| Translations of Patikulamanasikara | |
|---|---|
| Pali | Paṭikkūlamanasikāra |
| Chinese | 不淨觀 (Pinyin: Bù jìng guān) |
| Japanese | 不浄観 (Rōmaji: Fujōkan) |
| Sinhala | පටික්කූලමනසිකාරය, පිළිකුල් භාවනාව (Patikulamanasikaraya, Pilikul Bhavanava) |
| Vietnamese | Quán bất tịnh, Niệm 32 thể trược |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
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Paṭik(k)ūlamanasikāra[1] is a Pāli term that is generally translated as "reflections on repulsiveness". It refers to a traditional Buddhist meditation whereby thirty-one parts of the body are contemplated in a variety of ways. In addition to developing sati (mindfulness) and samādhi (concentration), this form of meditation is considered conducive to overcoming desire and lust. Along with cemetery contemplations such as the contemplation of the nine stages of decay, this type of meditation is one of the two meditations on "the foul" or "unattractive" (Pāli: asubha).[2]
- ^ The Sinhalese SLTP Tipitaka and Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-5), p. 393, spell this term paṭikkūlamanasikāra (with two k's) while the Burmese CSCD tipitaka and VRI (1996), p. 10, spell it paṭikūlamanasikāra (with one k).
- ^ Nānamoli (1998), p. 110, n. 16, which references the Anapanasati Sutta and the Visuddhimagga, Ch. VI, VIII. "The foul" is Nānamoli's translation for asubha. Anālayo (2017), p. 46, translates asubha as "unattractive": "... besides speaking of the body as impure [Pali: asuci], the early Buddhist discourses at times use an alternative qualification of the body as 'unattractive', asubha, when introducing the standard description of its anatomical parts." Anālayo's associated footnote cites, for example, AN 10.60. Anālayo further contextualizes this by underscoring that Early Buddhist texts refer to the body in negative, neutral and positive ways (e.g., as a means for embodying virtue, as the vehicle for contemplative joy).