End point of Asubha practice

[thomaslaw]

@Vaddha

Here, there is an explicit description of this practice in common across parallels and found in the sūtra-anga of the SN/SA (salāyatana-samyutta), therefore qualifying it as a part of the “core collection” of the SN/SA in Early Buddhism.

Asubha practice is certainly found in the sutra-anga of SN/SA. However, the practice is not included in the notion of ‘right view’ in terms of the so-called seeing-knowing ‘things as they really are’:

What does it mean "to see things as they really are"?

In addition, it is related to ‘right view’ in terms of the middle way, e.g. SN 12.15 = SA 301: Pages 192-5 from The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism Choong Mun-keat 2000.pdf (274.5 KB)

Also, all the nine progressive stages of meditation (i.e. the 4 rūpas, 4 arūpas, and the cessation of perception-and-feeling ‘saññā-vedayita-nirodha’) are the results of mental projection (saṅkhārā). Only the ‘cessation of desire-hatred-delusion’ is based on true insight of the real world (i.e. ‘right view’):

Is arupa-loka actually the imaginative world of the mind?

According to SN/SA suttas, all the nine progressive stages of meditation (i.e. the 4 rūpas, 4 arūpas, and the cessation of perception-and-feeling ‘saññā-vedayita-nirodha’) are the results of mental projection (saṅkhārā). Only the ‘cessation of desire-hatred-delusion’ is based on true insight of the real world (i.e. ‘right view’): Page 122 from The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism Choong Mun-keat 2000.pdf (73.2 KB)

So, asubha practice is not the core teachings of SN/SA.