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Dasavidhampi cetaṃ asubhaṃ lakkhaṇato ekameva hoti.This foulness, while of ten kinds, has only one characteristic.
Dasavidhassāpi hetassa asuciduggandhajegucchapaṭikkūlabhāvo eva lakkhaṇaṃ.For though it is of ten kinds, nevertheless its characteristic is only its impure, stinking, disgusting and repulsive state (essence).
Tadetaṃ iminā lakkhaṇena na kevalaṃ matasarīre,And foulness appears with this characteristic not only in a dead body
dantaṭṭhikadassāvino pana cetiyapabbatavāsino mahātissattherassa viya,but also in a living one, as it did to the Elder Mahā-Tissa who lived at Cetiyapabbata (I.55),
hatthikkhandhagataṃ rājānaṃ olokentassa saṅgharakkhitattherūpaṭṭhākasāmaṇerassa viya ca jīvamānakasarīrepi upaṭṭhāti.and to the novice attendant on the Elder Saṅgharakkhita while he was watching the king riding an elephant.
Yatheva hi matasarīraṃ, evaṃ jīvamānakampi asubhameva.For a living body is just as foul as a dead one,
Asubhalakkhaṇaṃ panettha āgantukena alaṅkārena paṭicchannattā na paññāyati.only the characteristic of foulness is not evident in a living body, being hidden by adventitious embellishments.
Pakatiyā pana idaṃ sarīraṃ nāma atirekatisataaṭṭhikasamussayaṃ asītisatasandhisaṅghaṭitaṃThis is the body’s nature: it is a collection of over three hundred bones, jointed by one hundred and eighty joints,
navanhārusatanibandhanaṃ navamaṃsapesisatānulittaṃbound together by nine hundred sinews, plastered over with nine hundred pieces of flesh,
allacammapariyonaddhaṃ chaviyā paṭicchannaṃ chiddāvachiddaṃenveloped in the moist inner skin, enclosed in the outer cuticle, with orifices here and there,
medakathālikā viya niccuggharitapaggharitaṃ kimisaṅghanisevitaṃconstantly dribbling and trickling like a grease pot, inhabited by a community of worms,
rogānaṃ āyatanaṃ dukkhadhammānaṃ vatthuthe home of disease, the basis of painful states,
paribhinnapurāṇagaṇḍo viya navahi vaṇamukhehi satatavissandanaṃ.perpetually oozing from the nine orifices like a chronic open carbuncle,
Yassa ubhohi akkhīhi akkhigūthako paggharati, kaṇṇabilehi kaṇṇagūthako,from both of whose eyes eye-filth trickles, from whose ears comes ear-filth,
nāsāpuṭehi siṅghāṇikā, mukhato āhārapittasemharudhirāni,from whose nostrils snot, from whose mouth food and bile and phlegm and blood,
adhodvārehi uccārapassāvā, navanavutiyā lomakūpasahassehi asucisedayūso paggharati.from whose lower outlets excrement and urine, and from whose ninety-nine thousand pores the broth of stale sweat seeps,
Nīlamakkhikādayo samparivārenti.with bluebottles and their like buzzing round it,
Yaṃ dantakaṭṭhamukhadhovanasīsamakkhananahānanivāsanapārupanādīhi appaṭijaggitvāwhich when untended with tooth sticks and mouth-washing and head-anointing and bathing and underclothing and dressing would,
yathājātova pharusavippakiṇṇakeso hutvā gāmena gāmaṃ vicaranto rājāpi pupphachaḍḍakacaṇḍālādīsu aññataropi samasarīrapaṭikkūlatāya nibbiseso hoti,judged by the universal repulsiveness of the body, make even a king, if he wandered from village to village with his hair in its natural wild disorder, no different from a flower-scavenger or an outcaste or what you will.
evaṃ asuciduggandhajegucchapaṭikkūlatāya rañño vā caṇḍālassa vā sarīre vemattaṃ nāma natthi.So there is no distinction between a king’s body and an outcaste’s in so far as its impure stinking nauseating repulsiveness is concerned.
Dantakaṭṭhamukhadhovanādīhi panettha dantamalādīni pamajjitvāBut by rubbing out the stains on its teeth with tooth sticks and mouth-washing and all that,
nānāvatthehi hirikopīnaṃ paṭicchādetvāby concealing its private parts under several cloths,
nānāvaṇṇena surabhivilepanena vilimpitvāby daubing it with various scents and salves,
pupphābharaṇādīhi alaṅkaritvāby pranking it with nosegays and such things,
‘‘ahaṃ mama’’nti gahetabbākārappattaṃ karonti.it is worked up into a state that permits of its being taken as “I” and “mine.”
Tato iminā āgantukena alaṅkārena paṭicchannattā tadassa yāthāvasarasaṃ asubhalakkhaṇaṃ asañjānantā purisā itthīsu, itthiyo ca purisesu ratiṃ karonti.So men delight in women and women in men without perceiving the true nature of its characteristic foulness, now masked by this adventitious adornment.
