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Chapter 3: Abandoning belief in cleanliness

Verses 53-63

Overcoming the distortion of seeing the impure and foul body as pure and clean. The teachings on Chapter 3 of Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way begin at the end of the last talk in Chapter 2, given on June 6, 2013.

  • Examining the object of sexual desire and refuting the arguments that the bodies of others are attractive, desirable, and a source of pleasure
  • Seeing the body as impure to reduce sexual attachment
  • Understanding that the body is not a source of true happiness

08 Aryadeva’s 400 Stanzas: Verses 53-63 (download)

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.

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