VIII Other Recollections as Meditation Subjects¶
Anussati-kammaṭṭhāna-niddesa
1 (7) Mindfulness of Death
§1. {283|225}[229] Now comes the description of the development of mindfulness of death, which was listed next (III.105).
1.1 Definitions
Herein, death (maraṇa) is the interruption of the life faculty included within [the limits of] a single becoming (existence). But death as termination (cutting off), in other words, the Arahant’s termination of the suffering of the round, is not intended here, nor is momentary death, in other words, the momentary dissolution of formations, nor the “death” of conventional (metaphorical) usage in such expressions as “dead tree,” “dead metal,” and so on.
§2. As intended here it is of two kinds, that is to say, timely death and untimely death. Herein, timely death comes about with the exhaustion of merit or with the exhaustion of a life span or with both. Untimely death comes about through kamma that interrupts [other, life-producing] kamma.
§3. Herein, death through exhaustion of merit is a term for the kind of death that comes about owing to the result of [former] rebirth-producing kamma’s having finished ripening although favourable conditions for prolonging the continuity of a life span may be still present. Death through exhaustion of a life span is a term for the kind of death that comes about owing to the exhaustion of the normal life span of men of today, which measures only a century owing to want of such excellence in destiny [as deities have] or in time [as there is at the beginning of an aeon] or in nutriment [as the Uttarakurus and so on have]. 1 Untimely death is a term for the death of those whose continuity is interrupted by kamma capable of causing them to fall (cāvana) from their place at that very moment, as in the case of Dūsi-Māra (see [ M ] I 337), Kalāburājā (see [ J-a ] III 39), etc., 2 or for the death of those whose [life’s] continuity is interrupted by assaults with weapons, etc., due to previous kamma. [230] All these are included under the interruption of {284|226}the life faculty of the kinds already stated. So mindfulness of death is the remembering of death, in other words, of the interruption of the life faculty.
1.2 Development
§4. One who wants to develop this should go into solitary retreat and exercise attention wisely in this way: “Death will take place; the life faculty will be interrupted,” or “Death, death.”
§5. If he exercises his attention unwisely in recollecting the [possible] death of an agreeable person, sorrow arises, as in a mother on recollecting the death of her beloved child she bore; and gladness arises in recollecting the death of a disagreeable person, as in enemies on recollecting the death of their enemies; and no sense of urgency arises on recollecting the death of neutral people, as happens in a corpse-burner on seeing a dead body; and anxiety arises on recollecting one’s own death, as happens in a timid person on seeing a murderer with a poised dagger.
§6. In all that there is neither mindfulness nor sense of urgency nor knowledge. So he should look here and there at beings that have been killed or have died, and advert to the death of beings already dead but formerly seen enjoying good things, doing so with mindfulness, with a sense of urgency and with knowledge, after which he can exercise his attention in the way beginning, “Death will take place.” By so doing he exercises it wisely. He exercises it as a [right] means, is the meaning. 3
§7. When some exercise it merely in this way, their hindrances get suppressed, their mindfulness becomes established with death as its object, and the meditation subject reaches access.
1.3 Eight ways of recollecting death
§8. But one who finds that it does not get so far should do his recollecting of death in eight ways, that is to say: (1) as having the appearance of a murderer, (2) as the ruin of success, (3) by comparison, (4) as to sharing the body with many, (5) as to the frailty of life, (6) as signless, (7) as to the limitedness of the extent, (8) as to the shortness of the moment.
Having the appearance of a murderer
§9. 1. Herein, as having the appearance of a murderer: he should do his recollecting thus, “Just as a murderer appears with a sword, thinking, ‘I shall cut this man’s head off,’ and applies it to his neck, so death appears.” Why? Because it comes with birth and it takes away life.
§10. As budding toadstools always come up lifting dust on their tops, so beings are born along with aging and death. For accordingly their rebirth-linking consciousness reaches aging immediately next to its arising and then breaks up together with its associated aggregates, like a stone that falls from the summit of a rock. [231] So to begin with, momentary death comes along with birth. But death is inevitable for what is born; consequently the kind of death intended here also comes along with birth.
§11. {285|227}Therefore, just as the risen sun moves on towards its setting and never turns back even for a little while from wherever it has got to, or just as a mountain torrent sweeps by with a rapid current, ever flowing and rushing on and never turning back even for a little while, so too this living being travels on towards death from the time when he is born, and he never turns back even for a little while. Hence it is said:
“Right from the very day a man
Has been conceived inside a womb
He cannot but go on and on,
Nor going can he once turn back” ( [ J-a ] IV 494).
§12. And whilst he goes on thus death is as near to him as drying up is to rivulets in the summer heat, as falling is to the fruits of trees when the sap reaches their attachments in the morning, as breaking is to clay pots tapped by a mallet, as vanishing is to dewdrops touched by the sun’s rays. Hence it is said:
“The nights and days go slipping by
As life keeps dwindling steadily
Till mortals’ span, like water pools
In failing rills, is all used up” ( [ S ] I 109).
“As there is fear, when fruits are ripe,
That in the morning they will fall,
So mortals are in constant fear,
When they are born, that they will die.
And as the fate of pots of clay
Once fashioned by the potter’s hand,
Or small or big or baked or raw, 4
Condemns them to be broken up,
So mortals’ life leads but to death” ( [ Sn ] p. 576f.).
“The dewdrop on the blade of grass
Vanishes when the sun comes up;
Such is a human span of life;
So, mother, do not hinder me” ( [ J-a ] IV 122).
§13. So this death, which comes along with birth, is like a murderer with poised sword. And like the murderer who applies the sword to the neck, it carries off life and never returns to bring it back. [232] That is why, since death appears like a murderer with poised sword owing to its coming along with birth and carrying off life, it should be recollected as “having the appearance of a murderer.”
Ruin of success
§14. 2. As the ruin of success: here success shines as long as failure does not overcome it. And the success does not exist that might endure out of reach of failure. Accordingly:
“He gave with joy a hundred millions
After conquering all the earth,
Till in the end his realm came down
{286|228}To less than half a gall-nut’s worth.
Yet when his merit was used up,
His body breathing its last breath,
The Sorrowless Asoka too 5
Felt sorrow face to face with death.”
§15. Furthermore, all health ends in sickness, all youth ends in aging, all life ends in death; all worldly existence is procured by birth, haunted by aging, surprised by sickness, and struck down by death. Hence it is said:
“As though huge mountains made of rock
So vast they reached up to the sky
Were to advance from every side,
Grinding beneath them all that lives,
So age and death roll over all,
Warriors, priests, merchants, and craftsmen,
The outcastes and the scavengers,
Crushing all beings, sparing none.
And here no troops of elephants,
No charioteers, no infantry,
No strategy in form of spells,
No riches, serve to beat them off” ( [ S ] I 102).
This is how death should be recollected as the “ruin of success” by defining it as death’s final ruining of life’s success.
By comparison
§16. 3. By comparison: by comparing oneself to others. Herein, death should be recollected by comparison in seven ways, that is to say: with those of great fame, with those of great merit, with those of great strength, with those of great supernormal power, with those of great understanding, with Paccekabuddhas, with fully enlightened Buddhas. How?
§17. [233] Although Mahāsammata, Mandhātu, Mahāsudassana, Daḷhanemi, Nimi, 6 etc., 7 were greatly famous and had a great following, and though they had amassed enormous wealth, yet death inevitably caught up with them at length, so how shall it not at length overtake me?
Great kings like Mahāsammata,
Whose fame did spread so mightily,
All fell into death’s power too;
What can be said of those like me?
{287|229}It should be recollected in this way, firstly, by comparison with those of great fame.
§18. How by comparison with those of great merit?
Jotika, Jaṭila, Ugga,
And Meṇḍaka, and Puṇṇaka
These, the world said, and others too,
Did live most meritoriously;
Yet they came one and all to death;
What can be said of those like me?
It should be recollected in this way by comparison with those of great merit.
§19. How by comparison with those of great strength?
Vāsudeva, Baladeva,
Bhīmasena, Yuddhiṭṭhila,
And Cāṇura the wrestler,
Were in the Exterminator’s power.
Throughout the world they were renowned
As blessed with strength so mighty;
They too went to the realm of death;
What can be said of those like me?
It should be recollected in this way by comparison with those of great strength.
§20. How by comparison with those of great supernormal power?
The second of the chief disciples,
The foremost in miraculous powers,
Who with the point of his great toe
Did rock Vejayanta’s Palace towers,
Like a deer in a lion’s jaw, he too,
Despite miraculous potency,
Fell in the dreadful jaws of death;
What can be said of those like me?
It should be recollected in this way by comparison with those of great supernormal power.
§21. How by comparison with those of great understanding? [234]
The first of the two chief disciples
Did so excel in wisdom’s art
That, save the Helper of the World,
No being is worth his sixteenth part.
But though so great was Sāriputta’s
Understanding faculty,
He fell into death’s power too;
What can be said of those like me?
It should be recollected in this way by comparison with those of great understanding.
§22. {288|230}How by comparison with Paccekabuddhas? Even those who by the strength of their own knowledge and energy crushed all the enemy defilements and reached enlightenment for themselves, who [stood alone] like the horn of the rhinoceros (see [ Sn ] p. 35f.), who were self-perfected, were still not free from death. So how should I be free from it?
To help them in their search for truth
The Sages various signs employed,
Their knowledge brought them self-perfection,
Their cankers were at length destroyed.
Like the rhinoceros’s horn
They lived alone in constancy,
But death they could no way evade;
What can be said of those like me?
It should be recollected in this way by comparison with Paccekabuddhas.
§23. How by comparison with fully enlightened Buddhas? Even the Blessed One, whose material body was embellished with the eighty lesser details and adorned with the thirty-two marks of a great man (see MN 91; DN 30), whose Dhamma body brought to perfection the treasured qualities of the aggregates of virtue, etc., 8 made pure in every aspect, who overpassed greatness of fame, greatness of merit, greatness of strength, greatness of supernormal power and greatness of understanding, who had no equal, who was the equal of those without equal, without double, accomplished and fully enlightened—even he was suddenly quenched by the downpour of death’s rain, as a great mass of fire is quenched by the downpour of a rain of water.
And so the Greatest Sage possessed
Such mighty power in every way,
And it was not through fear or guilt
That over him Death held his sway.
No being, not even one without
Guilt or pusillanimity,
But will be smitten down; so how I
Will he not conquer those like me?
It should be recollected in this way by comparison with fully enlightened Buddhas.
§24. When he does his recollecting in this way by comparing himself with others possessed of such great fame, etc., in the light of the universality of death, thinking, “Death will come to me even as it did to those distinguished beings,” then his meditation subject reaches access. This is how death should be recollected by comparison. [235]
Sharing of the body with many
§25. 4. As to the sharing of the body with many: this body is shared by many. Firstly, it is shared by the eighty families of worms. There too, creatures live in dependence {289|231}on the outer skin, feeding on the outer skin; creatures live in dependence on the inner skin, feeding on the inner skin; creatures live in dependence on the flesh, feeding on the flesh; creatures live in dependence on the sinews, feeding on the sinews; creatures live in dependence on the bones, feeding on the bones; and creatures live in dependence on the marrow, feeding on the marrow. And there they are born, grow old and die, evacuate, and make water; and the body is their maternity home, their hospital, their charnel-ground, their privy and their urinal. The body can also be brought to death with the upsetting of these worms. And just as it is shared with the eighty families of worms, so too it is shared by the several hundred internal diseases, as well as by such external causes of death as snakes, scorpions, and what not.
§26. And just as when a target is set up at a crossroads and then arrows, spears, pikes, stones, etc., come from all directions and fall upon it, so too all kinds of accidents befall the body, and it also comes to death through these accidents befalling it. Hence the Blessed One said: “Here, bhikkhus, when day is departing and night is drawing on, 9 a bhikkhu considers thus: ‘In many ways I can risk death. A snake may bite me, or a scorpion may sting me, or a centipede may sting me. I might die of that, and that would set me back. Or I might stumble and fall, or the food I have eaten might disagree with me, or my bile might get upset, or my phlegm might get upset [and sever my joints as it were] like knives. I might die of that, and that would set me back’” ( [ A ] III 306).
That is how death should be recollected as to sharing the body with many.
Fraility of life
§27. 5. As to the frailty of life: this life is impotent and frail. For the life of beings is bound up with breathing, it is bound up with the postures, it is bound up with cold and heat, it is bound up with the primary elements, and it is bound up with nutriment.
§28. Life occurs only when the in-breaths and out-breaths occur evenly. But when the wind in the nostrils that has gone outside does not go in again, or when that which has gone inside does not come out again, then a man is reckoned to be dead.
And it occurs only when the four postures are found occurring evenly. [236]
But with the prevailing of anyone of them the life process is interrupted.
