THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[SPLEEN]
116. This is the flesh of the belly's 'tongue'. As to colour, it is blue, the
colour of niggundi flowers. As to shape, it is seven fingers in size, with-
out attachments, and the shape of a black calf's tongue. As to direction,
it lies in the upper direction. As to location, it is to be found near the
upper side of the belly to the left of the heart. When it comes out through
a wound a being's life is terminated. As to delimitation, it is bounded by
what appertains to spleen ...
[LUNGS]
117. The flesh of the lungs is divided up into two or three pieces of flesh.
As to colour, it is red, the colour of not very ripe udumbara fig fruits. As
to shape, it is the shape of an unevenly cut thick slice of cake. Inside, it
is insipid and lacks nutritive essence, like a lump of chewed straw,
because it is affected by the heat of the kamma-born fire [element] that
springs up when there is need of something to eat and drink. As to direc-
tion, it lies in the upper direction. As to location, it is to be found inside
the body between the two breasts, hanging above the heart [258] and
liver and concealing them. As to delimitation, it is bounded by what ap-
pertains to lungs...
[BOWEL]
118. This is the bowel tube; it is looped29
in twenty-one places, and in a
man it is thirty-two hands long, and in a woman, twenty-eight hands. As
to colour, it is white, the colour of lime [mixed] with sand. As to shape,
it is the shape of a beheaded snake coiled up and put in a trough of
blood. As to direction, it lies in the two directions. As to location, it is
fastened abov$ at the gullet and below to the excrement passage (rec-
tum), so it is to be found inside the body between the limits of the gullet
and the excrement passage. As to delimitation, it is bounded by what
pertains to bowel...
[ENTRAIL (MESENTERY)]
119. This is the fastening in the places where the bowel is coiled. As to
colour, it is white, the colour of dakasitalika30
(white edible water
lily) roots. As to shape, it is the shape of those roots too. As to direction,
it lies in the two directions. As to location, it is to be found inside the
twenty-one coils of the bowel, like the strings to be found inside rope-
rings for wiping the feet on, sewing them together, and it fastens the
bowel's coils together so that they do not slip down in those working
with hoes, axes, etc., as the marionette-strings do the marionette's wooden
[limbs] at the time of the marionette's being pulled along. As to delimi-
tation, it is bounded by what appertains to entrails ...
[GORGE]
120. This is what has been eaten, drunk, chewed and tasted, and is pres-
ent in the stomach. As to colour, it is the colour of swallowed food. As
to shape, it is the shape of rice loosely tied in a cloth strainer. As to
direction, it is in the upper direction. As to location, it is in the stomach.
121. What is called the 'stomach' is [a part of] the bowel-membrane,
which* is like the swelling [of air] produced in the middle of a length of
wet cloth when it is being [twisted and] wrung out from the two ends. It
is smooth outside. Inside, it is like a balloon of cloth31
soiled by wrap-
ping up meat refuse; or it can be said to be like the inside of the skin of a
rotten jak fruit. It is the place where worms dwell seething in tangles: the
thirty-two families of worms, such as round worms, boil-producing worms,
'palm-splinter' worms, needle-mouthed worms, tape-worms, thread
worms, and the rest.
