Delineation of head hair and body hair

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Mkoll
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Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Mkoll »

Hello friends,

Just curious...

Are there any commentaries or teachings on where head hair begins and ends? I've always assumed it is just the hair on the scalp. Or does it actually mean literally all the hair on the head including sideburns, eyebrows, nose hair, etc.?

:anjali:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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Ben
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Ben »

Greetings James,
If it's on the head, it's head hair.
Kind regards,
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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Babadhari
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Babadhari »

i know that Thai Bhikkus shave their eyebrows but i don't think it is stated in any of the Sutta's. Rather it was a way of differenciating themselves from Burmese spies dresssed as monks during a period of warfare between the two countries.

Protruding Nose hair is to be cut with a scissors if im correct...
Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion.
Aflame, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs ......

Seeing thus, the disciple of the Noble One grows disenchanted. SN 35.28
Babadhari
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Babadhari »

Ben wrote:Greetings James,
If it's on the head, it's head hair.
Kind regards,
Ben
:thinking: that means if i ever ordain i'll have to shave my super fluffy ear lobes also, that could be tricky
Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion.
Aflame, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs ......

Seeing thus, the disciple of the Noble One grows disenchanted. SN 35.28
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Mkoll
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Mkoll »

Greetings Ben,

Do you happen to have a reference for that, perchance?

:anjali:

And just to clarify, this question is being asked in regards to the thirty-one parts of the body contemplation in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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Dhammanando
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Dhammanando »

Mkoll wrote:And just to clarify, this question is being asked in regards to the thirty-one parts of the body contemplation in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
From the Visuddhimagga:
  • "Firstly head hairs are black in their normal colour, the colour of fresh ariṭṭhaka seeds. As to shape, they are the shape of long round measuring rods. As to direction, they lie in the upper direction. As to location, their location is the wet inner skin that envelops the skull; it is bounded on both sides by the roots of the ears, in front by the forehead, and behind by the nape of the neck. As to delimitation, they are bounded below by the surface of their own roots, which are fixed by entering to the amount of the tip of a rice grain into the inner skin that envelops the head. They are bounded above by space, and all round by each other. There are no two hairs together. This is their delimitation by the similar. Head hairs are not body hairs, and body hairs are not head hairs; being likewise not intermixed with the remaining thirty-one parts, the head hairs are a separate part. This is their delimitation by the dissimilar. Such is the definition of head hairs as to colour and so on."

    "Herein, firstly, as to natural colour, body hairs are not pure black like head hairs but blackish brown. As to shape, they are the shape of palm roots with the tips bent down. As to direction, they lie in the two directions. As to location, except for the locations where the head hairs are established, and for the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, they grow in most of the rest of the inner skin that envelops the body. As to delimitation, they are bounded below by the surface of their own roots, which are fixed by entering to the extent of a likhā into the inner skin that envelops the body, above by space, and all round by each other. There are no two body hairs together. This is the delimitation by the similar. But their delimitation by the dissimilar is like that for the head hairs."
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
Babadhari
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Babadhari »

it is nice to have your wise input again Bhante
Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion.
Aflame, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs ......

Seeing thus, the disciple of the Noble One grows disenchanted. SN 35.28
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Mkoll
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Mkoll »

So it sounds like sideburns, at least those at or above the root of the ear, are included in head-hair? My sideburns end just at the level of my earlobes.

Thank you Bhante.

:anjali:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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Ben
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Ben »

Mkoll wrote:Greetings Ben,

Do you happen to have a reference for that, perchance?

:anjali:

And just to clarify, this question is being asked in regards to the thirty-one parts of the body contemplation in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
Greetings James.
No reference, just common sense. With great respect to you and your line of enquiry, I don't believe we need to get too precise when differentiating wha is a head hair as opposed to a body hair. The important thing is to do the practice. If you define hair on the chin as head hair or body hair - I don't think it really matters that much.
Wishing you all the best.
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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Mkoll
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Re: Delineation of head hair and body hair

Post by Mkoll »

Thank you all for your replies. I think the question has been answered well and needs no further elaboration.

:anjali:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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