Wisdom Wide and Deep

by Shaila Catherine

  CONTEMPLATION OF THE CORPSE

  Buddhist traditions have developed specific death meditations such as the contemplation of the corpse. The instructions are simple—observe a corpse and reflect that your own body, this cherished material process, will end up as a rotting corpse too. The Buddha teaches as follows:

  Again, bhikkhus, as though he were to see a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground, one, two, or three days dead, bloated, livid, and oozing matter, a bhikkhu compares this same body with it thus: “This body too is of the same nature, it will be like that, it is not exempt from that fate.”

  Again, as though he were to see a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground, being devoured by crows, hawks, vultures, dogs, jackals, or various kinds of worms, a bhikkhu compares this same body with it thus: “this body too is of the same nature, it will be like that, it is not exempt from that fate.”

  Again, as though he were to see a corpse thrown aside in a charnel ground, a skeleton with flesh and blood, held together with sinews … here a hand bone, there a foot bone, here a shin bone, there a thigh bone, here a hip bone, there a back bone, here a rib bone, there a breast bone, here an arm bone, there a shoulder bone, here a neck bone, there a jaw bone, here a tooth, there the skull—a bhikkhu compares this same body with it thus: This body too is of the same nature, it will be like that, it is not exempt from that fate.166

  What an invitation to wake up! Death will surely come—even if you have made other plans for that day.

  A VEHICLE FOR JHĀNA

  The decomposing body is a powerful meditation subject that can instill an urgency for awakening and reduce attachment to transitory sensual pleasures. It can also serve as a vehicle for jhāna. The traditional course of instruction for this practice begins with a fresh corpse and goes on to identify eleven stages of decomposition, each of which can be an object for meditation. The stages are: recently dead, bloated, livid, festering, cut up, gnawed, scattered, hacked and scattered, bleeding, worm infested, and skeleton. For this practice it is useful to visualize a body that you have actually seen. If you have access to a charnel ground, morgue, or funeral parlor, visit it. In India, I spent many hours on the banks of the river Ganges watching bodies brought to cremation, observing as layers of flesh dissolved in the flames. Legs or arms periodically popped off as gasses inside the body expanded. Sometimes bodies that had been disposed of without cremation—bloated, discolored, and partially eaten—would surface in the river. In many cultures, the process of decay and death is exposed for all to view. If, however, you live in a culture that hides death from sight, it can be enough to recall a single corpse that you saw at one time. Supplement the visualizations with photographs or descriptions as you trace the process from the “fresh” phase through the various stages of decomposition. If you have never seen an actual dead human body, you can still reflect upon the inevitability of death. Traditionally, however, recollecting the sight of an actual corpse is recommended as the initial object for this meditation.

  A REPULSIVE CORPSE

  The meditation subject of the corpse can progress in two distinct directions: (1) mindfully discerning and reflecting upon a corpse can dispel lust and heighten spiritual urgency, and (2) with the addition of the perception of repulsiveness the corpse can become a suitable object for jhāna.

  The repulsive quality of the corpse is not something that is always obvious. Sometimes the fascination of a new contemplation object or the rapid arising of pleasant jhāna factors can obscure the recognition of the repulsive aspect. In your contemplation of the corpse you may look at the corpse in several ways before discovering a way of regarding it as “repulsive.” Many cultures consider death dirty and relegate the handling of corpses to low castes or social outcasts. Even in the less-stratified societies of the West, undertakers are the brunt of stereotypes and jokes. In my own case I sensed the repulsive aspect through a personal encounter. A few days before a friend of mine died, we had a lovely visit; she knew she was dying and would probably not survive the weekend. Yet she still exuded an enormous vitality and expressed a remarkable warmth and inner beauty with her touch. We hugged, held hands, and joyfully shared each other’s presence. Just three days later, I was sitting beside her corpse. I sat at the vigil for many hours, but felt no urge to hold her. The repulsive quality does not imply the corpse is ugly; actually my friend’s body was arranged in a simple, beautiful, and elegant manner. The repulsive quality manifested as my disinclination to touch.

