Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c17.s2.t7: The last two Kammaṭṭhānas

Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c17.s2.t7

Language: English

The last two Kammaṭṭhānas

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The last two Kammaṭṭhānas are (i) *āhāre paṭikūlasaññā-bhāvanā* and (ii) *catudhātu-vavatthānassa bhāvanā*.

1. *Āhāre paṭikūla-saññā* or disgust for food. The adept is to ponder over the evils connected with food. The evils may be of many kinds, e.g., botheration of going out for alms and seeking for it; performing the preliminaries when taking food; the unclean stomach which receives the food, undigestibility of food and so forth. By meditating over these evils, he gets rid of desire for food and gradually of all desires (*taṇhā*). He feels no attachment for his body, and thus attains the summum bonum in this life.¹

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¹ *Vism.*, pp. 341-7.

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2. *Catudhātu-vavatthāna*, or determination of the four elements of the body. The adept, taking up this Kammaṭṭhāna, examines the contents of his body under the four heads: *paṭhavī*, *āpo*, *tejo* and *vāyu*. He takes into consideration one by one his skin, flesh, sinews, marrow, kidneys, bones etc.,² and examines their functions and then looks upon them as nothing but one of the four elements, and as such they are mere material objects (*acetana*), indeterminable (*avyākata*), substanceless (*suñña*), non-sentient (*nissatto*) and so forth. Such examination and cogitation make the adept realise the voidness (*suññatam*) of his self and so of the world. He can no longer perceive the existence of different beings. As soon as he develops this mental state, he attains the highest knowledge.³

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² For details, see *Vism.*, pp. 358-67.

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³ *Ibid.*, pp. 347-70.

Cites (1)

Visuddhimagga — Buddhaghosa, Pāli