the body” is established in him.
Thus, he develops his awareness to a level where there is only wisdom and right awareness. In this way, he lives detachedly, without attachment to anything in the world of mind and matter.
This, bhikkhus, is the way a bhikkhu lives by observing the body from body to body.”

In the next letter, I will briefly present a more detailed method of meditation and death meditation.

To be continued...

May all be free from pain in body and mind!

May you all liberate!

With Metta,

Ayyā Kosallā
Edited by Euna Bonovich

If you have any questions related to dhamma & meditation, please feel free to ask. You can reach Ayya Kosalla directly at Bhikkhuni.Kosalla@gmail.com .

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The Korean Dhamma Letter is here 담마레터.

Buddha Sāsanaṁ Ciraṁ Tiṭṭhatu!
May the Buddha’s teachings last a long time!

Bhavatu Sabba Sotiṁ ca Maṅgalaṁ ca!!
May everyone be led on the path of peace and blessing!!

Sādhu Sādhu Sādhu !