The Body Is Neither Real Nor Self

Within the physical body, the seeds of the four great elements are arising, ceasing, and changing moment by moment; the cells in the body are constantly being renewed and metabolized. Within a short period of time, the cellular tissues are completely renewed, and the blood in the body is entirely replaced, no longer being the blood of before. The internal organs are also completely renewed within a certain period of time; even the tissues and organs throughout the whole body, as well as the muscles, tendons, and other tissues, must all be renewed and transformed. Finally, even the bones in the body must be entirely renewed. The entire body, from the inside out and from top to bottom, is completely changed, no longer the body of the past.

Therefore, our appearance is always changing. At a certain stage of age, one's appearance differs greatly from that of one's youth, to the point that no similarities can even be discerned. Everyone is completely different from when they were a child. Those who have gone through serious illness may look completely different from when they were healthy, so that they cannot be recognized as the same person. With such a body, how could it be oneself? How could it be another?

So when contemplating carefully in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), a person with wisdom will not take such a body as real or as himself, will not stubbornly insist that this is "I," clinging to it incessantly and craving it incessantly. Many people clearly know that such a body simply cannot be grasped or controlled. Then why not shift our attention and energy to the mental realm, which we can grasp to some extent and which, once seeds are stored therein, can still be received and enjoyed in future lives, and strive to elevate our prajñā wisdom as much as possible?