[138] Furthermore, bhikkhus, as though a bhikkhu were to see a corpse discarded in a charnel ground (sivathikā) — dead for one day, or dead for two days, or dead for three days, bloated, livid, and festering — he compares this very body with it: "This body too is of such a nature, will come to be like this, and has not gone beyond this." Thus he dwells contemplating the body in the body (kāyānupassanā) internally … Thus too, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells contemplating the body in the body.
Furthermore, bhikkhus, as though a bhikkhu were to see a corpse discarded in a charnel ground, being devoured by crows, or being devoured by vultures, or being devoured by hawks, or being devoured by dogs, or being devoured by jackals, or being devoured by various kinds of small creatures — he compares this very body with it: "This body too is of such a nature, will come to be like this, and has not gone beyond this." Thus he dwells contemplating the body in the body internally … Thus too, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells contemplating the body in the body.
Furthermore, bhikkhus, as though a bhikkhu were to see a corpse discarded in a charnel ground — a skeleton with flesh and blood, held together by sinews … a skeleton, fleshless but smeared with blood, held together by sinews … a skeleton, flesh and blood gone, held together by sinews … bones, the sinew-connections gone, scattered in the main and intermediate directions: here a hand-bone, there a foot-bone, here a shin-bone, there a thigh-bone, here a hip-bone, there a bone of the spine, 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-bone, there the skull — he compares this very body with it: "This body too is of such a nature, will come to be like this, and has not gone beyond this." Thus he dwells contemplating the body in the body internally … Thus too, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells contemplating the body in the body.
Furthermore, bhikkhus, as though a bhikkhu were to see a corpse discarded in a charnel ground — bones, white, resembling the color of a conch shell … bones, heaped in a pile, more than a year old … bones, rotted and crumbled to powder — he compares this very body with it: "This body too is of such a nature, will come to be like this, and has not gone beyond this." Thus he dwells contemplating the body in the body internally, or he dwells contemplating the body in the body externally, or he dwells contemplating the body in the body both internally and externally. He dwells contemplating in the body its nature of origination (samudaya), or he dwells contemplating in the body its nature of vanishing, or he dwells contemplating in the body its nature of both origination and vanishing. Or else his mindfulness (sati) that "there is a body" is established, merely to the extent of knowledge (ñāṇa) and remembrance; and he dwells independent, not clinging to anything in the world. Thus too, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells contemplating the body in the body.
End of the Section on the Nine Charnel Grounds.
End of the Establishment of Mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna) by Contemplation of the Body.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.