This body is just a composition of the four elements. There is no person in that body – no father, no mother, no brother, no sister

Question: I am practicing the meditation on the 32 parts. May you give me some advice about how to practice it, in order to get the most benefits possible?

Than Ajahn:  You can use it for samatha or vipassanā. Samatha is to make your mind peaceful and calm. Instead of repeating Buddho, you can repeat the 32 parts: hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, bones, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc. You memorise it and repeat it. If you keep reciting this 32 parts, your mind can become peaceful and calm and you will have samādhi. This is one method.

The second method is for vipassanā, to see the true nature of the body. When we see the body, we normally only see five parts of the body, we only see the hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, and that’s all we see. We might think that the body is only made up of these five parts, so we become deceived and look at the body as beautiful or attractive. This can make us has desire for the body and be attached to the body, creating dukkha for the mind.

When you want a body, you have to go and acquire the body and when you cannot acquire it then you become sad, or after you have acquired the body, one day you have to lose it, and when you lose the body, or lose the body of your spouse, you will feel sad again. But if you see the body as the 32 parts then you will not become attracted to the body, you will not have any sexual desire towards that body. This is one way of getting rid of sexual desire.

When you see the complete picture of the body then you will see that the body is not attractive. The parts under the skin are not attractive, such as the lungs, the heart, the intestine, stomach, liver, kidneys and all the dirty stuff that come out of the body. Once you see that the body as its entirety, you can get rid of your sexual desire. This is one level.

Another level is to see that entire body has no person in it. The entire body only consists of 32 parts like the hairs are not you or me, the nails, teeth, skin are not you or me. They are just the parts of the body. In this whole body there is no you or me in it. The whole body is just a composition of the 32 parts and it is not permanent, it is temporary, it is not lasting. One day the body has to break up and when it breaks up it will return to four elements: the liquid parts belongs to water element, the heat in the body that makes your body warmth belongs to fire element, the parts that flow belongs to the air element and the part that is solid belongs to earth element.

This body is just a composition of the four elements. There is no person in that body – no father, no mother, no brother, no sister. The father or mother is in the mind and the mind doesn’t die with the body, the mind has to go to the next life. When the mind still has desire or craving, it will be reborn according to its own kamma. If it did good kamma, it will go to higher realm where there are more happiness than suffering, but if it did bad kamma, it will have to go to lower realm where there are more suffering than happiness such as the realm of animals, realm of hell/creatures, so this is the contemplation of the 32 parts of the body.

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto