At the Autopsy: Hundred Mountain Feature

IT IS SNOWING and most members of our meditation group do not join us at the hospital's morgue as planned. Just Fariborz and I show. Visiting the morgue came up at a meditation course led by Matt Flickstein. Matt, for over 20 years a serious practitioner and first-rate teacher of vipassana meditation and Theravada Buddhism, had conducted a 12-week course on the Sattipatana sutra. Each week we reviewed part of the sutra and did daily exercises. Some involved examining the body and its organs. The point was to learn greater detachment from the body and to overcome lust. Matt hoped to take us to an autopsy. One rarely feels lustful while watching an autopsy.

BUT THE AUTOPSY WAS too difficult to arrange. They don't do autopsies on any schedule. When the body shows up and authorization is given, it happens. I thought I'd take a shot at finding one. I was finally able to arrange a tour of the morgue at a local hospital. I hoped we might luck into an autopsy while on the tour.

Two weeks before the tour, I called the morgue and spoke to Sam, the head of pathology. I introduced myself and my group, reassured him that we were not "crazies," and that for the purpose of our practice would like to watch an autopsy. Sam explained the autopsy scheduling problem, but said we could tour the morgue in groups no bigger than three persons. I had the sense that Sam was nervous about what he was doing, and that this whole deal might not stand up if someone shook it too hard.

I called back a week later to confirm our plans to come, only to learn that Sam "no longer worked there." Assuming he did not get fired just for setting up our tour, I asked to speak to whoever was in charge. Byron answered the phone. He was in the middle of an autopsy. His heavy accent made him hard to understand, but he confirmed our plans. It was a bit too easy. I expected something to go wrong. We decided to go for it. TO PAGE 2: BODY PARTS