Those of you not familiar with the darker side of the web may not
have heard of rotten
dot com. Rotten deals with death, shows us Snowden's
secret in all its horrible reality. Close up and personal
on the injured, the sick, the dead, the decaying, rotten dot com
shows us exactly what can and will happen to us, sooner or later,
because all flesh is grass.
The flower fades and the grass withers and we will all be dead and
rotten someday.
So I look at the pictures on rotten dot com, contemplating my own
mortality, doing the mediation on death from the Buddhist Mahâ-Satipatthâna-Sutta
and thinking, "my body has this nature, my body is subject
to this," trying to accept that all things are transitory,
nothing lasts, including myself.
- But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body one day dead, or two days
dead, or (MSS.308) three days dead,
swollen, black, and full of festering putridity, he compares
his own body, saying, "Verily, my body also has this
nature, this destiny, and is not exempt."
Thus he lives, either in his own person,
as respects the body, observant of the body, or in other persons,
as respects the body, observant of the body, or both in his
own person and in other persons, as respects the body, observant
of the body; either observant of origination in the body,
or observant of destruction in the body, or observant of both
origination and
destruction in the body; and the recognition of the body by
his intent contemplation is merely to the extent of this knowledge,
merely to the extent of this contemplation, and he lives unattached,
nor clings to anything in the world.
Thus, O priests, does a priest live, as respects
the body, observant of the body.
Cemetery the First
-
But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body being eaten by crows,
or being eaten by eagles, or being eaten by vultures, or being
eaten by dogs, or being eaten by jackals, or being eaten by
various kinds of insects, he compares his own body, saying,
"Verily, my body also has this nature, this destiny,
and is not exempt."
Thus he lives, either in his own person
[etc., as before].
Cemetery the Second
-
But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body consisting of a skeleton
with its flesh and its blood and its tendonous connections,
he compares his own body, saying, "Verily, my body
also has this nature, this destiny, and is not exempt."
Thus he lives, either in his own person
[etc., as before].
Cemetery the Third
-
But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body consisting of a skeleton,
stripped of its flesh, but stained with blood and retaining
its tendonous connections, he compares his own body, saying,
"Verily, my body also has this nature, this destiny,
and is not exempt."
Thus he lives, either in his own person
[etc., as before].
Cemetery the Fourth
-
But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body consisting of a skeleton
without its flesh and its blood, but retaining its tendonous
connections, he compares his own body, saying, "Verily,
my body also has this nature, this destiny, and is not exempt."
Thus he lives, either in his own person
[etc., as before].
Cemetery the Fifth
(MSS.3522)
-
But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body with its bones unconnected
and scattered in all directions--the bones of the hands in
one direction, the bones of the feet in another, the bones
of the shanks in another, the bones of the thighs in another,
the bones of the hips in another, the bones of the spine in
another, and the skull in another--he compares his own body,
saying, "Verily, my body also has this nature, this
destiny, and is not exempt."
Thus he lives, either in his own person
[etc., as before].
Cemetery the Sixth
-
But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body with its bones as white
as a conch-shell, he compares his own body, saying, "Verily,
my body also has this nature, this destiny, and is not exempt."
Thus he lives, either in his own person
[etc., as before].
Cemetery the Seventh
-
But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body with its bones scattered
in piles and washed by the rains of years, he compares his
own body, saying, "Verily, my body also has this nature,
this destiny, and is not exempt."
Thus he lives, either in his own person
[etc., as before].
Cemetery the Eighth
-
But again, O priests, a priest, if perchance
he sees in a cemetery a decaying body with its bones rotting
and crumbling into dust, he compares his own body, saying,
"Verily, my body also has this nature, this destiny,
and is not exempt." Thus he lives, either in his
own person [etc., as before].
Cemetery the Ninth
End of the Intent Contemplation of the Body.1
(MSS.3918)
-
Joseph Heller, Catch-22
- Man was matter, that was Snowden's secret.
Drop him out the window and he'll fall. Set fire to him and
he'll burn. Bury him and he'll rot like other kinds of garbage.
The spirit gone, man is garbage. That was Snowden's secret.
Ripeness was all.
-
Isaiah 40:
- 6 The voice said, Cry. And he said,
What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the
spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word
of our God shall stand for ever.
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