Preparation

• Sit in stillness. Calm the mind with breath.

• Set your intention: "May this contemplation free my heart from clinging to the body, from vanity, and from fear of death. May wisdom and urgency arise.""

The Nine Stages of a Corpse

For each stage, visualize clearly*, and repeat the reflection:

"This body too is of the same nature. It will become like that. It is not exempt from that fate."

Stage 1: A corpse one day dead , freshly dead, lifeless.

• The body still resembles the person, but warmth and motion are gone.
• Reflect on the sudden transition: 'Life is fragile. Breath stops, and the body begins to fall away."

Stage 2: A corpse two or three days dead, bloated, blue, and festering.

• Skin stretches, body swells, discoloration sets in.
• Smell begins. The illusion of beauty collapses.
• Reflect: "This body too is of the same nature"

Stage 3: A corpse being eaten by crows, hawks, vultures, dogs, jackals, or various kinds of worms.

• Parts of the body are torn away.
• The body is no longer intact, no one tries to preserve it.
• Reflect: "This body too is of the same nature"

Stage 4: A skeleton with some flesh and blood, held together by tendons.

• Flesh remains only in patches.
• The body is unrecognizable.
• Reflect: "This body too is of the same nature"

Stage 5: A blood-smeared skeleton, without flesh but still held by tendons.

• Tendons bind the bones, but no flesh remains.
• The structure is still connected, life is long gone.
• Reflect: "This body too is of the same nature"

Stage 6: A skeleton without flesh and blood, held together by tendons.

• Bones remain connected, but clean.
• Death seems dry and distant, but this was once a living person.
• Reflect: "This body too is of the same nature"

Stage 7: Disconnected bones scattered in all directions, here a hand bone, there a foot bone.

• The unity of the body is lost.
• Bones lie forgotten and separated.
• Reflect: "This body too is of the same nature"

Stage 8: Bleached bones, white like shells.

• Sun and rain have bleached the bones.
• No blood, no name, no personality.
• Reflect: "This body too is of the same nature"

Stage 9: Bones rotted and crumbled to dust.

• Nothing distinct remains.
• What was once ‘me’ or ‘mine’ has vanished into earth.
• “This body too is not exempt from this * Reflect: "This body too is of the same nature"

Integration Reflection

After contemplating the stages, sit quietly and let the reflections sink in. Then say:

This body I care for and cling to is of the same nature.

No part of it will escape this process.

Understanding this, may I let go of attachment, may I walk the path of liberation while there is still time.