佛說無畏授所問大乘經

Furthermore, O elder! The great Bodhisattva contemplates this body: from what does it originally arise? That is to say, this body comes into being through the union of the father's semen and the mother's blood, and further through the receiving of various foods and drinks.

Once food has entered, it again decays and dissolves; what is accumulated then breaks apart, and through digestion it flows and permeates the body, finally returning once more to impurity. After this, the fire element increases in strength, cooking and burning it until it becomes ripe. In the end it returns to the power of wind, and by this wind-power one portion becomes waste residue, while another portion flows and permeates the body.

The waste residue is the part that becomes excrement and urine. The portion that flows and permeates is called blood; blood transforms into flesh, flesh into fat, fat into bone, bone into marrow, marrow into semen, and so forth, thus forming this impure body.

The Bodhisattva, contemplating this impure body, thereupon reflects: this body is assembled from many things, with differing names and differing forms, namely: three hundred bones, sixty pieces of leaf-fat and liquid fat, joined together to form four hundred thin membranes, five hundred lumps of flesh, six hundred portions of marrow, seven hundred blood vessels, nine hundred sinews, and sixteen ribs.

There are also three matters: within are the various organs of the cooked-food viscera, with sixteen coils of intestine entwined together, two thousand five hundred blood vessels interconnected throughout, one hundred and seven joints, eight hundred thousand koṭis of pores, complete with the five sense faculties, the nine orifices, and the seven viscera all filled with impurity. The marrow amounts to one handful, the brain one handful, the leaf-fat three handfuls, the phlegm-humor six handfuls, and the waste residue six handfuls.

Through the power of wind, the circulating blood amounts to one peck. Thus all of it is filled to the brim. There are seven channels of fluid encircling it, along with the various nourishing substances.

Within, the fire element increases in strength, cooking and burning so as to cause heat and oppression, weariness, and the sweat within the body to flow forth. Such characteristics are very difficult to perceive.

The body being impure and defiled in this way, how can one give rise to a mind of craving and attachment toward it? It is like a beggar who, having received an object, then casts it away and departs. It is also like a great cart laden with an exceedingly heavy load. Only the wise, understanding all dharmas clearly, can know it to be thus.

The Buddha then spoke a verse, saying:

— This body is assembled from many impure things,

The foolish, being without wisdom, do not understand clearly,

And give rise vigorously to a mind of craving and attachment,

Like a foul vessel, broken and reeking with much stench.

The ears, eyes, mouth, and nose are all defiled,

How could they ever be fragrant and clean?

Eye-discharge, saliva, ear-wax, and mucus—

With its defiled worms, how could one cherish it?

It is like a fool who takes a piece of charcoal

And exerts himself grinding and polishing it, wishing to make it white;

The charcoal is used up, he is worn out, yet it cannot be made white—

The witless and their craving desires are just so.

It is like one who, wishing to attain purity,

Devotes himself mostly to adorning this body,

Bathing and washing in a hundred ways and anointing it with perfume—

Yet once dead, the body decays into impurity.

At that time, the World-Honored One again addressed Abhayadatta and the five hundred elders:

— You elders should know! The great Bodhisattva who wishes to realize the fruit of Supreme Awakening should contemplate that this body has forty-four characteristics.

What are the forty-four?

— That is to say: the great Bodhisattva contemplates that this body is truly worthy of being despised and abandoned.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body cannot be delighted in, for it brings no benefit whatsoever.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is exceedingly foul and filthy, with blood and pus overflowing; thus the Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is truly not firm and durable, in the end being destroyed and dissolved.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body's nature is feeble and declining, its sinews and bones joined together.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is impure, its defilement constantly flowing.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is like an illusion, and that ordinary foolish beings give rise to deceptive, deluded, and disturbed perceptions concerning it. The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body oozes from many places, for the nine orifices constantly flow and ooze.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is burned by blazing fires, namely the fire of craving that scorches it, the fierce fire of anger, and the dark fire of delusion.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is constantly covered without cease by the nets of craving, anger, delusion, and the net of love.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body depends upon its orifices, for the nine orifices and the pores throughout the body constantly ooze foul substances.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body has many kinds of suffering and affliction, for the four hundred and four diseases constantly increase to cause harm and ruin.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is a den and nest harboring eighty-four thousand families of worms.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is impermanent, in the end also returning to death.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is an insentient thing, knowing nothing of the dharmas.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is like a utensil formed through the combining of various conditions, in the end also dissolving and decaying.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is oppressed by many sorrows and afflictions.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body has no place toward which to go, for in the end it is subject to aging and death.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is prone to concealment, performing deceitful deeds.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is like earth, difficult to make level and even.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is like fire, for through craving forms it becomes bound.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body knows no satiety, for it chases after the five desires.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body dissolves and decays, for it is obstructed by the afflictions.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body has no fixed station or position, manifesting its acceptance according to what is beneficial.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body has no condition that is principal or subordinate, for it has no original source.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body, with mind and intent, runs about, for the various conditions direct attention to examine and contemplate it.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body, at the moment of being relinquished, is in the end cast away in the Charnel Grove.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is eaten by ferocious beasts, devoured by vultures and wolves.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is like a reflection appearing within a bronze mirror-tray, its sinews and bones linked one to another.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body holds nothing to be regretted or cherished, for at the moment of drawing the final breath, blood and pus overflow.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is greedily attached to the sweet and delicious flavors of food and drink.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body toils painfully without any benefit, for it is a dharma of impermanent arising and ceasing.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is like an evil friend, giving rise to wrong views.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is like a murderer—the more one encounters it, the more suffering increases.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is a dharma of suffering, oppressed by the three sufferings, namely: the suffering of conditioned existence, the suffering of decay, and the suffering of suffering.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is an aggregation of sufferings, the five aggregates revolving, without any master or sovereign.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body has no sovereign freedom, being formed through the combining of various conditions.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body has no life-span, being apart from the marks of male and female.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is empty and quiescent, being formed through the combining of the aggregates, the sense-fields, and the elements.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is false and unreal, like a dream.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is not real, for it is like an illusion.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body is scattered and disordered, like a sunlit mirage.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body runs about, like an echo.

