Attachment to the Physical Body

by Lama Dudjom Dorjee

Generally speaking, we ordinary human beings are extremely attached to our own physical bodies. When we analyse this physical body to which we are so attached, we see that it is composed of four basic elements: fire, water, earth, and air. Yet when we analyse these constituent parts of our physical existence in turn, we cannot find anything special, anything that is worth being attached to.

What we do find is a collection of over two hundred bones, various muscle groups, organs, and skin which, when laid out in pieces across a dissection table, are not attractive in the least. Imagine that without our outer covering of skin and flesh all the bones, or the skeleton inside, would be laid bare for all to see — quite an uncomfortable and unpleasant sight. Not to mention all the liquids of which our body is composed: blood, mucus, bile, partially digested food, as well as urine and other excrement. These are beyond “unattractive” — they are outright disgusting to witness in their raw form and certainly not worth the attachment most humans display toward them through attachment to their bodies!

This human body we possess is both home and food for millions of other sentient beings such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites who don’t see us as anything special, but merely a habitat they share with countless other inhabitants. In fact, this human body naturally attracts a wide variety of diseases that cause the suffering of sickness we experience when it is thrown out of balance.

So when we examine our physical bodies and their constituent parts it should become easy to detach ourselves from our physical existence and see it simply as a means to an end, a vehicle on which to travel the path of liberation. We should see our bodies as a boat we use to cross the ocean of samsara to the shore of enlightenment; there is no reason to be attached to the boat, as it is merely a tool.