Thanks for the clarification and the page number.
Herein, the sevenfold skill in learning should be told thus: (1) as verbal recitation, (2) as mental recitation, (3) as to colour, (4) as to shape, (5) as to direction, (6) as to location, (7) as to delimitation.
49. 1. This meditation subject consists in giving attention to repulsiveness. Even if one is master of the Tipiþaka, the verbal recitation should still be done at the time of first giving it attention. For the meditation subject only becomes evident to some through recitation, as it did to the two elders who learned the meditation subject from the Elder Mahá Deva of the Hill Country (Malaya). On being asked for the meditation subject, it seems, the elder [242] gave the text of the thirty-two aspects, saying, “Do only this recitation for four months.” Although they were familiar respectively with two and three Piþakas, it was only at the end of four months of recitation of the meditation subject that they became stream-enterers, with right apprehension [of the text]. So the teacher who expounds the meditation subject should tell the pupil to do the recitation verbally first.
50. Now, when he does the recitation, he should divide it up into the “skin pentad,” etc., and do it forwards and backwards. After saying “Head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin,” he should repeat it backwards, “Skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
51. Next to that, with the “kidney pentad,” after saying “Flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidney,” he should repeat it backwards, “Kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
52. Next, with the “lungs pentad,” after saying “Heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lungs,” he should repeat it backwards, “Lungs, spleen, midriff, liver, heart; kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
53. Next, with the “brain pentad,” after saying “Bowels, entrails, gorge, dung, brain,” he should repeat it backwards, “Brain, dung, gorge, entrails, bowels; lungs, spleen, midriff, liver, heart; kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
54. Next, with the “fat sextad,” after saying “Bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat,” he should repeat it backwards, “Fat, sweat, blood, pus, phlegm, bile; brain, dung, gorge, entrails, bowels; lungs, spleen, midriff, liver, heart; kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
55. Next, with the “urine sextad,” after saying “Tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil of the joints, urine,” he should repeat it backwards, “Urine, oil of the joints, snot, spittle, grease, tears; fat, sweat, blood, pus, phlegm, bile; brain, dung, gorge, entrails, bowels; lungs, spleen, midriff, liver, heart; kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.” [243]
56. The recitation should be done verbally in this way a hundred times, a thousand times, even a hundred thousand times. For it is through verbal recitation that the meditation subject becomes familiar, and the mind being thus prevented from running here and there, the parts become evident and seem like [the fingers of] a pair of clasped hands, like a row of fence posts.
57. 2. The mental recitation should be done just as it is done verbally. For the verbal recitation is a condition for the mental recitation, and the mental recitation is a condition for the penetration of the characteristic [of foulness].
58. 3. As to colour: the colour of the head hairs, etc., should be defined.
4. As to shape: their shape should be defined too.
5. As to direction: in this body, upwards from the navel is the upward direction, and downwards from it is the downward direction. So the direction should be defined thus: “This part is in this direction.”
6. As to location: the location of this or that part should be defined thus: “This part is established in this location.”
59. 7. As to delimitation: there are two kinds of delimitation, that is, delimitation of the similar and delimitation of the dissimilar. Herein, delimitation of the similar should be understood in this way: “This part is delimited above and below and around by this.” Delimitation of the dissimilar should be understood as non-intermixed-ness in this way: “Head hairs are not body hairs, and body hairs are not head hairs.”
60. When the teacher tells the skill in learning in seven ways thus, he should do so knowing that in certain suttas this meditation subject is expounded from the point of view of repulsiveness and in certain suttas from the point of view of elements. For in the Mahá Satipaþþhána Sutta (DN 22) it is expounded only as repulsiveness. In the Mahá Hatthipadopama Sutta (MN 28), in the Mahá Ráhulováda Sutta (MN 62), and the Dhátuvibhaòga (MN 140, also Vibh 82), it is expounded as elements. In the Káyagatásati Sutta (MN 119), however, four jhánas are expounded with reference to one to whom it has appeared as a colour [kasióa] (see III.107). Herein, it is an insight meditation subject that is expounded as elements and a serenity meditation subject that is expounded as repulsiveness. Consequently it is only the serenity meditation subject [that is relevant] here.
