分別功德論 2.26

2.26

"Mindfulness of the body" means observing the thirty-six impure substances and repulsive discharges of the body, mindfully focused and unconfused, thereby also attaining nirvāṇa. How is this known? In the past, there was a monk who was an āraṇyaka. He constantly went begging for food, and ate by the riverbank; having finished eating, he washed his bowl. At that time, in a cemetery on the bank upstream, there was a newly deceased woman; the wind blew her hair, and it suddenly fell into the bowl. The monk took this hair in his hand, looked at it carefully, and found it extraordinarily beautiful. He said to himself aloud: "If it were horsehair, it would be too fine. If it were a man's hair, it would be too soft and fine. If it does not untangle when tied, it must be a woman's hair." He then tied it and it did not untangle. Then he gave rise to the thought: "If the hair is like this, the person must be extraordinarily beautiful, with a face like peach blossoms, eyes like bright pearls, a nose like a cut bamboo cylinder, a mouth like held cinnabar, and eyebrows like millipedes." Having made such distinctions, he gave rise to lustful thoughts; following the water, he searched, yearning to see her appearance. Pursuing without stopping, he saw a woman, half-eaten by foxes and wolves, her body foul and putrid, with her hair still remaining. Taking the hair, he compared it, and the lengths were alike; his earlier lustful thoughts dissolved naturally. Again he observed it closely, distinguishing and scrutinising: "When this person was alive, her appearance was adorned and beautiful, but now it is decomposed and ruined, shown for people to see. The thoughts I gave rise to earlier were merely greed for the body and lustful desire, which is why I conceived such thoughts. That body is like this; how am I any different? Accurately considered, my body is formed by the coming together of the four great elements; when merits are exhausted and conditions separate, it naturally disperses." Seeing the transformation, his mind was awakened, and he immediately attained the track of the Way. Speaking from this, one who is mindful of the body obtains the fruits of a śramaṇa.