Perception of Repulsiveness in Nutriment (āhāra)

1. [341] Now comes the description of the development of the perception of repulsiveness in nutriment, which was listed as the “one perception”^[1] next to the immaterial states (III.105).

Herein, it nourishes (āharati, lit. “brings on”), thus it is nutriment (āhāra, lit. “bringing on”). That is of four kinds as: physical nutriment, nutriment consisting of contact, nutriment consisting of mental volition, and nutriment consisting of consciousness.^[2]

2. But what is it here that nourishes (brings on) what? Physical nutriment (kabaliṅkārāhāra) nourishes (brings on) the materiality of the octad that has nutritive essence as eighth:^[3] contact as nutriment nourishes (brings on) the three kinds of feeling; mental volition as nutriment nourishes (brings on) rebirthlinking in the three kinds of becoming; consciousness as nutriment nourishes (brings on) mentality-materiality at the moment of rebirth-linking.

3. Now, when there is physical nutriment there is attachment, which brings peril; when there is nutriment as contact there is approaching, which brings peril; when there is nutriment as mental volition there is rebirth-linking, which brings peril.^[4] And to show how they bring fear thus, physical nutriment should be illustrated by the simile of the child’s flesh (S II 98), contact as nutriment by the simile of the hideless cow (S II 99), mental volition as nutriment by the simile of the pit of live coals (S II 99), and consciousness as nutriment by the simile of the hundred spears (S II 100).

4. But of these four kinds of nutriment it is only physical nutriment, classed as what is eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted, that is intended here as “nutriment” in this sense. The perception arisen as the apprehension of the repulsive aspect in that nutriment is, “perception of repulsiveness in nutriment.”

5. One who wants to develop that perception of repulsiveness in nutriment should learn the meditation subject and see that he has no uncertainty about even a single word of what he has learnt. Then he should go into solitary retreat and [342] review repulsiveness in ten aspects in the physical nutriment classified as what is eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted, that is to say, as to going, seeking, using, secretion, receptacle, what is uncooked (undigested), what is cooked (digested), fruit, outflow, and smearing.

6. 1. Herein, as to going: even when a man has gone forth in so mighty a dispensation, still after he has perhaps spent all night reciting the Enlightened One’s word or doing the ascetic’ s work, after he has risen early to do the duties connected with the shrine terrace and the Enlightenment-tree terrace, to set out the water for drinking and washing, to sweep the grounds and to see to the needs of the body, after he has sat down on his seat and given attention to his meditation subject twenty or thirty times^[5] and got up again, then he must take his bowl and [outer] robe, he must leave behind the ascetics’ woods that are not crowded with people, offer the bliss of seclusion, possess shade and water, and are clean, cool, delightful places, he must disregard the Noble Ones’ delight in seclusion, and he must set out for the village in order to get nutriment, as a jackal for the charnel ground.

7. And as he goes thus, from the time when he steps down from his bed or chair he has to tread on a carpet^[6] covered with the dust of his feet, geckos’ droppings, and so on. Next he has to see the doorstep,^[7] which is more repulsive than the inside of the room since it is often fouled with the droppings of rats, bats,^[8] and so on. Next the lower terrace, which is more repulsive than the terrace above since it is all smeared with the droppings of owls, pigeons,^[9] and so on. Next the grounds,^[10] which are more repulsive than the lower floor since they are defiled by old grass and leaves blown about by the wind, by sick novices’ urine, excrement, spittle and snot, and in the rainy season by water, mud, and so on. And he has to see the road to the monastery, which is more repulsive than the grounds.

8. In due course, after standing in the debating lodge^[11] when he has finished paying homage at the Enlightenment Tree and the shrine, he sets out thinking, “Instead of looking at the shrine that is like a cluster of pearls, and the Enlightenment Tree that is as lovely as a bouquet of peacock’s tail feathers, and the abode that is as fair as a god’s palace, I must now turn my back on such a charming place and go abroad for the sake of food;” and on the way to the village, the view of a road of stumps and thorns and an uneven road broken up by the force of water awaits him.

