THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
CHAPTER XI
CONCENTRATION—CONCLUSION:
NUTRIMENT AND THE ELEMENTS
(Samadhi-niddesa)
[PERCEPTION OF REPULSIVENESS IN NUTRIMENT]
1. [341] Now comes the description of the development of the percep-
tion of repulsiveness in nutriment, which was listed as the 'one percep-
tion'
1
next to the immaterial states (Ch. III, §105).
Herein: it nourishes (dharati, lit. brings on), thus it is nutriment
(dhdra, lit. bringing on). That is of four kinds as physical nutriment,
nutriment consisting of contact, nutriment consisting of mental volition,
and nutriment consisting of consciousness.
2
2. But what is it here that nourishes (brings on) what? Physical nutri-
ment (kabalihkdrdhdra) nourishes (brings on) the materiality of the oc-
tad that has nutritive essence as eighth.
3
Contact as nutriment nourishes
(brings on) the three kinds of feeling. Mental volition as nutriment nour-
ishes (brings on) rebirth-linking in the three kinds of becoming. Con-
sciousness as nutriment nourishes (brings on) mentality-materiality at
the moment of rebirth-linking.
3. Now when there is physical nutriment there is attachment, which
brings peril; when there is nutriment as contact there is approaching,
which brings peril; when there is nutriment as ntental volition there is
rebirth-linking, which brings peril.
4
And to show how they bring fear
thus, physical nutriment should be illustrated by the simile of the child's
flesh (S.ii,98), contact as nutriment by the simile of the hideless cow
(S.ii,99), mental volition as nutriment by the simile of the pit of live
coals (S.ii,99), and consciousness as nutriment by the simile of the hundred
spears (S.ii,100).
4. But of these four kinds of nutriment it is only physical nutriment,
classed as what is eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted, that is intended here
as 'nutriment' in this sense. The perception arisen as the apprehension of
the repulsive aspect in that nutriment is 'perception of repulsiveness in
nutriment'.
5. One who wants to develop that perception of repulsiveness in nutri-
ment should learn the meditation subject and see that he has no uncer-
tainty about even a single word of what he has learnt. Then he should go
into solitary retreat and [342] review repulsiveness in ten aspects in the
physical nutriment classified as what is eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted,
that is to say, as to going, seeking, using, secretion, receptacle, what is
uncooked (undigested), what is cooked (digested), fruit, outflow, and
smearing,
6. 1. Herein, as to going: even when a man has gone forth in so
mighty a dispensation, still after he has perhaps spent all night reciting
the Enlightened One's word or doing the ascetic's work, after he has
risen early to do the duties connected with the shrine terrace and the En-
lightenment-tree terrace, to set out the water for drinking and washing,
to sweep the grounds and to see to the needs of the body, after he has sat
down on his seat and given attention to his meditation subject twenty or
thirty times
5
and got up again, then he must take his bowl and [outer]
robe, he must leave behind the ascetics' woods that are not crowded with
people, offer the bliss of seclusion, possess shade and water, and are
clean, cool, delightful places, he must disregard the noble ones' delight
in seclusion, and he must set out for the village in order to get nutriment,
as a jackal for the charnel ground.
7. And as he goes thus, from the time when he steps down from his
bed or chair he has to tread on a carpet
6
covered with the dust of his feet,
geckos' droppings, and so on. Next he has to see the doorstep,
7
which is
more repulsive than the inside of the room since it is often fouled with
the droppings of rats, bats,
8
and so on. Next the lower terrace, which is
more repulsive than the terrace above since it is all smeared with the
droppings of owls, pigeons,
9
and so on. Next the grounds,
10
which are
more repulsive than the lower floor since they are defiled by old grass
and leaves blown about by the wind, by sick novices' urine, excrement,
spittle and snot, and in the rainy season by water, mud, and so on. And
he has to see the road to the monastery, which is more repulsive than the
grounds.
8. In due course, after standing in the debating lodge
11
when he has fin-
ished paying homage at the Enlightenment Tree and the shrine, he sets
out thinking, 'Instead of looking at the shrine that is like a cluster of
pearls, and the Enlightenment Tree that is as lovely as a bouquet of
peacock's tail feathers, and the abode that is as fair as a god's palace, I
must now turn my back on such a charming place and go abroad for the
sake of food'; and on the way to the village, the view of a road of stumps
and thorns and an uneven road broken up by the force of water awaits
him.
9. Next, after he has put on his waist cloth as one who hides an ab-
scess, and tied his waist band as one who ties a bandage on a wound, and
robed himself in his upper robes as one who hides a skeleton, and taken
out his bowl as one who takes out a pan for medicine, [343] when he
reaches the vicinity of the village gate, perhaps the sight of an elephant's
carcase, a horse's carcase, a buffalo's carcase, a human carcase, a snake's
carcase, or a dog's carcase, awaits him, and not only that but he has to
suffer his nose to be assailed by the smell of them.
