Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

will come. Think upon death thus, and fear it; you then
have no time to sleep. This is a good cure.
a. Having considered these preliminaries, we should
now proceed with our pattern of eight sections, the first
of which is the self-nature of the meditation on
impurity.
Samapatti in this meditation uses the various stages of
decomposition of the body listed in Buddhist meditation
manuals. The Sanskrit list has the following:
vyadhmataka (tumefaction): vinilaka (bluish color);
vipadumaka (decay); vilohitaka (bloody); vipuyaka
(discharging pus from rotten flesh); vikhaditaka
(devoured by birds and beasts); viksiptaka
(dismembered); asthi (only bones), and vidagdhaka
(rotted to powdered bones).
By scholars of the Buddhist tradition, these nine stages
have been aligned with six renunciations. The qualities
to be renounced and the meditations to accomplish this
are:
i. Meditate on death. When one thinks of this, desires
for a fine manner and flowery speech are abandoned.
Said Mr. Chen, getting up, "One of my patrons was
so proud." And he imitated this gentleman's
imperial manner of walking. Laughing about this
while at the same time quite serious about the
253