32
When there is no food and drink, [259] etc.,
present, they leap up shrieking and pounce upon the heart's flesh; and
when food and drink, etc., are swallowed, they wait with uplifted mouths
and scramble to snatch the first two or three lumps swallowed. It is these
worms' maternity home, privy, hospital and charnel ground. Just as when
it has rained heavily in a time of drought and what has been carried by
the water into the cesspit at the gate of an outcaste village—the various
kinds of ordure
33
such as urine, excrement, bits of hide and bones and
sinews, as well as spittle, snot, blood, etc.—gets mixed up with the mud
and water already collected there; and after two or three days the fami-
lies of worms appear, and it ferments, warmed by the energy of the sun's
heat, frothing and bubbling on the top, quite black in colour, and so
utterly stinking and loathsome that one can scarcely go near it or look at
it, much less smell or taste it, so too, [the stomach is where] the assort-
ment of food, drink, etc., falls after being pounded up by the tongue and
stuck together with spittle and saliva, losing at that moment its virtues of
colour, smell, taste, etc., and taking on the appearance of weavers' paste
and dogs' vomit, then to get soused in the bile and phlegm and wind that
have collected there, where it ferments with the energy of the stomach-
fire's heat, seethes with the families of worms, frothing and bubbling on
the top, till it turns into utterly stinking nauseating muck, even to hear
about which takes away any appetite for food, drink, etc., let alone to see
it with the eye of understanding. And when the food, drink, etc., fall into
it, they get divided into five parts: the worms eat one part, the stomach-
fire burns up another part, another part becomes urine, another part
becomes excrement, and one part is turned into nourishment and sustains
the blood, flesh and so on.
122. As to delimitation, it is bounded by the stomach-lining and by what
appertains to gorge ...
[DUNG]
123. This is excrement. As to colour; it is mostly the colour of eaten
food. As to shape, it is the shape of its location. As to direction, it is in
the lower direction. As to location, it is to be found in the receptacle for
digested food (rectum).
124. The receptacle for digested food is the lowest part at the end of the
bowel, between the navel and the root of the spine. [260] It measures
eight fingerbreadths in height and resembles a bamboo tube. Just as
when rain water falls on a higher level it runs down to fill a lower level
and stays there, so too, the receptacle for digested food is where any
food, drink, etc., that have fallen into the receptacle for undigested food,
have been continuously cooked and simmered by the stomach-fire, and
have got as soft as though ground up on a stone, run down to through the
cavities of the bowels, and it is pressed down there till it becomes im-
pacted like brown clay pushed into a bamboo joint, and there it stays.
125. As to delimitation, it is bounded by the receptacle for digested food
and by what appertains to dung ...
[BRAIN]
126. This is the lumps of marrow to be found inside the skull. As to
colour, it is white, the colour of the flesh of a toadstool; it can also be
said that it is the colour of turned milk that has not yet become curd. As
to shape, it is the shape of its location. As to direction, it belongs to the
upper direction. As to location, it is to be found inside the skull, like four
lumps of dough put together to correspond with the [skull's] four sutured
sections. As to delimitation, it is bounded by the skull's inner surface
and by what appertains to brain ...
[BILE]
127. There are two kinds of bile: local bile and free bile. Herein as to
colour, the local bile is the colour of thick madhuka oil; the free bile is
the colour of faded dkuli flowers. As to shape, both are the shape of their
location. As to direction, the local bile belongs to the upper direction;
the other belongs to both directions. As to location, the free bile spreads,
like a drop of oil on water, all over the body except for the fleshless parts
of the head hairs, body hairs, teeth, nails, and the hard dry skin. When it
is disturbed, the eyes become yellow and twitch, and there is shivering
and itching54
of the body. The local bile is situated near the flesh of the
liver between the heart and the lights. It is to be found in the bile con-
tainer (gall bladder), which is like a large kosdtaki (loofah) gourd pip.
When it is disturbed, beings go crazy and become demented, they throw
off conscience and shame and do the undoable, speak the unspeakable,
and think the unthinkable. As to delimitation, it is bounded by what ap-
pertains to bile... [261]
[PHLEGM]
128. The phlegm is inside the body and it measures a bowlful. As to
colour, it is white, the colour of the juice of ndgabald leaves. As to
shape, it is the shape of its location. As to direction, it belongs to the
upper direction. As to location, it is to be found on the stomach's sur-
face. Just as duckweed and green scum on the surface of water divide
when a stick or a potsherd is dropped into the water and then spread
together again, so too, at the time of eating and drinking, etc., when the
food, drink, etc., fall into the stomach, the phlegm divides and then
spreads together again. And if it gets weak the stomach becomes utterly
disgusting with a smell of ordure, like a ripe boil or a rotten hen's egg,
and then the eructations and the mouth reek with a stench like rotting
ordure rising from the stomach, so that the man has to be told,
4
Go
away, your breath smells'. But when it grows plentiful it holds the stench
of ordure beneath the surface of the stomach, acting like the wooden lid
of a privy. As to delimitation, it is bounded by what appertains to
phlegm...
