The teachings of Ajahn Suchart
7 October 2023
Question: How to contemplate on the body?
Tan Ajahn: Contemplation of the body has many aspects. The first aspect is to contemplate on the impermanent nature of the body. The body is constantly changing. It will never be the same. When it was young, the body will start to grow to become a grown up. After it has reached its full grown up period, it’ll then start to get old, get sick and die. This is how you look at the body. It’s to remind yourself that the body will get old, get sick and die.
The second aspect of the contemplation of the body is to look at the body as without your self.
There’s no ‘you’ in the body. The body is just a product created by your parents. You are the spirit that comes and possesses the body. So, you shouldn’t be afraid of the impermanent nature of the body. If you know that you are not the body, when something happens to the body, you know that it can’t hurt you. But if you’re deluded and thought that the body is you, when something happens to the body, you’ll think that it’s going to hurt you. This is what you have to contemplate on. This is the second aspect of the contemplation: ‘not-self.’ The body is not your self. The body is a product created by your parents. The body is made up of the 4 elements: earth, water, fire and wind. When they combined, it creates a body with the 32 parts, like the hair of the head, hair of the body, nail, teeth, skin, flesh, bones, organs, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, intestines, etc. This is how you should contemplate on so that you can see that there’s no such thing as your self in the body. The body is just a product made up of the elements which eventually will decompose and return back to become the 4 elements. But you don’t decompose with the body. You’re the one who thinks, the one who contemplates. The one who contemplates doesn’t die with the body. If you keep contemplating on this aspect, it’ll become clearer and clearer, and eventually you’ll be able to let go of the body. You’ll see the body as not your self.
The third aspect of the contemplation is to look at the unwholesome or repulsive parts of the body. If you see somebody as good looking, you’ll be attracted to him or her, and your sexual desire will arise. You’ll then want the person to make you happy. But that person who looks attractive on the outside has a lot of things inside his or her body which are not good looking.
If you can see the organs, the bones, the skeleton inside the body of that person, you can stop your attraction to his or her body and stop your sexual desire. Then, you can live alone. You don’t need to have a partner to make you happy. You can be happy by doing meditation, by living alone. This is the third aspect of the contemplation of the body. It’s to look at the body as asubha. Asubha means looking at the body as not good looking, not beautiful, not attractive.
“Dhamma in English, Jul 4, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
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