The Gnawed, Scattered, etc.

[The Gnawed]

73. The gnawed should be brought to mind as “Repulsiveness of the gnawed, repulsiveness of the gnawed.” Here the learning sign appears as though gnawed here and there; but the counterpart sign appears whole.

[The Scattered]

74. After getting the scattered put together or putting it together in the way described under the cut up so that there is only a finger’s breadth, separating [the pieces], it should be brought to mind as “Repulsiveness of the scattered, repulsiveness of the scattered.” Here the learning sign appears with the gaps evident; but the counterpart sign appears whole.

[The Hacked and Scattered]

75. The hacked and scattered is found in the same places as those described under the cut up. Therefore, after going there and getting it put together or putting it together in the way described under the cut up so that there is only a finger’s breadth separating [the pieces], it should be brought to mind as “Repulsiveness of the hacked and scattered, repulsiveness of the hacked and scattered.” Here, when the learning sign becomes evident, it does so with the fissures of the wounds; but the counterpart sign appears whole.

[The Bleeding]

76. The bleeding is found at the time when [blood] is trickling from the openings of wounds received on battlefields, etc., or from the openings of burst boils and abscesses when the hands and feet have been cut off. So on seeing that, it should be brought to mind as “Repulsiveness of the bleeding, repulsiveness of the bleeding.” Here the learning sign appears to have the aspect of moving like a red banner struck by wind; but the counterpart sign appears quiet.

[The Worm-infested]

77. There is a worm-infested corpse when at the end of two or three days a mass of maggots oozes out from the corpse’s nine orifices, and the mass lies there like a heap of paddy or boiled rice as big as the body, whether the body is that of a dog, a jackal, a human being,^[1] an ox, a buffalo, an elephant, a horse, a python, or what you will. It can be brought to mind with respect to anyone of these as “Repulsiveness of the worm-infested, repulsiveness of the worm-infested.” For the sign arose for the Elder Cūḷa-Piṇḍapātika-Tissa in the corpse of an elephant’s carcass in the Kāḷadīghavāpi reservoir. Here the learning sign appears as though moving; but the counterpart sign appears quiet, like a ball of boiled rice.

[A Skeleton]

78. A skeleton is described in various aspects in the way beginning “As though he were looking at a corpse thrown onto a charnel ground, a skeleton with flesh and blood, held together by sinews” (D II 296). [192] So he should go in the way already described to where it has been put, and noticing any stones, etc., with their surrounding signs and in relation, to the object, he should characterize it by the fact of its having attained that particular individual essence thus, “This is a skeleton,” and he should apprehend the sign in the eleven ways by colour and the rest. But if he looks at it, [apprehending it only] by its colour as white, it does not appear to him [with its individual essence as repulsive], but only as a variant of the white kasiṇa. Consequently he should only look at it as ‘a skeleton’ in the repulsive aspect.

79. “Mark” is a term for the hand, etc., here, so he should define it by its mark according to hand, foot, head, chest, arm, waist, thigh, and shin. He should define it by its shape, however, according as it is long, short, square, round, small or large. By its direction and by its location are as already described (§39–40). Having defined it by its delimitation according to the periphery of each bone, he should reach absorption by apprehending whichever appears most evident to him. But it can also be defined by its concavities and by its convexities according to the concave and convex places in each bone. And it can also be defined by position thus: “I am standing in a concave place, the skeleton is in a convex place; or I am standing in a convex place, the skeleton is in a concave place.” It should be defined by its joints according as any two bones are joined together. It should be defined by its openings according to the gaps separating the bones. It should be defined all round by directing knowledge to it comprehensively thus: “In this place there is this skeleton.” If the sign does not arise even in this way, then the mind should be established on the frontal bone. And in this case, just as in the case of those that precede it beginning with the worm-infested, the apprehending of the sign should be observed in this elevenfold manner as appropriate.

80. This meditation subject is successful with a whole skeleton frame and even with a single bone as well. So having learnt the sign in anyone of these in the eleven ways, he should bring it to mind as “Repulsiveness of a skeleton, repulsiveness of a skeleton.” Here the learning sign and the counterpart sign are alike, so it is said. That is correct for a single bone. But when the learning sign becomes manifest in a skeleton frame, what is correct [to say] is that there are gaps in the learning sign while the counterpart sign appears whole. [193] And the learning sign even in a single bone should be dreadful and terrifying but the counterpart sign produces happiness and joy because it brings access.

81. What is said in the Commentaries in this context allows that deduction. For there, after saying this, “There is no counterpart sign in the four divine abidings and in the ten kinds of foulness; for in the case of the divine abidings the sign is the breaking down of boundaries itself, and in the case of the ten kinds of foulness the sign comes into being as soon as the repulsiveness is seen, without any thinking about it,” it is again said, immediately next: “Here the sign is twofold: the learning sign and the counterpart sign. The learning sign appears hideous, dreadful and terrifying,” and so on. So what we said was well considered. And it is only this that is correct here. Besides, the appearance of a woman’s whole body as a collection of bones to the Elder Mahā-Tissa through his merely looking at her teeth demonstrates this here (see I.55).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Reading manussa with Sinhalese ed.