Tuesday, July 30, 2019

31asb: asubha. There are 31 body parts in EBT Theravada Pali, not 32.

In most of the EBT Pali suttas, it's almost always 31 body parts. If a sutta has 32 (brain added in), it's a sure sign of late editing. By the time of Visuddhimagga, 32 body parts had become the new standard.

If we compare to other EBT schools, like the Chinese agamas representing Sarvastivada, mula sarvastivada, and other schools, there doesn't seem to be a set standard on number of body parts, it varies quite a bit. In the MN 10 satipatthana sutta parallels, EA has 25, MA has 28. So who knows how many the Buddha originally designated?

But what's nice about the number 31, there's a nice association with 31 days of a month. There's a different flavor of asubha for every day of the month. In other words, the number 31 has the added association that you should be thinking about 31 body parts every day of the month, every day of the year.

Vism. and Abhidhamma may have won the previous round.

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But the duty of the EBT jedi is to take a stand and fight against Dharma corruption.
So, not on my watch.

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The Pa Auk Vism. Abhidhamma monastic tradition has a nice booklet with color photos with 32 parts. I've taken the liberty of changing it back to 31 body parts, and adding the brain as #9, combining that as part of bone marrow. Yes, I've modified all 32 images and renumbered them so they match the Pali EBT tradition.