Commentary on the Samādhi Meditation Sūtra
Chapter 3: The Dharma Gate for Treating Lust
Original text:淫欲多人。习不净观。从足至发。不净充满。发毛爪齿。薄皮厚皮。血肉筋脉。骨髓肝肺。心脾肾胃。大肠小肠。屎尿洟唾。汗泪垢坋。脓脑胞胆。水微肤脂。肪脑膜身中。如是种种不净。复次不净渐者。观青瘀膀胀破烂。血流涂漫。臭脓啖食不尽。骨散烧焦。是谓不净观。
Explanation: Those with abundant lust should cultivate the contemplation of impurity (aśubha-bhāvanā) extensively. The method of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) is to contemplate from the feet up to the hair, observing that everything is filled with impurity, filthy beyond bearing, with not a single spot that is clean. For example: the hair, body hair, nails of the hands and feet, teeth, thin skin and thick skin, blood, flesh, sinews, and vessels, bone marrow, heart and liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys, large intestine, small intestine, feces and urine, saliva, sweat, tears, brain matter, fat, meninges, and so on—all the parts of the whole body have various impurities and are all filthy. The contemplation of impurity next progressively contemplates the body's bruised discoloration, swelling, festering decay, and suppurating sores; the blood flowing out and spreading everywhere, emitting a foul stench; the bones scattering, dismembered and broken apart, scorched black by fire—these phenomena are all marks of impurity.
The contemplation of impurity can be practiced as visualization while sitting in meditation, and when seeing people, one can visualize both the other person and oneself as equally filthy, dirty, and impure. After contemplating to a certain point, a mind of disenchantment and dispassion will arise; one will no longer be fond of the body and will no longer want more lust. When the contemplation reaches its end, the samādhi of the white bone contemplation is accomplished: with eyes open or closed, one can see one's own and others' material bodies as all white bones. This belongs to form that results from meditative concentration, which others cannot see; only those who have developed this samādhi meditative state can see it. Such a meditative state comes about through the mind consciousness's long-term visualization successfully perfuming the manas; the manas will then take the material body to be in the form of white bones, and thereupon the tathāgatagarbha will manifest the mark of white bones, and the mind consciousness can see the mark of white bones anytime and anywhere—thus the visualization is accomplished.
Therefore, all meditative states and samādhi are the result of the mind consciousness's visualization successfully perfuming and transforming the manas. The mind consciousness easily accepts all kinds of theories; it is only that the manas, because its ignorance is deep and heavy and its habitual tendencies strong, is very hard to convince—and this is what makes cultivation difficult. Each sentient being's manas differs in the degree of its ignorance and in its habitual tendencies; the thinner the ignorance, the faster the cultivation, the more easily meditative concentration (dhyāna) arises, the more easily one enters samādhi, and the more easily one realizes the Dharma. When the white bone contemplation is accomplished, first the view of the body is eradicated, denying the body as self; lust is subdued, one no longer clings severely to the body, and one gains a degree of liberation. Second, one can eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and realize the arhat of the fourth fruit, liberated from the bondage of the afflictions of the three realms.
Original text:复次多淫人。有七种爱。或着好色。或着端正。或着仪容。或着音声。或着细滑。或着众生。或都爱着。若着好色。当习青瘀观法。黄赤不净色等亦复如是。若着端正。当习膀胀身散观法。
若着仪容。当观新死血流。涂骨观法。若着音声。当习咽塞命断观法。若着细滑。当习骨见及干枯病观法。若爱众生。当习六种观。若都爱着。一切遍观。或时作种种。更作异观。是名不净观。
Explanation: Furthermore, those with abundant lust have seven kinds of craving-attachment: some are fond of attractive forms, that is, beauty; some are fond of comely features; some are fond of others' appearance and bearing; some are fond of others' voices; some are fond of others' smooth and delicate skin; some are fond of the appearance of all sentient beings; or they crave and cling to all of them.
If one is fond of and attached to attractive forms, one should cultivate the contemplative practice of the body's bruised discoloration, swelling, and festering decay, or contemplate the material body's yellow pus, red blood, and other various impurities. If one is attached to comely features, one should cultivate the contemplative practice of the body swelling and the body breaking apart.
If one is attached to outward appearance and bearing, one should cultivate the contemplative practice of visualizing a person newly dead, with blood flowing over the whole body and smearing and staining the bones. If one is attached to beautiful voices, one should cultivate the contemplative practice of the throat being blocked and choked, cutting off life.
If one is attached to smooth and delicate skin, one should cultivate the white bone contemplation, as well as the contemplative practice of the body afflicted with a withering disease gradually drying up. If one craves and clings to all marks of sentient beings, one should cultivate the above six contemplative practices. If one is attached to all features of the body, then one should comprehensively contemplate all the impure marks of the material body, contemplating each one without omission. Or one should contemplate all the features of the body as subject to transformation, contemplating their unlovely appearance after death.