9. Next, after he has put on his waist cloth as one who hides an abscess, and tied his waist band as one who ties a bandage on a wound, and robed himself in his upper robes as one who hides a skeleton, and taken out his bowl as one who takes out a pan for medicine, [343] when he reaches the vicinity of the village gate, perhaps the sight of an elephant’s carcass, a horse’s carcass, a buffalo’s carcass, a human carcass, a snake’s carcass, or a dog’s carcass awaits him, and not only that, but he has to suffer his nose to be assailed by the smell of them.

Next, as he stands in the village gateway, he must scan the village streets in order to avoid danger from savage elephants, horses, and so on.

10. So this repulsive [experience] beginning with the carpet that has to be trodden on and ending with the various kinds of carcasses that have to be seen and smelled, [has to be undergone] for the sake of nutriment: “Oh, nutriment is indeed a repulsive thing!”

This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to going.

11. 2. How as to seeking? When he has endured the repulsiveness of going in this way, and has gone into the village, and is clothed in his cloak of patches, he has to wander in the village streets from house to house like a beggar with a dish in his hand. And in the rainy season wherever he treads his feet sink into water and mire up to the flesh of the calves.^[12] He has to hold the bowl in one hand and his robe up with the other. In the hot season he has to go about with his body covered with the dirt, grass, and dust blown about by the wind. On reaching such and such a house door he has to see and even to tread in gutters and cesspools covered with blue-bottles and seething with all the species of worms, all mixed up with fish washings, meat washings, rice washings, spittle, snot, dogs’ and pigs’ excrement, and what not, from which flies come up and settle on his outer cloak of patches and on his bowl and on his head.

12. And when he enters a house, some give and some do not. And when they give, some give yesterday’s cooked rice and stale cakes and rancid jelly, sauce and so on.^[13] Some, not giving, say, “Please pass on, venerable sir,” others keep silent as if they did not see him. Some avert their faces. Others treat him with harsh words such as: “Go away, you bald-head.” When he has wandered for alms in the village in this way like a beggar, he has to depart from it.

13. So this [experience] beginning with the entry into the village and ending with the departure from it, which is repulsive owing to the water, mud, etc., that has to be trodden in and seen and endured, [has to be undergone] for the sake of nutriment: “Oh, nutriment is indeed a repulsive thing!”

This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to seeking. [344]

14. 3. How as to using? After he has sought the nutriment in this way and is sitting at ease in a comfortable place outside the village, then so long as he has not dipped his hand into it he would be able to invite a respected bhikkhu or a decent person, if he saw one, [to share it];but as soon as he has dipped his hand into it out of desire to eat he would be ashamed to say, “Take some.” And when he has dipped his hand in and is squeezing it up, the sweat trickling down his five fingers wets any dry crisp food there may be and makes it sodden.

15. And when its good appearance has been spoilt by his squeezing it up, and it has been made into a ball and put into his mouth, then the lower teeth function as a mortar, the upper teeth as a pestle, and the tongue as a hand. It gets pounded there with the pestle of the teeth like a dog’s dinner in a dog’s trough, while he turns it over and over with his tongue; then the thin spittle at the tip of the tongue smears it, and the thick spittle behind the middle of the tongue smears it, and the filth from the teeth in the parts where a tooth-stick cannot reach smears it.

16. When thus mashed up and besmeared, this peculiar compound now destitute of the [original] colour and smell is reduced to a condition as utterly nauseating as a dog’s vomit in a dog’s trough. Yet, notwithstanding that it is like this, it can still be swallowed because it is no longer in range of the eye’s focus.

This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to using.

17. 4. How as to secretion? Buddhas and Paccekabuddhas and Wheel-turning Monarchs have only one of the four secretions consisting of bile, phlegm, pus and blood, but those with weak merit have all four. So when [the food] has arrived at the stage of being eaten and it enters inside, then in one whose secretion of bile is in excess it becomes as utterly nauseating as if smeared with thick madhuka oil; in one whose secretion of phlegm in excess it is as if smeared with the juice of nāgabalā leaves;^[14] in one whose secretion of pus is in excess it is as if smeared with rancid buttermilk; and in one whose secretion of blood is in excess it is as utterly nauseating as if smeared with dye. This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to secretion.

