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Remembering Directed to the Body

MN 119, the Kāyagatāsati Sutta — set 3, Learning to Look at Your Own Mind

Reading time: about 12 min · 2,083 words

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Before you read

This is a long practice text built around one question: what changes when remembering is repeatedly directed to the body? It moves from breathing and ordinary movement through the body's contents, its elements, death, deep unification of mind, resilience, and ten claimed results. You do not need to settle how to interpret every extraordinary result before following that practical arc.

Translation

The Bhikkhus' Conversation

So I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī, in Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery.

After the meal, several bhikkhus gathered in the meeting hall. This conversation came up among them:

"It is remarkable, friends, truly wonderful, how the Buddha—who knows and sees, the arahant, fully awakened—has said that kāyagatā sati, when developed and cultivated, brings great fruit and great benefit."

Before they had finished, the Buddha came to the meeting hall, sat on the seat prepared for him, and asked what they had been discussing. They told him.

"Bhikkhus, how does kāyagatā sati—sati directed to the body—bring great fruit and great benefit when it is developed and cultivated?

Remembering While Breathing

A bhikkhu goes to the wilderness, the root of a tree, or an empty hut. They sit down, fold their legs crosswise, set the body upright, and set remembering to the fore. They breathe in remembering the Dhamma; they breathe out remembering the Dhamma.

Breathing in long, they know: 'I breathe in long.' Breathing out long, they know: 'I breathe out long.'

Breathing in short, they know: 'I breathe in short.' Breathing out short, they know: 'I breathe out short.'

They train: 'Breathing in, I will experience the whole body.' They train: 'Breathing out, I will experience the whole body.'

They train: 'Breathing in, I will calm the body conditioner.' They train: 'Breathing out, I will calm the body conditioner.'

As they remain diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. With those thoughts gone, the heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

Postures and Ordinary Activities

Again, a bhikkhu knows 'I am walking' when walking, 'I am standing' when standing, 'I am sitting' when sitting, and 'I am lying down' when lying down. However the body is placed, they know it that way.

As they remain diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. With those thoughts gone, the heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

Again, they act with clear knowing when going forward and coming back, looking ahead and looking away, bending and stretching, carrying robe and bowl, eating, drinking, chewing, and tasting, urinating and defecating, walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep, waking, speaking, and keeping silent.

As they remain diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. With those thoughts gone, the heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

Reviewing the Body

Again, a bhikkhu reviews this very body from the soles of the feet up and from the hair of the head down, enclosed by skin and full of many kinds of unclean things:

'In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, membranes, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, stomach contents, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, mucus, joint-fluid, and urine.'

It is like a bag with openings at both ends, full of hill-rice, ordinary rice, mung beans, peas, sesame seeds, and rice grains. A person with good sight could open it and identify what is inside. In the same way, the bhikkhu reviews this body and identifies what is inside it.

As they remain diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. With those thoughts gone, the heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

The Four Elements

Again, a bhikkhu reviews this very body, however it is placed, in terms of elements:

'In this body there are the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element.'

It is like a skilled butcher or butcher's apprentice who has killed a cow, cut it into portions, and sits with them at a crossroads. In the same way, the bhikkhu reviews this body in terms of its elements.

As they remain diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. With those thoughts gone, the heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

What the Body Becomes

Again, suppose a bhikkhu were to see a corpse thrown away in a charnel ground:

  • one, two, or three days dead, bloated, livid, and oozing;
  • being eaten by crows, hawks, vultures, dogs, jackals, or different kinds of creatures;
  • reduced to a skeleton with flesh and blood, held together by tendons;
  • reduced to a fleshless skeleton smeared with blood, held together by tendons;
  • reduced to a bloodless skeleton, held together by tendons;
  • with bones disconnected and scattered in every direction—hand bones here, foot bones there, ankle, shin, thigh, hip, rib, spine, shoulder, neck, jaw, teeth, and skull elsewhere;
  • bones white like shells;
  • bones heaped up, more than a year old;
  • bones rotten and crumbling to dust.

At each stage they apply what they see to this body: 'This body too is of the same nature. It will become like that and has not gone beyond it.'

As they remain diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. With those thoughts gone, the heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

The First Mental Theme

Quite secluded from sensuality and unwholesome dhammas, a bhikkhu enters and remains in the first mental theme, with thinking and pondering, and with rejoicing and satisfaction born of seclusion.

