Contemplation of
the Decomposition of a Dead Body
(Cemetery Contemplation)
[This Article has been compiled for Beyond
the Net based on a lecture
delivered in Sinhala by Mr. Gamini Priyantha]
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During the time of the Buddha, there were many young monks who were confronted with a common problem. They were young men and women who had spent a normal lay life before Ordination. Therefore over the years their minds had been trained to reach out to sense pleasures and lust. These sensual and lustful thoughts began to
Therefore the Buddha explained to these monks the cause of this sensual and lustful thoughts to be 'wrong perceptions about the body'.
One day Venerable Ananda was faced with a particular situation. When Venerable Sariputta was on his usual alms round, Venerable Ananda too followed him. A lustful thought arose in Venerable Ananda, having seen a woman after a bath, seeing her body through her wet clothes. Then Venerable Ananda was still a 'puthujjana.' He was not even a Stream Enterer. He immediately spoke to Ven. Sariputta about his helpless state of mind. "Venerable Sir, seeing that woman, my mind was awfully disturbed, lustful thoughts set my mind on fire" he said to Ven. Sariputta. Ven. Sariputta instructed him to sit down in the "lotus posture" then and there. This is the posture that brings about the best concentration. Thereafter he instructed Venerable Ananda to reflect thus. "I took only the perception of beauty (subha sañña) of the woman - only the good side. Therefore there arose in my mind attachment, desire and related thoughts. My mind was set on fire."
Venerable Sariputta then continued. "Why can't you develop asubha sañña (perception of impurity) through that woman's body. Examine mindfully the various parts of that body. Is there lust in the hair? Is there lust in the flesh? Is there lust in the blood? Examine her body this way, part by part."
It is the same with food. When we eat something, having put it to the mouth, it is the tongue that feels the food. Likewise see what part of that body activates lust. Once you examine this way, you will find that there is no lust in any of these body parts. Lust arises due to taking these as one, (as a heap) as one single unit. If what you want is to continue with your current state of mind, there is no need for you to reflect in this manner. If your feelings, mental tendencies continue in this manner, it will give rise to a particular mental pattern, to a particular mental build up; yet if what you want is to reflect in such a manner that there will be an end to the feelings that have arisen in you, then you have to reflect on the impurities of that body. Venerable Ananda acted upon it immediately. He took it to heart. Upon reflecting this way then and there, his lust subsided and his mind calmed down.
We normally don't resolve our problems, the problems that spring up in the mind immediately. We do not deal with these mental states then and there. We take it as just another thought and let such sensual or lustful thought creep into our mind and thereafter it leads to a thought process which finally shadows the original thought. We do not make an attempt to see why such thought arose, we do not look at such thought as mental phenomena, why does it happen this way? It is because the average man is not heedful about his 'mind.' Let any thought arise in me and let any thought go away. The mind continues to think the way it wants to depending on what it sees or perceives. Yet it is only when we try to sit down to meditation, when we sit to train our minds that we realize the extent of the impact of these habitual thinking patterns on our minds. Therefore we need to understand the nature of the mind without letting it take its own course.
So the Buddha advised the said monks who were faced with such problems to practice this meditation, Contemplation of the Decomposition (decay) of a Dead Body or Cemetery Contemplation. This is rather difficult for the average layman. However there are many laymen who practice this meditation.
Today when some one dies we bury the body in a cemetery. Those days they did not bury nor did they use coffins. The corpse used to be wrapped up in a cloth and was dumped in a cemetery (charnel ground) in the middle of the jungle.
There was a set of animals and birds around such cemeteries who were ready to get activated the moment a dead body was dumped. The vultures on the trees around the cemetery were waiting for a corpse. Also there were dogs and water monitors (kabaragoyas) who had acquired a taste for the dead bodies. Perhaps the taste of a dead body to them is like the taste of cheese to us. Haven't we also acquired a taste for certain dead bodies of animals and birds etc. That is the same thing. We have got used to, we have trained ourselves for such tastes. That is nothing but a perception, a perception associated with the tongue. The tongue does not need taste. Nor does the brain. However we have got used to that perception. We still have the desire for the taste of flesh. From our childhood we have been trained to eat flesh. As kids our mothers have been mixing potato and fish and making it into balls and forcing it down our throats, thus trained us for the taste of flesh. Suppose we were not trained to eat fish and meat from our childhood, we would have vomited at the sight of such a dish. This is not an issue of vegetarianism or otherwise. It is a matter of the smell associated with such a dish. It is difficult for the average man to even think on these lines.