And it occurs only when cold and heat are found occurring evenly. But it fails when a man is overcome by excessive cold or heat.
And it occurs only when the four primary elements are found occurring evenly. But with the disturbance of the earth element even a strong man’s life can be terminated if his body becomes rigid, or with the disturbance of one of the elements beginning with water if his body becomes flaccid and petrified with a flux of the bowels, etc., or if he is consumed by a bad fever, or if he suffers a severing of his limb-joint ligatures (cf. XI.102).
{290|232}And life occurs only in one who gets physical nutriment at the proper time; but if he gets none, he uses his life up.
This is how death should be recollected as to the frailty of life.
Signless
§29. 6. As signless: as indefinable. The meaning is that it is unpredictable. For in the case of all beings:
The span, the sickness, and the time, and where
The body will be laid, the destiny:
The living world can never know 10 these things;
There is no sign foretells when they will be.
§30. Herein, firstly the span has no sign because there is no definition such as: Just so much must be lived, no more than that. For beings [die in the various stages of the embryo, namely], at the time of the kalala, of the abbuda, of the pesi, of the ghana, at one month gone, two months gone, three months gone, four months gone, five months gone … ten months gone, and on the occasion of coming out of the womb. And after that they die this side or the other of the century.
§31. And the sickness has no sign because there is no definition such as: Beings die only of this sickness, not of any other. For beings die of eye disease or of any one among those beginning with ear disease (see [ A ] V 110).
§32. And the time has no sign because there is no definition such as: One has to die only at this time, not at any other. For beings die in the morning and at any of the other times such as noon.
§33. And where the body will be laid down has no sign because there is no definition such as: When people die, they must drop their bodies only here, not anywhere else. For the person of those born inside a village is dropped outside the village, and that of those born outside the village is dropped inside it. Likewise that of those born in water is dropped on land, and that of those born on land in water. And this can be multiplied in many ways. [237]
§34. And the destiny has no sign because there is no definition such as: One who dies there must be reborn here. For there are some who die in a divine world and are reborn in the human world, and there are some who die in the human world and are reborn in a divine world, and so on. And in this way the world goes round and round the five kinds of destinies like an ox harnessed to a machine.
This is how death should be recollected as signless.
Limitedness of the extend
§35. 7. As to the limitedness of the extent: the extent of human life is short now. One who lives long lives a hundred years, more or less. Hence the Blessed One said: “Bhikkhus, this human life span is short. There is a new life to be gone to, there are profitable [deeds] to be done, there is the life of purity to be led. There is no not dying for the born. He who lives long lives a hundred years, more or less …”
“The life of humankind is short;
A wise man holds it in contempt
And acts as one whose head is burning;
Death will never fail to come” ( [ S ] I 108).
{291|233}And he said further: “Bhikkhus, there was once a teacher called Araka …” ( [ A ] IV 136), all of which sutta should be given in full, adorned as it is with seven similes.
§36. And he said further: “Bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu develops mindfulness of death thus, ‘Oh, let me live a night and day that I may attend to the Blessed One’s teaching, surely much could be done by me,’ and when a bhikkhu develops mindfulness of death thus, ‘Oh, let me live a day that I may attend to the Blessed One’s teaching, surely much could be done by me,’ and when a bhikkhu develops mindfulness of death thus, ‘Oh, let me live as long as it takes to chew and swallow four or five mouthfuls that I may attend to the Blessed One’s teaching, surely much could be done by me’—these are called bhikkhus who dwell in negligence and slackly develop mindfulness of death for the destruction of cankers. [238]
§37. “And, bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu develops mindfulness of death thus, ‘Oh, let me live for as long as it takes to chew and swallow a single mouthful that I may attend to the Blessed One’s teaching, surely much could be done by me,’ and when a bhikkhu develops mindfulness of death thus, ‘Oh, let me live as long as it takes to breathe in and breathe out, or as long as it takes to breathe out and breathe in, that I may attend to the Blessed One’s teaching, surely much could be done by me’—these are called bhikkhus who dwell in diligence and keenly develop mindfulness of death for the destruction of cankers” ( [ A ] III 305–306).
§38. So short in fact is the extent of life that it is not certain even for as long as it takes to chew and swallow four or five mouthfuls.
This is how death should be recollected as to the limitedness of the extent.
Shortness of the moment
§39. 8. As to the shortness of the moment: in the ultimate sense the life-moment of living beings is extremely short, being only as much as the occurrence of a single conscious moment. Just as a chariot wheel, when it is rolling, rolls [that is, touches the ground] only on one point of [the circumference of] its tire, and, when it is at rest, rests only on one point, so too, the life of living beings lasts only for a single conscious moment. When that consciousness has ceased, the being is said to have ceased, according as it is said: “In a past conscious moment he did live, not he does live, not he will live. In a future conscious moment not he did live, not he does live, he will live. In the present conscious moment not he did live, he does live, not he will live.”
“Life, person, pleasure, pain—just these alone
Join in one conscious moment that flicks by.
Ceased aggregates of those dead or alive
Are all alike, gone never to return.
No [world is] born if [consciousness is] not
Produced; when that is present, then it lives;
When consciousness dissolves, the world is dead:
The highest sense this concept will allow” 11 ( [ Nidd ] I 42).
{293|235}This is how death should be recollected as to the shortness of the moment.
1.4 Conclusion
§40. So while he does his recollecting by means of one or other of these eight ways, his consciousness acquires [the support of] repetition owing to the reiterated attention, mindfulness settles down with death as its object, the hindrances are suppressed, and the jhāna factors make their appearance. But since the object is stated with individual essences, 12 and since it awakens a sense of urgency, the jhāna does not reach absorption and is only access. [239] Now, with special development, the supramundane jhāna and the second and the fourth immaterial jhānas reach absorption even with respect to states with individual essences. For the supramundane reaches absorption by means of {294|236}progressive development of the purification and the immaterial jhānas do so by means of development consisting in the surmounting of the object (see Ch. X) since there [in those two immaterial jhānas] there is merely the surmounting of the object of jhāna that had already reached absorption. But here [in mundane mindfulness of death] there is neither so the jhāna only reaches access. And that access is known as “mindfulness of death” too since it arises through its means.
§41. A bhikkhu devoted to mindfulness of death is constantly diligent. He acquires perception of disenchantment with all kinds of becoming (existence). He conquers attachment to life. He condemns evil. He avoids much storing. He has no stain of avarice about requisites. Perception of impermanence grows in him, following upon which there appear the perceptions of pain and not-self. But while beings who have not developed [mindfulness of] death fall victims to fear, horror and confusion at the time of death as though suddenly seized by wild beasts, spirits, snakes, robbers, or murderers, he dies undeluded and fearless without falling into any such state. And if he does not attain the deathless here and now, he is at least headed for a happy destiny on the breakup of the body.
Now, when a man is truly wise,
His constant task will surely be
This recollection about death
Blessed with such mighty potency.
This is the section dealing with the recollection of death in the detailed explanation.
2 (8) Mindfulness Occupied with the Body
§42. Now comes the description of the development of mindfulness occupied with the body as a meditation subject, which is never promulgated except after an Enlightened One’s arising, and is outside the province of any sectarians. It has been commended by the Blessed One in various ways in different suttas thus: “Bhikkhus, when one thing is developed and repeatedly practiced, it leads to a supreme sense of urgency, to supreme benefit, to supreme surcease of bondage, to supreme mindfulness and full awareness, to acquisition of knowledge and vision, to a happy life here and now, to realization of the fruit of clear vision and deliverance. What is that one thing? It is mindfulness occupied with the body” ( [ A ] I 43). And thus: “Bhikkhus, they savour the deathless who savour mindfulness occupied with the body; they do not savour the deathless who do not savour mindfulness occupied with the body. 13 [240] They have savoured the deathless who have savoured mindfulness occupied with the body; they have not savoured … They have neglected … they have not neglected … They have missed … they have found the deathless who have found mindfulness occupied with the body” ( [ A ] I 45). And it has been described in fourteen sections in the passage beginning, “And how developed, bhikkhus, how repeatedly practiced is mindfulness occupied with the body of great fruit, of great benefit? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, gone to the forest …” ( [ M ] III 89), that is to say, the sections on breathing, on {295|237}postures, on the four kinds of full awareness, on attention directed to repulsiveness, on attention directed to elements, and on the nine charnel-ground contemplations.
§43. Herein, the three, that is to say, the sections on postures, on the four kinds of full awareness (see [ M-a ] I 253f.), and on attention directed to elements, as they are stated [in that sutta], deal with insight. Then the nine sections on the charnel-ground contemplations, as stated there, deal with that particular phase of insight knowledge called contemplation of danger. And any development of concentration in the bloated, etc., that might be implied there has already been explained in the Description of Foulness (Ch. VI). So there are only the two, that is, the sections on breathing and on directing attention to repulsiveness, that, as stated there, deal with concentration. Of these two, the section on breathing is a separate meditation subject, namely, mindfulness of breathing.
2.1 Text
§44. What is intended here as mindfulness occupied with the body is the thirty-two aspects. This meditation subject is taught as the direction of attention to repulsiveness thus: “Again, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu reviews this body, up from the soles of the feet and down from the top of the hair and contained in the skin, as full of many kinds of filth thus: In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidney, heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lungs, bowels, entrails, gorge, dung, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil of the joints, and urine” ( [ M ] III 90), the brain being included in the bone marrow in this version [with a total of only thirty-one aspects].
2.2 Word Commentary
§45. Here is the description of the development introduced by a commentary on the text.
This body: this filthy body constructed out of the four primary elements. Up from the soles of the feet: from the soles of the feet upwards. Down from the top of the hair: from the highest part of the hair downwards. Contained in the skin: terminated all round by the skin. Reviews … as full of many kinds of filth: [241] he sees that this body is packed with the filth of various kinds beginning with head hairs. How? “In this body there are head hairs … urine.”
§46. Herein, there are means, there are found. In this: in this, which is expressed thus: “Up from the soles of the feet and down from the top of the hair and contained in the skin, as full of many kinds of filth.” Body: the carcass; for it is the carcass that is called “body” (kāya) because it is a conglomeration of filth, because such vile (kucchita) things as the head hairs, etc., and the hundred diseases beginning with eye disease, have it as their origin (āya).
Head hairs, body hairs: these things beginning with head hairs are the thirty-two aspects. The construction here should be understood in this way: In this body there are head hairs, in this body there are body hairs.
§47. {296|238}No one who searches throughout the whole of this fathom-long carcass, starting upwards from the soles of the feet, starting downwards from the top of the head, and starting from the skin all round, ever finds even the minutest atom at all beautiful in it, such as a pearl, or a gem, or beryl, or aloes, 14 or saffron, or camphor, or talcum powder; on the contrary he finds nothing but the various very malodorous, offensive, drab-looking sorts of filth consisting of the head hairs, body hairs, and the rest. Hence it is said: “In this body there are head hairs, body hairs … urine.”
This is the commentary on the word-construction here.
2.3 Development
§48. Now, a clansman who, as a beginner, wants to develop this meditation subject should go to a good friend of the kind already described (III.61–73) and learn it. And the teacher who expounds it to him should tell him the sevenfold skill in learning and the tenfold skill in giving attention.
The Sevenfold Skill in Learning
Herein, the sevenfold skill in learning should be told thus: (1) as verbal recitation, (2) as mental recitation, (3) as to colour, (4) as to shape, (5) as to direction, (6) as to location, (7) as to delimitation.
§49. 1. This meditation subject consists in giving attention to repulsiveness. Even if one is master of the Tipiṭaka, the verbal recitation should still be done at the time of first giving it attention. For the meditation subject only becomes evident to some through recitation, as it did to the two elders who learned the meditation subject from the Elder Mahā Deva of the Hill Country (Malaya). On being asked for the meditation subject, it seems, the elder [242] gave the text of the thirty-two aspects, saying, “Do only this recitation for four months.” Although they were familiar respectively with two and three Piṭakas, it was only at the end of four months of recitation of the meditation subject that they became stream-enterers, with right apprehension [of the text]. So the teacher who expounds the meditation subject should tell the pupil to do the recitation verbally first.
§50. Now, when he does the recitation, he should divide it up into the “skin pentad,” etc., and do it forwards and backwards. After saying “Head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin,” he should repeat it backwards, “Skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
§51. Next to that, with the “kidney pentad,” after saying “Flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidney,” he should repeat it backwards, “Kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
§52. Next, with the “lungs pentad,” after saying “Heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lungs,” he should repeat it backwards, “Lungs, spleen, midriff, liver, heart; kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
§53. {297|239}Next, with the “brain pentad,” after saying “Bowels, entrails, gorge, dung, brain,” he should repeat it backwards, “Brain, dung, gorge, entrails, bowels; lungs, spleen, midriff, liver, heart; kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
§54. Next, with the “fat sextad,” after saying “Bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat,” he should repeat it backwards, “Fat, sweat, blood, pus, phlegm, bile; brain, dung, gorge, entrails, bowels; lungs, spleen, midriff, liver, heart; kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.”
