THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[Starting the Practice]
80. If it is convenient for him to live in the same monastery as the
teacher, then he need not get it explained in detail thus [to begin with],
but as he applies himself to the meditation subject after he has made
quite sure about it he can have each successive stage explained as he
reaches each distinction.
One who wants to live elsewhere, however, must get it explained to
him in detail in the way already given, and he must turn it over and over,
getting all \
v
he difficulties solved. He should leave an abode of an unsuit-
able kind as described in the Description of the Earth Kasina, and go to
live in a suitable one. Then he should sever the minor impediments (Ch.
IV, §20) and set about the preliminary work for giving attention to
repulsiveness.
[The Thirty-two Aspects in Detail]
81. When he sets about it, he should first apprehend the [learning] sign
in head hairs. How? The colour should be defined first by plucking out
one or two head hairs and placing them on the palm of the hand. [249]
He can also look at them in the hair-cutting place, or in a bowl of water
or rice gruel. If the ones he sees are black when he sees them, they
should be brought to mind as 'black'; if white, as 'white'; if mixed, they
should be brought to mind in accordance with those most prevalent.
And as in the case of head hairs, so too the sign should be apprehended
visually with the whole of the 'skin pentad'.
82. Having apprehended the sign thus and (a) defined all the other parts
of the body by colour, shape, direction, location, and delimitation (§58),
he should then (b) define repulsiveness in five ways, that is, by colour,
shape, odour, habitat, and location.
83. Here is the explanation of all the parts given in successive order.
[HEAD HAIRS]
(a) Firstly head hairs are black in their normal colour, the colour of
fresh aritthaka seeds.
19
As to shape, they are the shape of long round
measuring rods.
20
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.
21
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.
84. (b) Their definition as to repulsiveness in the five ways, that is, by
colour, etc., is as follows. Head hairs are repulsive in colour as well as in
shape, odour, habitat, and location.
85. For on seeing the colour of a head hair in a bowl of inviting rice
gruel or cooked rice, people are disgusted and say, 'This has got hairs in
it. Take it away'. So they are repulsive in colour. Also when people are
eating at night, they are likewise disgusted by the mere sensation of a
hair-shaped akka-bark or makaci-baxk fibre. So they are repulsive in
shape.
86. And the odour of head hairs, unless dressed with a smearing of oil,
scented with flowers, etc., is most offensive. And it is still worse when
they are put in the fire. [250] Even if head hairs are not directly repulsive
in colour and shape, still their odour is directly repulsive. Just as a
baby's excrement, as to its colour, is the colour of turmeric and, as to its
shape, is the shape of a piece of turmeric root, and just as the bloated
carcase of a black dog thrown on a rubbish heap, as to its colour, is the
colour of a ripe palmyra fruit and, as to its shape, is the shape of a
[mandoline-shaped] drum left face down, and its fangs are like jasmine
buds, and so even if both these are not directly repulsive in colour and
shape, still their odour is directly repulsive, so too, even if head hairs are
not directly repulsive in colour and shape, still their odour is directly
repulsive.
87. But just as pot herbs that grow on village sewage in a filthy place
are disgusting to civilized people and unusable, so also head hairs are
disgusting since they grow on the sewage of pus, blood, urine, dung,
bile, phlegm, and the like. This is the repulsive aspect of the habitat.
88. And these head hairs grow on the heap of the [other] thirty-one parts
as fungi do on a dung hill. And owing to the filthy place they grow in
they are quite as unappetizing as vegetables growing on a chamel ground,
on a midden, etc., as lotuses or water lilies growing in drains, and so on.
This is the repulsive aspect of their location.
89. And as in the case of head hairs, so also the repulsiveness of all the
parts should be defined (b) in the same five ways by colour, shape,
odour, habitat, and location.
All, however, must be defined individually (a) by colour, shape, di-
rection, location, and delimitation, as follows.
[BODY HAIRS]
90. 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 likhd22
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. [Note: These two last sentences are repeated verbatim at the end of
the description of each part. They are not translated in the remaining
thirty parts].
[NAILS]
91. 'Nails' is the name for the twenty nail plates. They are all white as
to colour. As to shape, they are the shape of fish scales. As to direction:
the toe-nails are in the lower direction; the finger-nails are in the upper
direction. [251] So they grow in the two directions. As to location, they
are fixed on the tips of the backs of the fingers and toes. As to delimita-
tion, they are bounded in the two directions by the flesh of the ends of
the fingers and toes, and inside by the flesh of the backs of the fingers
and toes, and externally and at the end by space, and all round by each
other. There are no two nails together ...
