大般涅槃經義記 1.78

1.78

From "this body is foul-smelling" onward, they contemplate the impurity of the body. Impurity has five aspects: 1. impurity of seeds: presently the semen and blood of the parents serve as seeds, and in the past the afflictions, fetters, and karma served as seeds; 2. impurity of dwelling place: inside the mother's womb, one's own body is placed below the stomach and above the large intestine; 3. impurity of self-nature: thirty-six substances together form one's own body; 4. impurity of intrinsic marks: the nine apertures constantly discharge; 5. ultimate impurity: after this body dies, worms eat it and turn it to dung, fire burns it to ash, or burial turns it to soil, being impure to the very end. Now in this text, three kinds are briefly raised: the body is foul-smelling, bound by craving, and impurity of seeds. Presently the semen and blood of the parents serve as seeds, so the body is foul and impure; past craving and afflictions serve as seeds, termed the prison-bondage of craving; the body is like a dead dog, which is the impurity of self-nature; the nine apertures constantly discharging is the impurity of intrinsic marks—the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, and the paths of urination and defecation are the nine apertures. From "the body is like a city" onward, they contemplate that the body lacks self. In this, first they observe according to its marks, relying on the city analogy to clarify that the body is illusory and unreal; the text's phrasing can be understood. From "such a city of the body is abandoned by all buddhas" onward, relying on persons reveals the Dharma. The abandonment by all buddhas highlights that it truly lacks self; ordinary fools constantly savoring, with craving and so forth dwelling within, clarifies that attachment is delusion. Furthermore, the buddhas' abandonment raises the sages to rebuke the ordinary, and ordinary fools' savoring and attachment censures the ordinary for differing from the sages. "This body is not solid, like a reed" and so forth contemplates that the body is empty.