A Bag of bones - contemplating the body

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Alobha
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A Bag of bones - contemplating the body

Post by Alobha »

I was just looking for information on "nine kinds of corpses" as outlined in Maha-satipatthana Sutta / DN 22 when i stumbled upon one of Bhikku Samahitas mindblowing Daily Drops from Ceylon (Sadhu Bhante! Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu!) (Quote see below). I heard that monks contemplate the body via images, picturebooks of dead corpses, traffic victims or even via having real corpses in their monastery (mainly in Thailand) and i feel that this is a very skillful way of contemplating the truth of the body and a good way to get disenchanted from the way we see bodies in laylife.

Or to put it as Bhikkhu Samahita says: "Clever Disgust by anti-porn thereby cooling all lust and greed for body!"

Now there we go. I'm pretty cool with all those artificial drawings of human anatomy and the organs, since they're often so artifical that i don't feel any disgust.
But the real "corpse pictures" that Bhikku Samahita provided - i just can't take it! My whole body trembles just from taking a glimpse at these utterly disgusting, horrifying pictures of death. I can't even look at them for 5 seconds straight without the horror of this sight making me want to run & look away. I really, really can't take it! My stomach feels sick just from this glimpse!

Now that was a one of a kind experience.. Very shocking but Death as a heavenly messenger of truth does a good job.
Now i would love to overcome this fear, this horror, this suffering and i "feel" this is the best opportunity to do so.

Questions:
"How can i contemplate the body if my fear irritates me so strongly while looking at these pictures?"
"What can i do to deal with the fear in this situation?"

In general any advice on how to contemplate the body would be greatly appreciated as it would help me greatly to cool lust and greed for body.

Best wishes,
Alobha


PS: Below is the Post of Bhikku Samahita i'm refering to. You can check out the link to photobucket but be prepared, you have been warned ;)
Bhikkhu_Samahita wrote:Friends:

Awareness of the Body just as a Foul Frame!

Image

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 & clearly comprehending, he thus removes any lust,
urge, envy, frustration and discontent rooted in this world! Such intelligent
Bhikkhu keeps contemplating any and all bodies as remote carcasses of filthy
foul form. As something bound to emerge, decay and then inevitably vanish...
Not regarding the body as 'mine', as belonging to 'me', or as very 'my self'!
Not regarding the body as lasting, safe, as pleasant beauty, or as happiness!
In this way the intelligent Bhikkhu keeps reviewing any & 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 & thus independent of the body!
This is the way to contemplate the body only as a transient empty shell...

ImageImage

The fine reward is fearlessness of death and thereby fearlessness of all!
Without fear there is the mental elevation of gladness and confidence!
This contemplation detaches one from the body & form and frees thereby...
Clever Disgust by anti-porn thereby cooling all lust and greed for body!


ImageImage

Just a painted puppet!
A chain of bones plastered by skin with 9 oozing holes!
A heap of sores and rotten excrement with evil intentions!

ImageImage

For Inspiration have a collection of Corpse Pictures been deposited here:
http://s914.photobucket.com/albums/ac350/Asubha/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Password: corpses

Image

See also: A Bag of Bones: On the Body compiled by Bhikkhu Khantipalo:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... eel271.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Me ... a-Sati.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/T ... ations.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Ho ... _Greed.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/B ... y_Form.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Co ... tation.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Ev ... g_body.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Th ... Flesch.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_32_Parts.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_Skeleton.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Food_Disgust.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Oozing_Out.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Bluish_Victory.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/\_
http://What-Buddha-Said.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A bag of bones, flesh, skin, hair, teeth, and nails...

The 32 Parts!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_32_Parts.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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manas
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Re: A Bag of bones - contemplating the body

Post by manas »

Hi alobha,

I'm not as yet freed from lust, so I'm hoping for someone who is, to make a comment here. But in my own modest experience, contemplation of the parts of the body is best done with a mind that has been calmed somewhat (I use the breath). In a state of even relative calm (at the time of writing this post, I've not yet attained jhana, just a reasonable level of calm) the many different parts don't seem to cause horror anymore, it's more that kind of 'matter-of-fact clear-sightedness' that the Buddha describes (that is what I aim for, anyway):
"Furthermore... just as if a sack with openings at both ends were full of various kinds of grain — wheat, rice, mung beans, kidney beans, sesame seeds, husked rice — and a man with good eyesight, pouring it out, were to reflect, 'This is wheat. This is rice. These are mung beans. These are kidney beans. These are sesame seeds. This is husked rice,' in the same way, monks, a monk reflects on this very body from the soles of the feet on up, from the crown of the head on down, surrounded by skin and full of various kinds of unclean things: 'In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, gorge, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, urine.'
The Buddha did not mention revulsion here, just 'a man with good eyesight' reflecting. So imho, take care with the contemplation of foulness, let it be done in such a way that it does not cause distress, but rather a sober disenchantment (as I said, this is my goal, but I have not as yet achieved this, I have much work to do). If knowing every gory detail of what is inside us was enough in and of itself, then surgeons would all be free of sexual lust...but to my knowledge this is not the case...we have to contemplate it in a certain way (and this is where I await a more experienced practitioner to give advice, as I am relatively new to this also.

with metta

:namaste:
Last edited by manas on Mon Jan 02, 2012 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
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cooran
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Re: A Bag of bones - contemplating the body

Post by cooran »

Hello Alobha,

It could be that this is not the meditation subject for you – at least, at this time.

But - rather than focus on spectacularly horrific damaged, dismembered bodies, why not start more gently?

Types of Corpses
http://www.dhammacenter.org/40_meditati ... on_corpses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is a photo sequence of the one corpse in 9 stages of decomposition.
http://silentmindopenheart.org/docs/cemetery/Death.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

with metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
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manas
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Re: A Bag of bones - contemplating the body

Post by manas »

cooran wrote:Hello Alobha,

It could be that this is not the meditation subject for you – at least, at this time.

But - rather than focus on spectacularly horrific damaged, dismembered bodies, why not start more gently?

Types of Corpses
http://www.dhammacenter.org/40_meditati ... on_corpses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is a photo sequence of the one corpse in 9 stages of decomposition.
http://silentmindopenheart.org/docs/cemetery/Death.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

with metta
Chris
Thank you Cooran!

:anjali:
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
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Digger
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Re: A Bag of bones - contemplating the body

Post by Digger »

Around 10 years ago I went to a science museum in Chicago where they had a display of an actual persons body sliced in roughly 1 inch wide sections. The slices ran from head to toe. Each section was sandwiched between two pieces of glass and preserved in formaldehyde or something.

Although once human, it looked exactly like seeing slices of raw meat at a grocery store or butcher shop.
He is different. He thinks.
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Alobha
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Re: A Bag of bones - contemplating the body

Post by Alobha »

cooran wrote:Hello Alobha,

It could be that this is not the meditation subject for you – at least, at this time.

But - rather than focus on spectacularly horrific damaged, dismembered bodies, why not start more gently?

Types of Corpses
http://www.dhammacenter.org/40_meditati ... on_corpses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is a photo sequence of the one corpse in 9 stages of decomposition.
http://silentmindopenheart.org/docs/cemetery/Death.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

with metta
Chris
Thank you very much cooran!
The Dhammacenter link is great, didn't know the website before :) I'll also take a look into the photo sequence and i guess this will be a more gently way to start off(Thanks for supporting my practice with this, too!)
I will spend more time preparing myself with anapanasati and then i'll go for Asubha-kammatthana / Ten types of corpses.
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