A question was recently brought up as to whether or not the psychophysical body is evil (evil in the sense of harmful or tending to harm). I said it was evil based on a number of different quotes from the discourses of the Buddha. Here is one pertinent excerpt taken from the Yamaka Sutta (S. iii. 114) of the Samyutta-Nikaya:
"He [the uninstructed worldling] does not understand as it really is murderous form as 'murderous form' … murderous feeling as 'murderous feeling' … murderous perception as 'murderous perception' … murderous volitional formations as 'murderous volitional formats' … murderous consciousness as 'murderous consciousness’."
These five are the five khandha/skandha or aggregates which I have put in bold. They, essentially, make up our psychophysical body.
Further on in this discourse we learn that the noble disciple does not become engaged with form, cling to it, and take a stand upon it as ‘my self’, ditto with the other remaining aggregates. The we read:
"These same five aggregates of clinging, to which he does not become engaged and to which he does not cling, lead to his welfare and happiness for a long time" (S. iii. 115).
As for a comprehensive list of the decisively negative and harmful aspects of the aggregates we find this which is from the Patisambhidamagga.
“The monk examines the five aggregates by their nature of impermanence, suffering, becoming ill, being like a boil, being like an arrow, hardship, becoming sick, being the other, being that which is decayed, bringing the bad, being evil, being dangerous, being an obstacle, being afraid, being that which is rotten, being not lasting, being without a resistance, being without a protection, being without refuge, being empty, being bare, being void, being an-ātman, being harm, having change as norm, being without an essence, the root of hardship, being like an executioner, being a decay, having āsava, being conditioned, being a victim of Mara [the evil one], having birth as norm, having aging as norm, having sickness as norm, having death as norm, having grief as norm, having lamentation as norm, having despair as norm, having sorrow as norm.”
This is not a happy picture. The good news is that our true self or ātman (in Mahayana Buddhism, Buddha-nature) transcends these aggregates. At the same time, the uninstructed worldling or puthujjana can cling to the aggregates as being representative of his self or ātman. In other words, the uninstructed worldling can fall prey to the evil, harmful and murderous psychophysical body.
Further on in the Samyutta-Nikaya we come across this excerpt at S. iii. 189 which reads:
"When there is form, Radha, there might be Mara, or the killer, or the one who is killed. Therefore, Radha, see form as Mara, see it as the killer, see it as the one who is killed. See it as a disease, as a tumor, as a dart, as misery, as really misery. Those who see it thus see rightly. When there if feeling ... When there is perception ... When there are volitional formations ... When there is consciousness, Radha, there might be Mara, or the killer, or the one who is killed" (emphasis is mine).
We might argue back and forth that Mara’s aggregates, which are also murderous, can be saved from sin and error. But this is not likely since our self or ātman already transcends the murderous, Mara aggregates even while we cling to them out of ignorance. And this is where meditation steps into the picture. It is the means by which our latent self awakens meeting, face-to-face, the unconditioned which is beyond the aggregates. It is only by passing through an-ātman, i.e., the aggregates, does the ātman fully recognize itself, this being the state of nirvana.
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