[Pus]
129. Pus is produced by decaying blood. As to colour, it is the colour of
bleached leaves; but in a dead body it is the colour of stale thickened
gruel. As to shape, it is the shape of its location. As to direction, it
belongs to both directions. As to location, however, there is no fixed
location for pus where it could be found stored up. Wherever blood stag-
nates and goes bad in some part of the body damaged by wounds with
stumps and thoms, by burns with fire, etc., or where boils, carbuncles,
etc., appear, it can be found there. As to delimitation, it is bounded by
what appertains to pus ...
[BLOOD]
130. There are two kinds of blood: stored blood and mobile blood. Herein,
as to colour, stored blood is the colour of cooked and thickened lac
solution; mobile blood is the colour of clear lac solution. As to shape,
both are the shape of their locations. As to direction, the stored blood
belongs to the upper direction; the other belongs to both directions. As to
location, except for the fleshless parts of the head hairs, body hairs,
teeth, nails, and the hard dry skin, the mobile blood permeates the whole
of the clung-to (kammically-acquired)
35
body by following the network
of veins. The stored blood fills the lower part of the liver's site [262] to
the extent of a bowlful, and by its splashing little by little over the heart,
kidney and lights, it keeps the kidney, heart, liver and lights moist. For it
is when it fails to moisten the kidney, heart, etc., that beings become
thirsty. As to delimitation, it is bounded by what appertains to blood ...
[SWEAT]
131. This is the water element that trickles from the pores of the body
hairs, and so on. As to colour, it is the colour of clear sesamum oil. As to
shape, it is the shape of its location. As to direction, it belongs to both
directions. As to location, there is no fixed location for sweat where it
could always be found like blood. But if the body is heated by the heat
of a fire, by the sun's heat, by a change of temperature, etc., then it
trickles from all the pore openings of the head hairs and body hairs, as
water does from a bunch of unevenly cut lily-bud stems and lotus stalks
pulled up from the water. So its shape should also be understood to
correspond to the pore-openings of the head hairs and body hairs. And
the meditator who discerns sweat should only give his attention to it as it
is to be found filling the pore-openings of the head hairs and body hairs.
As to delimitation, it is bounded by what appertains to sweat.. .
[FAT]
132. This is a thick unguent. As to colour, it is the colour of sliced
turmeric. As to shape, firstly in the body, of a stout man it is the shape of
turmeric-coloured dukula (muslin) rags placed between the inner skin
and the flesh. In the body of a lean man it is the shape of turmeric-
coloured dukula (muslin) rags placed in two or three thicknesses on the
shank flesh, thigh fresh, back flesh near the spine, and belly-covering
flesh. As to direction, it belongs to both directions. As to location, it
permeates the whole of a stout man's body; it is to be found on a lean
man's shank flesh, and so on. And though it was described as 'unguent'
above, still it is neither used as oil on the head nor as oil for the nose,
etc., because of its utter disgustingness. As to delimitation, it is bounded
below by the flesh, above by the inner skin, and all rouqd by what
appertains to fat .. .