18. 5. How as to receptacle? When it has gone inside the belly and is smeared with one of these secretions, then the receptacle it goes into is no gold dish or crystal or silver dish and so on. On the contrary, if it is swallowed by one ten years old, it finds itself in a place like a cesspit unwashed for ten years. [345] If it is swallowed by one twenty years old, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety years old, if it is swallowed by one a hundred years old, it finds itself in a place like a cesspit unwashed for a hundred years. This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to receptacle.

19. 6. How as to what is uncooked (undigested)? After this nutriment has arrived at such a place for its receptacle, then for as long as it remains uncooked it stays in that same place just described, which is shrouded in absolute darkness, pervaded by draughts,^[15] tainted by various smells of ordure and utterly fetid and loathsome. And just as when a cloud out of season has rained during a drought and bits of grass and leaves and rushes and the carcasses of snakes, dogs and human beings that have collected in a pit at the gate of an outcaste village remain there warmed by the sun’s heat until the pit becomes covered with froth and bubbles, so too, what has been swallowed that day and yesterday and the day before remains there together, and being smothered by the layer of phlegm and covered with froth and bubbles produced by digestion through being fermented by the heat of the bodily fires, it becomes quite loathsome. This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to what is uncooked.

20. 7. How as to what is cooked? When it has been completely cooked there by the bodily fires, it does not turn into gold, silver, etc., as the ores^[16] of gold, silver, etc., do [through smelting]. Instead, giving off froth and bubbles, it turns into excrement and fills the receptacle for digested food, like brown clay squeezed with a smoothing trowel and packed into a tube, and it turns into urine and fills the bladder. This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to what is cooked.

21. 8. How as to fruit? When it has been rightly cooked, it produces the various kinds of ordure consisting of head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, and the rest. When wrongly cooked it produces the hundred diseases beginning with itch, ring-worm, smallpox, leprosy, plague, consumption, coughs, flux, and so on. Such is its fruit. This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to fruit.

22. 9. How as to outflow? On being swallowed, it enters by one door, after which it flows out by several doors in the way beginning, “Eye-dirt from the eye, eardirt from the ear” (Sn 197). And on being swallowed it is swallowed even in the company of large gatherings. But on flowing out, now converted into excrement, urine, etc., it is excreted only in solitude. [346] On the first day one is delighted to eat it, elated and full of happiness and joy. On the second day one stops one’s nose to void it, with a wry face, disgusted and dismayed. And on the first day one swallows it lustfully, greedily, gluttonously, infatuatedly. But on the second day, after a single night has passed, one excretes it with distaste, ashamed, humiliated and disgusted. Hence the Ancients said:

23.

The food and drink so greatly prized—
The crisp to chew, the soft to suck—
Go in all by a single door,
But by nine doors come oozing out.

The food and drink so greatly prized—
The crisp to chew, the soft to suck—
Men like to eat in company,
But to excrete in secrecy.

The food and drink so greatly prized—
The crisp to chew, the soft to suck—
These a man eats with high delight,
And then excretes with dumb disgust.

The food and drink so greatly prized—
The crisp to chew, the soft to suck—
A single night will be enough
To bring them to putridity.

This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to outflow.

24. 10. How as to smearing? At the time of using it he smears his hands, lips, tongue and palate, and they become repulsive by being smeared with it. And even when washed, they have to be washed again and again in order to remove the smell. And, just as, when rice is being boiled, the husks, the red powder covering the grain, etc., rise up and smear the mouth, rim and lid of the cauldron, so too, when eaten it rises up during its cooking and simmering by the bodily fire that pervades the whole body, it turns into tartar, which smears the teeth, and it turns into spittle, phlegm, etc., which respectively smear the tongue, palate, etc.; and it turns into eye-dirt, ear-dirt, snot, urine, excrement, etc., which respectively smear the eyes, ears, nose and nether passages. And when these doors are smeared by it, they never become either clean or pleasing even though washed every day. And after one has washed a certain one of these, the hand has to be washed again.^[17] And after one has washed a certain one of these, the repulsiveness does not depart from it even after two or three washings with cow dung and clay and scented powder. This is how repulsiveness should be reviewed as to smearing.