They drench, steep, fill, and suffuse this very body with rejoicing and satisfaction born of seclusion, so no part of the whole body remains untouched.

It is like a skilled bath attendant who sprinkles bath powder with water and kneads it until the whole ball is saturated inside and out without dripping.

As the bhikkhu remains diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. The heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

The Second Mental Theme

With thinking and pondering stilled, with inner clarity and singleness of mind, a bhikkhu enters and remains in the second mental theme, with rejoicing and satisfaction born of unification.

They fill and suffuse this very body with rejoicing and satisfaction born of unification, so no part remains untouched.

It is like a deep lake fed by a cool spring from within, with no outside inlet and no rain. The cool water fills and suffuses the whole lake.

As the bhikkhu remains diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. The heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

The Third Mental Theme

With the fading of rejoicing, a bhikkhu remains in dynamic balance, remembering and clearly knowing, and experiences ease in the body. They enter and remain in the third mental theme, of which the noble ones say: 'A person of dynamic balance and remembering stays at ease.'

They fill and suffuse this very body with satisfaction free of rejoicing, so no part remains untouched.

It is like blue, red, or white lotuses born and growing underwater. Cool water fills and suffuses them from root to tip.

As the bhikkhu remains diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. The heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

The Fourth Mental Theme

With ease and discomfort abandoned, and with gladness and sadness already ended, a bhikkhu enters and remains in the fourth mental theme, without discomfort or ease, purified by dynamic balance and remembering.

They sit suffusing this very body with a pure and bright mind, so no part of the whole body remains untouched.

It is like a person sitting wrapped from head to foot in a white cloth, with no part of the body left uncovered.

As the bhikkhu remains diligent, ardent, and committed, thoughts tied to household life are given up. The heart settles within, grows quiet, becomes single, and is mentally unified.

This too is how a bhikkhu develops kāyagatā sati.

Everything That Supports Knowledge

For anyone who has developed and cultivated kāyagatā sati, every wholesome quality that supports knowledge is included within it.

It is like encompassing the great ocean in the mind: every small river that flows into the ocean is included within it. In the same way, all wholesome qualities that support knowledge are included within developed and cultivated kāyagatā sati.

Open to Māra—or Not

When someone has not developed and cultivated kāyagatā sati, Māra finds an opening and a foothold in them.

It is like throwing a heavy stone into a mound of wet clay: the stone easily sinks in. It is like rubbing a dry fire-stick against dry wood: fire easily appears. It is like bringing a load of water to an empty jar: there is room to pour it in.

But when someone has developed and cultivated kāyagatā sati, Māra finds no opening and no foothold in them.

It is like throwing a light ball of thread at a solid hardwood door: it cannot sink in. It is like rubbing a fire-stick against wet, sappy wood: no fire appears. It is like bringing more water to a jar already full to the brim: there is nowhere to pour it.

A Workable Heart

When someone has developed and cultivated kāyagatā sati, they can turn the heart toward anything that can be directly known and realized. Whenever the necessary basis is present, they become capable of witnessing it directly.

It is like a full water jar: a strong person can tip it in any direction and water flows. It is like a square pond full to the brim: open the bank on any side and water flows. It is like a well-trained chariot standing on level ground: a skilled driver takes the reins and goes forward or back wherever they choose.

Ten Benefits

When kāyagatā sati has been practiced, developed, cultivated, made a vehicle and a basis, maintained, consolidated, and properly undertaken, ten benefits can be expected.

  1. A bhikkhu can endure discontent and attraction. They overcome discontent when it arises instead of being overcome by it.
  2. They can endure fear and dread. They overcome fear and dread when it arises instead of being overcome by it.
  3. They can endure cold and heat, hunger and thirst, flies and mosquitoes, wind, sun, and creeping things. They can endure harsh and unwelcome speech and painful bodily feelings that are sharp, severe, unpleasant, and even life-threatening.
  4. They can readily enter the four mental themes—higher states of mind that provide a satisfying way of living in this very life.
  5. They can wield many kinds of psychic power: becoming one from many and many from one, appearing and disappearing, passing through barriers, moving through earth or water, walking on water, flying through the sky, touching the sun and moon, and exercising bodily mastery as far as the Brahmā worlds.
  6. With the divine ear, purified and beyond the human, they hear human and divine sounds, whether far or near.
  7. They encompass the minds of others with their own and know a heart with or without passion, aversion, or delusion; contracted or distracted; expansive or unexpansive; surpassable or unsurpassable; unified or ununified; freed or unfreed.
  8. They recollect many past lives, from one or two births through many eons of world-contraction and expansion, remembering their circumstances and how they passed from one life to another.
  9. With the divine eye, purified and beyond the human, they see beings passing away and reappearing, low and high, beautiful and ugly, in good and bad destinations, and understand how beings move on according to their actions.
  10. With the outflows worn away, they realize and enter the freedom of heart and freedom through discernment in this very life by their own higher knowing.