§55. Next, with the “urine sextad,” after saying “Tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil of the joints, urine,” he should repeat it backwards, “Urine, oil of the joints, snot, spittle, grease, tears; fat, sweat, blood, pus, phlegm, bile; brain, dung, gorge, entrails, bowels; lungs, spleen, midriff, liver, heart; kidney, bone marrow, bones, sinews, flesh; skin, teeth, nails, body hairs, head hairs.” [243]
§56. The recitation should be done verbally in this way a hundred times, a thousand times, even a hundred thousand times. For it is through verbal recitation that the meditation subject becomes familiar, and the mind being thus prevented from running here and there, the parts become evident and seem like [the fingers of] a pair of clasped hands, 15 like a row of fence posts.
§57. 2. The mental recitation should be done just as it is done verbally. For the verbal recitation is a condition for the mental recitation, and the mental recitation is a condition for the penetration of the characteristic [of foulness]. 16
§58. 3. As to colour: the colour of the head hairs, etc., should be defined.
4. As to shape: their shape should be defined too.
5. As to direction: in this body, upwards from the navel is the upward direction, and downwards from it is the downward direction. So the direction should be defined thus: “This part is in this direction.”
6. As to location: the location of this or that part should be defined thus: “This part is established in this location.”
§59. 7. As to delimitation: there are two kinds of delimitation, that is, delimitation of the similar and delimitation of the dissimilar. Herein, delimitation of the similar should be understood in this way: “This part is delimited above and below and around by this.” Delimitation of the dissimilar should be understood as non-intermixed-ness in this way: “Head hairs are not body hairs, and body hairs are not head hairs.”
§60. When the teacher tells the skill in learning in seven ways thus, he should do so knowing that in certain suttas this meditation subject is expounded from the point of view of repulsiveness and in certain suttas from the point of view of elements. For in the Mahā Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (DN 22) it is expounded only as repulsiveness. In the Mahā Hatthipadopama Sutta (MN 28), in the Mahā {298|240}Rāhulovāda Sutta (MN 62), and the Dhātuvibhaṅga (MN 140, also [ Vibh ] 82), it is expounded as elements. In the Kāyagatāsati Sutta (MN 119), however, four jhānas are expounded with reference to one to whom it has appeared as a colour [kasiṇa] (see III.107). Herein, it is an insight meditation subject that is expounded as elements and a serenity meditation subject that is expounded as repulsiveness. Consequently it is only the serenity meditation subject [that is relevant] here.
The Tenfold Skill in Giving Attention
§61. Having thus told the sevenfold skill in learning, he should tell the tenfold skill in giving attention as follows: (1) as to following the order, (2) not too quickly, (3) not too slowly (4) as to warding off distraction, (5) as to surmounting the concept, (6) as to successive leaving, (7) as to absorption, (8)–(10) as to the three suttantas.
§62. 1. Herein, as to following the order: from the time of beginning the recitation [244] attention should be given following the serial order without skipping. For just as when someone who has no skill climbs a thirty-two-rung ladder using every other step, his body gets exhausted and he falls without completing the climb, so too, one who gives it attention skipping [parts] becomes exhausted in his mind and does not complete the development since he fails to get the satisfaction that ought to be got with successful development.
§63. 2. Also when he gives attention to it following the serial order, he should do so not too quickly. For just as when a man sets out on a three-league journey, even if he has already done the journey out and back a hundred times rapidly without taking note of [turnings] to be taken and avoided, though he may finish his journey, he still has to ask how to get there, so too, when the meditator gives his attention to the meditation subject too quickly, though he may reach the end of the meditation subject, it still does not become clear or bring about any distinction. So he should not give his attention to it too quickly.
§64. 3. And as “not too quickly,” so also not too slowly. For just as when a man wants to do a three-league journey in one day, if he loiters on the way among trees, rocks, pools, etc., he does not finish the journey in a day and needs two or three to complete it, so too, if the meditator gives his attention to the meditation subject too slowly, he does not get to the end and it does not become a condition for distinction.
§65. 4. As to warding off distraction: he must ward off [temptation] to drop the meditation subject and to let his mind get distracted among the variety of external objects. For if not, just as when a man has entered on a one-foot-wide cliff path, if he looks about here and there without watching his step, he may miss his footing and fall down the cliff, which is perhaps as high as a hundred men, so too, when there is outward distraction, the meditation subject gets neglected and deteriorates. So he should give his attention to it warding off distraction.
§66. 5. As to surmounting the concept: this [name-] concept beginning with “head hairs, body hairs” must be surmounted and consciousness established on [the aspect] “repulsive.” For just as when men find a water hole in a forest in a time {299|241}of drought, they hang up some kind of signal there such as a palm leaf, and people come to bathe and drink guided by the signal, [245] but when the way has become plain with their continual traffic, there is no further need of the signal and they go to bathe and drink there whenever they want, so too, when repulsiveness becomes evident to him as he is giving his attention to the meditation subject through the means of the [name-] concept “head hairs, body hairs,” he must surmount the concept “head hairs, body hairs” and establish consciousness on only the actual repulsiveness.
§67. 6. As to successive leaving: in giving his attention he should eventually leave out any [parts] that do not appear to him. For when a beginner gives his attention to head hairs, his attention then carries on till it arrives at the last part, that is, urine and stops there; and when he gives his attention to urine, his attention then carries on till it arrives back at the first part, that is, head hairs, and stops there. As he persists in giving his attention thus, some parts appear to him and others do not. Then he should work on those that have appeared till one out of any two appears the clearer. He should arouse absorption by again and again giving attention to the one that has appeared thus.
§68. Here is a simile. Suppose a hunter wanted to catch a monkey that lived in a grove of thirty-two palms, and he shot an arrow through a leaf of the palm that stood at the beginning and gave a shout; then the monkey went leaping successively from palm to palm till it reached the last palm; and when the hunter went there too and did as before, it came back in like manner to the first palm; and being followed thus again and again, after leaping from each place where a shout was given, it eventually jumped on to one palm, and firmly seizing the palm shoot’s leaf spike in the middle, would not leap any more even when shot—so it is with this.
§69. The application of the simile is this. The thirty-two parts of the body are like the thirty-two palms in the grove. The monkey is like the mind. The meditator is like the hunter. The range of the meditator’s mind in the body with its thirty-two parts as object is like the monkey’s inhabiting the palm grove of thirty-two palms. The settling down of the meditator’s mind in the last part after going successively [from part to part] when he began by giving his attention to head hairs is like the monkey’s leaping from palm to palm and going to the last palm, [246] when the hunter shot an arrow through the leaf of the palm where it was and gave a shout. Likewise in the return to the beginning. His doing the preliminary work on those parts that have appeared, leaving behind those that did not appear while, as he gave his attention to them again and again, some appeared to him and some did not, is like the monkey’s being followed and leaping up from each place where a shout is given. The meditator’s repeated attention given to the part that in the end appears the more clearly of any two that have appeared to him and his finally reaching absorption, is like the monkey’s eventually stopping in one palm, firmly seizing the palm shoot’s leaf spike in the middle and not leaping up even when shot.
§70. There is another simile too. Suppose an alms-food-eater bhikkhu went to live near a village of thirty-two families, and when he got two lots of alms at the first house he left out one [house] beyond it, and next day, when he got three lots {300|242}of [alms at the first house] he left out two [houses] beyond it, and on the third day he got his bowl full at the first [house], and went to the sitting hall and ate—so it is with this.
§71. The thirty-two aspects are like the village with the thirty-two families. The meditator is like the alms-food eater. The meditator’s preliminary work is like the alms-food eater’s going to live near the village. The meditator’s continuing to give attention after leaving out those parts that do not appear and doing his preliminary work on the pair of parts that do appear is like the alms-food eater’s getting two lots of alms at the first house and leaving out one [house] beyond it, and like his next day getting three [lots of alms at the first house] and leaving out two [houses] beyond it. The arousing of absorption by giving attention again and again to that which has appeared the more clearly of two is like the alms-food eater’s getting his bowl full at the first [house] on the third day and then going to the sitting hall and eating.
§72. 7. As to absorption: as to absorption part by part. The intention here is this: it should be understood that absorption is brought about in each one of the parts.
§73. 8–10. As to the three suttantas: the intention here is this: it should be understood that the three suttantas, namely, those on higher consciousness, 17 on coolness, and on skill in the enlightenment factors, have as their purpose the linking of energy with concentration.
§74. 8. Herein, this sutta should be understood to deal with higher consciousness: “Bhikkhus, there are three signs that should be given attention from time to time by a bhikkhu intent on higher consciousness. The sign of concentration should be given attention from time to time, the sign of exertion should be given attention from time to time, the sign of equanimity should be given attention from time to time. [247] If a bhikkhu intent on higher consciousness gives attention only to the sign of concentration, then his consciousness may conduce to idleness. If a bhikkhu intent on higher consciousness gives attention only to the sign of exertion, then his consciousness may conduce to agitation. If a bhikkhu intent on higher consciousness gives attention only to the sign of equanimity, then his consciousness may not become rightly concentrated for the destruction of cankers. But, bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu intent on higher consciousness gives attention from time to time to the sign of concentration … to the sign of exertion … to the sign of equanimity, then his consciousness becomes malleable, wieldy and bright, it is not brittle and becomes rightly concentrated for the destruction of cankers.
§75. “Bhikkhus, just as a skilled goldsmith or goldsmith’s apprentice prepares his furnace and heats it up and puts crude gold into it with tongs; and he blows on it from time to time, sprinkles water on it from time to time, and looks on at it from time to time; and if the goldsmith or goldsmith’s apprentice only blew on the crude gold, it would burn and if he only sprinkled water on it, it would cool down, and if he only looked on at it, it would not get rightly refined; but, when {301|243}the goldsmith or goldsmith’s apprentice blows on the crude gold from time to time, sprinkles water on it from time to time, and looks on at it from time to time, then it becomes malleable, wieldy and bright, it is not brittle, and it submits rightly to being wrought; whatever kind of ornament he wants to work it into, whether a chain or a ring or a necklace or a gold fillet, it serves his purpose.
§76. “So too, bhikkhus, there are three signs that should be given attention from time to time by a bhikkhu intent on higher consciousness … becomes rightly concentrated for the destruction of cankers. [248] He attains the ability to be a witness, through realization by direct-knowledge, of any state realizable by direct-knowledge to which he inclines his mind, whenever there is occasion” ( [ A ] I 256–258). 18
§77. 9. This sutta deals with coolness: “Bhikkhus, when a bhikkhu possesses six things, he is able to realize the supreme coolness. What six? Here, bhikkhus, when consciousness should be restrained, he restrains it; when consciousness should be exerted, he exerts it; when consciousness should be encouraged, he encourages it; when consciousness should be looked on at with equanimity, he looks on at it with equanimity. He is resolute on the superior [state to be attained], he delights in Nibbāna. Possessing these six things a bhikkhu is able to realize the supreme coolness” ( [ A ] III 435).
§78. 10. Skill in the enlightenment factors has already been dealt with in the explanation of skill in absorption (IV.51, 57) in the passage beginning, “Bhikkhus, when the mind is slack, that is not the time for developing the tranquillity enlightenment factor …” ( [ S ] V 113).
§79. So the meditator should make sure that he has apprehended this sevenfold skill in learning well and has properly defined this tenfold skill in giving attention, thus learning the meditation subject properly with both kinds of skill.
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 the difficulties solved. He should leave an abode of an unsuitable kind as described in the Description of the Earth Kasiṇa, and go to live in a suitable one. Then he should sever the minor impediments (IV.20) and set about the preliminary work for giving attention to repulsiveness.