25. As he reviews repulsiveness in this way in ten aspects and strikes at it with thought and applied thought, physical nutriment [347] becomes evident to him in its repulsive aspect. He cultivates that sign^[18] again and again, develops and repeatedly practices it. As he does so, the hindrances are suppressed, and his mind is concentrated in access concentration, but without reaching absorption because of the profundity of physical nutriment as a state with an individual essence. But perception is evident here in the apprehension of the repulsive aspect, which is why this meditation subject goes by the name of “perception of repulsiveness in nutriment.”

26. When a bhikkhu devotes himself to this perception of repulsiveness in nutriment, his mind retreats, retracts and recoils from craving for flavours. He nourishes himself with nutriment without vanity and only for the purpose of crossing over suffering, as one who seeks to cross over the desert eats his own dead child’s flesh (S II 98). Then his greed for the five cords of sense desire comes to be fully understood without difficulty by means of the full understanding of the physical nutriment. He fully understands the materiality aggregate by means of the full-understanding of the five cords of sense desire. Development of mindfulness occupied with the body comes to perfection in him through the repulsiveness of “what is uncooked” and the rest. He has entered upon a way that is in conformity with the perception of foulness. And by keeping to this way, even if he does not experience the deathless goal in this life, he is at least bound for a happy destiny.

This is the detailed explanation of the development of the perception of repulsiveness in nutriment.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

“The word ‘perception’ (saññā) is used for the dhamma with the characteristic of perceiving (sañjānana), as in the case of ‘perception of visible objects,’ ‘perception of sound,’ etc.; and it is used for insight, as in the case of ‘perception of impermanence,’ ‘perception of suffering,’ etc.; and it is used for serenity, as in the passage, ‘Perception of the bloated and perception of visible objects, have these one meaning or different meanings, Sopāka?’ (Source untraced. Cf. III.111), and so on. Here, however, it should be understood as the preliminary work for serenity; for it is the apprehending of the repulsive aspect in nutriment, or the access jhāna produced by means of that, that is intended here by, ‘perception of repulsiveness in nutriment’”(Vism-mhṭ 334–35).

[2]:

A more detailed exposition of nutriment is given at M-a I 107ff. “‘It nourishes’ (āharati)”: the meaning is that it leads up, fetches, produces, its own fruit through its state as a condition for the fruit’s arising or presence, which state is called “nutriment condition.” It is made into a mouthful (kabalaṃ karīyati), thus it is physical (kabaliṅkāra). In this way it gets its designation from the concrete object; but as to characteristic, it should be understood to have the characteristic of nutritive essence (ojā). It is physical and it is nutriment in the sense stated, thus it is physical nutriment; so with the rest. It touches (phusati), thus it is contact (phassa); for although this is an immaterial state, it occurs also as the aspect of touching on an object (ārammaṇa—lit. “what is to be leaned on”), which is why it is said to have the characteristic of touching. It wills (cetayati), thus it is volition (cetanā); the meaning is that it arranges (collects) itself together with associated states upon the object. Mental volition is volition occupied with the mind. It cognizes (vijānāti) by conjecturing about rebirth (see XVII.303), thus it is consciousness (viññāṇa = cognition) (Vism-mhṭ 335).

[3]:

For the “octad with nutritive essence as eighth” (ojaṭṭhamaka), see XVIII.5ff. and XX.27ff.

[4]:

