Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c17.s2.t2: Ten Asubhas

Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c17.s2.t2

Language: English

Ten Asubhas

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The ten asubha (unpleasant) objects of meditation refer to the ten states through which an uncared for corpse passes before it is completely destroyed. They are,—

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(ii) vinīlakam, i.e., when the colour of the corpse has become blue;

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(iii) vipubbakam or the corpse full of pus;

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(iv) vicchiddakam or the corpse with limbs torn asunder (e.g. dead bodies of thieves);

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(v) vikkhāyitam, i.e., when the corpse has been mangled by dogs and jackles;

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(vi) vikkhittam or the corpse with dismembered limbs;

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(vii) hatavikkhittam or the corpse with its limbs partly destroyed and partly scattered;

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(viii) *lohitakam* or the corpse covered here and there with blood (e.g. of a soldier in a battle field);
(ix) *puḷuvakam* or the corpse full of worms;
(x) *aṭṭhikam* or the skeleton.

After enumerating these ten unpleasant objects of meditation, Buddhaghosa deals with the following:
(i) safety of the place where a corpse is found;
(ii) how he should behave or what he should ponder over while going to or coming from the place of meditation;
(iii) sex of the corpse and its suitability;
(iv) advantages of leaving instructions with the teacher and fellow-brethren about the place selected by him for meditation;
(v) the path and direction to be chosen;
(vi) the nature of the noticeable objects around the place where the corpse is found;
(vii) the six characteristics of the corpse to be observed by him, viz., colour, sex, position, direction and size of the corpse, as also joints, apertures, depth of eye sockets etc., thickness, and a general view of the corpse.

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The meditator, as in the case of *paṭhavī*, tries to convert the corpse into a concept (*paṭibhāga*), and then as usual gets rid of the five *nīvaraṇas*,¹ and induce the ecstacies by gradually doing away with *vitakka* and *vicāra*, *pīti* and *sukha*.²

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¹ See above, p. 219, fn 3

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² Vism., p. 189.

Cites (1)

Visuddhimagga — Buddhaghosa, Pāli