The Thirty-two Aspects in Detail
§81. {302|244}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 ariṭṭhaka 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-bark 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 {303|245}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 carcass 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 [mandolin-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 charnel-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, direction, 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 likhā 22 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 toenails are in the lower direction; the fingernails 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 delimitation, they are bounded in the two {304|246}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 wagon 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 jawbones. As to delimitation, they are bounded by the surface of their own roots which are fixed in the jawbones; 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 destroyed 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 silkworms’ 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 streched 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 connection 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 {305|247}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 kiṃsuka 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 plastered 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 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 {306|248}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 thirty-two teeth bones, these consist of the remaining sixty-four hand bones, sixty-four foot bones, sixty-four soft bones dependent on the flesh, two heel bones; then in each leg two ankle bones, two shin bones, one knee bone and one thigh bone; then two hip bones, eighteen spine bones, [254] twenty-four rib bones, fourteen breast bones, one heart bone (sternum), two collar bones, two shoulder blade bones, 24 two upper-arm bones, two pairs of forearm bones, two neck bones, two jaw bones, one nose bone, two eye bones, two ear bones, one frontal bone, one occipital bone, nine sincipital 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 jackfruit 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 yarns. 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-pared 25 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 punnāga 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. {307|249}Of the twenty-four rib bones, the incomplete ones are the shape of incomplete sabres, [255] and the complete ones are the shape of complete 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 jackfruit 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 jawbone is the shape of a smith’s iron hammer ring-fastening. The upper one is the shape of a knife for scraping [the rind off sugarcanes]. 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 occipital bone is the shape of a lopsided coconut with a hole cut in the end. The sincipital 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 particular 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. {308|250}This is two pieces of flesh with a single ligature. As to colour, it is dull red, the colour of pālibhaddaka (coral tree) 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 kosātakī (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 punnāga 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 temperament 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] kanikāra 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 koviḷāra 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]
[Midriff]
§115. This 28 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 dukūla (muslin) rags. As to shape, it is the shape of its location. As to direction, the {309|251}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 …
[Spleen]
§116. This is the flesh of the belly’s “tongue.” As to colour, it is blue, the colour of nigguṇḍi flowers. As to shape, it is seven fingers in size, without 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 direction, 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 appertains to lungs …
[Bowel]
§118. This is the bowel tube; it is looped 29 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 above at the gullet and below to the excrement passage (rectum), 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 …
[Entrails (Mesentery)]
§119. This is the fastening in the places where the bowel is coiled. As to colour, it is white, the colour of dakasītalika 30 (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 {310|252}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 delimitation, it is bounded by what appertains to entrails …
[Gorge]
§120. This is what has been eaten, drunk, chewed and tasted, and is present 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 cloth 31 soiled by wrapping up meat refuse; or it can be said to be like the inside of the skin of a rotten jack 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 families 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 assortment of food, drink, etc., falls after being pounded up by the tongue and stuck together with spittle and {311|253}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 bums 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 impacted 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 ākulī 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 {312|254}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 itching 34 of the body. The local bile is situated near the flesh of the liver between the heart and the lungs. It is to be found in the bile container (gall bladder), which is like a large kosātakī (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 appertains 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 nāgabalā 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 surface. 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 belchings and the mouth reek with a stench like rotting ordure rising from the stomach, so that the man has to be told, “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 stagnates and goes bad in some part of the body damaged by wounds with stumps and thorns, 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 {313|255}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 lungs, it keeps the kidney, heart, liver and lungs 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 sesame 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 dukūla (muslin) rags placed between the inner skin and the flesh. In the body of a lean man it is the shape of turmeric-coloured dukūla (muslin) rags placed in two or three thicknesses on the shank flesh, thigh flesh, 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 round 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 sesame oil. As to shape, they are the shape of their location. [263] As to direction, they belong to the upper direction. 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 {314|256}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 directions. 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 location, 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. {315|257}This is the slimy ordure inside the joints in the body. As to colour, it is the colour of kaṇikāra 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 lubricating 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 fingers, and when he has walked only one or two leagues’ 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 dissimilar 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 surmounts 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, simultaneously. Hence it was said above in the explanation of skill in giving attention: “For 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 assemblages of parts. And {316|258}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 “Repulsive, 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 counterpart sign.
As he cultivates and develops that counterpart sign, absorption arises in him, but only of the first jhāna, in the same way as described under foulness as a meditation subject (VI.64f.). And it arises singly in one to whom only one part has become evident, or who has reached absorption in one part and makes no further effort about another.
§142. But several first jhānas, according to the number of parts, are produced in one to whom several parts have become evident, or who has reached jhāna 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 Dīgha 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 jhānas 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 jhāna, 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 conqueror 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 … menacing to life” ( [ M ] III 97); he becomes an obtainer of the four jhānas based on the colour aspect of the head hairs, 37 etc.; and he comes to penetrate the six kinds of direct-knowledge (see MN 6).
So let a man, if he is wise,
Untiringly devote his days
To mindfulness of body which
Rewards him in so many ways.
{317|259}This is the section dealing with mindfulness occupied with the body in the detailed treatise.
3 (9) Mindfulness of Breathing
§145. Now comes the description of the development of mindfulness of breathing as a meditation subject. It has been recommended by the Blessed One thus: “And, bhikkhus, this concentration through mindfulness of breathing, when developed and practiced much, is both peaceful and sublime, it is an unadulterated blissful abiding, and it banishes at once and stills evil unprofitable thoughts as soon as they arise” ( [ S ] V 321; [ Vin ] III 70).
3.1 Text
It has been described by the Blessed One as having sixteen bases thus: “And how developed, bhikkhus, how practiced much, is concentration through mindfulness of breathing both peaceful and sublime, an unadulterated blissful abiding, banishing at once and stilling evil unprofitable thoughts as soon as they arise?
“Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, gone to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty place, sits down; having folded his legs crosswise, set his body erect, established mindfulness in front of him, [267] ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out.
“(i) Breathing in long, he knows: ‘I breathe in long;’ or breathing out long, he knows: ‘I breathe out long.’ (ii) Breathing in short, he knows: ‘I breathe in short;’ or breathing out short, he knows: ‘I breathe out short.’ (iii) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body.’ (iv) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquilizing the bodily formation;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquilizing the bodily formation.’
“(v) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing happiness;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing happiness.’ (vi) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing bliss;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing bliss.’ (vii) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the mental formation;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing the mental formation.’ (viii) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquilizing the mental formation;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquilizing the mental formation.’
“(ix) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the [manner of] consciousness;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing the [manner of] consciousness.’ (x) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in gladdening the [manner of] consciousness;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out gladdening the [manner of] consciousness.’ (xi) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in concentrating the [manner of] consciousness;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out concentrating the [manner of] consciousness.’ (xii) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in liberating the [manner of] consciousness;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out liberating the [manner of] consciousness.’ {318|260}“(xiii) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in contemplating impermanence;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out contemplating impermanence.’ (xiv) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in contemplating fading away;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out contemplating fading away.’ (xv) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in contemplating cessation;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out contemplating cessation.’ (xvi) He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in contemplating relinquishment;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out contemplating relinquishment’ ( [ S ] V 321–322).
§146. The description [of development] is complete in all respects, however, only if it is given in due course after a commentary on the text. So it is given here (§186) introduced by a commentary on the [first part of the] text.
3.2 Word Commentary
And how developed, bhikkhus, how practiced much, is concentration through mindfulness of breathing: here in the first place how is a question showing desire to explain in detail the development of concentration through mindfulness of breathing in its various forms. Developed, bhikkhus, … is concentration through mindfulness of breathing: this shows the thing that is being asked about out of desire to explain it in its various forms. How practiced much … as soon as they arise?: here too the same explanation applies.
§147. Herein, developed means aroused or increased, concentration through mindfulness of breathing (lit. “breathing-mindfulness concentration”) is either concentration associated with mindfulness that discerns breathing, or it is concentration on mindfulness of breathing. Practiced much: practiced again and again.
§148. Both peaceful and sublime (santo c’ eva paṇīto ca): it is peaceful in both ways and sublime in both ways; the two words should each be understood as governed by the word “both” (eva). What is meant? Unlike foulness, which as a meditation subject is peaceful and sublime only by penetration, but is neither (n’ eva) peaceful nor sublime in its object since its object [in the learning stage] is gross, and [after that] its object is repulsiveness—unlike that, this is not unpeaceful or unsublime in any way, but on the contrary it is peaceful, stilled and quiet both on account of the peacefulness of its object and on account of the peacefulness of that one of its factors called penetration. And it is sublime, something one cannot have enough of, both on account of the sublimeness of its object and on [268] account of the sublimeness of the aforesaid factor. Hence it is called “both peaceful and sublime.”
§149. It is an unadulterated blissful abiding: it has no adulteration, thus it is unadulterated; it is unalloyed, unmixed, particular, special. Here it is not a question of peacefulness to be reached through preliminary work [as with the kasiṇas] or through access [as with foulness, for instance]. It is peaceful and sublime in its own individual essence too starting with the very first attention given to it. But some 38 say that it is “unadulterated” because it is unalloyed, {319|261}possessed of nutritive value and sweet in its individual essence too. So it should be understood to be “unadulterated” and a “blissful abiding” since it leads to the obtaining of bodily and mental bliss with every moment of absorption.
§150. As soon as they arise: whenever they are not suppressed. Evil: bad. Unprofitable (akusala) thoughts: thoughts produced by unskilfulness (akosalla). It banishes at once: it banishes, suppresses, at that very moment. Stills (vūpasameti): it thoroughly calms (suṭṭhu upasameti); or else, when eventually brought to fulfilment by the noble path, it cuts off, because of partaking of penetration; it tranquilizes, is what is meant.
§151. In brief, however, the meaning here is this: “Bhikkhus, in what way, in what manner, by what system, is concentration through mindfulness of breathing developed, in what way is it practiced much, that it is both peaceful … as soon as they arise?”
§152. He now said, “Here, bhikkhus,” etc., giving the meaning of that in detail.
Herein, here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu means: bhikkhus, in this dispensation a bhikkhu. For this word here signifies the [Buddha’s] dispensation as the prerequisite for a person to produce concentration through mindfulness of breathing in all its modes, 39 and it denies that such a state exists in any other dispensation. For this is said: “Bhikkhus, only here is there an ascetic, here a second ascetic, here a third ascetic, here a fourth ascetic; other dispensations are devoid of ascetics” ( [ M ] I 63; [ A ] II 238). 40 That is why it was said above “in this dispensation a bhikkhu.”
§153. Gone to the forest … or to an empty place: this signifies that he has found an abode favourable to the development of concentration through mindfulness of breathing. For this bhikkhu’s mind has long been dissipated among visible data, etc., as its object, and it does not want to mount the object of concentration-through-mindfulness-of-breathing; it runs off the track like a chariot harnessed to a wild ox. 41 Now, suppose a cowherd [269] wanted to tame a wild calf that had been reared on a wild cow’s milk, he would take it away from the cow and tie it up apart with a rope to a stout post dug into the ground; then the calf might dash to and fro, but being unable to get away, it would eventually sit down or lie down by the post. So too, when a bhikkhu wants to tame his own mind which has long been spoilt by being reared on visible data, etc., as object for its food and drink, he should take it away from visible data, etc., as object and bring it into the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and tie it up there to the post of in-breaths and out-breaths with the rope of mindfulness. And so his mind may then dash to and fro when it no longer gets the objects it was formerly {320|262}used to, but being unable to break the rope of mindfulness and get away, it sits down, lies down, by that object under the influence of access and absorption. Hence the Ancients said:
“Just as a man who tames a calf
Would tie it to a post, so here
Should his own mind by mindfulness
Be firmly to the object tied.”
This is how an abode is favourable to his development. Hence it was said above: “This signifies that he has found an abode favourable to the development of concentration through mindfulness of breathing.”
§155. Or alternatively, this mindfulness of breathing as a meditation subject—which is foremost among the various meditation subjects of all Buddhas, [some] Paccekabuddhas and [some] Buddhas’ disciples as a basis for attaining distinction and abiding in bliss here and now—is not easy to develop without leaving the neighbourhood of villages, which resound with the noises of women, men, elephants, horses, etc., noise being a thorn to jhāna (see [ A ] V 135), whereas in the forest away from a village a meditator can at his ease set about discerning this meditation subject and achieve the fourth jhāna in mindfulness of breathing; and then, by making that same jhāna the basis for comprehension of formations [with insight] (XX.2f.), he can reach Arahantship, the highest fruit. That is why the Blessed One said “gone to the forest,” etc., in pointing out a favourable abode for him.
§156. For the Blessed One is like a master of the art of building sites (see [ D ] I 9, 12; II 87). [270] As the master of the art of building sites surveys the proposed site for a town, thoroughly examines it, and then gives his directions, “Build the town here,” and when the town is safely finished, he receives great honour from the royal family, so the Blessed One examines an abode as to its suitability for the meditator, and he directs, “Devote yourself to the meditation subject here,” and later on, when the meditator has devoted himself to the meditation subject and has reached Arahantship and says, “The Blessed One is indeed fully enlightened,” the Blessed One receives great honour.
§157. And this bhikkhu is compared to a leopard. For just as a great leopard king lurks in a grass wilderness or a jungle wilderness or a rock wilderness in the forest and seizes wild beasts—the wild buffalo, wild ox, boar, etc.—so too, the bhikkhu who devotes himself to his meditation subject in the forest, etc., should be understood to seize successively the paths of stream-entry, once-return, non-return, and Arahantship; and the noble fruitions as well. Hence the Ancients said:
“For as the leopard by his lurking [in the forest] seizes beasts
So also will this Buddhas’ son, with insight gifted, strenuous,
By his retreating to the forest seize the highest fruit of all” ( [ Mil ] 369).
