Contemplation of Impurity: The Key to No Longer Trembling Before Temptation

Long ago, there were three brothers who were very wealthy merchants. One day, while their caravan was traveling on a trading journey, the eldest brother saw a solemn procession of people carrying flowers and offerings. Upon asking, he learned they were on their way to Jetavana to hear the Buddha teach the Dharma. Deeply moved, he felt a wholesome condition (dependent origination) arise within him, and he followed along. The Buddha gave him a special teaching on the danger of sensual pleasure. He attained enlightenment and asked to ordain. Seeing this, the youngest brother also asked to ordain, but with a completely different state of mind: not out of a desire for liberation, but because he could not live without his older brother.

Both men ordained, but their paths of practice diverged. The older brother practiced diligently, while the younger was constantly shaken by the beautiful women who came to the temple. In the end, through contemplating impurity in the charnel ground, the older brother attained realization, while the younger returned to lay life. That story holds two paths: the path of one who is threatened by Mara like a weak tree in the wind, and the path of one who stands firm like a mountain of stone before the wind.

What does it mean to see the appearance of beauty?

The verse in the Dhammapada begins with "Whoever lives seeing the appearance of beauty." Venerable Chân Quang explains: "The phrase 'seeing the appearance of beauty' in the old days meant being infatuated with gazing at the body of the opposite sex." This is a natural inclination of human beings, but it is also the gateway to countless other weaknesses. When our eyes are drawn to outward forms, our mind easily wavers and trembles like a weak tree in the wind.

Whoever lives seeing the appearance of beauty, does not guard the senses, eats without moderation, is lazy and lacks faith and diligence—Mara threatens that one like a weak tree in the wind.

People used to say, "Women are the beautiful sex," but that beauty is also a double-edged sword. When the bodies of the opposite sex are displayed too openly in public places, a man walking down the street is like entering a battle of the mind. Venerable Chân Quang shares: "Men today are weaker than men in the past. Because as soon as they go out on the street, they see the appearance of beauty. They do not want to, but these appearances of beauty are displayed everywhere, and their minds are shaken like a weak tree in the wind."

Guarding the senses and moderation in eating and drinking

Beyond seeing the appearance of beauty, the verse mentions two other practices: "skillfully guarding the senses" and "eating with moderation." Guarding the senses means keeping the six sense faculties from clinging to sense objects. In particular, it means preventing the ear, eye, nose, tongue, body, and mind from encountering objects that stir craving and attachment in the mind. Eating with moderation means knowing sufficiency, not being greedy, and not indulging the palate. The Venerable teaches that practitioners must know restraint and moderation so as not to create openings for Mara to act.

The danger of the unrestrained gaze

We often think that simply keeping a good heart is enough, but in truth, the mind cannot stand firm against a great wind without a point of support. Mara does not threaten us with strange things, but through the very doorways we open ourselves. The Venerable says: "This factor is not symbolic—it is real." One unrestrained gaze can awaken a chain of unwholesome emotions, like a broken assembly line. Once the mind has trembled, that person easily falls into indulgence and degradation, losing their spiritual attainments.

Whoever lives contemplating impurity, skillfully guards the senses, eats with moderation, and has faith and diligence—Mara cannot threaten that one, like a mountain of stone before the wind.

How can we stand firm like a mountain of stone?

The Buddha taught: contemplate impurity. The contemplation of impurity means seeing the human body as something impermanent (anicca) and temporary, a corpse that will one day decompose. The older brother, Great Darkness, went to the charnel ground and contemplated the corpses being burned and picked at by vultures, and from that he deeply understood that this body holds nothing worth craving. The Venerable says: "Truly, in this world all conditioned phenomena are impermanent (anicca) and ever-changing. Only a mind that has reached cessation and purity holds genuine happiness."

Beyond the contemplation of impurity, we need to guard the senses, eat with moderation, and have faith and diligence. That faith is faith in cause and effect (karmic law) and in liberation. Diligence means being devoted to guarding and cultivating the practice, never lax. Then, even if demons come to test us, our mind remains steady as a mountain of stone, unmoved.

A final message

There is an old saying: "One moment of laxity, ten thousand lifetimes of regret." Temptation always lurks around us, but we can choose to stand firm. Let us begin by awakening: recognizing what we are looking at, what we are listening to, what we are eating and drinking. Let us nurture the mind of contemplating impurity so we are not dragged along by outward appearances, and practice diligence to become mountains of stone standing firm, rather than weak trees trembling in the wind. May you always be at peace and steadfast on the path of study and practice.