Now the creatures around the cemetery begin to attack the dead body. Various types of animals approach the body at various stages of decomposition. Crows and vultures approach the body during the early stages of decay. The water monitor (kabaragoya) at the latter part of the decay. The way we have acquired a taste (preference) for various body parts of the chicken, these animals too have acquired their own tastes (preferences). The water monitor (kabaragoya) attacks the stomach area of the corpse. He puts his whole head inside the stomach. Crows attack the eyes. Fortunately animals do not have an inclination to eat us. Nor do we give them the opportunity for that. We have put sufficient barriers to prevent such a thing. Yet there are animals who attack hunters to have our flesh as their food i.e. the Tiger. The human flesh is said to be salty. Our body chemistry may be different from that of animals due to the nature of our mental and physical activities.
Now this monk is advised to meet the watcher of the cemetery to request the watcher to inform him when a corpse has been dumped. When the watcher informs him, he proceeds to the cemetery and meditates for ten consecutive days watching the decay of the corpse. This is a very difficult task. Yet when you are on this task you begin to experience the real taste of this meditation. This meditation indeed has a taste of its own. Looking at this from the surface you may think "What nonsense is this man talking?" If not for these, what can a meditator come here and talk. Can I talk of the beauty of this body? Yet as meditators we must look presentable. There is nothing wrong with that. There is no need for meditators to look slovenly or unkempt or unclean. However there should not be another who understands the true nature of this body better than a meditator.
Now when you are watching a dead body, what is it that you can see first of all? What is it that happens immediately upon death? There is a series of events that take place the moment consciousness leaves the body, with the end of the cutti citta, the moment this body goes out of action.
The movements of this body comes to a halt. Breathing stops. Movement of the chest and movement of the belly stops. It still retains the temperature (heat) to a certain degree. However it is now on the decline. After some time it comes down to room temperature. Our body temperature is much higher than room temperature. In a dead body the temperature drops right down to the level of the temperature of the surface soil. This high temperature of the body is due to internal pressure. This body is covered by a skin and there is blood circulating beneath at a very high speed. When the temperature drops, the worms within our body die. If there are nits or lice in the hair they too step down from the head as the new climate is not conducive to them. They begin to roam all over the body. They die as they cannot survive even on the body. This means there are creatures who feed on our body. That is only under unhygienic conditions. That means the nature of our body is the same as that of an animal. For example there are tics feeding on dogs. We don't have a serious problem with this as we normally maintain good hygienic conditions. But even for a short spell if we go down to the mental levels of an animal, like what you see in the Lunatic Asylum we too can experience this as a fact. That is why inmates of the Lunatic Asylums are given baths by force. It is because when one is insane, one does not care for his body and then the true nature of the body surfaces.
Now the body gradually tends to harden. All internal activities come to a grinding halt. When this happens, as much as the body temperature comes down, the blood circulation also comes to a halt. The blood that was circulating within, now begins to settle as a "jelly." Right now with one prick on the body we start to bleed. If you cut open a day old dead body, it's whitish, it has become a lump of flesh. Currently when we breathe in air it circulates round the body and finally leaves the body. But when air enters the corpse it circulates within and gets stuck within. Hence the corpse begins to bloat, the limbs bloat, the stomach bloats, the face bloats - it bloats and bloats to an extent that the corpse goes beyond recognition.
Subsequent to the bloating, the matter inside is now ready to dissolve. We never see a corpse in its true state at a funeral. We never see the real corpse. When it is prepared for the funeral, it is subject to various alterations. The lips are sewn together to prevent them from opening. Eye lids are sewed down to prevent them from opening. The ears are stuffed with cotton wool and chemicals in order to prevent the ear drums bursting. If the ear drums burst, brain matter begins to dissolve and flow out through the holes of the ears. It is amazing how such a big organ as the brain begins to dissolve.