{321|263}So the Blessed One said “gone to the forest,” etc., to point out a forest abode as a place likely to hasten his advancement.
§158. Herein, gone to the forest is gone to any kind of forest possessing the bliss of seclusion among the kinds of forests characterized thus: “Having gone out beyond the boundary post, all that is forest” ( [ Paṭis ] I 176; Vibh 251), and “A forest abode is five hundred bow lengths distant” ( [ Vin ] IV 183). To the root of a tree: gone to the vicinity of a tree. To an empty place: gone to an empty, secluded space. And here he can be said to have gone to an “empty place” if he has gone to any of the remaining seven kinds of abode (resting place). 42 [271]
§159. Having thus indicated an abode that is suitable to the three seasons, suitable to humour and temperament, 43 and favourable to the development of mindfulness of breathing, he then said sits down, etc., indicating a posture that is peaceful and tends neither to idleness nor to agitation. Then he said having folded his legs crosswise, etc., to show firmness in the sitting position, easy occurrence of the in-breaths and out-breaths, and the means for discerning the object.
§160. Herein, crosswise is the sitting position with the thighs fully locked. Folded: having locked. Set his body erect: having placed the upper part of the body erect with the eighteen backbones resting end to end. For when he is seated like this, his skin, flesh and sinews are not twisted, and so the feelings that would arise moment by moment if they were twisted do not arise. That being so, his mind becomes unified, and the meditation subject, instead of collapsing, attains to growth and increase.
§161. Established mindfulness in front of him (parimukhaṃ satiṃ upaṭṭhapetvā) = having placed (ṭhapayitvā) mindfulness (satiṃ) facing the meditation subject (kammaṭṭhānābhimukhaṃ). Or alternatively, the meaning can be treated here too according to the method of explanation given in the Paṭisambhidā, which is this: Pari has the sense of control (pariggaha), mukhaṃ (lit. mouth) has the sense of outlet (niyyāna), sati has the sense of establishment (upaṭṭhāna); that is why parimukhaṃ satiṃ (‘mindfulness as a controlled outlet’) is said” ( [ Paṭis ] I 176). The meaning of it in brief is: Having made mindfulness the outlet (from opposition, forgetfulness being thereby] controlled. 44
§162. Ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out: having seated himself thus, having established mindfulness thus, the bhikkhu does not abandon that mindfulness; ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out; he is a mindful worker, is what is meant.
3.3 Word Commentary Continued—First Tetrad
§163. {322|264}(i) Now, breathing in long, etc., is said in order to show the different ways in which he is a mindful worker. For in the Paṭisambhidā, in the exposition of the clause, “Ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out,” this is said: “He is a mindful worker in thirty-two ways: (1) when he knows unification of mind and non-distraction by means of a long in-breath, mindfulness is established in him; owing to that mindfulness and that knowledge he is a mindful worker. (2) When he knows unification of mind and non-distraction by means of a long out-breath … (31) by means of breathing in contemplating relinquishment … (32) When he knows unification of mind and non-distraction by means of breathing out contemplating relinquishment, mindfulness is established in him; owing to that mindfulness and that knowledge he is a mindful worker” ( [ Paṭis ] I 176).
§164. Herein, breathing in long (assasanto) is producing a long in-breath. [272] “Assāsa is the wind issuing out; passāsa is the wind entering in” is said in the Vinaya Commentary. But in the Suttanta Commentaries it is given in the opposite sense. Herein, when any infant comes out from the mother’s womb, first the wind from within goes out and subsequently the wind from without enters in with fine dust, strikes the palate and is extinguished [with the infant’s sneezing]. This, firstly, is how assāsa and passāsa should be understood.
§165. But their length and shortness should be understood by extent (addhāna). For just as water or sand that occupies an extent of space is called a “long water,” a “long sand,” a “short water,” a “short sand,” so in the case of elephants’ and snakes’ bodies the in-breaths and out-breaths regarded as particles 45 slowly fill the long extent, in other words, their persons, and slowly go out again. That is why they are called “long.” They rapidly fill a short extent, in other words, the person of a dog, a hare, etc., and rapidly go out again. That is why they are called “short.”
§166. And in the case of human beings some breathe in and breathe out long, by extent of time, as elephants, snakes, etc., do, while others breathe in and breathe out short in that way as dogs, hares, etc., do. Of these, therefore, the breaths that travel over a long extent in entering in and going out are to be understood as long in time; and the breaths that travel over a little extent in entering in and going out, as short in time.
§167. Now, this bhikkhu knows “I breathe in, I breathe out, long” while breathing in and breathing out long in nine ways. And the development of the foundation of mindfulness consisting in contemplation of the body should be understood to be perfected in one aspect in him who knows thus, according as it is said in the Paṭisambhidā:
§168. {323|265}“How, breathing in long, does he know: ‘I breathe in long,’ breathing out long, does he know: ‘I breathe out long?’ (1) He breathes in a long in-breath reckoned as an extent. (2) He breathes out a long out-breath reckoned as an extent. (3) He breathes in and breathes out long in-breaths and out-breaths reckoned as an extent. As he breathes in and breathes out long in-breaths and out-breaths reckoned as an extent, zeal arises. 46 (4) Through zeal he breathes in a long in-breath more subtle than before reckoned as an extent. (5) Through zeal he breathes out a long out-breath more subtle than before reckoned as an extent. (6) Through zeal he breathes in and breathes out long in-breaths and out-breaths more subtle than before reckoned as an extent. As, through zeal, he breathes in and breathes out long in-breaths and out-breaths more subtle than before reckoned as an extent, gladness arises. [273] (7) Through gladness he breathes in a long in-breath more subtle than before reckoned as an extent. (8) Through gladness he breathes out a long out-breath more subtle than before reckoned as an extent. (9) Through gladness he breathes in and breathes out long in-breaths and out-breaths more subtle than before reckoned as an extent. As, through gladness, he breathes in and breathes out long in-breaths and out-breaths more subtle than before reckoned as an extent, his mind turns away from the long in-breaths and out-breaths and equanimity is established.
“Long in-breaths and out-breaths in these nine ways are a body. The establishment (foundation) 47 is mindfulness. The contemplation is knowledge. {324|266}The body is the establishment (foundation), but it is not the mindfulness. Mindfulness is both the establishment (foundation) and the mindfulness. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge he contemplates that body. That is why ‘development of the foundation (establishment) of mindfulness consisting in contemplation of the body as a body’ (see [ D ] II 290) is said” ( [ Paṭis ] I 177).
§169. (ii) The same method of explanation applies also in the case of short breaths. But there is this difference. While in the former case “a long in-breath reckoned as an extent” is said, here “a short in-breath reckoned as a little {325|267}[duration]” ( [ Paṭis ] I 182) is given. So it must be construed as “short” as far as the phrase “That is why ‘development of the foundation (establishment) of mindfulness consisting in contemplation of the body as a body’ is said” ( [ Paṭis ] I 183).
§170. So it should be understood that it is when this bhikkhu knows in-breaths and out-breaths in these nine ways as “a [long] extent” and as “a little [duration]” that “breathing in long, he knows ‘I breathe in long;’ … breathing out short, he knows ‘I breathe out short’ is said of him. And when he knows thus:
“The long kind and the short as well,
The in-breath and the out-breath too,
Such then are the four kinds that happen
At the bhikkhu’s nose tip here.”
§171. (iii) He trains thus: “I shall breathe in … I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body”: he trains thus: “I shall breathe in making known, making plain, the beginning, middle and end 48 of the entire in-breath body. I shall breathe out making known, making plain, the beginning, middle and end of the entire out-breath body,” thus he trains. Making them known, making them plain, in this way he both breathes in and breathes out with consciousness associated with knowledge. That is why it is said, “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out …’”
§172. To one bhikkhu the beginning of the in-breath body or the out-breath body, distributed in particles, [that is to say, regarded as successive arisings (see note 45)] is plain, but not the middle or the end; he is only able to discern the beginning and has difficulty with the middle and the end. To another the middle is plain, not the beginning or the end; he is only able to discern the middle and has difficulty with the beginning and the end. To another the end is plain, not the beginning or the middle; he is only able to discern the end [274] and has difficulty with the beginning and the middle. To yet another all stages are plain; he is able to discern them all and has no difficulty with any of them. Pointing out that one should be like the last-mentioned bhikkhu, he said: “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out experiencing the whole body.’”
§173. Herein, he trains: he strives, he endeavours in this way. Or else the restraint here in one such as this is training in the higher virtue, his consciousness is training in the higher consciousness, and his understanding is training in the higher understanding (see [ Paṭis ] I 184). So he trains in, repeats, develops, repeatedly practices, these three kinds of training, on that object, by means of that mindfulness, by means of that attention. This is how the meaning should be regarded here.
§174. {326|268}Herein, in the first part of the system (nos. i and ii) 49 he should only breathe in and breathe out and not do anything else at all, and it is only afterwards that he should apply himself to the arousing of knowledge, and so on. Consequently the present tense is used here in the text, “He knows: ‘I breathe in’ … he knows: ‘I breathe out.’” But the future tense in the passage beginning “I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body” should be understood as used in order to show that the aspect of arousing knowledge, etc., has to be undertaken from then on.
§175. (iv) He trains thus: “I shall breathe in … shall breathe out tranquilizing the bodily formation;” he trains thus: “I shall breathe in, shall breathe out tranquilizing, completely tranquilizing, stopping, stilling, the gross bodily formation 50 ”.
§176. And here both the gross and subtle state and also [progressive] tranquilizing should be understood. For previously, at the time when the bhikkhu has still not discerned [the meditation subject], his body and his mind are disturbed and so they are gross. And while the grossness of the body and the mind has still not subsided the in-breaths and out-breaths are gross. They get stronger; his nostrils become inadequate, and he keeps breathing in and out through his mouth. But they become quiet and still when his body and mind have been discerned. When they are still then the in-breaths and out-breaths occur so subtly that he has to investigate whether they exist or not.
§177. Suppose a man stands still after running, or descending from a hill, or putting down a big load from his head, then his in-breaths and out-breaths are gross, his nostrils become inadequate, and he keeps on breathing in and out through his mouth. But when he has rid himself of his fatigue and has bathed and drunk [275] and put a wet cloth on his heart, and is lying in the cool shade, then his in-breaths and out-breaths eventually occur so subtly that he has to investigate whether they exist or not; so too, previously, at the time when the bhikkhu has still not discerned, … he has to investigate whether they exist or not.
§178. Why is that? Because previously, at the time when he has still not discerned, there is no concern in him, no reaction, no attention, no reviewing, to the effect that “I am [progressively] tranquilizing each grosser bodily formation.” But when he has discerned, there is. So his bodily formation at the time when he has {327|269}discerned is subtle in comparison with that at the time when he has not. Hence the Ancients said:
“The mind and body are disturbed,
And then in excess it occurs;
But when the body is undisturbed,
Then it with subtlety occurs.”
§179. In discerning [the meditation subject the formation] is gross, and it is subtle [by comparison] in the first-jhāna access; also it is gross in that, and subtle [by comparison] in the first jhāna; in the first jhāna and second-jhāna access it is gross, and in the second jhāna subtle; in the second jhāna and third-jhāna access it is gross, and in the third jhāna subtle; in the third jhāna and fourth-jhāna access it is gross, and in the fourth jhāna it is so exceedingly subtle that it even reaches cessation. This is the opinion of the Dīgha and Saṃyutta reciters. But the Majjhima reciters have it that it is subtler in each access than in the jhāna below too in this way: In the first jhāna it is gross, and in the second-jhāna access it is subtle [by comparison, and so on]. It is, however, the opinion of all that the bodily formation occurring before the time of discerning becomes tranquilized at the time of discerning, and the bodily formation at the time of discerning becomes tranquilized in the first-jhāna access … and the bodily formation occurring in the fourth-jhāna access becomes tranquilized in the fourth jhāna. This is the method of explanation in the case of serenity.
§180. But in the case of insight, the bodily formation occurring at the time of not discerning is gross, and in discerning the primary elements it is [by comparison] subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning derived materiality it is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning all materiality it is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning the immaterial it is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning the material and immaterial it is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning conditions it is subtle; that also is gross, and in seeing mentality-materiality with its conditions it is subtle; that also is gross, and in insight that has the characteristics [of impermanence, etc.,] as its object it is subtle; that also is gross in weak insight while in strong insight it is subtle.
Herein, the tranquilizing should be understood as [the relative tranquillity] of the subsequent compared with the previous. Thus should the gross and subtle state, and the [progressive] tranquilizing, be understood here. [276]
§181. But the meaning of this is given in the Paṭisambhidā together with the objection and clarification thus:
“How is it that he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out tranquilizing the bodily formation? What are the bodily formations? Long in-breaths … out-breaths [experiencing the whole body] belong to the body; these things, being bound up with the body, are bodily formations;’ he trains in tranquilizing, stopping, stilling, those bodily formations.
