Hair, nails, teeth, skin… people are really hooked on these things. The Buddha established these things as the basic themes for meditation, he taught us to know these things. They are Transient, Imperfect and Ownerless; they are not 'me' or 'them'. We are born with and deluded by these things, but really they are foul. When people sweat a lot, such as when a lot of people are working hard together, the smell is awful. We go back home and rub ourselves down with soap and water and the smell abates somewhat, the fragrance of the soap replaces it. Rubbing soap on the body may make it seem fragrant, but actually the bad smell of the body is still these, temporarily suppressed. When the smell of the soap is gone the smell of the body comes back again.

Now we tend to think these bodies are pretty, delightful, long lasting and strong. We tend to think that we will never age, get sick or die. We are charmed and fooled by the body, and so we are ignorant of the true refuge within ourselves. The true place of refuge is the mind. The is our true refuge. We may think this body belongs to us but it doesn't. We live here tougher with everything else. This is only a temporary shelter, soon we must leave it.

So the Buddha said to find your refuge. That means to find your real heart. This heart is very important.