The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

8 March 2024

Question:  In body contemplation, Ajahn advised that we focused on the impermanence, the non-self and the unattractiveness of the body. Do we pick one of these aspects to do body contemplation, or do we practise all three aspects equally well?

Than Ajahn:  Body contemplation is a tool to help you get rid of your attachment to your body. 

So, whichever way of contemplating that can help you get rid of your attachment to your body, it is okay. 

Right now, you are attached to your body. You think the body is ‘you’. So, you might have to contemplate on the four elements to see that the body is not you. If you go through the 32 parts, is there any of the body parts that is really ‘you’? It is just your perception that your self as being the body. So, you want to get rid of this perception by looking at the real truth. 

Thus, you go through the 32 parts and ask yourself, 

‘Which of these 32 parts is me? Am I the hair of the head, hair of the body? Am I the nails? Am I the teeth?’ 

And so forth. If you run through over the 32 parts, you won’t find your self in these. 

It’s like when you lose your key and you think you’ve left it in your bag. So, what do you do? 

You go through your bag and empty the bag out and find out if he key is in the bag or not. If you can’t find the key in the bag, then you know that your thought is not true, so you have to go and find it somewhere else. 

It’s the same way when you empty your body by looking through the 32 parts. You’ll find that there is no ‘you’ in the 32 parts. What do you look like? Do you look like the heart or the intestines or the lung? You are not them, you see. So, this is the way to get rid of your perception of self in the body.   

When the body dies, when you are cremated, where are you? Are you the earth, the water, the fire or the wind? 

They are just the four elements. Then, you can get rid of your attachment to your body. Once you see that the body isn’t you, you won’t have any desire to cling to the body, or to wish for the body not to get sick, get old or die. When you don’t have this desire, then there is no suffering. When the body gets sick, gets old and die, you just feel calm and undisturbed because you look at the body as if it’s somebody else’s body, not your body. 

When you contemplate the body as asubha, you have another purpose. You want to get rid of your sexual desire. When you look at the body that is good looking, you’ll have attraction to it, you want to possess that body. 

You want to have happiness with that body. 

But if you look inside out, look at the other parts of the body, it can make you feel repulsive towards that body and can get rid of your sexual desire towards that body. 

So, this is another purpose of body contemplation.

Contemplating on the body has several purposes:  

(i) to see the anicca (the impermanence) of the body.

 You have to look at the body that it has to get sick, get old and die;  

(ii) to look at asubha in order to get rid of your sexual desire, your attraction towards that body:  

(iii) to get rid of your delusion to think that the body is you by looking at it as the four elements. 

How is the body formed? It’s formed by the food you eat, the air you breathe in, the water you drink—these are the four elements. Where does the food come from? 

Rice comes from the field, from the earth, and when it goes into the body, it starts to build the 32 parts. And when the body stops functioning, then the 32 parts will disintegrate into four elements. 

You have to contemplate until you see that there is no self in this body, that this body is impermanent, that this body is not attractive. 

Then, you can get rid of your craving towards this body.

“Dhamma in English, Oct 26, 2017.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g