“When there are such bodily formations whereby there is bending backwards, sideways in all directions, and forwards, and perturbation, vacillation, moving and shaking of the body, he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquilizing the bodily formation;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquilizing the bodily {328|270}formation.’ When there are such bodily formations whereby there is no bending backwards, sideways in all directions, and forwards, and no perturbation, vacillation, moving and shaking of the body, quietly, subtly, he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquilizing the bodily formation;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquilizing the bodily formation.’
§182. “[Objection:] So then, he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquilizing the bodily formation;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquilizing the bodily formation’: that being so, there is no production of awareness of wind, and there is no production of in-breaths and out-breaths, and there is no production of mindfulness of breathing, and there is no production of concentration through mindfulness of breathing, and consequently the wise neither enter into nor emerge from that attainment.
§183. “[Clarification:] So then, he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquilizing the bodily formation;’ he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquilizing the bodily formation’: that being so, there is production of awareness of wind, and there is production of in-breaths and out-breaths, and there is production of mindfulness of breathing, and there is production of concentration through mindfulness of breathing, and consequently the wise enter into and emerge from that attainment.
§184. “Like what? Just as when a gong is struck. At first gross sounds occur and consciousness [occurs] because the sign of the gross sounds is well apprehended, well attended to, well observed; and when the gross sounds have ceased, then afterwards faint sounds occur and [consciousness occurs] because the sign of the faint sounds is well apprehended, well attended to, well observed; and when the faint sounds have ceased, then [277] afterwards consciousness occurs because it has the sign of the faint sounds as its object 51 —so too, at first gross in-breaths and out-breaths occur and [consciousness does not become distracted] because the sign of the gross in-breaths and out-breaths is well apprehended, well attended to, well observed; and when the gross in-breaths and out-breaths have ceased, then afterwards faint in-breaths and out-breaths occur and [consciousness does not become distracted] because the sign of the faint in-breaths and out-breaths is well apprehended, well attended to, well observed; and when the faint in-breaths and out-breaths have ceased, then afterwards consciousness does not become distracted because it has the sign of the faint in-breaths and out-breaths as its object.
“That being so, there is production of awareness of wind, and there is production of in-breaths and out-breaths, and there is production of mindfulness of breathing, and there is production of concentration through mindfulness of breathing, and consequently the wise enter into and emerge from that attainment.
§185. {329|271}“In-breaths and out-breaths tranquilizing the bodily formation are a body. The establishment (foundation) is mindfulness. The contemplation is knowledge. The body is the establishment (foundation), but it is not the mindfulness. Mindfulness is both the establishment (foundation) and the mindfulness. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge he contemplates that body. That is why ‘development of the foundation (establishment) of mindfulness consisting in contemplation of the body as a body’ is said” ( [ Paṭis ] I 184–186).
This, in the first place, is the consecutive word commentary here on the first tetrad, which deals with contemplation of the body.
Method of Development
§186. The first tetrad is set forth as a meditation subject for a beginner; 52 but the other three tetrads are [respectively] set forth as the contemplations of feeling, of [the manner of] consciousness, and of mental objects, for one who has already attained jhāna in this tetrad. So if a clansman who is a beginner wants to develop this meditation subject, and through insight based on the fourth jhāna produced in breathing, to reach Arahantship together with the discriminations, he should first do all the work connected with the purification of virtue, etc., in the way already described, after which he should learn the meditation subject in five stages from a teacher of the kind already described.
§187. Here are the five stages: learning, questioning, establishing, absorption, characteristic.
Herein, learning is learning the meditation subject. Questioning is questioning about the meditation subject. Establishing is establishing the meditation subject. Absorption [278] is the absorption of the meditation subject. Characteristic is the characteristic of the meditation subject; what is meant is that it is the ascertaining of the meditation subject’s individual essence thus: “This meditation subject has such a characteristic.”
§188. Learning the meditation subject in the five stages in this way, he neither tires himself nor worries the teacher. So in giving this meditation subject consisting in mindfulness of breathing attention, he can live either with the teacher or elsewhere in an abode of the kind already described, learning the meditation subject in the five stages thus, getting a little expounded at a time and taking a long time over reciting it. He should sever the minor impediments. After finishing the work connected with the meal and getting rid of any dizziness due to the meal, he should seat himself comfortably. Then, making sure he is not confused about even a single word of what he has learned from the teacher, he should cheer his mind by recollecting the special qualities of the Three Jewels.
§189. {330|272}Here are the stages in giving attention to it: (1) counting, (2) connection, (3) touching, (4) fixing, (5) observing, (6) turning away, (7) purification, and (8) looking back on these.
Herein, counting is just counting, connection is carrying on, touching is the place touched [by the breaths], fixing is absorption, observing is insight, turning away is the path, purification is fruition, looking back on these is reviewing.
[Counting]
§190. 1. Herein, this clansman who is a beginner should first give attention to this meditation subject by counting. And when counting, he should not stop short of five or go beyond ten or make any break in the series. By stopping short of five his thoughts get excited in the cramped space, like a herd of cattle shut in a cramped pen. By going beyond ten his thoughts take the number [rather than the breaths] for their support. By making a break in the series he wonders if the meditation subject has reached completion or not. So he should do his counting without those faults.
§191. When counting, he should at first do it slowly [that is, late] as a grain measurer does. For a grain measurer, having filled his measure, says “One,” and empties it, and then refilling it, he goes on saying ‘”One, one” while removing any rubbish he may have noticed. And the same with “Two, two” and so on. So, taking the in-breath or the out-breath, whichever appears [most plainly], he should begin with “One, one” [279] and count up to “Ten, ten,” noting each as it occurs.
§192. As he does his counting in this way, the in-breaths and out-breaths become evident to him as they enter in and issue out. Then he can leave off counting slowly (late), like a grain measurer, and he can count quickly [that is, early] as a cowherd does. For a skilled cowherd takes pebbles in his pocket and goes to the cow pen in the morning, whip in hand; sitting on the bar of the gate, prodding the cows in the back, he counts each one as it reaches the gate, saying “One, two,” dropping a pebble for each. And the cows of the herd, which have been spending the three watches of the night uncomfortably in the cramped space, come out quickly in parties, jostling each other as they escape. So he counts quickly (early) “Three, four, five” and so up to ten. In this way the in-breaths and out-breaths, which had already become evident to him while he counted them in the former way, now keep moving along quickly.
§193. Then, knowing that they keep moving along quickly, not apprehending them either inside or outside [the body], but apprehending them just as they reach the [nostril] door, he can do his counting quickly (early): “One, two, three, four, five; one, two, three, four, five, six … seven … eight … nine … ten.” For as long as the meditation subject is connected with counting it is with the help of that very counting that the mind becomes unified, just as a boat in a swift current is steadied with the help of a rudder.
§194. When he counts quickly, the meditation subject becomes apparent to him as an uninterrupted process. Then, knowing that it is proceeding uninterruptedly, he can count quickly (early) in the way just described, not discerning the wind either inside or outside [the body]. For by bringing his consciousness inside along with the incoming breath, it seems as if it were buffeted by the wind inside {331|273}or filled with fat. 53 By taking his consciousness outside along with the outgoing breath, it gets distracted by the multiplicity of objects outside. However, his development is successful when he fixes his mindfulness on the place touched [by the breaths]. That is why it was said above: “He can count quickly (early) in the way just described, not discerning the wind either inside or outside.”
§195. But how long is he to go on counting? Until, without counting, [280] mindfulness remains settled on the in-breaths and out-breaths as its object. For counting is simply a device for setting mindfulness on the in-breaths and out-breaths as object by cutting off the external dissipation of applied thoughts.
[Connection]
§196. 2. Having given attention to it in this way by counting, he should now do so by connection. Connection is the uninterrupted following of the in-breaths and out-breaths with mindfulness after counting has been given up. And that is not by following after the beginning, the middle and the end. 54
§197. The navel is the beginning of the wind issuing out, the heart is its middle and the nose-tip is its end. The nose-tip is the beginning of the wind entering in, the heart is its middle and the navel is its end. And if he follows after that, his mind is distracted by disquiet and perturbation according as it is said: “When he goes in with mindfulness after the beginning, middle, and end of the in-breath, his mind being distracted internally, both his body and his mind are disquieted and perturbed and shaky. When he goes out with mindfulness after the beginning, middle and end of the out-breath, his mind being distracted externally, both his body and his mind are disquieted and perturbed and shaky” ( [ Paṭis ] I 165).
[Touching & fixing]
3–4. So when he gives his attention to it by connection, he should do so not by the beginning, middle and end, but rather by touching and by fixing.
§198. There is no attention to be given to it by touching separate from fixing as there is by counting separate from connection. But when he is counting the breaths in the place touched by each, he is giving attention to them by counting {332|274}and touching. When he has given up counting and is connecting them by means of mindfulness in that same place and fixing consciousness by means of absorption, then he is said to be giving his attention to them by connection, touching and fixing. And the meaning of this may be understood through the similes of the man who cannot walk and the gatekeeper given in the commentaries, and through the simile of the saw given in the Paṭisambhidā.
§199. Here is the simile of the man who cannot walk: Just as a man unable to walk, who is rocking a swing for the amusement of his children and their mother, sits at the foot of the swing post and sees both ends and the middle of the swing plank successively coming and going, [281] yet does not move from his place in order to see both ends and the middle, so too, when a bhikkhu places himself with mindfulness, as it were, at the foot of the post for anchoring [mindfulness] and rocks the swing of the in-breaths and out-breaths; he sits down with mindfulness on the sign at that same place, and follows with mindfulness the beginning, middle and end of the in-breaths and out-breaths at the place touched by them as they come and go; keeping his mind fixed there, he then sees them without moving from his place in order to see them. This is the simile of the man who cannot walk.
§200. This is the simile of the gatekeeper: Just as a gatekeeper does not examine people inside and outside the town, asking, “Who are you? Where have you come from? Where are you going? What have you got in your hand?”—for those people are not his concern—but he does examine each man as he arrives at the gate, so too, the incoming breaths that have gone inside and the outgoing breaths that have gone outside are not this bhikkhu’s concern, but they are his concern each time they arrive at the [nostril] gate itself.
§201. Then the simile of the saw should be understood from its beginning. For this is said:
“Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who knows not these three things
Development is not obtained.
“Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who does know these three things
Development can be obtained.”
§202. “How is it that these three things are not the object of a single consciousness, that they are nevertheless not unknown, that the mind does not become distracted, that he manifests effort, carries out a task, and achieves an effect?
“Suppose there were a tree trunk placed on a level piece of ground, and a man cut it with a saw. The man’s mindfulness is established by the saw’s teeth where they touch the tree trunk, without his giving attention to the saw’s teeth as they approach and recede, though they are not unknown to him as they do so; and he manifests effort, carries out a task, and achieves an effect. As the tree trunk placed on the level piece of ground, so the sign for the anchoring of mindfulness. {333|275}As the saw’s teeth, so the in-breaths and out-breaths. As the man’s mindfulness, established by the saw’s teeth where they touch the tree trunk, without his giving attention to the saw’s teeth as they approach and recede, though they are not unknown to him as they do so, and so he manifests effort, carries out a task, and achieves an effect, [282] so too, the bhikkhu sits, having established mindfulness at the nose tip or on the upper lip, without giving attention to the in-breaths and out-breaths as they approach and recede, though they are not unknown to him as they do so, and he manifests effort, carries out a task, and achieves an effect.
§203. “‘Effort’: what is the effort? The body and the mind of one who is energetic become wieldy—this is the effort. What is the task? Imperfections come to be abandoned in one who is energetic, and his applied thoughts are stilled—this is the task. What is the effect? Fetters come to be abandoned in one who is energetic, and his inherent tendencies come to be done away with—this is the effect.
“So these three things are not the object of a single consciousness, and they are nevertheless not unknown, and the mind does not become distracted, and he manifests effort, carries out a task, and achieves an effect.
“Whose mindfulness of breathing in
And out is perfect, well developed,
And gradually brought to growth
According as the Buddha taught,
’Tis he illuminates the world
Just like the full moon free from cloud” 55
This is the simile of the saw. But here it is precisely his not giving attention [to the breaths] as [yet to] come and [already] gone 56 that should be understood as the purpose.
§204. When someone gives his attention to this meditation subject, sometimes it is not long before the sign arises in him, and then the fixing, in other words, absorption adorned with the rest of the jhāna factors, is achieved.