The Bodhisattva contemplates that the body arises from falseness and delusion, like a shadow.

O elder! Through contemplating these forty-four characteristics of the body in this way, when the great Bodhisattva contemplates the delight taken in the body, the cherishing of the body, the grasping at the body as self, the loving defilement toward the body, the accumulation directed at the body, and the attachment toward the body, he severs and removes them all.

Thereby, the delight taken in life, the cherishing of life, the grasping at life as self, the loving defilement toward life, the accumulation directed at life, the attachment toward life—and on down to houses and dwellings, wife and children, kinfolk and retinue, food and drink, clothing, vehicles, beds and seats, jewels and treasures, wealth and goods, rice and grain, incense and flowers, lamps and torches, and all such articles, whether delighted in, or cherished, or grasped at as self, or loved and defiled by, or accumulated, or attached to—are all likewise severed and removed entirely.

Because he is able to relinquish body and life, and on down to all the articles he delights in, all of which he likewise relinquishes—in this way alone can he fulfill the Six Pāramitās.

O elder! Because the great Bodhisattva is able to fulfill the Pāramitās, he is able to swiftly realize the fruit of Supreme Awakening.

At that time, the World-Honored One, wishing to restate this meaning, then spoke a verse:

— Know that the human body is very difficult to obtain;

Do not, for the sake of this body, commit the various sins.

Cast away in the Charnel Grove, its flesh eaten by wolves—

Utterly, this body is a thing to be discarded.

The foolish and witless are constantly disturbed and deluded,

Giving rise to craving and attachment toward this false body.

This body is hard to tame, ever opposing and contrary,

Day and night enduring suffering without rest.

This body is painful and constantly gives rise to sickness;

This body is filled with impure things,

Enduring hunger and thirst, ever causing affliction—

What wise person would give rise to craving and attachment to it?

This body is like a vast expanse of earth without a master,

Like an evil friend, deluding one into giving rise to love.

Because of this body the various sins arise,

And in the end one suffers the various pains oneself.

The body is not firm and durable like a diamond;

Do not, for the sake of this body, commit the various sins.

The wise should cultivate the causes of supreme merit,

And give rise to pure faith in the Buddha-Dharma.

This body does not last long, yet one only labors to nourish it—

Clothing, fragrant perfume, food and drink—

In the end it dissolves and decays, being only temporary;

Deeds of deluded agitation squander the days and months.

Through a hundred kalpas it is hard to encounter

The Great Muni appearing in the world;

Swiftly give rise to pure faith in the Buddha-Dharma,

And do not, upon the evil paths, endure terror and dread.

Suppose one were to live to a thousand koṭis of years,

Even then one should not give rise to craving and attachment;

How much less when one's life-span is not even a full hundred years—

Why give rise to craving and attachment without satiety?

There are some who eat, play, and squander extravagantly,

Not reflecting that this body is truly hard to obtain;

Gathering together to amuse themselves, singing and dancing,

Seeking pleasure and delight in their amusements.

What joy is there in amassing wealth and treasure?

Guarding it and cherishing it, one's afflictions only increase;

The base and lowly ordinary person gives rise to merriment,

While the wise one departs far from craving and attachment.

Wealth and rank are not real, like a dream-illusion;

The foolish, in mind and intent, ever run about.

In an instant it is destroyed, in an instant it is formed—

What wise person would give rise to craving and attachment?

THE SCRIPTURE SPOKEN BY THE BUDDHA OF THE QUESTIONS ASKED BY ABHAYADATTA

ON THE GREAT VEHICLE

End of the Middle Fascicle