A Practical Guide to 'Asubha Bhavana': Using the Meditation on Foulness to Cultivate Mindfulness and Detachment
The Buddha taught the meditation on the body parts as a way to overcome attachment to our own bodies as well as the bodies of others. We do this by silently reflecting part by part, seeing that this is the true nature of the body.
These reflections can be done for some time before breathing meditation, or can be practiced on their own.
This meditation can be done in any posture: walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. You may like to memorize this list so you can practice it at any time.
Besides, it develops a balanced view with regard to the physical body: not in delusion, nor in superficial judgment. It serves to make things clear, to see the body as it actually is a non-object of attachment or aversion but an aggregate of impermanent and interdependent factors. The practice will serve to reinforce mindfulness and insight for the purpose of being able to confront deep seated perceptions about beauty and identity.
"... A monk reviews this same body up from the soles of the feet and down from the top of the hair, bounded by skin, as full of many kinds of impurity thus: 'In this body there are ...
head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, contents of the stomach, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil of the joints, and urine.'
Just as though there were a bag with an opening at both ends full of many sorts of grain, such as hill rice, red rice, beans, peas, millet, and white rice, and a man with good eyes were to open it and review it thus: "This is hill rice, this is red rice, these are beans, these are peas, this is millet, this is white rice'; so too, a monk reviews this same body up from the soles of the feet and down from the top of the hair, bounded by skin, as full of many kinds of impurity thus....'
"In this way he abides contemplating the body as a body internally, or he abides contemplating the body as a body externally, or
he abides contemplating the body as a body both internally and externally. Or else he abides contemplating in the body its arising factors, or he abides contemplating in the body its vanishing factors, or he abides contemplating in the body both its arising and vanishing factors. Or else mindfulness that 'there is a body' is simply established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That too is how a monk abides contemplating the body as a body."
["Based on the translation by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha 'Satipatthana Sutta' (Wisdom Publications)."]
This meditation on foulness, although daunting at first, shows great wisdom behind the Buddha's teachings. Let us neither glorify the body nor despise it but understand it as a natural process. This contemplation of parts and conditions making up the physical form serves to loosen the hold of clinging and aversion and allows a sense of balance and inner freedom to develop.
Living in the world where much importance is given to appearances and momentary pleasures, 'Asubha Bhavana' is but a gentle reminder of what the actual values are. It brings us down to the fact of impermanence and calls upon us to cultivate clarity and understanding of the nature of life. It's not only about the recognition that our bodies are temporary but also much more about the great perspective in which everything that arises will have to pass away, and learn to live graciously with such a truth.
As I work with this meditation, may it be a fount of strength and clarity for the guidance of my heart and mind toward peace and release. The Buddha's teachings show us that, beneath the surface, there is freedom possible that shall not be shaken a mind unbound by the chains of illusion. May this indeed awaken you to each step you will take forward with courage, awareness, and compassion upon yourself and all beings.
Namo Buddhaya!
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