STED 31asb: 31 flavors of asubha

numerology of 31

* 31 is a centered triangular number,[4] the lowest prime centered pentagonal number[5] and a centered decagonal number.[6]

* No integer added up to its base 10 digits results in 31, making 31 a self number.[7]

* Pradjapati created the universe by articulating the odd numbers from 1 to 31, according to the Vajasaneya Samhita - white Yajur.

* The number of days in the months January, March, May, July, August, October and December

* The number of flavors of Baskin-Robbins ice cream; the shops are called 31 Ice Cream in Japan

Happy A-subha day! (February 14th)

frankk Feb '18
Asubha isn’t just for Feb. 14th though. If you’re serious about your practice, it’s all asubha, all the time.

On this directory, you’ll find a nice PDF file of 32 body parts in pali, and 16 languages, with pictures.
Also a video of the same file with pali chanting of the 32 body parts, pronunciation sounds correct to me.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F1jAFUCQtTBagqt1CrnVBQrQhinWUpa6


In EBT, it’s 31 body parts, not 32. Theravadins added the brain, and inserted it, poetically, right next to feces.

Another fun memory association with the number 31: I don’t think the brand is international, but in the USA, there’s 31 flavors of ice cream, one for every day of the month.

A local advertising agency, Carson/Roberts, advised a uniform identity and image under the name Baskin-Robbins 31 Ice Cream. Their recommendations included the “31®” logo to represent a flavor for every day of the month, Cherry (pink) and Chocolate (brown) polka dots to be reminiscent of clowns, carnivals and fun …

For the serious practitioner, there’s a different flavor of asubha you can explore for every day of the month, or even more frequently than that.

all asubha, all the time

"If you’re serious about your practice, it’s all asubha, all the time
???
I am not sure this is a helpful statement. Is practice about liberation? Yes. Is it all about liberation? No! The practice is about the cessation of suffering in a social context, and the skillful means of how to do that.
Is this incorrect?

The full on asubha with divine eye, or asubha with good samadhi and visualization, done all the time, requires proper training from qualified teachers, and one has to be not prone to depression or unstable states of mind. But I’m not exaggerating when I say it should be done all the time, for one serious about attaining arahantship. There’s clear and consistent, abundant exhortation by the Buddha to practice in this way. AN 4.14, AN 6.29, SN 51.20, SN 47.20, AN 8.63 just to name a few prominent examples off the top of my head.

I guess these practitioners could be said to be very serious, indeed.

The way I have thus far read it, the Buddha encouraged the right thing for the right time.

That same sutta which Aminah linked (SN 54.9) also occurs in multiple EBT vinayas. Notice the Buddha didn’t say people shouldn’t practice asubha, after that incident. He didn’t change the program, he added another technique 16 APS, that was particularly effective in helping people get the pleasant abidings of jhanas.

Thus, in AN 6.29, he first 3 jhanas (pleasant abiding), are listed first, then perception of light, and then the asubha practices. Once one can easily access pleasure, with 3 jhanas, the body also goes through a sublimation of energy, undergoes physiological changes, such that when the body is strong and robust, mind is sharp, clear, strong, then contemplating asubha is like a surgeon who’s used to seeing blood and gore all the time. No big deal. For people with weak bodies, weak energy, then their mind tends to be more frail, prone to fear and depression as well. You see this when people age. When they’re teenagers, full of vigor, they drive fast and recklessly. When old, they drive super slow and careful.

Ajahn Brahm has his serious side

In any case, I think Ajahn Brahm offers a pretty good example of the virtues of not being too serious too much of the time. :wink:

Ajahn Brahm has his serious side. One of the most inspiring quotes of his that I often repeat in my mind is “make this the last time.” (he’s talking about attaining arahantship in this life) Ajahn Brahm I’ve heard from sources, is critical of his monks in his monastery if he catches them being idle and not practicing seriously.

Ajahn Brahm’s teacher, Ajahn Chah, was fierce, and his teacher, Ajahn Mun, even more so. They have their cuddly warm grandfather side for lay people, but for those who are serious about their practice (i.e. arahantship as the goal), there’s a higher standard of conduct and practice expected. Asubha is not an optional part of the program, it’s a healthy chunk of the main course if you read through Ajahn Mun’s biography, and those of his disciples.

The part most people don’t understand is that asubha doesn’t have to be an austere, unpleasant practice. If you have at least the first 3 jhanas as a firm grounding (AN 6.29), you can be just as cheerful eating mangoes and chocolate as contemplating white skeletons. In fact you can experience jhanic bliss as you’re attending to the visual perception internally of a white skeleton as your “samadhi nimitta”. (AN 4.14)

You can even concurrently practice metta and asubha simultaneously. When I come into (visual) contact with another person, I try to train my first response to ignore gender, age, the usual marks people seize, and instead look at their 31 body parts, or just the skeleton, and radiate the pleasant feelings of jhana in their direction. With practice, this can be done with minimum of thought. With practice, this is just as pleasant as being in jhana, or doing metta without jhana, and grounds you in reality and truth, instead of delusions and fantasy.

excerpt from the musical “oklahoma”, with slight modifications, to give you sense of the cheerful emotional flavor that’s possible with asubha:

[Verse 1:]
There’s a bright, golden haze on the meadow
There’s a bright, golden haze on the meadow
The corn is as high as a elephant’s eye
And it looks like it’s climbing clear up to the sky

[Chorus:]
Oh, what a-subha-ful mornin’
Oh, what a-subha-ful day
I’ve got a beautiful feelin’
Everything’s goin’ my way