Whether walking or standing still,
down one sits or lays it down,
bends it in or stretches it—
it’s just the body’s movement.This body by bones and sinews bound,
bedaubed by membranes, flesh
and covered all over by skin—
not seen as it really is:Filled with guts, with stomach filled,
with bladder, liver-lump
with heart and lungs it’s filled,
with kidneys too and spleen.Liquids like spittle and snot
together with sweat and fat,
with blood and oil for the joints,
with bile and grease for the skin.Then by the streaming nine
impurity oozes out:
from the eye there’s dirt of eyes,
from ears, wax—dirt of ears,Snot-mucuses from nose,
vomit at times from the mouth,
sometimes phlegm’s spewed forth,
and from the body sweat and dirt.And then within its hollow head
bundled brains are stuffed—
the fool thinks all is beautiful,
by ignorance led on.But when it’s lying dead,
bloated and livid blue,
cast away in the charnel-ground
kin care for it not.Then dogs devour, jackals too,
wolves and worms dismember it,
crows and vultures tear at it,
and other creatures too.A monk who’s wise,
having heard the Buddha’s teaching,
understands that,
for he sees it as it really is.Contemplate: this living body,
that corpse was once like this
and as that corpse is now
so will this body be—
for body then discard desire,
whether within or without.Such a monk who’s wise, desire
and lust discarded utterly,
attains to Deathlessness, to peace,
Nirvāṇa, the unchanging state.But this foetid, foul, two-footed thing,
is pampered, though filled
with varied sorts of stench, as well
with oozing here and there.Whoever such a body has,
but thinks to exalt themselves,
or to despise another—
what’s this but wisdom’s lack?
snp.1.11 Suttanipata
Victory Over Fascination with Bodies
- Translator: Laurence Khantipalo Mills
Victory Over Desire for the Body
Walking and standing,sitting and lying down,
extending and contracting the limbs:
these are the movements of the body.
Linked together by bones and sinews,
plastered over with flesh and hide,
and covered by the skin,
the body is not seen as it is.
It’s full of guts and belly,
liver and bladder,
heart and lungs,
kidney and spleen,
spit and snot,
sweat and fat,
blood and synovial fluid,
bile and grease.
Then in nine streams
the filth is always flowing.
There is muck from the eyes,
wax from the ears,
and snot from the nostrils.
The mouth sometimes vomits
bile and sometimes phlegm.
And from the body, sweat and waste.
Then there is the hollow head
all filled with brains.
Governed by ignorance,
the fool thinks it’s lovely.
And when it lies dead,
bloated and livid,
discarded in a charnel ground,
the relatives forget it.
It’s devoured by dogs,
by jackals, wolves, and worms.
It’s devoured by crows and vultures,
and any other creatures there.
A wise mendicant here,
having heard the Buddha’s words,
fully understands it,
for they see it as it is.
“As this is, so is that,
as that is, so is this.”
They’d reject desire for the body
inside and out.
That wise mendicant here
rid of desire and lust,
has found the deathless peace,
extinguishment, the imperishable state.
This two-legged body is dirty and stinking,
full of different carcasses,
and oozing all over the place—
but still it is cherished!
And if, on account of such a body,
someone prides themselves
or looks down on others—
what is that but a failure to see?