These contemplative methods are quickly explained, but in actual contemplative practice it may take several months, a year or half a year, or even longer to subdue craving and attachment, to no longer crave the material body, and to lessen the desiring mind. In daily life one should be mindful to contemplate the filthy, impure marks, the blood-smeared marks, the swollen and festering marks, and the dilapidated, decayed marks of each part of the body; then the mind of attachment will lessen. When seeing someone one likes, replace that person with the appearance of the filthiest and ugliest person, and the mind will no longer be so fond.
Original text:问曰。若身不净如臭腐尸者。何从生着。若着净身。臭腐烂身亦当应着。若不着臭身。净身亦应不着。二身等故。若求二实净。俱不可得。
人心狂惑。为颠倒所覆。非净计净。若倒心破。便得实相法观。便知不净。虚诳不真。复次死尸。无火无命无识。无有诸根。人谛知之。心不生着。以身有暖有命有识。诸根完具。心倒惑着。
Explanation: Question: If the material body is impure like a stinking, rotting corpse, then on what account would attachment arise? If one still craves the pure material body, then one should also crave the stinking, rotting body; if one does not crave the stinking, rotting body, then one should not crave the pure body either, because the two bodies are the same. If one seeks the true pure mark of both material bodies, it is utterly unobtainable, because both are dharmas of arising and ceasing.
The human mind is deranged and deluded, covered by its own inverted views, taking the impure material body to be pure. If the mind's inverted views are broken through, one can attain the contemplative practice of the dharma of ultimate reality and know that the impure marks are deceptive and unreal. Furthermore, a corpse has no warmth of the fire element, no life faculty, no conscious mind, and no six sense faculties; when a person observes this carefully, the mind gives rise to no craving-attachment. Because the body has warmth, has the life faculty, has the conscious mind, and the six sense faculties are complete, upon observing it the mind gives rise to inversion, delusion, and attachment.
Original text:复次心着色时。谓以为净。爱着心息。即知不净。若是实净。
应当常净。而今不然。如狗食粪。谓之为净。以人观之。甚为不净。是身内外。无一净处。若着身外。身外薄皮。举身取之。才得如㮈。是亦不净。何况身内三十六物。
复次推身因缘。种种不净。父母精血。不净合成。既得为身。常出不净。衣服床褥。亦臭不净。何况死处。以是当知。生死内外。都是不净(此下经本至二门初)。
Explanation: Furthermore, when the mind craves the material body, it regards the material body as pure; only when the mind of craving and attachment is extinguished does it know that the material body is impure. If the material body were truly pure, it should be constantly pure, but now it is not so; therefore it is said that the material body is indeed impure. For example, dogs eat feces and regard it as pure; from the human perspective, feces is extremely impure. There is not a single clean spot inside or outside the material body. If one is attached to the thin skin on the outside of the body, peel off the skin of the whole body, and one will then know that the body's skin is just like a sheet of tree bark—also impure. How much more impure are the thirty-six things inside the body.
Furthermore, deducing the causes and conditions of the material body's formation, there are various impure marks: it is formed by the combination of the impure substances of the father's semen and the mother's blood. After combining to form the material body, it constantly exudes various impure substances; the clothes and bedding are also stained to become stinking and impure—how much more so at the time of death, which is extremely filthy. Therefore one should know that at birth and at death, both inside and outside the body are impure.
Original text:复次观亦有三品。或初习行。或已习行或久习行。若初习行当教言。作破皮想。除却不净当观赤骨人。系意观行不令外念。外念诸缘摄念令还。若已习行当教言。想却皮肉。尽观头骨不令外念。外念诸缘摄念令还。
Explanation: Furthermore, the contemplation of impurity is also divided into three grades of contemplative practice: first, beginners who have just begun cultivating contemplative practice; second, those who have already contemplated for a period of time; third, long-term practitioners who have contemplated for a very long time. For one who is cultivating the contemplation of impurity for the first time, one should teach him to visualize the material body as if the skin had been peeled off, removing the impure marks within the material body, and to contemplate the image of a bare-boned person. Contemplate single-pointedly and attentively, not letting the mind's thoughts scatter outward or think of other things; if the mind engages with other dharmas, gather the mind and pull the thoughts back. For one who has already cultivated for a period of time, one should teach him to visualize the material body as if the skin and flesh had been removed, contemplating the skull with single-minded devotion, not letting thoughts engage outward; if they engage outward, pull the thoughts back.