Next, as he stands in the village gateway, he must scan the village
streets in order to avoid danger from savage elephants, horses, and so on.
10. So this repulsive [experience] beginning with the carpet that has to
be trodden on and ending with the various kinds of carcases that have to
be seen and smelt, [has to be undergone] for the sake of nutriment: 'Oh,
nutriment is indeed a repulsive thing!'.
This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to going.
11. 2. How as to seeking! When he has endured the repulsiveness of
going in this way, and has gone into the village, and is clothed in his
cloak of patches, he has to wander in the village streets from house to
house like a beggar with a dish in his hand. And in the rainy season
wherever he treads his feet sink into water and mire up to the flesh of the
calves.
12
He has to hold the bowl in one hand and his robe up with the
other. In the hot season he has to go about with his body covered with
the dirt, grass and dust blown about by the wind. On reaching such and
such a house door he has to see and even to tread in gutters and cess-
pools covered with blue-bottles and seething with all the species of
worms, all mixed up with fish washings, meat washings, rice washings,
spittle, snot, dogs' and pigs' excrement, and what not, from which flies
come up and settle on his outer cloak of patches and on his bowl and on
his head.
12. And when he enters a house, some give and some do not. And when
they give, some give yesterday's cooked rice and stale cakes and rancid
jelly, sauce and so on.
13
Some, not giving, say 'Please pass on, venerable
sir', others keep silent as if they did not see him. Some avert their faces.
Others treat him with harsh words such as 'Go away, you bald-head'.
When he has wandered for alms in the village in this way like a beggar,
he has to depart from it.
13. So this [experience] beginning with the entry into the village and
ending with the departure from it, which is repulsive owing to the water,
mud, etc., that has to be trodden in and seen and endured, [has to be
undergone] for tfre sake of nutriment: 'Oh, nutriment is indeed a repul-
sive thing!'.
This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to seeking. [344]
14. 3. How as to using! After he has sought the nutriment in this way
and is sitting at ease in a comfortable place outside the village, then so
long as he has not dipped his hand into it he would be able to invite a
respected bhikkhu or a decent person, if he saw one, [to share it]; but as
soon as he has dipped his hand into it out of desire to eat he would be
ashamed to say Take some'. And when he has dipped his hand in and is
squeezing it up, the sweat trickling down his five fingers wets any dry
crisp food there may be and makes it sodden.
15. And when its good appearance has been spoilt by his squeezing it
up, and it has been made into a ball and put into his mouth, then the
lower teeth function as a mortar, the upper teeth as a pestle, and the
tongue as a hand. It gets pounded there with the pestle of the teeth like a
dog's dinner in a dog's trough, while he turns it over and over with his
tongue; then the thin spittle at the tip of the tongue smears it, and the
thick spittle behind the middle of the tongue smears it, and the filth from
the teeth in the parts where a tooth-stick cannot reach smears it.
16. When thus mashed up and besmeared, this peculiar compound now
destitute of the [original] colour and smell is reduced to a condition as
utterly nauseating as a dog's vomit in a dog's trough. Yet, notwithstand-
ing that it is like this, it can still be swallowed because it is no longer in
range of the eye's focus.
This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to using.
17. 4. How as to secretion! Buddhas and Paccekabuddhas and Wheel-
turning Monarchs have only one of the four secretions consisting of bile,
phlegm, pus and blood, but those with weak merit have all four. So when
[the food] has arrived at the stage of being eaten and it enters inside,
then in one whose secretion of bile is in excess it becomes as utterly
nauseating as if smeared with thick madhuka oil; in one whose secretion
of phlegm in in excess it is as if smeared with the juice of ndgahald1
*
leaves; in one whose secretion of pus is in excess it is as if smeared with
rancid buttermilk; and in one whose secretion of blood is in excess it is
as utterly nauseating as if smeared with dye. This is how repulsiveness
should be reviewed as to secretion.
18. 5. How as to receptacle! When it has gone inside the belly and is
smeared with one of these secretions, then the receptacle it goes into is
no gold dish or crystal or silver dish and so on. On the contrary, if it is
swallowed by one ten years old, it finds itself in a place like a cesspit
unwashed for ten years. [345] If it is swallowed by one twenty years old,
thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years old, if it is swal-
lowed by one a hundred years old, it finds itself in a place like a cesspit
unwashed for a hundred years. This is how repulsiveness should be re-
viewed as to receptacle.