[TEETH]
92. There are thirty-two tooth bones in one whose teeth are complete.
They are white in colour. As to shape, they are of various shapes; for
firstly in the lower row, the four middle teeth are the shape of pumpkin
seeds set in a row in a lump of clay; that on each side of them has one
root and one point and is the shape of a jasmine bud; each one after that
has two roots and two points and is the shape of a waggon prop; then
two each side with three roots and three points, then two each side four-
rooted and four-pointed. Likewise in the upper row. As to direction, they
lie in the upper direction. As to location, they are fixed in the jaw bones.
As to delimitation, they are bounded by the surface of their own roots
which are fixed in the jaw bones; they are bounded above by space, and
all round by each other. There are no two teeth together ...
[SKIN (TACA)]
93. The inner skin envelops the whole body. Outside it is what is called
the outer cuticle, which is black, brown or yellow in colour, and when
that from the whole of the body is compressed together, it amounts to
only as much as a jujube-fruit kernel. But as to colour, the skin itself is
white; and its whiteness becomes evident when the outer cuticle is de-
stroyed by contact with the flame of a fire or the impact of a blow and so
on.
94. As to shape, it is the shape of the body in brief. But in detail, the
skin of the toes is the shape of silk-worms' cocoons; the skin of the back
of the foot is the shape of shoes with uppers; the skin of the calf is the
shape of a palm leaf wrapping cooked rice; the skin of the thighs is the
shape of a long sack full of paddy; the skin of the buttocks is the shape
of a cloth strainer full of water, the skin of the back is the shape of hide
stretched over a plank; the skin of the belly is the shape of the hide
stretched over the body of a lute; the skin of the chest is more or less
square; the skin of both arms is the shape of the hide stretched over a
quiver, the skin of the backs of the hands is the shape of a razor box, or
the shape of a comb case; the skin of the fingers is the shape of a key
box; the skin of the neck is the shape of a collar for the throat; the skin
of the face [252] is the shape of an insects' nest full of holes; the skin of
the head is the shape of a bowl bag.
95. The meditator who is discerning the skin should first define the
inner skin that covers the face, working his knowledge over the face
beginning with the upper lip. Next, the inner skin of the frontal bone.
Next, he should define the inner skin of the head, separating, as it were,
the inner skin's connexion with the bone by inserting his knowledge in
between the cranium bone and the inner skin of the head, as he might his
hand in between the bag and the bowl put in the bag. Next, the inner skin
of the shoulders. Next, the inner skin of the right arm forwards and
backwards; and then in the same way the inner skin of the left arm. Next,
after defining the inner skin of the back, he should define the inner skin
of the right leg forwards and backwards; then the inner skin of the left
leg in the same way. Next, the inner skin of the groin, the paunch, the
bosom and the neck should be successively defined. Then, after defining
the inner skin of the lower jaw next after that of the neck, he should
finish on arriving at the lower lip. When he discerns it in the gross in this
way, it becomes evident to him more subtly too.
96. As to direction, it lies in both directions. As to location, it covers
the whole body. As to delimitation, it is bounded below by its fixed
surface, and above by space ...
[FLESH]
97. There are nine hundred pieces of flesh. As to colour, it is all red,
like kimsuka flowers. As to shape, the flesh of the calves is the shape of
cooked rice in a palm-leaf bag. The flesh of the thighs is the shape of a
rolling pin.
23
The flesh of the buttocks is the shape of the end of an oven.
The flesh of the back is the shape of a slab of palm sugar. The flesh
between each two ribs is the shape of clay mortar squeezed thin in a
flattened opening. The flesh of the breast is the shape of a lump of clay
made into a ball and flung down. The flesh of the two upper arms is the
shape of a large skinned rat and twice the size. When he discerns it
grossly in this way, it becomes evident to him subtly too.
98. As to direction, it lies in both directions. As to location, it is plas-
tered over the three hundred and odd bones. [253] As to delimitation, it
is bounded below by its surface, which is fixed on to the collection of
bones, and above by the skin, and all round each by each other piece .. .
