Human Development
Sivathika
Description:
In the framework of [satipatthana] (practice of the presence of mindfulness) contemplation of a corpse in various stages of decomposition is recommended as part of the practice of mindfulness of body, body contemplation on the body. Among the forty subjects enumerated by Hinayana Buddhism as suitable for meditation are ten kinds of such foulness: swollen or bloated; discoloured or livid; festering; fissured or cut-up; gnawed or mangled; dismembered or scattered; hacked and dismembered or scattered; bleeding; worm-infested; skeleton. Meditation on one of these subjects leads to the first jhana and is particularly suited to the lustful or greedy person, since development of foulness assists in suppressing lust and greed.Context:
An exercise sometimes included in one of the four foundations of mindfulness, body contemplation on the body.< Related:
Dwelling in the first jhana