[TEARS]
133. These are the water element that trickles from the eye. As to colour,
they are the colour of clear sesamum oil. As to shape, they are the shape
of their location. [263] As to direction, they belong to the upper direc-
tion. As to location, they are to be found in the eye sockets. But they are
not stored in the eye sockets all the while as the bile is in the bile
container. But when beings feel joy and laugh uproariously, or feel grief
and weep and lament, or eat particular kinds of wrong food, or when
their eyes are affected by smoke, dust, dirt, etc., then being originated by
the joy, grief, wrong food, or temperature, they fill up the eye sockets or
trickle out. And the meditator who discerns tears should discern them
only as they are to be found filling the eye sockets. As to delimitation,
they are bounded by what appertains to tears ...
[GREASE]
134. This is a melted unguent. As to colour, it is the colour of coconut
oil. Also it can be said to be the colour of oil sprinkled on gruel. As to
shape, it is a film the shape of a drop of unguent spread out over still
water at the time of bathing. As to direction, it belongs to both direc-
tions. As to location, it is to be found mostly on the palms of the hands,
backs of the hands, soles of the feet, backs of the feet, tip of the nose,
forehead, and points of the shoulders. And it is not always to be found in
the melted state in these locations, but when these parts get hot with the
heat of a fire, the sun's heat, upset of temperature or upset of elements,
then it spreads here and there in those places like the film from the drop
of unguent on the still water at the time of bathing. As to delimitation, it
is bounded by what appertains to grease ...
[SPITTLE]
135. This is water element mixed with froth inside the mouth. As to
colour, it is white, the colour of the froth. As to shape, it is the shape of
its location, or it can be called 'the shape of froth'. As to direction, it
belongs to the upper direction. As to location, it is to be found on the
tongue after it has descended from the cheeks on both sides. And it is not
always to be found stored there; but when beings see particular kinds of
food, or remember them, or put something hot or bitter or sharp or salty
or sour into their mouths, or when their hearts are faint, or nausea arises
on some account, then spittle appears and runs down from the cheeks on
both sides to settle on the tongue. It is thin at the tip of the tongue, and
thick at the root of the tongue. It is capable, without getting used up, of
wetting unhusked rice or husked rice or anything else chewable that is
put into the mouth, like the water in a pit scooped out in a river sand
bank. [264] As to delimitation, it is bounded by what appertains to
spittle...
[SNOT]
136. This is impurity that trickles out from the brain. As to colour, it is
the colour of a young palmyra kernel. As to shape, it is the shape of its
location. As to direction, it belongs to the upper direction. As to loca-
tion, it is to be found filling the nostril cavities. And it is not always to
be found stored there; but rather, just as though a man tied up curd in a
lotus leaf, which he then pricked with a thorn underneath, and whey
oozed out and dripped, so too, when beings weep or suffer a disturbance
of elements produced by wrong food or temperature, then the brain
inside the head turns into stale phlegm, and it oozes out and comes down
by an opening in the palate, and it fills the nostrils and stays there or
trickles out. And the meditator who discerns snot should discern it only
as it is to be found filling the nostril cavities. As to delimitation, it is
bounded by what appertains to snot...
[OIL OF THE JOINTS]
137. This is the slimy ordure inside the joints in the body. As to colour, it
is the colour of kanikdra gum. As to shape, it is the shape of its location.
As to direction, it belongs to both directions. As to location, it is to be
found inside the hundred and eighty joints, serving the function of lubri-
cating the bones' joints. If it is weak, when a man gets up or sits down,
moves forward or backward, bends or stretches, then his bones creak,
and he goes about making a noise like the snapping of ringers, and when
he has walked only one or two leagues
9
distance, his air element gets
upset and his limbs pain him. But if a man has plenty of it, his bones do
not creak when he gets up, sits down, etc., and even when he has walked
a long distance, his air element does not get upset and his limbs do not
pain him. As to delimitation, it is bounded by what appertains to oil of
the joints...
