Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

The Riipakkhandha 13
enable the living body of a human being to function: this is not a
description of a dead human body. It follows, then, that the term rtipa is not
as strictly limited as one might in the first instance expect from the usual
association of body with matter or from the common understanding that
the word 'form' (the literal meaning of rips) means shape or appearance.
From the comprehensive description we have here, epa does not refer to
the physical body qua physical body; it is not concerned with what the body
is but with its living characteristics understood in terms of the four
elements.
We recall that the 'object' which corresponds to the sense (organ) eye
(cakkhu) is form (rtipa), and that its main criterion is visibility. Ru'pa as a
khandha does not so clearly imply visibility. One might say that processes
such as breathing, movement, and decay are visible, and if other processes
such as digestion and temperature control were not operating one would
be able to see that. This would correspond to the fact that in the 'external'
dimension fire and wind are also visible (at least through their effects). But
such suggestions do not seem to me to be in accord with the overall
impression one gets from the description of the riipakkhandha, and the
internal organs are normally visible only potentially. Certainly visibility
does not seem to be a primary characteristic of the riipaWduzn&a.
The parts of the body referred to in the descriptions of the pa{hautdha'tu
and the cpodhatu above are also found in the canonical material as a
standard list of bodily parts to be used in a meditation exercise.59 The
standard list incorporates exactly the same parts as do the descriptions of
the dhiitus and is as follows: hair of the head, body hair, nails, teeth, skin,
flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, membranes, spleen,
lungs, intestines, mesentery, stomach, excrement, bile, phlegm, pus, blood,
sweat, fat, tears, serum, saliva, mucus, synovic fluid and urine.60 During
meditation, a bhikkhu should realise that his body includes a collection of
these physical items, none of which is to be identified as or with any sort of
abiding self. Other bodily processes are referred to in these meditation
exercises, such as breathing and movement, posture and decay.61 None of
these passages states that it is offering a description either of the
riipakkhandha as such or of the cattcrro mahibhu'tcr. The meditation on the body
in the Satipat&Zna Suttm, however, is clearly intended to be comprehensive,
including as it does a wide range of bodily activities, processes, postures and
states of decay, in the sense that such meditations should bring the bhiWrhu
to realise that all such aspects of the body are similarly conditioned. It also
includes a meditation on the fact that the body is composed of the four
dha'tus as follows:
And again, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu contemplates this body as it is placed or
disposed in respect of the elements, thinking 'There are in this body the
elements of extension, fluidity, heat and rn~tion'.~'