Striking a chord with many, a Buddhist video on the practice of asabha bhavana, a meditation in which one focuses on the loathsomeness of the physical body and its dirty, disgusting nature, went viral overnight, reaching millions eager to contemplate their own grossness.
"Finally, something made sense to me," said Samantha Josephson of New York City, who explained that, as someone with a lot of self-loathing, she never really resonated with the typical guided meditations emphasizing being whole and perfect and complete. "This was something I could work with."
Caleb McIntyre of St. Louis, Missouri, likewise appreciated the morbid tone of the Buddhist contemplation. "It was gritty and raw and real, something I could grasp with the skin-covered bones of my fingers," he said. "I even had a moment where I could almost feel myself decaying. It was a trip."
The video has additionally been put to widespread educational use, in counseling Catholic priests suspected of inappropriate sexual behavior. "Asabha bhavana is extremely effective at diminishing sexual desire," said Catholic Bishop William O'Malley. "So it's right up our alley."
Despite the remarkable success of the disgustingness of the body video, its creators, Kenny Loredo and Marsha Goldberg, have remained steadfastly modest about their accomplishment.
"We're just a couple of corpses-to-be doing our best to share the dharma," said Loredo. "It's the least we can do before we rot away."
