Meditation on the Body in Chapter 7 of Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra

Bibliographic Data

ID3339295
AuthorsRobert Kritzer (Kyoto Notre Dame University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume11
Issue6
Pages283
Publication date2020-06-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel11060283
OpenAlexW3034853314
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited1

Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra is an Indian Buddhist sutra dating to the first half of the first millennium. Chapter 7 of the sutra consists of a very long meditation on the body, unusual in Buddhist literature for its anatomical, especially osteological, detail. The meditation also includes extensive descriptions of many internal worms as well as the internal winds that destroy the worms at the moment of death. The sutra has several elements not found in other Buddhist texts. For example, the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra meditation on the body includes extensive descriptions of things in the external world (e.g., rivers, mountains, flowers) and designates them as the "external body". Most strikingly, the meditation on the body found in Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra differs from the general scholarly perception of Buddhist meditations on the body in that it does not emphasize impurity or generate repulsion. Instead, the sutra guides the meditator through a dispassionate and "scientific" observation of the body and the world

Aesthetics · Art · Buddhism · Human body · Literature · Meditation · Theology · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Medicine · Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Anatomy

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