§205. After someone has given his attention to counting, then just as when a body that is disturbed sits down on a bed or chair, the bed or chair sags down and creaks and the cover gets rumpled, but when a body that is not disturbed sits down, the bed or chair neither sags down nor creaks, the cover does not get rumpled, and it is as though filled with cotton wool—why? because a body that is not disturbed is light—so too, after he has given his attention to counting, when the bodily disturbance has been stilled by the gradual cessation of gross in-breaths and out-breaths, then both the body and the mind become light: the physical body is as though it were ready to leap up into the air. [283]
§206. When his gross in-breaths and out breaths have ceased, his consciousness occurs with the sign of the subtle in-breaths and out-breaths as its object. And when that has ceased, it goes on occurring with the successively subtler signs as its object. How?
§207. {334|276}Suppose a man stuck a bronze bell with a big iron bar and at once a loud sound arose, his consciousness would occur with the gross sound as its object; then, when the gross sound had ceased, it would occur afterwards with the sign of the subtle sound as its object; and when that had ceased, it would go on occurring with the sign of the successively subtler sounds as its object. This is how it should be understood. And this is given in detail in the passage beginning, “Just as when a metal gong is struck” (§184).
§208. For while other meditation subjects become clearer at each higher stage, this one does not: in fact, as he goes on developing it, it becomes more subtle for him at each higher stage, and it even comes to the point at which it is no longer manifest.
However, when it becomes unmanifest in this way, the bhikkhu should not get up from his seat, shake out his leather mat, and go away. What should be done? He should not get up with the idea “Shall I ask the teacher?” or “Is my meditation subject lost?”; for by going away, and so disturbing his posture, the meditation subject has to be started anew. So he should go on sitting as he was and [temporarily] substitute the place [normally touched for the actual breaths as the object of contemplation]. 57
§209. These are the means for doing it. The bhikkhu should recognize the unmanifest state of the meditation subject and consider thus: “Where do these in-breaths and out-breaths exist? Where do they not? In whom do they exist? In whom not?” Then, as he considers thus, he finds that they do not exist in one inside the mother’s womb, or in those drowned in water, or likewise in unconscious beings, 58 or in the dead, or in those attained to the fourth jhāna, or in those born into a fine-material or immaterial existence, or in those attained to cessation [of perception and feeling]. So he should apostrophize himself thus: “You with all your wisdom are certainly not inside a mother’s womb or drowned in water or in the unconscious existence or dead or attained to the fourth jhāna or born into the fine-material or immaterial existence or attained to cessation. Those in-breaths and out-breath are actually existent in you, only you are not able to discern them because your understanding is dull.” Then, fixing his mind on the place normally touched [by the breaths], he should proceed to give his attention to that.
§210. These in-breaths and out-breaths occur striking the tip of the nose in a long-nosed man [284] and the upper lip in a short-nosed man. So he should fix the sign thus: “This is the place where they strike.” This was why the Blessed One said: “Bhikkhus, I do not say of one who is forgetful, who is not fully aware, [that he practices] development of mindfulness of breathing” ( [ M ] III 84).
§211. {335|277}Although any meditation subject, no matter what, is successful only in one who is mindful and fully aware, yet any meditation subject other than this one gets more evident as he goes on giving it his attention. But this mindfulness of breathing is difficult, difficult to develop, a field in which only the minds of Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and Buddhas’ sons are at home. It is no trivial matter, nor can it be cultivated by trivial persons. In proportion as continued attention is given to it, it becomes more peaceful and more subtle. So strong mindfulness and understanding are necessary here.
§212. Just as when doing needlework on a piece of fine cloth a fine needle is needed, and a still finer instrument for boring the needle’s eye, so too, when developing this meditation subject, which resembles fine cloth, both the mindfulness, which is the counterpart of the needle, and the understanding associated with it, which is the counterpart of the instrument for boring the needle’s eye, need to be strong. A bhikkhu must have the necessary mindfulness and understanding and must look for the in-breaths and out-breaths nowhere else than the place normally touched by them.
§213. Suppose a ploughman, after doing some ploughing, sent his oxen free to graze and sat down to rest in the shade, then his oxen would soon go into the forest. Now, a skilled ploughman who wants to catch them and yoke them again does not wander through the forest following their tracks, but rather he takes his rope and goad and goes straight to the drinking place where they meet, and he sits or lies there. Then after the oxen have wandered about for a part of the day, they come to the drinking place where they meet and they bathe and drink, and when he sees that they have come out and are standing about, he secures them with the rope, and prodding them with the goad, he brings them back, yokes them, and goes on with his ploughing. So too, the bhikkhu should not look for the in-breaths and out-breaths anywhere else than the place normally touched by them. And he should take the rope of mindfulness and the goad of understanding, and fixing his mind on the place normally touched by them, he should go on giving his attention to that. [285] For as he gives his attention in this way they reappear after no long time, as the oxen did at the drinking place where they met. So he can secure them with the rope of mindfulness, and yoking them in that same place and prodding them with the goad of understanding, he can keep on applying himself to the meditation subject.
§214. When he does so in this way, the sign 59 soon appears to him. But it is not the same for all; on the contrary, some say that when it appears it does so to certain people producing a light touch like cotton or silk-cotton or a draught.
§215. But this is the exposition given in the commentaries: It appears to some like a star or a cluster of gems or a cluster of pearls, to others with a rough touch like that of silk-cotton seeds or a peg made of heartwood, to others like a long braid string or a wreath of flowers or a puff of smoke, to others like a stretched-out{336|278} cobweb or a film of cloud or a lotus flower or a chariot wheel or the moon’s disk or the sun’s disk.
§216. In fact this resembles an occasion when a number of bhikkhus are sitting together reciting a suttanta. When a bhikkhu asks, “What does this sutta appear like to you?” one says, “It appears to me like a great mountain torrent,” another “To me it is like a line of forest trees,” another “To me it is like a spreading fruit tree giving cool shade.” For the one sutta appears to them differently because of the difference in their perception. Similarly this single meditation subject appears differently because of difference in perception. 60 It is born of perception, its source is perception, it is produced by perception. Therefore it should be understood that when it appears differently it is because of difference in perception.
§217. And here, the consciousness that has in-breath as its object is one, the consciousness that has out-breath as its object is another, and the consciousness that has the sign as its object is another. For the meditation subject reaches neither absorption nor even access in one who has not got these three things [clear]. But it reaches access and also absorption in one who has got these three things [clear]. For this is said:
“Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who knows not these three things
Development is not obtained.
Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who does know these three things
Development can be obtained” ( [ Paṭis ] I 170). [286]
§218. And when the sign has appeared in this way, the bhikkhu should go to the teacher and tell him, “Venerable sir, such and such has appeared to me.” But [say the Dīgha reciters] the teacher should say neither “This is the sign” nor “This is not the sign”; after saying “It happens like this, friend,” he should tell him, “Go on giving it attention again and again;” for if he were told “It is the sign,” he might [become complacent and] stop short at that (see [ M ] I 193f.), and if he were told “It is not the sign,” he might get discouraged and give up; so he should encourage him to keep giving it his attention without saying either. So the Dīgha reciters say, firstly. But the Majjhima reciters say that he should be told, “This is the sign, friend. Well done. Keep giving attention to it again and again.”
§219. Then he should fix his mind on that same sign; and so from now on, his development proceeds by way of fixing. For the Ancients said this:
“Fixing his mind upon the sign
And putting away 61 extraneous aspects,
{337|279}The clever man anchors his mind
Upon the breathings in and out.”
§220. So as soon as the sign appears, his hindrances are suppressed, his defilements subside, his mindfulness is established, and his consciousness is concentrated in access concentration.
§221. Then he should not give attention to the sign as to its colour, or review it as to its [specific] characteristic. He should guard it as carefully as a king’s chief queen guards the child in her womb due to become a Wheel-turning Monarch, 62 or as a farmer guards the ripening crops; and he should avoid the seven unsuitable things beginning with the unsuitable abode and cultivate the seven suitable things. Then, guarding it thus, he should make it grow and improve with repeated attention, and he should practice the tenfold skill in absorption (IV.42) and bring about evenness of energy (IV.66).
§222. As he strives thus, fourfold and fivefold jhāna is achieved by him on that same sign in the same way as described under the earth kasiṇa.
[Observing … turning away]
5–8. (See §189) However, when a bhikkhu has achieved the fourfold and fivefold jhāna and wants to reach purity by developing the meditation subject through observing and through turning away, he should make that jhāna familiar by attaining mastery in it in the five ways (IV.131), and then embark upon insight by defining mentality-materiality. How?
§223. On emerging from the attainment, [287] he sees that the in-breaths and out-breaths have the physical body and the mind as their origin; and that just as, when a blacksmith’s bellows are being blown, the wind moves owing to the bag and to the man’s appropriate effort, so too, in-breaths and out-breaths are due to the body and the mind.
Next, he defines the in-breaths and out-breaths and the body as “materiality,” and the consciousness and the states associated with the consciousness as “the immaterial [mind].” This is in brief (cf. [ M-a ] I 249); but the details will be explained later in the defining of mentality-materiality (XVIII.3f.).
§224. Having defined mentality-materiality in this way, he seeks its condition. With search he finds it, and so overcomes his doubts about the way of mentality-materiality’s occurrence in the three divisions of time (Ch. XIX).
His doubts being overcome, he attributes the three characteristics [beginning with that of suffering to mentality and materiality], comprehending [them] by groups (XX.2f.); he abandons the ten imperfections of insight beginning with illumination, which arise in the first stages of the contemplation of rise and fall (XX.105f.), and he defines as “the path” the knowledge of the way that is free from these imperfections (XX.126f.).
He reaches contemplation of dissolution by abandoning [attention to] arising. When all formations have appeared as terror owing to the contemplation of their incessant dissolution, he becomes dispassionate towards them (Ch. XXI), his greed for them fades away, and he is liberated from them (Ch. XXII). {338|280}After he has [thus] reached the four noble paths in due succession and has become established in the fruition of Arahantship, he at last attains to the nineteen kinds of reviewing knowledge (XXII.19f.), and he becomes fit to receive the highest gifts from the world with its deities.
§225. At this point his development of concentration through mindfulness of breathing, beginning with counting and ending with looking back (§189) is completed.
This is the commentary on the first tetrad in all aspects.
3.4 Word Commentary Continued—Second Tetrad
§226. Now, since there is no separate method for developing the meditation subject in the case of the other tetrads, their meaning therefore needs only to be understood according to the word commentary.
(v) He trains thus: “I shall breathe in … shall breathe out experiencing happiness,” that is, making happiness known, making it plain. Herein, the happiness is experienced in two ways: (a) with the object, and (b) with non-confusion. 63
§227. (a) How is the happiness experienced with the object? He attains the two jhānas in which happiness is present. At the time when he has actually entered upon them the happiness is experienced with the object owing to the obtaining of the jhāna, because of the experiencing of the object. (b) How with non-confusion? When, after entering upon and emerging from one of the two jhānas accompanied by happiness, [288] he comprehends with insight that happiness associated with the jhāna as liable to destruction and to fall, then at the actual time of the insight the happiness is experienced with non-confusion owing to the penetration of its characteristics [of impermanence, and so on].
§228. For this is said in the Paṭisambhidā: “When he knows unification of mind and non-distraction through long in-breaths, mindfulness is established in him. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge that happiness is experienced. When he knows unification of mind and non-distraction through long out-breaths … through short in-breaths … through short out-breaths … through in-breaths … out-breaths experiencing the whole body … through in-breaths … out-breaths tranquilizing the bodily formation, mindfulness is established in {339|281}him. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge that happiness is experienced.
“It is experienced by him when he adverts, when he knows, sees, reviews, steadies his mind, resolves with faith, exerts energy, establishes mindfulness, concentrates his mind, understands with understanding, directly knows what is to be directly known, fully understands what is to be fully understood, abandons what is to be abandoned, develops what is to be developed, realizes what is to be realized. It is in this way that that happiness is experienced” ( [ Paṭis ] I 187).
§229. (vi–viii) The remaining [three] clauses should be understood in the same way as to meaning; but there is this difference here. The experiencing of bliss must be understood to be through three jhānas, and that of the mental formation through four. The mental formation consists of the two aggregates of feeling and perception. And in the case of the clause, experiencing bliss, it is said in the Paṭisambhidā in order to show the plane of insight here [as well]: “‘Bliss’: there are two kinds of bliss, bodily bliss and mental bliss” ( [ Paṭis ] I 188). Tranquilizing the mental formation: tranquilizing the gross mental formation; stopping it, is the meaning. And this should be understood in detail in the same way as given under the bodily formation (see §§176–85).
§230. Here, moreover, in the “happiness” clause feeling [which is actually being contemplated in this tetrad] is stated under the heading of “happiness” [which is a formation] but in the “bliss” clause feeling is stated in its own form. In the two “mental-formation” clauses the feeling is that [necessarily] associated with perception because of the words, “Perception and feeling belong to the mind, these things being bound up with the mind are mental formations” ( [ Paṭis ] I 188). [289]
So this tetrad should be understood to deal with contemplation of feeling.