These are the ten benefits that can be expected when kāyagatā sati has been practiced, developed, cultivated, made a vehicle and a basis, maintained, consolidated, and properly undertaken."

That is what the Buddha said. The bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in his words.

The ninth discourse, Kāyagatāsati Sutta, is finished.

Words used in this translation (26)
arahant
Someone who has completed the path and has nothing further to do. Left untranslated; "saint" and "perfected one" both mislead.
aversion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and delusion -- the pushback against what's unwanted or unpleasant.
becoming
This project's rendering of "bhava" -- the settling of experience into a way of being that feels like somebody being something. Often translated "existence."
bhikkhu
A Buddhist monk -- someone who has left household life to practise full time. Left untranslated because "monk" carries centuries of unrelated European associations.
bhikkhus
Buddhist monks -- those who have left household life to practise full time. The Buddha's usual way of addressing the assembly, roughly "friends" in force.
body
The physical body, as distinct from speech and the mental side of experience.
born of seclusion
Coming from having stepped away from busyness and distraction, rather than from anything acquired.
clarity
This project's rendering of "amoha," literally "non-delusion" -- seeing without the confusion and distortion that drive harmful action.
clear knowing
Knowing plainly what you are doing while you are doing it.
clearly knowing
Acting while plainly aware of what you are doing.
delusion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and aversion -- the confusion that keeps you from seeing what's actually happening.
Dhamma
The Buddha's teaching taken as a whole -- both what he taught and the way things actually are, which the teaching describes.
dynamic balance
This project's rendering of "upekkhā" (often translated "equanimity") -- a steadiness that stays engaged rather than checking out, distinct from indifference.
fading
The fading away of attraction and investment in experience, as passion cools.
gladness
This project's rendering of "muditā", often translated "sympathetic joy". It means being truly glad at someone else's good fortune. You cultivate it as a practice; you do not assume it comes naturally.
heart
This project's rendering of "citta": the feeling side of mind. It takes on moods, wants, leans, and reacts. Practice can gladden, steady, train, and release it. Some call it the "heart-mind" or "feeling mind". Here "heart" does not mean only emotion, or the physical organ.
higher knowing
Direct, personally realized understanding -- knowing something for yourself rather than taking it on faith. In some texts it also names the extraordinary knowings that arise from deep concentration.
mental theme
This project's rendering of "jhāna" -- a single theme the mind rests on and holds steadily. Described in a sequence of four, each calmer than the last. Most translations leave the word in Pāli.
outflows
This project's rendering of "āsavā" -- deep-running habits that keep seeping out and driving behaviour, classically sensuality, becoming, and ignorance. Often translated "taints" or "defilements."
rejoicing
This project's rendering of "pīti" (often translated "rapture") -- the bright, uplifted gladness that shows up when practice is going well.
remembering
This project's rendering of "sati". It means actively keeping what matters in mind and coming back to it when you lose it. It is not bare attention to whatever happens to be present.
singleness of mind
The mind become single and undivided as thinking and pondering settle in the second mental theme. Kept distinct from unification of mind (samādhi).
unification
Short for unification of mind (samādhi) inside a longer phrase, such as "born of unification" or "the faculty of unification."
unwholesome
This project's rendering of "akusala". Roughly: mentally and ethically harmful. It is blameworthy, leads to harm, and people with good judgment criticize it.
wholesome
This project's rendering of "kusala". Roughly: mentally and ethically healthy. It is blameless, leads to well-being, and people with good judgment praise it.
world
A word whose scope shifts with the teaching. It can mean the lived world we build through the senses and the mind, or the wider physical cosmos. The surrounding passage shows which sense it has.
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