  The death reflections that follow are not intended to be gruesome exercises; rather, they are undertaken to deepen concentration, to cultivate spiritual urgency and wise dispassion, and ultimately to lead toward the deathless liberation. As the Buddha explained, “In one who often contemplates these facts, the path arises. He now regularly pursues, develops, and cultivates that path and while he is doing so the fetters are abandoned and the underlying tendencies eliminated.”167

  MEDITATION INSTRUCTION 9.1

  Decomposition of the Corpse

  This systematic meditation progresses by visualizing the stage-by-stage decomposition of a corpse, followed by a reflection on the inevitability of your own death. Begin by establishing concentration with a method of your choice. Next, recall a previously seen corpse. Select a body whose attributes have never sparked you to feel sexual attraction. It may sound hideous or inconceivable that a corpse could stimulate sexual desire, but concentration brings pleasant mental factors of rapture, pleasure, and delight that could, if mindfulness weakens, slide toward lust. Even if you consider this concern unrealistic, choose a body for whom you genuinely feel no attraction. Choosing a corpse of the same gender as yourself may facilitate a seamless transition to the reflection that “I too am subject to death.”

  Look closely at the corpse if it is actually in front of you; otherwise, take some time to remember one you have previously seen, or examine photos of a corpse. Hold its image firmly in your mind. First, just see the corpse—how the legs and arms are positioned, the color of the skin, the overall shape, and so on. Then, to use the corpse as an object for jhāna, focus on the corpse not as a neutral image, but as a repulsive one. Emphasize the repulsive aspect of the corpse until the sign of repulsiveness arises, similar to the procedure for the repulsive skeleton introduced in chapter 5. Gradually, the nimitta will become bright and stable enough to invite absorption into the first jhāna. The object of the repulsive corpse can only raise consciousness to the first jhāna; it cannot carry the mind into higher attainments. After dwelling in the first jhāna based on the repulsive sign associated with the corpse, emerge and reflect on the five jhāna factors. Then shift your reflection to contemplate, “I will also die some day; I am subject to death; I cannot avoid death.”

  Now return your attention to the corpse and visualize your own dead body in the place previously occupied by the corpse. See your own death as certain. See your own dead body before you, perhaps laid out on a slab. You are not trying to feel what it might be like to die, or trying to imagine going through a dying process; the practice simply lets the truth that I too will die, just like that corpse register very deeply.

  MEDITATION INSTRUCTION 9.2

  Meditating on More Corpses

  After contemplating one repulsive corpse as a jhāna object and awakening urgency by reflecting on the inevitability of your own death, you may wish to develop the corpse meditation subject with further images. Choose another one that you have seen and progressively imagine the eleven stages of decomposition occurring to that single corpse. Each stage of decomposition can elicit the first jhāna; thus, you may attain eleven first jhāna absorptions by following the sequential decomposition of each corpse. After emerging from absorption, you may replace the image of the corpse with a visualization of your own body at each stage of decomposition. In this way you will contemplate the stage-by-stage disintegration of this life’s cherished body. Jhāna is accessible by visualizing the corpse of another person, but the contemplation of our own death will no
t carry us beyond neighborhood concentration.

  To loosen the grip of attachment to our friends and family, and to face the inevitable fact that everyone is subject to death, you can follow a similar procedure by envisioning friends and family members as corpses. With these reflections you may contemplate, “I am not the only one who is sure to become old, to fall ill and to die … all are subject to old age, illness, and death.”168

  CHAPTER 10

  Eleven Skills for Jhāna Meditation

  I must become skilled in knowing the ways of my own mind.