Original text:若久习行当教言。身中一寸。心却皮肉。系意五处。顶额眉间。鼻端心处。如是五处。住意观骨。不令外念。外念诸缘。摄念令还。常念观心。心出制持。
若心疲极。住念所缘。舍外守住。譬如猕猴。被系在柱。极乃住息。所缘如柱。念如绳锁。心喻猕猴。亦如乳母。常观婴儿。不令堕落。行者观心。亦复如是。渐渐制心。令住缘处。若心久住。是应禅法。
Explanation: For one who has long cultivated the contemplation of impurity, one should teach him to visualize a spot one inch thick within the body, mentally removing the skin and flesh, and to bind the attention to five places: the crown of the head, the forehead, between the eyebrows, the tip of the nose, and the pit of the heart. With the attention abiding in these five places, one should contemplate the bones of these five places, not letting the attention engage outward and scatter; if the mind engages outward, one must gather the mind and pull the thoughts back. The mind should constantly remain on the object of contemplation; if the mind runs off, it must be forcibly gathered and held.
If the mind has engaged for a long time and feels extremely fatigued, it will settle its thoughts on the contemplated bones and no longer engage outward; the mind comes to rest and ceases upon the dharma it attends to, unmoving, letting go of external conditions and holding to the place of contemplative practice. It is like a monkey bound to a post: after struggling until exhausted, it then rests and stops, no longer jumping about wildly. The dharma contemplated is like the post; the attention is like the rope; the mind is likened to the monkey. It is also like a wet nurse constantly watching over an infant, not letting it fall.
The practitioner's contemplation of the mind is also like this: gradually subduing the mind's thoughts and making them abide on the dharma being contemplated. If the mind can abide for a long time, the meditative contemplation can be developed.
Original text:若得禅定。即有三相。身体和悦。柔软轻便。白骨流光。犹如白珂。心得静住。是为观净。是时便得色界中心。是名初学禅法得色界心。心应禅法即是色界法。心得此法身在欲界。四大极大柔软快乐。色泽净洁光润和悦。谓悦乐。
二者向者骨观。白骨相中。光明遍照净白色。
三者心住一处是名净观。除肉观骨故名净观。如上三相皆自知之。他所不见。上三品者初习行先未发意。已习行三四身修。久习行百年身学。
Explanation: If meditative concentration is developed, three states will appear: First, the body is moist and lustrous, the complexion pleasant and agreeable, soft and agile; the mark of white bones streaming with light appears in the mind, the white bones like white shells; the mind becomes tranquil and settled—this is the contemplation of impurity. When the contemplative practice is accomplished, the mind corresponds to the form realm, enters into the form realm, and becomes a form-realm mind; the first dhyāna of the form realm appears—this is the form-realm mind attained by one newly learning the dharma of meditation. The mind corresponding to the meditative concentration of the form realm is itself the dharma of the form realm. When the mind attains this dharma while the body still abides in the human world of the desire realm, the material body of the four great elements becomes extremely tall, soft, and blissful; the skin color is luminous, clean, and fresh; the mind within is harmonious, refined, and joyful—this is the first mark of joy and bliss, the mark of mental gladness. Second, in the white bone contemplation cultivated previously, within the mark of the white bones streaming with light, radiance shines forth, illuminating everything, all becoming pure white. Third, the mind abides in one place without scattered or wandering thoughts—this is the pure contemplation. Because one removes the flesh and contemplates the bones, it is called the pure contemplation.
The three marks described above are known only to the practitioner who has accomplished them—seen by oneself and not seen by others. The three grades mentioned above are: one who cultivates the contemplation of impurity for the first time, who has not yet realized any fruit; one who has already begun cultivating, has realized the first fruit (srotāpanna), and still needs to cultivate in the human world three or four more times before attaining nirvāṇa; and one who has long cultivated within this present hundred-year human life, who after cultivating can attain nirvāṇa.
In contemplating the white bones, the mind must imagine forth the appearance of the white bones, hold onto that state, then transform that state, until finally the visualized image always appears in the mind and remains forever unchanged. When it is finally accomplished, there is no need to deliberately visualize; the image naturally appears in the mind, and one can see it whether the eyes are open or closed. This is samādhi; this is meditative concentration (dhyāna). When lust is subdued, the first dhyāna naturally manifests, because the desire-realm mind has ceased and the form-realm mind naturally appears. When the mind is in desire-realm dharmas, it cannot enter form-realm dharmas; when the mind is in form-realm dharmas, it cannot enter formless-realm dharmas. With a mind of a lower stage, there cannot be a mind of a higher stage. Therefore one must first relinquish and then gain—without relinquishing there is no gaining. This is the crucial and secret point of studying the Buddha's Dharma; we must grasp it and learn to apply it.
