The technical term “body made up of the four principal states” clarifies that it is the material body spoken of here, rather than, say, the “mental body” (DN 15:20.2).

A number of non-Buddhist religious teachers were said to be “free of desire for sensual pleasures” through developing absorption meditation (AN 6.54:13.7, AN 7.66:11.1). This would probably include the Buddha’s former teachers. Such freedom is temporary, however, as without severing the root-level attachments the desire will eventually resurface.

The terms “mind” (citta), “sentience” (mano), and “consciousness” (viññāṇa) are broadly synonymous and in many cases may be substituted for one another. Nonetheless, they each have a particular context in which they predominate. Citta is to be developed, in which respect it pertains to the fourth noble truth, the path. Mano, which I translate here as “sentience” for the sake of disambiguation, is often used in the active sense of the deeds done by the mind, pertaining to the second noble truth, the origin of suffering. Viññāṇa is the key factor in the experince of suffering, pertaining to the first noble truth.

This view is expressed at DN 1:2.13.4.

Note that impermanence is described as constantly changing during the day rather than in terms of momentariness, which is not found in the Suttas.

This is an early source for the idiom “monkey mind”. See also Thag 2.3:2.1, Snp 4.4:4.3, and especially Thag 19.1:21.3.