Kayagatasati Sutta

The Kāyagatāsati Sutta (Skt. Kāyasmṛti; Mindfulness Immersed in the Body, MN 119) is a Pali Buddhist Sutta which outlines
the development of mindfulness through contemplation of the body in order to reach Jhana.

Contents
Summary of the Pali version
Chinese Agama version
See also
Notes
Bibliography
External links

Summary of the Pali version

The Kayagatasati sutta stresses the need for constant awareness of the body's position, "When walking, the monk discerns, 'I am
walking.' When standing, he discerns, 'I am standing.' When sitting, he discerns, 'I am sitting.' When lying down, he discerns, 'I
am lying down." [1]

The Sutta also outlines the practice of "reflections on repulsiveness of the body" (Patikulamanasikara). In this practice a meditator
reflects on various parts of the body (nails, hair, bodily organs, fluids) and noting their impurity. The Sutta also recommends
meditation on the impermanence of the body and death by contemplating human corpses in various states of decomposition.
"Furthermore, as if he were to see a corpse cast away in a charnel ground — one day, two days, three days dead — bloated, livid,
& festering, he applies it to this very body, 'This body, too: Such is its nature, such is its future, such its unavoidable fate'".[1]

Sutta then explains the attainment of the first four rupa Jhanas, states of calm concentration reached through meditation.

Finally, the Sutta outlines the ten benefits of these practices which are as follows:

1. Conquering displeasure & delight

2. Conquering fear & dread
3. 3. Resistance to temperature, pain and the elements.
4. Attainment of the four Jhanas
5. "Manifold supranormal powers" (ex. walking on water, walking through walls)
6. Supernatural hearing
7. Psychic powers - knowing the "awareness of other beings"
8. Recollection of past lives
9. Seeing "by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human"
10. "Through the ending of the mental effluents, he remains in the effluent-free awareness-release &
discernment-release, having known and made them manifest for himself right in the here & now."[1]

Chinese Agama version

There is a parallel text in the Chinese canon called Sutra on Mindfulness of the Body in the Madhyama Agama, which is
attributed to the Sarvastivada school. According to Tse Fu Kuan, the list of practices in this text are:[2]

1. understanding the four postures and the states of being asleep [and/or] awake
2. full awareness of daily activities
3. extinguishing evil unwholesome thoughts with wholesome dharma thoughts
4. with teeth clenched and the tongue pressed against the palate, restraining one mental state with [another] mental
state
5. mindfulness of breathing
6. the rapture and pleasure born of seclusion pervading the body (the first jhana)
7. the rapture and pleasure born of concentration pervading the body (the second jhana)
8. the pleasure born of the absence of rapture pervading the body (the third jhana)
9. pervading the body with the pure state of mind (the fourth jhana)
10. attending to the conception of light, and developing a bright mind
11. grasping the reviewing-sign and recollecting what he attends to
12. reviewing the body as full of various kinds of impurity
13. reviewing the body by way of the six elements
14. contemplating a corpse in different states of decomposition

See also
Anapanasati (Breath Mindfulness)
Metta Sutta
Kayagatasati Sutta
Anapanasati Sutta
Satipatthana Sutta, also called the Four Satipatthanas
Bojjhanga (Seven Factors of Enlightenment)
Buddhist Meditation
Satipatthana Sutta (Four Foundations of Mindfulness)
Satipatthana (Four Foundations of Mindfulness)

Notes
1. Kayagata-sati Sutta (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html).
2. Tse-fu Kuan (2011). Mindfulness in Early Buddhism: New Approaches through Psychology and Textual Analysis
of Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit Sources (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism). pp. 82-83.

Bibliography
Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.), The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the
Majjhima Nikaya, 1995, Somerville: Wisdom Publications ISBN 0-86171-072-X.

External links
Kayagatasati Sutta (https://suttacentral.net/en/mn119) at suttacentral.net (21 different languages, 3 English
versions)
Kayagatasati Sutta in English (http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/2Majjhima-Nikaya/Majjhima3/119-kayag
atasati-e.html) at Metta.lk
In original Pali (http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/2Majjhima-Nikaya/Majjhima3/119-kayagatasati-p.html)
at Metta.lk
 Kayagata-sati Sutta (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html) at accesstoinsight.org by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kayagatasati_Sutta&oldid=916424010"

This page was last edited on 18 September 2019, at 20:57 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.