Dighanikaya 22.378

22.378

Evaṃ paṭikūlamanasikāravasena kāyānupassanaṃ vibhajitvā idāni dhātumanasikāravasena vibhajituṃ puna caparantiādimāha. Tatthāyaṃ opammasaṃsandanena saddhiṃ atthavaṇṇanā – yathā koci goghātako vā tasseva vā bhattavetanabhato antevāsiko gāviṃ vadhitvā vinivijjhitvā catasso disā gatānaṃ mahāpathānaṃ vemajjhaṭṭhānasaṅkhāte catumahāpathe koṭṭhāsaṃ koṭṭhāsaṃ katvā nisinno assa, evameva bhikkhu catunnaṃ iriyāpathānaṃ yena kenaci ākārena ṭhitattā yathāṭhitaṃ, yathāṭhitattā ca yathāpaṇihitaṃ kāyaṃ ‘‘atthi imasmiṃ kāye pathavīdhātu…pe… vāyodhātū’’ti evaṃ paccavekkhati.

Having thus explained the contemplation of the body by way of attention to repulsiveness, he said, "And further, again," and so forth, in order to explain it now by way of attention to the elements. Herein, this is the explanation of meaning together with the application of the simile: just as a cattle butcher or his apprentice who is a hired hand receiving food and wages, having slaughtered a cow and dismembered it, might sit at a crossroads—designated as the central point of highways heading in the four directions—having cut it into portions, even so, a bhikkhu contemplates this very body, in whatever posture it is placed because of standing in any manner among the four postures, and placed as it stands: "There are in this body the earth element … and so forth … the wind element."