[SINEWS]
99. There are nine hundred sinews. As to colour, all the sinews are
white. As to shape, they have various shapes. For five of the great
sinews that bind the body together start out from the upper part of the
neck and descend by the front, and five more by the back, and then five
by the right and five by the left. And of those that bind the right hand,
five descend by the front of the hand and five by the back; likewise those
that bind the left hand. And of those that bind the right foot, five descend
by the front and five by the back; likewise those that bind the left foot.
So there are sixty great sinews called 'body supporters' which descend
[from the neck] and bind the body together, and they are also called
'tendons'. They are all the shape of yam shoots. But there are others
scattered over various parts of the body, which are finer than the last-
named. They are the shape of strings and cords. There are others still
finer, the shape of creepers. Others still finer are the shape of large lute
strings. Yet others are the shape of coarse thread. The sinews in the
backs of the hands and feet are the shape of a bird's claw. The sinews in
the head are the shape of children's head nets. The sinews in the back are
the shape of a wet net spread out in the sun. The rest of the sinews,
following the various limbs, are the shape of a net jacket fitted to the
body.
100. As to direction, they lie in the two directions. As to location, they
are to be found binding the bones of the whole body together. As to
delimitation, they are bounded below by their surface, which is fixed on
to the three hundred bones, and above by the portions that are in contact
with the flesh and the inner skin, and all round by each other ...
[BONES]
101. Excepting the 32 teeth bones, these consist of the remaining 64 hand
bones, 64 foot bones, 64 soft bones dependent on the flesh, 2 heel bones;
then in each leg 2 ankle bones, 2 shin bones, 1 knee bone and 1 thigh
bone; then 2 hip bones, 18 spine bones, [254] 24 rib bones, 14 breast
bones, 1 heart bone (sternum), 2 collar bones, 2 shoulder blade bones,
24
2 upper-arm bones, 2 pairs of forearm bones, 7 neck bones, 2 jaw bones,
1 nose bone, 2 eye bones, 2 ear bones, 1 frontal bone, 1 occiput bone,
9 sinciput bones. So there are exactly three hundred bones. As to colour,
they are all white. As to shape, they are of various shapes.
102. Herein, the end bones of the toes are the shape of kataka seeds.
Those next to them in the middle sections are the shape of jak-fruit
seeds. The bones of the base sections are the shape of small drums. The
bones of the back of the foot are the shape of a bunch of bruised yams.
The heel bone is the shape of the seed of a single-stone palmyra fruit.
103. The.ankle bones are the shape of [two] play balls bound together.
The shin bones, in the place where they rest on the ankle bones, are the
shape of a sindi shoot without the skin removed. The small shin bone is
the shape of a [toy] bow stick. The large one is the shape of a shrivelled
snake's back. The knee bone is the shape of a lump of froth melted on
one side. Herein, the place where the shin bone rests on it is the shape of
a blunt cow's horn. The thigh bone is the shape of a badly-pared25
handle
for an axe or hatchet. The place where it fits into the hip bone is the
shape of a play ball. The place in the hip bone where it is set is the shape
of a big punndga fruit with the end cut off.
104. The two hip bones, when fastened together, are the shape of the
ring-fastening of a smith's hammer. The buttock bone on the end [of
them] is the shape of an inverted snake's hood. It is perforated in seven
or eight places. The spine bones are internally the shape of lead-sheet
pipes put one on top of the other, externally they are the shape of a string
of beads. They have two or three rows of projections next to each other
like the teeth of a saw.
105. Of the twenty-four rib bones, the incomplete ones are the shape of
incomplete sabres, [255] and the complete ones are the shape of com-
plete sabres; all together they are like the outspread wings of a white
cock. The fourteen breast bones are the shape of an old chariot frame.
26
The heart bone (sternum) is the shape of the bowl of a spoon. The collar
bones are the shape of small metal knife handles. The shoulder-blade
bones are the shape of a Sinhalese hoe worn down on one side.
106. The upper-arm bones are the shape of looking glass handles. The
forearm bones are the shape of a twin palm's trunks. The wrist bones are
the shape of lead-sheet pipes stuck together. The bones of the back of the
hand are the shape of a bundle of bruised yams. As to the fingers, the
bones of the base sections are the shape of small drums; those of the
middle sections are the shape of immature jak-fruit seeds; those of the
end sections are the shape of kataka seeds.