  —AṄGUTTARA NIKĀYA169

  THE BUDDHA PROVIDED a practical list of eleven essential skills related to the primary themes and most common errors meditators confront in jhāna practice.170 You might use this checklist to pinpoint your weak areas and strive to strengthen that meditative skill. This review can be especially helpful to the meditator who has experienced brief absorptions and is trying to stabilize the attainments. By identifying your weaknesses you can strategically focus your effort and effectively apply your mind to the development of concentration and wisdom. These eleven skills for jhāna meditation are:

  attainment

  concentration

  maintenance

  emergence

  pliancy

  object in relation to concentration

  range

  resolution

  thoroughness

  persistence

  suitability.

  1. Skill in attainment (samāpatti kusala). Have you experienced the genuine attainment of jhāna? The skill in attainment refers to the basic ability to attain jhāna easily where, when, and for as long as one wishes. Most practitioners must rigorously struggle to overcome hindrances and withdraw attention from worldly activities in order to attain authentic absorptions. Some meditators may succeed in entering jhāna but find the absorption to be fragile, with the state soon dissolving; they may not be certain if these fragile absorptions would qualify as an authentic attainment of jhāna. If it is difficult for you to sustain the seclusion necessary for jhāna, you might simplify conditions by relinquishing worldly attachments, enhance wholesome states with acts of giving and kindness, strengthen your determination and resolve, and balance the quality of your effort. Diligently create supportive conditions in your life, patiently focus on your meditation object, and then, when conditions ripen, allow the mind to release into absorption. Continuity of practice, heedful attention that guards the six sense doors between meditation sessions, impeccable virtue, and joyful acts of generosity nurture the trust necessary to experience and then stabilize the attainment of jhāna.

  2. Skill in concentration (samādhi kusala). Can you easily discern the factors of each jhāna upon emerging? The skill in concentration implies a clear recognition of the subjective experience of the state. Upon emerging from jhāna it is important to become proficient at identifying the presence or absence of jhāna factors, reflect on the disadvantages and advantages of the factors and states, and discern the pertinent distinctions between jhānas. Sometimes practitioners who are facile in attaining jhāna still must struggle to identify the subtle nuances that characterize each state. This systematic training asks that you inhibit the desire to indulge in the bliss, or slide seamlessly into the next absorption; it requires that you develop skill regarding concentration through repeatedly reflecting upon the jhāna factors between absorptions. The skillful observation of jhāna factors not only supports an intelligent engagement with the jhāna practice, but it will enhance your ability to recognize the state of mind that is knowing an object during insight practices as well. To improve your ability to discern the state of mind, systematically recognize the presence or absence of jhāna factors by directing your attention to the mind door after emerging from each absorption. Although you may consistently find exactly the same factors that you would expect to find, still arouse interest for discerning the specific factors that characterize each state. Refresh your curiosity for directly understanding the nature of the experience.

  3. Skill in stability (ṭhiti kusala). The skill of stabilizing jhāna refers to the meditator’s ability to remain in a steady absorption, continuously focused on the object, without wavering, for a long time. The ability to maintain jhāna develops with the maturation of the controlling faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. Usually the initial encounters with absorption are brief. Gradually extend your ability with incremental resolves—ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes, one hour, two hours—until you are satisfied that you can remain in jhāna for as long as you desire.

  Meditative skills, including mindfulness and concentration, must be stabilized and maintained. Musicians practice to maintain proficiency with their musical instruments; if they stop playing music, their facility will diminish. Similarly, if you do not practice meditation, the subtle mental skills that sustain concentration will diminish. Some people may be athletic, trim, and strong in their youth, but if they eat potato chips in front of the television every evening, they will become fat and weak. Although powerful wholesome states may arise in meditation, if you are negligent and cease to practice, break ethical precepts, or become attached to a stressful lifestyle, you may lose access to such attainments. Skill in maintaining jhāna opposes the tendency to become complacent, lazy, and negligent—to just coast along. So, after succeeding in establishing jhāna, it is important to maintain conducive life conditions or these attainments may not remain readily accessible. It is indeed possible to maintain jhāna in daily lay life, if you are willing to create supportive conditions such as reducing distracting entertainments, dedicating time to daily meditation, and continuing to hone your meditative skills.

