Types of Corpses

There are 10 types of corpses to be contemplated.

1. A Bloated Corpse is a swollen corpse shortly after the day of death. When a person dies their body begins to decay and this decay causes the bloating of the body due to internal gasses.
2. A Bluish Corpse refers to the bluish-green tint the skin gets after death. The skin of the corpse turns different colors such as blue, black or purple. Usually, the body will turn green. 
3. A Festering Corpse is when the corpse becomes pus-filled.
4. A Split Up or Cut Up Corpse is a corpse which has been dissected or cut into two pieces.
5. A Gnawed Corpse is a corpse whose parts have been eaten by wild animals such as dogs or vultures.
6. A Scattered or Mangled Corpse is a corpse whose parts have become separated from the body and are lying in different places.
7. A Hacked and Scattered Corpse is a corpse which has been cut up or chopped apart.
8. A Blood Stained or Bleeding Corpse is a corpse which is covered with blood or one which still has blood issuing from the body.
9. A Worm Infested Corpse is a corpse which is full of worms eating the flesh.
10. A Skeleton is a corpse which is only bones. For this meditation, the meditator might need only a piece of bone as the object of meditation.

At the present time it is difficult to find a corpse because there are no longer charnel grounds for disposing of bodies as in the time of Lord Buddha. One might go to a hospital or morgue or funeral temple, or use a picture of a corpse for meditation.

The Method of an Ancient Meditation Master

 

If you have the opportunity to meditate on a corpse like those listed above, you should know something of the method recommended by an ancient meditation master.

1. First, ascertain what type of corpse it is, male or female and fresh or decomposed. A female corpse is not proper for a monk to use unless it is too decayed to tell it’s gender. Also, in the wild, if the corpse is not yet decayed, the meditator must be careful of wild animals such as tigers which may wish to eat the corpse and therefore endanger you.
2. If you go to a charnel ground seeking a corpse for meditation, inform a senior monk so that if something bad happens, he can send someone to help or if someone gossips about you, he can be your witness.
3. Remember the way one came to know the way back. There might be danger from wild animals as well as danger to a monk’s celibacy such as females bathing nearby.
4. At the charnel ground, look around the corpse carefully. Note the entrance to the temple and landmarks such as trees, because in the dark, you might mistake such things for ghosts and because you must know the right direction to go home.
5. Do not stand either downwind of the corpse or upwind of the corpse. If you stand downwind, you may not be able to stand the smell of the corpse blowing towards you. If you stand upwind, wild animals coming to eat the corpse might smell it and attack you.
6. Find a suitable spot to stand and meditate. Do not stand too far away from the corpse because you might not be able to see well. And, do not stand too close as this might cause fear. Do not stand at the head or at the feet of the corpse because you would not see the corpse well, stand to one side where you get a good view and can meditate easily.

Six Features to Examine

 

1. Skin Color:  Determine the skin color of the corpse as white, black or mixed.
2. Age: Do not examine the gender of the corpse, but determine the relative age of the corpse as young, middle aged or old.
3. Shape and Bloating: Note the shape of various parts of the corpse, especially bloated parts. Note that the shape of the neck, the head, and the legs are swollen.
4. Upper and Lower: The corpse has two sectors, the upper sector is from the navel up and the lower sector is from the navel down. Note in which sector you are standing to meditate.
5. Body Position: Determine where the two hands of the corpse are, where the legs are, where the head is, and where the stomach is.
6. Body Parts: Examine the whole body piece by piece starting from the bottom of the feet to the hair on the head, then from top to bottom and widthwise from skin to skin. Contemplate the thirty-two parts of the body as impure.  Note the parts corresponding to hands, feet, head and body which are bloated or distorted.

Five Additional Features

 

If by examining the previous six features, one does not attain the Counterpart Sign, try examining these five additional features:

1. Joints: Examine all the joints in the body. The arms have three joints: the wrists, the elbows and the shoulders. The legs also have three  joints: the ankles, the knees and the hips. The neck is the joint which connects the head to the spine, and the spine connects to the hips.
2. Gaps: Examine the gaps such as between the fingers, the toes, the stomach, the ears, the mouth and the nose.
3. Curves: Examine the curves such as the eyeball, inside the mouth, inside the throat, and other curves of the body.
4. Bulges: Study the bulges of the body such as the knees, the chest or the forehead.
5. The Body as a whole: Examine the whole corpse from the top of the head to the bottom of the feet. Focus on whichever part comes clearest to mind. Then, mentally recite over and over ‘swollen corpse’ or ‘Uddhumatakak.’

Anticipated Benefits

 

Meditation on corpses well developed with the proper method, can be a powerful aid in controlling and diminishing lust and deluded misbehavior. In addition, meditating on a corpse, bones or a picture of a corpse which may be more attainable. Or even just thinking often of such a picture that one has seen in the past may become a sign leading to the Counterpart Sign and concentration at the first Jhana level, overcoming the Five Hindrances. When the Five Hindrances are calmed, the condition of the mind will become gentle, workable and ready for insight meditation or Vipassana. Even if the meditator does not reach the first Jhana, sensual lust for the opposite sex will be calmed. This method is very compatible with contemplation of the thirty two parts of the body as impure (Kayagatasati).

Warnings

 

Meditators who repeat this meditation often might become tired of their own bodies and the bodies of others because of seeing their true ugliness and insubstantiality [their Three Characteristics: impermanence, suffering and non-self]. This could cause one to consider committing suicide. A story related in a Parajika, number three of the Vinayapitaka, tells of such an event.

If you feel tired of the body, do not commit suicide. This is one of the emotions of wisdom (Nibbindanana). Lord Buddha has said, “Nibbindanana Virajjati which means being disgusted and fed up with the body naturally leads to disentangling and relieving sexual desire.” Lord Buddha also said, Viraga Vimuccati which means, “freedom from sexual desire leads to enlightenment.”

Lord Buddha also often said: 

All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one becomes weary of suffering. This is the path to purity.

All conditioned things are suffering. When one sees this with wisdom, one becomes weary of suffering. This is the path to purity.

All phenomena are non-self. When one sees this with wisdom, one becomes weary of suffering. This is the path to purity.

(The Word of Doctrine (Dhammapada),
Translated by K.R. Norman, The Pali Text Society 2004, p. 41).

If a feeling of weariness arises, the meditator should contemplate all compound things as impermanent, with suffering, and as insubstantial non-self. The mind will be freed [especially from lust] and sensual desire will be calmed dramatically.

Another warning is that if a corpse has just died and is clean, it might look like it is just sleeping, so if a meditator is able to view the genital organs, a corpse of the opposite sex is not recommended.

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