Nine stages of decay

The contemplation of the nine stages of a decaying corpse is a Buddhist meditational practice in which the practitioner imagines or observes the gradual decomposition of a dead body. Along with paṭikūlamanasikāra, this type of meditation is one of the two meditations on "the foul" or "unattractive" (aśubha).^[1]: 24 The nine stages later became a popular subject of Buddhist art and poetry. In Japan, images of the stages are called kusōzu (九相図, lit. 'nine-phase pictures')^[1]: 24 and became related to aesthetic ideas of impermanence.^[2]: 295

Early instances of the nine stages of decay can be found in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta,^[3] (–20 BC) the "Sutra on the Samādhi Contemplation of the Oceanlike Buddha," and the "Discourse on the Great Wisdom" (Mahaprajnaparamitita-sastra) by Nagarjuna (c. 150–250 AD). The stages listed in the Mahaprajnaparamitita-sastra spread to Japan, probably through Chinese Tiantai writings including the Mohe Zhiguan of Zhiyi (438–497 AD),^[4] and influenced medieval Japanese art and literature.^[1]: 24

The setting for the nine stages is outdoors, where a corpse would be left exposed to decay in a field, graveyard, or charnel ground.^[1]: 25 The exact stages included vary between sources.^[4] The Mahaprajnaparamitita-sastra refers to the stages as the nine aśubhasaṃjñā अशुभसंज्ञा lit. 'nine horrible notions,'^[5] and lists them as follows:^[6][1]: 24

1. distension (vyādhmātakasaṃjñā)
2. rupture (vidhūtakasaṃjñā)
3. exudation of blood (vilohitakasaṃjñā)
4. putrefaction (vipūyakasaṃjñā)
5. discolouration and desiccation (vinīlakasaṃjñā)
6. consumption by animals and birds (vikhāditakasaṃjñā)
7. dismemberment (vikṣiptaka)
8. reduction to bones (asthisaṃjñā)
9. parching to dust (vidagdhakasaṃjñā)