19. 6. How as to what is uncooked {undigested)! After this nutriment
has arrived at such a place for its receptacle, then for as long as it
remains uncooked it stays in that same place just described, which is
shrouded in absolute darkness, pervaded by draughts,
15
tainted by vari-
ous smells of ordure and utterly fetid and loathsome. And just as when a
cloud out of season has rained during a drought and bits of grass and
leaves and rushes and the carcases of snakes, dogs and human beings
that have collected in a pit at the gate of an outcaste village remain there
warmed by the sun's heat until the pit becomes covered with froth and
bubbles, so too, what has been swallowed that day and yesterday and the
day before remains there together, and being smothered by the layer of
phlegm and covered with froth and bubbles produced by digestion through
being fermented by the heat of the bodily fires, it becomes quite loath-
some. This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to what is un-
cooked.
20. 7. How as to what is cooked? When it has been completely cooked
there by the bodily fires, it does not turn into gold, silver, etc., as the
ores
16
of gold, silver, etc., do [through smelting]. Instead, giving off
froth and bubbles, it turns into excrement and fills the receptacle for
digested food, like brown clay squeezed with a smoothing trowel and
packed into a tube, and it turns into urine and fills the bladder. This is
how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to what is cooked.
21. 8. How as to fruit? When it has been rightly cooked, it produces the
various kinds of ordure consisting of head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth,
and the rest. When wrongly cooked it produces the hundred diseases
beginning with itch, ring-worm, smallpox, leprosy, plague, consumption,
coughs, flux, and so on. Such is its fruit. This is how repulsiveness
should be reviewed as to fruit.
22. 9. How as to outflow? On being swallowed, it enters by one door,
after which it flows out by several doors in the way beginning 'Eye-dirt
from the eye, ear-dirt from the ear' (Sn.197). And on being swallowed it
is swallowed even in the company of large gatherings. But on flowing
out, now converted into excrement, urine, etc., it is excreted only in
solitude. [346] On the first day one is delighted to eat it, elated and full
of happiness and joy. On the second day one stops one's nose to void it,
with a wry face, disgusted and dismayed. And on the first day one swal-
lows it lustfully, greedily, gluttonously, infatuatedly. But on the second
day, after a single night has passed, one excretes it with distaste, ashamed,
humiliated and disgusted. Hence the Ancients said:
23. 'The food and drink so greatly prized—
The crisp to chew, the soft to suck—
Go in all by a single door,
But by nine doors come oozing out.
'The food and drink so greatly prized—
The crisp to chew, the soft to suck—
Men like to eat in company,
But to excrete in secrecy.
'The food and drink so greatly prized—
The crisp to chew, the soft to suck—
These a man eats with high delight,
And then excretes with dumb disgust.
'The food and drink so greatly prized—
The crisp to chew, the soft to suck—
A single night will be enough
To bring them to putridity'.
This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to outflow.
24. 10. How as to smear ingi At the time of using it he smears his
hands, lips, tongue and palate, and they become repulsive by being
smeared with it. And even when washed, they have to be washed again
and again in order to remove the smell. And, just as, when rice is being
boiled, the husks, the red powder covering the grain, etc., rise up and
smear the mouth, rim and lid of the cauldron, so too, when eaten it rises
up during its cooking and simmering by the bodily fire that pervades the
whole body, it turns into tartar, which smears the teeth, and it turns into
spittle, phlegm, etc., which respectively smear the tongue, palate, etc.;
and it turns into eye-dirt, ear-dirt, snot, urine, excrement, etc., which re-
spectively smear the eyes, ears, nose and nether passages. And when
these doors are smeared by it, they never become either clean or pleasing
even though washed every day. And after one has washed a certain one
of these, the hand has to be washed again.
17
And after one has washed a
certain one of these, the repulsiveness does not depart from it even after
two or three washings with cowdung and clay and scented powder. This
is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to smearing.
25. As he reviews repulsiveness in this way in ten aspects and strikes at
it with thought and applied thought, physical nutriment [347] becomes
evident to him in its repulsive aspect. He cultivates that sign18
again and
again, develops and repeatedly practises it. As he does so, the hindrances
are suppressed, and his mind is concentrated in access concentration, but
without reaching absorption because of the profundity of physical nutri-
ment as a state with an individual essence. But perception is evident here
in the apprehension of the repulsive aspect, which is why this meditation
subject goes by the name of 'perception of repulsiveness in nutriment'.
26. When a bhikkhu devotes himself to this perception of repulsiveness
in nutriment, his mind retreats, retracts and recoils from craving for fla-
vours. He nourishes himself with nutriment without vanity and only for
the purpose of crossing over suffering, as one who seeks to cross over
the desert eats his own dead child's flesh (S.ii,98). Then his greed for the
five cords of sense desire comes to be fully understood without difficulty
by means of the full understanding of the physical nutriment. He fully
understands the materiality aggregate by means of the full-understanding
of the five cords of sense desire. Development of mindfulness occupied
with the body comes to perfection in him through the repulsiveness of
'what is uncooked* and the rest. He has entered upon a way that is in
conformity with the perception of foulness. And by keeping to this way,
even if he does not experience the deathless goal in this life, he is at least
bound for a happy destiny.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of the perception
of repulsiveness in nutriment.
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