#010 MASTER T. Message
Hello students,
I think the dirty body is beyond your expectations in using it as a practical tool to support you in having better skills to accumulate the power of mindfulness in you. Thus, I hope you feel good about learning this Life Handbook!
The Life Handbook # 5 The Dirty Body
The dirty body you are learning here is part of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
Next is the section on mindful observation, to observe the body as full of impurities of all kinds. You can use the dirty body to remind your mindfulness to acknowledge the truth of life without pretension or illusion.
My great master, the Lord Buddha, said,
All monks, there is yet another aspect to observe.
Reflect on this very body from the sole of your feet upwards.
And from the hair of the head downward.
It is covered with skin and full of impurities.Consider this:
Hairs of the head, the skin hairs, nails,
Teeth, skin,
Flesh, sinews,
Bones, marrow,
Spleen, heart, liver, membrane
Kidney, lungs,
Intestines, colon,
New food, old food,
Bile, phlegm, mesentery,
Blood, sweat, grease,
Tears, fat, saliva,
Nasal mucus, synovial fluid, urine, and brain cortical
All monks, just as if there were a double-mouthed provision bag
full of various kinds of grains.
What are they?
Corn, hill paddy,
Mungbeans, soybeans,
Sesame seeds, husked rice.
A man with discerning eyes opens the bag
And see
Here is corn.
Here is hill paddy.
These are mung beans.
These are soybeans.
These are sesame seeds.
These are husked rice.
In this same way, monks,
Reflect on this very body from the sole of your feet upwards.
And from the hair of the head downward.
It is covered with skin and full of impurities.
Consider this:
Hairs of the head, the skin hairs, nails,
Teeth, skin,
Flesh, sinews,
Bones, marrow,
Spleen, heart, liver, membrane
Kidney, lungs,
Intestines, colon,
New food, old food,
Bile, phlegm, mesentery,
Blood, sweat, grease,
Tears, fat, saliva,
Nasal mucus, synovial fluid, urine, and brain cortical
Thus, you should observe the dirty body in body internally,
Observe the dirty body in the body externally.
Observe the normality which is arising in the body.
Observe the normality which is passing away in the body.
Observe the normality, which is arising and passing away in the body.
Or be mindful that the dirty body exists and is occurring before you.
But that is to be realized.
But that is to be reminded of.
But you do not attach to it.
And do not attach to anything in your life.
All monks, you should observe the dirty body in the body constantly.
End of observation on the dirty body.
The human body is covered with skin, like a skin bag holding organs. When the skin is stripped off, one can perceive it with the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body-skin, and heart, as well as with the mental faculty and the imagination with sense organs and sense objects internally and externally. In contrast, you are full of mindfulness, completely aware as soon as the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body-skin, and heart in the object, sound, scent, taste, touching skin object, and the perceived things of the heart. The body becomes impure naturally and explicitly visible according to the law of cause and effect while you are mindful and fully aware.
You cannot perceive the body repulsively while meditating in a sitting position with closed eyes. It is because the tools of seeing are closed. But you can hear some sounds inside like the stomach grumbling and groaning, the sound of air, acid and some wind is detected movement. Suddenly you realize what the Life Handbook said above. You are the mind’s eye, or a mindful observer can see the dirty body. While meditating with the eyes closed, some smell comes forth from the body inside with some air movement upwards and downwards and then flows out through the skin pores as sweat and body scent as well as the smell of old food, although the new food is being chewed and swallowed. As mentioned above, being mindful is when you perceive the body as impure.
Whenever you are exposed to the inner body part through the tongue, for example, when sweat, tears, nose mucus or saliva touches the tongue, the feeling inside arises, or even vomit on a hand being tasted arouses repulsiveness. If, at that moment, your mindfulness power could caution you to realize that the body is dirty and lacking beauty. Or when you touch the body through hands or feet or touching parts that cover the body like hair, skin hair, teeth and flesh or even tears or sweat, nose mucus and saliva until you become self-witnesses with the power of mindfulness reminding you to be a mere watcher, then you realize the meaning of the body’s being impurity.
Sometimes, while meditating with the eyes closed, a vision of the dirty body appears without your effort to look at it, enabling you to see the body under the skin. Bones and skulls become dust. You immediately realize that the dirty body is not yours. The impurity is happening in the body. You are a wonder when it is supported by mindfulness. You see the body as an impurity through you through all sense organs or objects. You can perceive by yourself and help from the sense organs. You then realize that it is impermanent, imperfect and uncontrollable and can detach from what you see or what happens.
You continually observe the dirty body in the body internally.” Observe an impurity in the body regularly but never become affected by it. This impurity is new food in the morning but becomes old in the afternoon. In the morning, you defecate to get rid of the old food, and you sweat, spit out saliva, and blood and mucus come out, too.
Sometimes the physical condition and elements go up and down. Sometimes the body becomes ill. Hair falls out, and changes colour, and so other organs change. But you are not aware of them because you lack the help of mindfulness and do not know how to bring yourself back home. You become deceived by ignorance, craving, and imagination that the body is beautiful and should be enhanced by the overuse of cosmetics and food. Moreover, you are attached to desire and lust in objects, sound, smell, taste, and skin touching things.
On the other hand, today, you can bring yourself back home, be mindful or aware all the time, and see physical beauty as natural, constantly changing, and passing away. The metaphor of a double mouth bag and double existence containing all kinds of grains and seeds for you to open and see what it has inside enables you to discern internally. You become aware that the skin covers impurities you do not want to cling to. You place yourself as an observer, watching it disappear and letting go of it miraculously.
The Life Handbook directed you to use the dirty body to concentrate or understand the FFM about “being detached from life” and go directly to enlightenment.
The joy of detachment and the suffering of attachment are different.
You will advance in mindfulness and quickly caution yourself and make it strong and able to be aware of ignorance, craving and delusion that come through the thoughts, words and actions of you who are less greedy, angry and deceived.
See you again.
Your master,
Master T.