Navasivathika Pabba (Section on Nine Stages of Corpses)
Part 1
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body, one day dead, or two days
dead, or three days dead, swollen, blue and festering, discarded in
the charnel ground, he then compares it to his own body thus:
“Truly
this body
is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Part 2
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body discarded in the charnel
ground, being devoured by crows, being devoured by hawks, being
devoured by vultures, being devoured by herons, being devoured by
dogs, being devoured by tigers, being devoured by leopards, being
devoured by jackals, or being devoured by various kinds of worms,
he then compares it to his own body thus:
“Truly this body is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Part 3
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body discarded in the charnel
ground, that is just a skeleton held together by the tendons, with
some flesh and blood still adhering to it, he then compares it to
his own body thus:
“Truly this body is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Part 4
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body, discarded in the charnel
ground, that is just a skeleton held together by the tendons,
blood-besmeared, fleshless, he then compares it to his own body thus:
“Truly this body is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Part 5
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body, discarded in the charnel
ground, that is just a skeleton held together by the tendons without
flesh and blood, he then compares it to his own body thus:
“Truly this body is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Part 6
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body, discarded in the charnel
ground, that is just loose bones scattered in all directions; at one
place bones of a hand, at another place bones of a foot, at another
place ankle-bones, at another place shin-bones, at another place
thigh-bones, at another place hip-bones, at another place rib-bones,
at another place spinal-bones, at another place shoulder-bones, at
another place neck-bones, at another place the jawbone, at another
place the teeth, and at another place the skull, he then compares it
to his own body thus:
“Truly this body is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Part 7
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body, discarded in the charnel
ground, that is just white bones of conch-like colour, he then
compares it to his own body thus:
“Truly this body is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Part 8
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body, discarded in the charnel
ground, that is bones more than a year old, lying in a heap, he then
compares it to his own body thus:
“Truly this body is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Part 9
And again if a bhikkhu should see a body, discarded in the charnel
ground, that is just rotted bones, crumbling to dust, he then compares
it to his own body thus:
“Truly this body is of the same nature, it will become like that
and cannot escape from it.”
Thus he dwells perceiving again and again the
body
as just the body,
not mine, not I, not self, but just a phenomenon, in himself; or he
dwells perceiving again and again the body as just the body
in
others
; or he dwells perceiving again and again the body as just the
body
in both himself and in others.
He dwells perceiving again and
again the cause and the actual appearing of the body; or he dwells
perceiving gain and again the cause and the actual dissolution of
the body; or he dwells perceiving again and again both the
actual appearing and dissolution of the body with their
causes.
To summarize, he is firmly mindful of the fact that only the body
exists, not a soul, a self or I. That mindfulness is just for
gaining insight and mindfulness progressively. Being detached from
craving and
wrong views
he dwells without clinging to anything in
the
world.
Thus, this is a way in which a bhikkhu dwells perceiving again and
again the body as just the body.