Vism-mhṭ (p. 355) explains attachment here as craving which is “perilous because it brings harm” (see e.g. D II 58–59), or in other words, “greed for the five aggregates (lust after five-aggregate experience).” It cites the following: “Bhikkhus, when there is physical nutriment, there is greed (lust), there is delighting, there is craving; consciousness being planted therein grows. Wherever consciousness being planted grows, there is the combination of mind-and-matter. Wherever there is the combination of mind-and-matter, there is ramification of formations. Wherever there is ramification of formations, there is production of further becoming in the future. Wherever there is production of further becoming in the future, there is future birth, aging and death. Wherever there is future birth, aging and death, bhikkhus, the end is sorrow, I say, with woe and despair” (S II 101; cf. S II 66). Approaching is explained as “meeting, coinciding, with unabandoned perversions [of perception] due to an object [being perceived as permanent, etc., when it is not].” That is, “perilous since it is not free from the three kinds of suffering.” The quotation given is: “Bhikkhus, due to contact of the kind to be felt as pleasant, pleasant feeling arises. With that feeling as condition there is craving, … thus there is the arising of this whole mass of suffering” (cf. S IV 215). Reappearance is “rebirth in some kind of becoming or other. Being flung into a new becoming is perilous because there is no immunity from the risks rooted in reappearance.” The following is quoted: “Not knowing, bhikkhus, a man forms the formation of merit, and his [rebirth] consciousness accords with the merit [tie performed]; he forms the formation of demerit; … he forms the formation of the imperturbable …” (S II 82). Rebirth-linking is the actual linking with the next becoming, which “is perilous since it is not immune from the suffering due to the signs of [the impending] rebirth-linking.” The quotation given is: “Bhikkhus, when there is consciousness as nutriment there is greed (lust), there is delighting …” (S II 102—complete as above).

[5]:

“‘Twenty or thirty times’: here some say that the definition of the number of times is according to what is present-by-continuity (see XIV.188). But others say that it is by way of “warming up the seat” (see M-a I 255); for development that has not reached suppression of hindrances does not remove the bodily discomfort in the act of sitting, because of the lack of pervading happiness. So there is inconstancy of posture too. Then ‘twenty or thirty’ is taken as the number already observed by the time of setting out on the alms round. Or alternatively, from ‘going’ up to ‘smearing’ is one turn;then it is after giving attention to the meditation subject by twenty or thirty turns in this way” (Vism-mhṭ 339).

[6]:

Paccattharaṇa—“carpet”: the word normally means a coverlet, but here, according to Vism-mhṭ, (p. 339) it is, “a spread (attharaṇa) consisting of a rug (cilimika) to be spread on the ground for protecting the skin.”

[7]:

For pamukha—“doorstep,” perhaps an open upper floor gallery here, see XIII.6.

[8]:

Jatukā—“bat” = khuddaka-vaggulī (Vism-mhṭ 339): not in PED; see XIII.97.

[9]:

Pārāvata—“pigeon”: only spelling pārāpata given in PED.

[10]:

For this meaning of pariveṇa see Ch. IV, note 37.

[11]:

Vitakka-māḷaka—“debating lodge”: Vism-mhṭ (p. 339) says: “‘Kattha nu kho ajja bhikkhāya caritabban’ ti ādinā vitakkamāḷake” (“in a lodge for thinking in the way beginning ‘Where must I go for alms today?’”).

[12]:

Piṇḍika-maṃsa—“flesh of the calves” = jaṅghapiṇḍikaṃamsapadesa. (Vism-mhṭ 340) Cf. VIII.97; also A-a 417. Not in this sense in PED.

[13]:

Kummāsa—“jelly”: usually rendered “junket,” but the Vinaya commentaries give it as made of corn (yava).

[14]:

Nāgabalā—a kind of plant; not in PED.

[15]:

Pavana—“draught”: not in this sense in PED; see XVI.37.

[16]:

Dhātu—“ore”: not in this sense in PED. See also XV.20.

[17]:

“‘A certain one’ is said with reference to the anal orifice. But those who are scrupulously clean by nature wash their hands again after washing the mouth, and so on” (Vism-mhṭ 342).

[18]:

“‘That sign’: that object as the sign for development, which sign is called physical nutriment and has appeared in the repulsive aspect to one who gives his attention to it repeatedly in the ways already described. And there, while development occurs through the repulsive aspect, it is only the dhammas on account of which there comes to be the concept of physical nutriment that are repulsive, not the concept. But it is because the occurrence of development is contingent only upon dhammas with an individual essence, and because the profundity is due to that actual individual essence of dhammas that have individual essences, that the jhāna cannot reach absorption in it through apprehension of the repulsive aspect. For it is owing to profundity that the first pair of truths is hard to see” (Vism-mhṭ 342–43).