Paramatthato panettha rajjitabbakayuttaṭṭhānaṃ nāma aṇumattampi natthi.But in the ultimate sense there is no place here even the size of an atom fit to lust after.
Tathā hi kesalomanakhadantakheḷasiṅghāṇikauccārapassāvādīsu ekakoṭṭhāsampi sarīrato bahi patitaṃAnd then, when any such bits of it as head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, spittle, snot, excrement or urine have dropped off the body,
sattā hatthena chupitumpi na icchanti,beings will not touch them;
aṭṭīyanti harāyanti jigucchanti.they are ashamed, humiliated and disgusted.
Yaṃ yaṃ panettha avasesaṃ hoti,But as long as anyone of these things remains in it,
taṃ taṃ evaṃ paṭikkūlampi samānaṃthough it is just as repulsive,
avijjandhakārapariyonaddhā attasineharāgarattā ‘‘iṭṭhaṃ kantaṃ niccaṃ sukhaṃ attā’’ti gaṇhanti.they take it as agreeable, desirable, permanent, pleasant, self, because they are wrapped in the murk of ignorance and dyed with affection and greed for self.
Te evaṃ gaṇhantāTaking it as they do,
aṭaviyaṃ kiṃsukarukkhaṃ disvā rukkhato apatitapupphaṃ ‘‘ayaṃ maṃsapesī’’ti vihaññamānena jarasiṅgālena samānataṃ āpajjanti. Tasmā –they resemble the old jackal who saw a flower not yet fallen from a *kiṃsuka* tree in a forest and yearned after it, thinking, “This is a piece of meat, it is a piece of meat.”
Yathāpi pupphitaṃ disvā, siṅgālo kiṃsukaṃ vane; Maṃsarukkho mayā laddho, iti gantvāna vegasā.There was a jackal chanced to see A flowering *kiṃsuka* in a wood; In haste he went to where it stood: “I have found a meat-bearing tree!”
Patitaṃ patitaṃ pupphaṃ, ḍaṃsitvā atilolupo; Nayidaṃ maṃsaṃ aduṃ maṃsaṃ, yaṃ rukkhasminti gaṇhati.He chewed the blooms that fell, but could, Of course, find nothing fit to eat; He took it thus: “Unlike the meat There on the tree, this is no good.”
Koṭṭhāsaṃ patitaṃyeva, asubhanti tathā budho; Aggahetvāna gaṇheyya, sarīraṭṭhampi naṃ tathā.A wise man will not think to treat As foul only the part that fell, But treats as foul the part as well That in the body has its seat.
Imañhi subhato kāyaṃ, gahetvā tattha mucchitā; Bālā karontā pāpāni, dukkhā na parimuccare.Fools cannot in their folly tell; They take the body to be fair, And soon get caught in Evil’s snare Nor can escape its painful spell.
Tasmā passeyya medhāvī, jīvato vā matassa vā; Sabhāvaṃ pūtikāyassa, subhabhāvena vajjitaṃ.But since the wise have thus laid bare This filthy body’s nature, so, Be it alive or dead, they know There is no beauty lurking there.
Vuttañhetaṃ –For this is said:
Duggandho asuci kāyo, kuṇapo ukkarūpamo; Nindito cakkhubhūtehi, kāyo bālābhinandito.“This filthy body stinks outright Like ordure, like a privy’s site; This body men that have insight Condemn, as object of a fool’s delight.
Allacammapaṭicchanno, navadvāro mahāvaṇo; Samantato paggharati, asuci pūtigandhiyo.“A tumour where nine holes abide Wrapped in a coat of clammy hide And trickling filth on every side, Polluting the air with stenches far and wide.
Sace imassa kāyassa, anto bāhirako siyā; Daṇḍaṃ nūna gahetvāna, kāke soṇe nivārayeti.“If it perchance should come about That what is inside it came out, Surely a man would need a knout With which to put the crows and dogs to rout.”
Tasmā dabbajātikena bhikkhunā jīvamānasarīraṃ vā hotu Matasarīraṃ vā yattha yattha asubhākāro paññāyati, tattha tattheva nimittaṃ gahetvāSo a capable bhikkhu should apprehend the sign wherever the aspect of foulness is manifest, whether in a living body or in a dead one,
kammaṭṭhānaṃ appanaṃ pāpetabbanti.and he should make the meditation subject reach absorption.
Iti sādhujanapāmojjatthāya kate visuddhimagge Samādhibhāvanādhikāre Asubhakammaṭṭhānaniddeso nāma Chaṭṭho paricchedo.The sixth chapter called “The Description of Foulness as a Meditation Subject” in the Treatise on the Development of Concentration in the *Path of Purification* composed for the purpose of gladdening good people.