A reflection that the four requisites and the person using them are alike merely elements, and that what is not repulsive becomes so on reaching the body.
- When chanted
- Recited by monastics among the reflections on the requisites, alongside those made at the time of use and at the end of the day.
A note on this chant. The book prints this chant in Pali only, with no Thai translation. The English here is a working translation prepared for this edition — it is not the book's own, and has not yet been checked by a teacher.
Historical background
ธาตุปะฏิกูละ names the two things the reflection does. It reduces the requisite to ธาตุ, elements, and then it observes ปะฏิกูละ, repulsiveness. Both moves are applied to all four requisites in turn.
With the reflection made at the moment of use and the one made at the end of the day, this completes a set of three. One asks what a requisite is for, one goes back over a day of not asking, and this one asks what the requisite and its user actually are. The book prints the same reflection again later on, with a Thai translation beside it.
Meaning and purpose
The first move is applied evenly, and the evenness is what gives it force. Proceeding as its conditions proceed, this is merely elements — that is to say, this robe; and the person who makes use of it is merely elements, not a being, not a soul, empty. The user is taken apart in the same sentence as the thing used, and in exactly the same terms.
The second move is stranger and more exact than it first looks. All these robes are not in themselves repulsive; yet on reaching this foul body they become exceedingly so. The repulsiveness is not located in the object, and not quite in the body either. It arises at the contact between them.
None of this is disgust at food or clothing, which the text rules out by saying plainly that they are not repulsive in themselves. What is being undercut is the sense of there being someone to whom nice things are happening. The four requisites are the last place where a monastic's preferences can still quietly operate — which robe, which almsfood, which lodging — and this reflection goes to exactly that place.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 61 →
ยะถาปัจจะยัง ปะวัตตะมานัง ธาตุมัตตะเมเวตัง ยะทิทัง จีวะรัง,
Yathāpaccayaṃ pavattamānaṃ dhātumattamevetaṃ yadidaṃ cīvaraṃ,
Proceeding as its conditions proceed, this is merely elements — that is to say, this robe,
ตะทุปะภุญชะโก จะ ปุคคะโล ธาตุมัตตะโก นิสสัตโต นิชชีโว สุญโญ,
Tadupabhuñjako ca puggalo dhātumattako nissatto nijjīvo suñño,
and the person who makes use of it is merely elements, not a being, not a soul, empty,
สัพพานิ ปะนะ อิมานิ จีวะรานิ อะชิคุจฉะนียานิ,
Sabbāni pana imāni cīvarāni ajigucchanīyāni,
and all these robes are not in themselves repulsive,
อิมัง ปูติกายัง ปัต๎วา อะติวิยะ ชิคุจฉะนียานิ ชายันติ.
Imaṃ pūtikāyaṃ patvā ativiya jigucchanīyāni jāyanti.
yet on reaching this foul body they become exceedingly repulsive.
ยะถาปัจจะยัง ปะวัตตะมานัง ธาตุมัตตะเมเวตัง ยะทิทัง ปิณฑะปาโต,
Yathāpaccayaṃ pavattamānaṃ dhātumattamevetaṃ yadidaṃ piṇḍapāto,
Proceeding as its conditions proceed, this is merely elements — that is to say, this almsfood,
ตะทุปะภุญชะโก จะ ปุคคะโล ธาตุมัตตะโก นิสสัตโต นิชชีโว สุญโญ,
Tadupabhuñjako ca puggalo dhātumattako nissatto nijjīvo suñño,
and the person who makes use of it is merely elements, not a being, not a soul, empty,
สัพโพ ปะนายัง ปิณฑะปาโต อะชิคุจฉะนีโย,
Sabbo panāyaṃ piṇḍapāto ajigucchanīyo,
and all this almsfood is not in itself repulsive,
อิมัง ปูติกายัง ปัต๎วา อะติวิยะ ชิคุจฉะนีโย ชายะติ.
Imaṃ pūtikāyaṃ patvā ativiya jigucchanīyo jāyati.
yet on reaching this foul body it becomes exceedingly repulsive.
ยะถาปัจจะยัง ปะวัตตะมานัง ธาตุมัตตะเมเวตัง ยะทิทัง เสนาสะนัง,
Yathāpaccayaṃ pavattamānaṃ dhātumattamevetaṃ yadidaṃ senāsanaṃ,
Proceeding as its conditions proceed, this is merely elements — that is to say, this lodging,
ตะทุปะภุญชะโก จะ ปุคคะโล ธาตุมัตตะโก นิสสัตโต นิชชีโว สุญโญ,
Tadupabhuñjako ca puggalo dhātumattako nissatto nijjīvo suñño,
and the person who makes use of it is merely elements, not a being, not a soul, empty,
สัพพานิ ปะนะ อิมานิ เสนาสะนานิ อะชิคุจฉะนียานิ,
Sabbāni pana imāni senāsanāni ajigucchanīyāni,
and all these lodgings are not in themselves repulsive,
อิมัง ปูติกายัง ปัต๎วา อะติวิยะ ชิคุจฉะนียานิ ชายันติ
Imaṃ pūtikāyaṃ patvā ativiya jigucchanīyāni jāyanti
yet on reaching this foul body they become exceedingly repulsive
ยะถาปัจจะยัง ปะวัตตะมานัง ธาตุมัตตะเมเวตัง ยะทิทัง คิลานะปัจจะยะเภสัชชะปะริกขาโร,
Yathāpaccayaṃ pavattamānaṃ dhātumattamevetaṃ yadidaṃ gilānapaccayabhesajjaparikkhāro,
Proceeding as its conditions proceed, this is merely elements — that is to say, this medicinal requisite for use in sickness,
ตะทุปะภุญชะโก จะ ปุคคะโล ธาตุมัตตะโก นิสสัตโต นีชชีโว สุญโญ,
Tadupabhuñjako ca puggalo dhātumattako nissatto nījjīvo suñño,
and the person who makes use of it is merely elements, not a being, not a soul, empty,
สัพโพ ปะนายัง คิลานะปัจจะยะเภสัชชะปะริกขาโร อะชิคุจฉะนีโย,
Sabbo panāyaṃ gilānapaccayabhesajjaparikkhāro ajigucchanīyo,
and all this medicinal requisite for use in sickness is not in itself repulsive,
อิมัง ปูติกายัง ปัต๎วา อะติวิยะ ชิคุจฉะนีโย ชายะติ.
Imaṃ pūtikāyaṃ patvā ativiya jigucchanīyo jāyati.
yet on reaching this foul body it becomes exceedingly repulsive.
ธาตุปะฏิกูละปัจจะเวกขะณะปาโฐ นิฏฐิโต
Dhātupaṭikūlapaccavekkhaṇapāṭho niṭṭhito
Here ends the Reflection on the Elements and on Repulsiveness.