3.5 Word Commentary Continued—Third Tetrad
§231. (ix) In the third tetrad the experiencing of the [manner of] consciousness must be understood to be through four jhānas.
(x) Gladdening the [manner of] consciousness: he trains thus: “Making the mind glad, instilling gladness into it, cheering it, rejoicing it, I shall breathe in, shall breathe out.” Herein, there is gladdening in two ways, through concentration and through insight.
How through concentration? He attains the two jhānas in which happiness is present. At the time when he has actually entered upon them he inspires the mind with gladness, instils gladness into it, by means of the happiness associated with the jhāna. How through insight? After entering upon and emerging from one of the two jhānas accompanied by happiness, he comprehends with insight that happiness associated with the jhāna as liable to destruction and to fall; thus at the actual time of insight he inspires the mind with gladness, instils gladness into it, by making the happiness associated with the jhāna the object. It is of one {340|282}progressing in this way that the words, “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out gladdening the [manner of] consciousness,’” are said.
§232. (xi) Concentrating (samādahaṃ) the [manner of] consciousness: evenly (samaṃ) placing (ādahanto) the mind, evenly putting it on its object by means of the first jhāna and so on. Or alternatively, when, having entered upon those jhānas and emerged from them, he comprehends with insight the consciousness associated with the jhāna as liable to destruction and to fall, then at the actual time of insight momentary unification of the mind 64 arises through the penetration of the characteristics [of impermanence, and so on]. Thus the words, “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out concentrating the [manner of] consciousness,’” are said also of one who evenly places the mind, evenly puts it on its object by means of the momentary unification of the mind arisen thus.
§233. (xii) Liberating the [manner of] consciousness: he both breathes in and breathes out delivering, liberating, the mind from the hindrances by means of the first jhāna, from applied and sustained thought by means of the second, from happiness by means of the third, from pleasure and pain by means of the fourth. Or alternatively, when, having entered upon those jhānas and emerged from them, he comprehends with insight the consciousness associated with the jhāna as liable to destruction and to fall, then at the actual time of insight he delivers, liberates, the mind from the perception of permanence by means of the contemplation of impermanence, from the perception of pleasure by means of the contemplation of pain, from the perception of self by means of the contemplation of not self, from delight by means of the contemplation of dispassion, from greed by means of the contemplation of fading away, from arousing by means of the contemplation of cessation, from grasping by means of the contemplation of relinquishment. Hence it is said: [290] “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out liberating the [manner of] consciousness. 65 ’” So this tetrad should be understood to deal with contemplation of mind.
3.6 Word Commentary Continued—Fourth Tetrad
§234. {341|283}(xiii) But in the fourth tetrad, as to contemplating impermanence, here firstly, the impermanent should be understood, and impermanence, and the contemplation of impermanence, and one contemplating impermanence.
Herein, the five aggregates are the impermanent. Why? Because their essence is rise and fall and change. Impermanence is the rise and fall and change in those same aggregates, or it is their non-existence after having been; the meaning is, it is the breakup of produced aggregates through their momentary dissolution since they do not remain in the same mode. Contemplation of impermanence is contemplation of materiality, etc., as “impermanent” in virtue of that impermanence. One contemplating impermanence possesses that contemplation. So it is when one such as this is breathing in and breathing out that it can be understood of him: “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out contemplating impermanence.’” 66
§235. {342|284}(xiv) Contemplating fading away: there are two kinds of fading away, that is, fading away as destruction, and absolute fading away. 67 Herein, “fading away as destruction” is the momentary dissolution of formations. “Absolute fading away” is Nibbāna. Contemplation of fading away is insight and it is the path, which occurs as the seeing of these two. It is when he possesses this twofold contemplation that it can be understood of him: “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out contemplating fading away.’”
(xv) The same method of explanation applies to the clause, contemplating cessation.
§236. (xvi) Contemplating relinquishment: relinquishment is of two kinds too, that is to say, relinquishment as giving up, and relinquishment as entering into. Relinquishment itself as [a way of] contemplation is “contemplation of relinquishment.” For insight is called both “relinquishment as giving up” and “relinquishment as entering into” since [firstly], through substitution of opposite qualities, it gives up defilements with their aggregate-producing kamma formations, and [secondly], through seeing the wretchedness of what is formed, it also enters into Nibbāna by inclining towards Nibbāna, which is the opposite of the formed (XI.18). Also the path is called both “relinquishment as giving up” and “relinquishment as entering into” since it gives up defilements with their aggregate-producing kamma-formations by cutting them off, and it enters into Nibbāna by making it its object. Also both [insight and path knowledge] are called contemplation (anupassanā) because of their re-seeing successively (anu anu passanā) each preceding kind of knowledge. 68 [291] It is when he possesses {343|285}this twofold contemplation that it can be understood of him: “He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in … shall breathe out contemplating relinquishment.’”
§237. This tetrad deals only with pure insight while the previous three deal with serenity and insight. This is how the development of mindfulness of breathing with its sixteen bases in four tetrads should be understood.
3.7 Conclusion
This mindfulness of breathing with its sixteen bases thus is of great fruit, of great benefit.
§238. Its great beneficialness should be understood here as peacefulness both because of the words, “And, bhikkhus, this concentration through mindfulness of breathing, when developed and much practiced, is both peaceful and sublime” ( [ S ] V 321), etc., and because of its ability to cut off applied thoughts; for it is because it is peaceful, sublime, and an unadulterated blissful abiding that it cuts off the mind’s running hither and thither with applied thoughts obstructive to concentration, and keeps the mind only on the breaths as object. Hence it is said: “Mindfulness of breathing should be developed in order to cut off applied thoughts” ( [ A ] IV 353).
§239. Also its great beneficialness should be understood as the root condition for the perfecting of clear vision and deliverance; for this has been said by the Blessed One: “Bhikkhus, mindfulness of breathing, when developed and much practiced, perfects the four foundations of mindfulness. The four foundations of mindfulness, when developed and much practiced, perfect the seven enlightenment factors. The seven enlightenment factors, when developed and much practiced, perfect clear vision and deliverance” ( [ M ] III 82).
§240. Again its great beneficialness should be understood to reside in the fact that it causes the final in-breaths and out-breaths to be known; for this is said by the Blessed One: “Rāhula, when mindfulness of breathing is thus developed, thus practiced much, the final in-breaths and out-breaths, too, are known as they cease, not unknown” ( [ M ] I 425f.).
§241. Herein, there are three kinds of [breaths that are] final because of cessation, that is to say, final in becoming, final in jhāna, and final in death. For, among the various kinds of becoming (existence), in-breaths and out-breaths occur in the sensual-sphere becoming, not in the fine-material and immaterial kinds of becoming. That is why there are final ones in becoming. In the jhānas they occur {344|286}in the first three but not in the fourth. That is why there are final ones in jhāna. Those that arise along with the sixteenth consciousness preceding the death consciousness [292] cease together with the death consciousness. They are called “final in death.” It is these last that are meant here by “final.”
§242. When a bhikkhu has devoted himself to this meditation subject, it seems, if he adverts, at the moment of arising of the sixteenth consciousness before the death consciousness, to their arising, then their arising is evident to him; if he adverts to their presence, then their presence is evident to him; if he adverts to their dissolution, then their dissolution is evident to him; and it is so because he has thoroughly discerned in-breaths and out-breaths as object.
§243. When a bhikkhu has attained Arahantship by developing some other meditation subject than this one, he may be able to define his life term or not. But when he has reached Arahantship by developing this mindfulness of breathing with its sixteen bases, he can always define his life term. He knows, “My vital formations will continue now for so long and no more.” Automatically he performs all the functions of attending to the body, dressing and robing, etc., after which he closes his eyes, like the Elder Tissa who lived at the Koṭapabbata Monastery, like the Elder Mahā Tissa who lived at the Mahā Karañjiya Monastery, like the Elder Tissa the alms-food eater in the kingdom of Devaputta, like the elders who were brothers and lived at the Cittalapabbata monastery.
§244. Here is one story as an illustration. After reciting the Pātimokkha, it seems, on the Uposatha day of the full moon, one of the two elders who were brothers went to his own dwelling place surrounded by the Community of Bhikkhus. As he stood on the walk looking at the moonlight he calculated his own vital formations, and he said to the Community of Bhikkhus, “In what way have you seen bhikkhus attaining Nibbāna up till now?” Some answered, “Till now we have seen them attain Nibbāna sitting in their seats.” Others answered, “We have seen them sitting cross-legged in the air.” The elder said, “I shall now show you one attaining Nibbāna while walking.” He then drew a line on the walk, saying, “I shall go from this end of the walk to the other end and return; when I reach this line I shall attain Nibbāna.” So saying, he stepped on to the walk and went to the far end. On his return he attained Nibbāna in the same moment in which he stepped on the line. [293]
So let a man, if he is wise,
Untiringly devote his days
To mindfulness of breathing, which
Rewards him always in these ways.
This is the section dealing with mindfulness of breathing in the detailed explanation.
4 (10) Recollection of Peace
§245. One who wants to develop the recollection of peace mentioned next to mindfulness of breathing (III.105) should go into solitary retreat and recollect the special qualities of Nibbāna, in other words, the stilling of all suffering, as follows: {345|287}“Bhikkhus, in so far as there are dhammas, whether formed or unformed, fading away is pronounced the best of them, that is to say, the disillusionment of vanity, the elimination of thirst, the abolition of reliance, the termination of the round, the destruction of craving, fading away, cessation, Nibbāna” ( [ A ] II 34).
§246. Herein in so far as means as many as. Dhammas [means] individual essences. 69 Whether formed or unformed: whether made by conditions going {346|288}together, coming together, or not so made. 70 Fading away is pronounced the best of them: of these formed and unformed dhammas, fading away is pronounced the best, is called the foremost, the highest.
§247. Herein fading away is not mere absence of greed, but rather it is that unformed dhamma which, while given the names “disillusionment of vanity,” etc., in the clause, “that is to say, the disillusionment of vanity, … Nibbāna,” is treated basically as fading away. 71 It is called disillusionment of vanity because on coming to it all kinds of vanity (intoxication), such as the vanity of conceit, and vanity of manhood, are disillusioned, undone, done away with. 72 And it is called elimination of thirst because on coming to it all thirst for sense desires is eliminated and quenched. But it is called abolition of reliance because on coming to its reliance on the five cords of sense desire is abolished. It is called termination of the round because on coming to it the round of the three planes [of existence] is terminated. It is called destruction of craving because on coming to it craving is {347|289}entirely destroyed, fades away and ceases. It is called Nibbāna (extinction) because it has gone away from (nikkhanta), has escaped from (nissaṭa), is dissociated from craving, which has acquired in common usage the name “fastening” (vāna) because, by ensuring successive becoming, craving serves as a joining together, a binding together, a lacing together, of the four kinds of generation, five destinies, seven stations of consciousness and nine abodes of beings. 73 [294]
§248. This is how peace, in other words, Nibbāna, should be recollected according to its special qualities beginning with disillusionment of vanity. But it should also be recollected according to the other special qualities of peace stated by the Blessed One in the suttas beginning with: “Bhikkhus, I shall teach you the unformed … the truth … the other shore … the hard-to-see … the undecaying … the lasting … the undiversified … the deathless … the auspicious … the safe … the marvellous … the intact … the unafflicted … the purity … the island … the shelter ….” ( [ S ] IV 360–372). 74
§249. As he recollects peace in its special qualities of disillusionment of vanity, etc., in this way, then: “On that occasion his mind is not obsessed by greed or obsessed by hate or obsessed by delusion; his mind has rectitude on that occasion, being inspired by peace” (see VII.65, etc.). So when he has suppressed the hindrances in the way already described under the recollection of the Enlightened One, etc., the jhāna factors arise in a single moment. But owing to the profundity of the special qualities of peace, or owing to his being occupied in recollecting special qualities of various kinds, the jhāna is only access and does not reach absorption. And that jhāna itself is known as “recollection of peace” too because it arises by means of the special qualities of peace.
§250. And as in the case of the six recollections, this also comes to success only in a noble disciple. Still, though this is so, it can nevertheless also be brought to mind by an ordinary person who values peace. For even by hearsay the mind has confidence in peace.
§251. A bhikkhu who is devoted to this recollection of peace sleeps in bliss and wakes in bliss, his faculties are peaceful, his mind is peaceful, he has conscience and shame, he is confident, he is resolved [to attain] the superior [state], he is respected and honoured by his fellows in the life of purity. And even if he penetrates no higher, he is at least headed for a happy destiny.
{348|290}So that is why a man of wit
Untiringly devotes his days
To mind the noble peace, which can
Reward him in so many ways.
This is the section dealing with the recollection of peace in the detailed explanation.
The eighth chapter called “The Description of Recollections as Meditation Subjects” in the Treatise on the Development of Concentration in the Path of Purification composed for the purpose of gladdening good people.