107. The seven neck bones are the shape of rings of bamboo stem threaded
one after the other on a stick. The lower jaw bone is the shape of a
smith's iron hammer ring-fastening. The upper one is the shape of a
knife for scraping [rind off sugarcane]. The bones of the eye sockets and
nostril sockets are the shape of young palmyra seeds with the kernels
removed. The frontal bone is the shape of an inverted bowl made of a
shell. The bones of the ear-holes are the shape of barbers* razor boxes.
The bone in the place where a cloth is tied [round the head] above the
frontal bone and the ear holes is the shape of a piece of curled-up toffee
flake.
27
The occiput bone is the shape of a lop-sided coconut with a hole
cut in the end. The sinciput bones are the shape of a dish made of an old
gourd held together with stitches.
108. As to direction, they lie in both directions. As to location, they are
to be found indiscriminately throughout the whole body. But in particu-
lar here, the head bones rest on the neck bones, the neck bones on the
spine bones, the spine bones on the hip bones, the hip bones on the thigh
bones, the thigh bones on the knee bones, the knee bones on the shin
bones, the shin bones on the ankle bones, the ankle bones on the bones
of the back of the foot. As to delimitation, they are bounded inside by
the bone marrow, above by the flesh, at the ends and at the roots by each
other...
[BONE MARROW]
109. This is the marrow inside the various bones. As to colour, it is
white. As to shape, [256] that inside each large bone is the shape of a
large cane shoot moistened and inserted into a bamboo tube. That inside
each small bone is the shape of a slender cane shoot moistened and
inserted in a section of bamboo twig. As to direction, it lies in both
directions. As to location, it is set inside the bones. As to delimitation, it
is delimited by the inner surface of the bones ...
[KIDNEY]
110. This is two pieces of flesh with a single ligature. As to colour, it is
dull red, the colour of pdlibhaddhaka seeds. As to shape, it is the shape
of a pair of child's play balls; or it is the shape of a pair of mango fruits
attached to a single stalk. As to direction, it lies in the upper direction.
As to location, it is to be found on either side of the heart flesh, being
fastened by a stout sinew that starts out with one root from the base of
the neck and divides into two after going a short way. As to delimitation,
the kidney is bounded by what appertains to kidney ...
[HEART]
111. This is the heart flesh. As to colour, it is the colour of the back of a
red-lotus petal. As to shape, it is the shape of a lotus bud with the outer
petals removed and turned upside down; it is smooth outside, and inside
it is like the interior of a kosdtaki (loofah gourd). In those who possess
understanding it is a little expanded; in those without understanding it is
still only a bud. Inside it there is a hollow the size of a punndga seed's
bed where half a pasata measure of blood is kept, with which as their
support the mind element and mind-consciousness element occur.
112. That in one of greedy temperament is red; that in one of hating tem-
perament is black; that in one of deluded temperament is like water that
meat has been washed in; that in one of speculative temperament is like
lentil soup in colour; that in one of faithful temperament is the colour of
[yellow] kanikdra flowers; that in one of understanding temperament is
limpid, clear, unturbid, bright, pure, like a washed gem of pure water,
and it seems to shine.
113. As to direction, it lies in the upper direction. As to location, it is to
be found in the middle between the two breasts, inside the body. As to
delimitation, it is bounded by what appertains to heart... [257]
[LIVER]
114. This is a twin slab of flesh. As to colour, it is a brownish shade of
red, the colour of the not-too-red backs of white water-lily petals. As to
shape, with its single root and twin ends, it is the shape of a kovildra
leaf. In sluggish people it is single and large; in those possessed of
understanding there are two or three small ones. As to direction, it lies in
the upper direction. As to location, it is to be found on the right side,
inside from the two breasts. As to delimitation, it is bounded by what
appertains to liver...
[MIDRIFF]
28
115. This is the covering of the flesh, which is of two kinds, namely, the
concealed and the unconcealed. As to colour, both kinds are white, the
colour of dukula (muslin) rags. As to shape, it is the shape of its loca-
tion. As to direction, the concealed midriff lies in the upper direction,
the other in both directions. As to location, the concealed midriff is to be
found concealing the heart and kidney; the unconcealed is to be found
covering the flesh under the inner skin throughout the whole body. As to
delimitation, it is bounded below by the flesh, above by the inner skin,
and all round by what appertains to midriff...
0 comments:
Post a Comment