[URINE]
138. This is the urine solution. As to colour, it is the colour of bean brine.
As to shape, it is the shape of water inside a water pot placed upside
down. As to direction, it belongs to the lower direction. As to location, it
is to be found inside the bladder. For the bladder sack is called the
bladder. Just as when a porous pot with no mouth is put into a cesspool,
[265] then the solution from the cesspool gets into the porous pot with
no mouth even though no way of entry is evident, so too, while the
urinary secretion from the body enters the bladder its way of entry is not
evident. Its way of exit, however, is evident. And when the bladder is
full of urine, beings feel the need to make water. As to delimitation, it is
delimited by the inside of the bladder and by what is similar to urine.
This is the delimitation by the similar. But its delimitation by the dis-
similar is like that for the head hairs (see note at end of §90).
[The Arising of Absorption]
139. When the meditator has defined the parts beginning with the head
hairs in this way by colour, shape, direction, location and delimitation
(§58), and he gives his attention in the ways beginning with following
the order, not too quickly' (§61) to their repulsiveness in the five aspects
of colour, shape, smell, habitat, and location (§84f.), then at last he sur-
mounts the concept (§66). Then just as when a man with good sight is
observing a garland of flowers of thirty-two colours knotted on a single
string and all the flowers become evident to him simultaneously, so too,
when the meditator observes this body thus, 'There are in this body head
hairs', then all these things become evident to him, as it were, simultane-
ously. Hence it was said above in the explanation of skill in giving
attention: Tor when a beginner gives his attention to head hairs, his
attention carries on till it arrives at the last part, that is, urine, and stops
there' (§67).
140. If he applies his attention externally as well when all the parts have
become evident in this way, then human beings, animals, etc., as they go
about are divested of their aspect of beings and appear as just assem-
blages of parts. And when drink, food, etc., is being swallowed by them,
it appears as though it were being put in among the assemblage of parts.
141. Then, as he gives his attention to them again and again as 'Repul-
sive, repulsive', employing the process of 'successive leaving', etc. (§67),
eventually absorption arises in him. Herein, the appearance of the head
hairs, etc., as to colour, shape, direction, location, and delimitation is the
learning sign; their appearance as repulsive in all aspects is the counter-
part sign.
As he cultivates and develops that counterpart sign, absorption arises
in him, but only of the first jhana, in the same way as described under
foulness as a meditation subject (Ch. VI, §64f.). And it arises singly in
one to whom only one part has become evident, or who has reached ab-
sorption in one part and makes no further effort about another.
142. But several first jhanas, according to the number of parts, are pro-
duced in one to whom several parts have become evident, or who has
reached jhana in one and also makes further effort about another. As in
the case of the Elder Mallaka. [266]
The elder, it seems, took the Elder Abhaya, the Digha reciter, by the
hand,
36
and after saying 'Friend Abhaya, first learn this matter', he went
on: 'The Elder Mallaka is an obtainer of thirty-two jhanas in the thirty-
two parts. If he enters upon one by night and one by day, he goes on
entering upon them for over a fortnight; but if he enters upon one each
day, he goes on entering upon them for over a month'.
143. And although this meditation is successful in this way with the first
jhana, it is nevertheless called 'mindfulness occupied with the body'
because it is successful through the influence of the mindfulness of the
colour, shape, and so on.
144. And the bhikkhu who is devoted to this mindfulness occupied with
the body 'is a conqueror of boredom and delight, and boredom does not
conquer him; he dwells transcending boredom as it arises. He is a con-
queror of fear and dread, and fear and dread do not conquer him; he
dwells transcending fear and dread as they arise. He is one who bears
cold and heat... who endures ... arisen bodily feelings that are ... menac-
ing to life' (M.iii,97); he becomes an obtainer of the four jhanas based
on the colour aspect of the head hairs,
37
etc.; and he comes to penetrate
the six kinds of direct-knowledge (see M. Sutta 6).
So let a man, if he is wise,
Untiringly devote his days
To mindfulness of body which
Rewards him in so many ways.
This is the section dealing with mindfulness occupied with the body
in the detailed treatise.
0 comments:
Post a Comment