  4. Skill in emergence (vuṭṭhāna kusala). Someone who is skilled in emergence has mastered the ability to exit the absorption state at a predetermined time. To practice this, decide how long you will remain in jhāna prior to entering any jhāna state and then notice when you emerge. Did you come out late? Did you come out early? A meditator who tends to fall out early may find that the hindrances of doubt, impatience, desire, and self-interest are only barely suppressed and sneak back in quickly with a momentary weakening of energy. Continuity of mindful attention between meditation sessions will reduce agitation that can accrue during daily activities. Reflecting on the disadvantages of sensory pursuits and the advantages of concentration may further support the seclusion. On the other hand, the meditator who tends to come out late and overstay the duration of his or her resolves may be seduced by the quiet pleasures of jhāna and overindulge in the tranquil states. Reflection on the highest aim and the enduring peace produced by direct insight, rather than on the pleasures of concentration, can inspire disenchantment with temporary jhāna bliss. Use concentration to fully cultivate the mind, while keeping the practice progressing toward the liberating expression of nonclinging. Also, sometimes just moving through the jhānas quickly can draw out a dynamic, buoyant quality that supports timely emergence.

  5. Skill in pliancy (kallitā kusala). Jhāna is not an inert state; it is able and ready. The concentrated mind is pliant, flexible, quick, buoyant, and wieldy; it is a state of sound mental health. If you begin to feel stiff or rigid, intentionally enliven and gladden awareness. You may remain longer in the jhānas that you prefer, permitting the happiness of those states to saturate and suffuse awareness. You may try cycling rapidly through the full sequence, challenging the attention to enter and emerge quickly without fault. You might gladden the mind with reflections on virtue, generosity, qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, or loving-kindness. The strategy that best promotes pliancy of consciousness will depend on the preferences and abilities of the individual.

  6. Skill in the object (ārammaṇa kusala). This skill highlights the significance of the object. In the development of jhāna, through the continuity of one-pointed attention, the initial perception transforms into a mental counterpart sign (nimitta). When concentration is strong, the brightness, color, and di
mensions of the nimitta will be constant and smooth, without fluctuations, fluttering, or dissipation. As you continue to dwell with full attention on your meditation object, the nimitta grows stable and vivid. The stability of the nimitta is a reflection of the stability of the concentrated mind and the maturity of one-pointed attention.

  This training becomes most vivid during kasiṇa practice after your repertoire of meditation subjects has expanded and you have learned to move crisply between objects and jhānas without confusion. When working with a series of meditation objects, it is important to maintain clarity regarding the object of attention. For example, a meditator with skill regarding the object will not confuse the various kasiṇas and will be able to quickly produce and distinguish kasiṇas that may at a cursory glance all resemble luminous discs. Similarly, you can clearly distinguish between the meditation object and the mental factors that arise through the knowing of that object, and learn to hold your object with stability and wisdom. This ability to keep the desired object firmly in mind obviously supports the development of concentration, but it will also strengthen insight when you analyze and investigate precise and fleeting mental formations.

  7. Skill in the range (gocara kusala). This term gocara may be translated as domain, resort, or range, and points to the arena of attention. It is closely aligned with the previous item, the skill in the object. The skill in the range highlights the capacity to determine the field or domain of attention, whereas the skill in the object highlights the ability to firmly keep the selected object in mind.

  This skill in the range invites the recollection of the four aspects of clear comprehension presented in chapter 2: (1) clarity regarding the purpose, (2) clarity regarding the suitability, (3) clarity regarding the proper domain, and (4) clarity regarding the undeluded conception of the activity concerned. Your meditation subject should be suitable for your purpose. Choose a meditation subject that supports clarity regarding these four principles of clear comprehension.