Kāyagatāsatisutta

Suttapiṭaka · Majjhimanikāya · Vol. 14 · Section 297

[297] Bhikkhus, there is still another case. A bhikkhu reviews this very body, upward from the soles of the feet, downward from the tips of the hairs, bounded by skin, as full of many kinds of impurity: 'In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestine, mesentery, stomach contents, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, snot, synovial fluid, urine.' Bhikkhus, just as if there were a bag with openings at both ends (ubhatomukhā mūtoḷī) full of various kinds of grain — that is to say, hill rice, paddy, mung beans, māsa beans, sesame seeds, and husked rice — and a man with good eyes, having opened it, were to review it: 'This is hill rice, this is paddy, these are mung beans, these are māsa beans, these are sesame seeds, this is husked rice'; even so, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu reviews this very body, upward from the soles of the feet, downward from the tips of the hairs, bounded by skin, as full of many kinds of impurity: 'In this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestine, mesentery, stomach contents, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, snot, synovial fluid, urine.' As he dwells thus, diligent, ardent (ātāpī), and resolute, whatever memories and intentions connected with the household life there are, they are abandoned. With their abandoning, the mind (citta) becomes steadied internally, settles down, becomes unified, and becomes concentrated. Thus too, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu develops mindfulness directed to the body (kāyagatā sati).

English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.