Next, when he is observing this corpse, he begins to see the body bloating and about to burst. Nothing can keep bloating beyond a limit and it cannot bloat to reach the skies or the moon. When any thing, whether the body or a fruit, begins to bloat with the air trapped within, what happens next? It festers. The cells, flesh etc which were separate units now become one big flow of pus. This is another reason for the bloating of a corpse. What is bloated and festered turns towards rotting. Today embalming a corpse is a very sophisticated process. In the past when someone died, the Village Headman was informed. He visits the house to record the death. Thereafter, every village had two or three men who would undertake to embalm the corpse. What they did was cut open the corpse across the abdomen and took out whatever organs possible. They collected all these internal organs into a bag. Thereafter they stuffed even pillows inside the stomach of the corpse. Having stuffed, they sewed it up. They stuffed the ears and mouth with rags. They blocked all possible holes on this corpse. They also did something unbelievable to this corpse. That is, they stuffed it with salt and goraka [an acidic dried fruit used to preserve food, equivalent to lime or vinegar]. When you add salt and goraka to fish and meats , it prevents bacterial activity and preserves the food. So they would stuff the corpse with salt and goraka and thereafter with pillows and rags. That is to retain the shape of the body as inner organs had been taken out. The corpse continues to bloat, thereafter bursts. Then gradually the matter inside which has turned to pus now begins to flow out. It first flows out from the holes such as ears, nose, mouth etc. By this time the corpse turns blue in colour. This is so even for the fairest of us. We all turn blue. Still it is a stage at which we can recognize the corpse. The 'Juanis', the 'Carolis' whoever who was alive can still be recognized. In a few days the corpse goes beyond recognition. It bloats and bursts completely. What happens after bursting? The flesh begins to dissolve. Has any one experienced the smell of a corpse at this stage? When Police exhumes a body they usually use cinnamon oil every hour as no other chemical serves this purpose. Cinnamon oil has an extremely strong smell. The smell of the body at this stage is unbelievable. One cannot imagine the stench that emanates from a body devoid of consciousness. It is much worse than the smell of a rotten wound.
Once the corpse bursts and the pus flows out, the corpse begins to shrink. It begins to shrink and shrink beyond recognition. Thereafter it gradually begins to dissolve and the bones begin to surface. At present, our body parts appear to be fastened together. However it is not fastened with nuts and bolts but with muscles. Therefore, when the flesh begins to dissolve, parts of this body begins to disintegrate and fall off and settle down on the ground. The hair comes off like a hat. The skeleton disintegrates and bones fall off and settle on the ground. The dogs begin to run away with pieces of bones.
There is another significant occurrence in the process of decay. That is around this stage there appears a maggot (a small worm) on this body. These maggots do not come from out. They form from within the corpse, to feed on the corpse. These maggots form on the surface of the corpse and thereafter moves towards the center of the corpse. This is an amazing occurrence. Before the corpse begins to dissolve or rot, from the flesh of the corpse there comes to be a maggot. These are not the common worms. They are not long. They are very thin and short. They usually feed on the filthiest of the filth. These maggots die within the corpse. Thereafter everything dissolves and the skeleton remains. This process takes about 10 days. Thus the Buddha advises the monks to look at these skeletons and think "What is within me is also a skeleton similar to this skeleton. My body is of the same nature as that of this corpse."
What happens thereafter? Having developed these perceptions when these monks move about, they still feel their body, the same way they did before this meditation. However, they begin to look at their body and the bodies of others with a different perception, this newly acquired perception. If you wish to, this perception can be developed and retained throughout your life or having developed it for a while, you can let go of it. However, you will feel the fruits of this perception. If you develop this perception, you will develop the ability to perceive any body in this manner. Do you know the benefit of such an exercise? It gives the ability to control lustful, sensual feelings and similar mental states. When you maintain a lust free mental state, you gain concentration (samadhi) the moment you fix your attention on your nose tip. How come? The newly developed perception has the ability to control the mind from drifting into such lustful states of mind.
Therefore it is good for you to master this particular type of meditation. Mastery of this gives us the ability to bring about this perception in our mind at will. Please attempt this meditation and test it out for yourself. This is not a lie, not a delusion. This indeed is the reality. Those who can experience this gain immense inner strength. They begin to understand that this reality, these phenomena, these universal patterns are common to all beings. Therefore those minds become lighter. They begin to see life as a pleasant experience.
Are there any questions about this? What will happen if we attempt this? Will the practice of this affect my married life? Will I see my husband or wife in this manner? If so, will it give rise to a repulsive feeling? No! None of these will be an issue. Why? The sensual and lustful perceptions we have developed and trained ourselves over such a long time in samsara are much stronger than these newly developed perceptions. In the past, there was a type of dried fish which had worms in it. There were people who ate it, having put the worm aside. Some eat dry fish and wash their mouths with soap and water. They themselves cannot bear the smell. Yet due to temptation they eat it and thereafter wash their mouths. So all these are different mental states that arise dependent on the perceptions developed in us over a long period of time. Hence there is no reason to be uneasy about attempting this meditation.