චිත්ත හා චිත්තවීථි - Questions and Answers on Citta and Citta Veethi

The fact that cittas succeed one another is due to contiguity condition, anantara paccaya: each citta is anantara paccaya for the following citta; this means that the preceding citta conditions the arising of the next citta which immediately succeeds it, as soon as the preceding citta has fallen away. Each citta is anantara paccaya for the succeeding one, except the dying consciousness (cuti citta) of the arahat. This citta cannot be anantara paccaya, because when it has fallen away there is the parinibbana of the khandhas, the final passing away. Therefore, the dying consciousness of the arahat is not succeeded by rebirth consciousness nor by any other citta.

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All the different types of citta can be classified by way of four "jatis" or categories (jati meaning birth or nature):
1. kusala citta
2. akusala citta
3. vipakacitta
4. kiriyacitta
Kusala citta is the citta which is wholesome, it is the cause which produces pleasant result, kusala vipaka, in the future. When kusala citta and the accompanying cetasikas which are the cause of a future result have fallen away, the accumulated wholesome qualities of that citta go on to the next citta and again to the following ones, and thus they are a condition for the arising in the future of kusala vipakacitta and accompanying cetasikas, which are the result of the kusala citta which formerly arose. It has been explained in the Commentary that the cetasikas which accompany the vipakacitta are vipaka cetasikas, but since citta is the "leader" the word vipakacitta is used; the accompanying cetasikas are also vipaka.
Another example where the word citta also refers to the accompanying cetasikas is the term "cittaja rupa", the rupa which citta conditions to arise. In fact, cittaja rupa arises because citta and the accompanying cetasikas are the condition for its arising. Thus, the word cittaja rupa also refers to the accompanying cetasikas which condition the arising of that rupa. In the same way, the word vipakacitta also refers to the accompanying vipaka cetasikas.
Akusala citta is a reality which is harmful and dangerous. It causes the arising of unhappy, unpleasant result in the form of different kinds of akusala vipakacittas.
Apart from kusala citta, akusala citta and vipakacitta there is another class of citta and this is kiriyacitta, inoperative citta. Kiriyacitta is neither kusala citta nor akusala citta, thus, not a cause for the arising of vipakacitta, nor is it vipakacitta, result of kusala citta or akusala citta. As we have seen, all cittas can be classified as the four jatis of kusala, akusala, vipaka and kiriya.

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The vithi citta is a citta arising in a process.When we see, there is not bhavanga citta but vithi citta which arises and sees what appears through the eyes. The citta which sees, the citta which knows what the object is that is seen, the citta which likes what appears through the eyes, the cittas which experience objects through the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body sense or the mind door, all those cittas are vithi cittas. When we hear a sound and then like it or dislike it, there are no bhavanga cittas but vithi cittas.

The rebirth consciousness, bhavanga citta or dying consciousnesses are not vithi cittas. All types of citta other than these are vithi cittas. The rebirth consciousness arises only once in a life span. It succeeds the dying consciousness of the previous life and it only performs the function of rebirth. At that moment there is no seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or the experience of tangible object. Rebirth consciousness is vipakacitta, the result of kamma. The rebirth consciousness which arises in the human plane of existence is kusala vipakacitta, the result of kusala kamma.

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The first bhavanga citta which arises when that rupa impinges on the sense base is called atita bhavanga, past bhavanga. This bhavanga citta is of the same type as the bhavanga cittas which arose before. The name atita bhavanga is used with the purpose to point out how long the rupa which impinges on the sense base will last so that it can be experienced by vithi cittas. Counting from the atita bhavanga, it cannot last longer than seventeen moments of citta.

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When we are fast sleep we do not experience any object through one of the six doors. There cannot be the five sense door adverting consciousness nor the mind door adverting consciousness. Also when we are not asleep there are moments that we do not experience any object through one of the six doors. At such moments the five sense door adverting consciousness or the mind door adverting consciousness do not arise, but there are bhavanga cittas arising in between the different processes of cittas.

When we are fast asleep, we do not see or experience other sense objects, we do not think. The bhavanga cittas arise and fall away in succession all the time, until we dream or wake up, and there is again seeing, hearing, the experience of other sense objects or thinking of different subjects of this world. This world does not appear to the rebirth consciousness, the bhavanga citta and the dying consciousness. At the moment the vipakacitta arises which performs the function of rebirth or the function of bhavanga, the different objects of this world, in our case the human world, do not appear. If we are fast asleep at this moment, we do not know anything, we do not see anyone who is here, we do not experience sound, odor, cold or heat. The bhavanga citta is not involved with anything in this world. It does not even know who we are ourselves, where we are, who are our relatives and friends. It does not know anything about possessions, rank, a honorable position, happiness or misery. Whereas when we are not asleep we remember the things of this world, the different people and the different stories connected with this world.

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When the atita bhavanga has fallen away it conditions the succeeding bhavanga citta which "vibrates", which is stirred by the object, and this is called bhavanga calana, vibrating bhavanga 3 . This citta is still bhavanga citta, since vithi citta cannot arise yet and the stream of bhavanga cittas still continues. When the bhavanga calana has fallen away the succeeding bhavanga citta arises, and this is the bhavangupaccheda, arrest bhavanga, which interrupts the stream of bhavanga cittas, because it is the last bhavanga citta before vithi cittas arise. When the bhavangupaccheda has fallen away, vithi cittas arise and experience the object which appears through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body sense or the mind door.

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• The visible object which appears through the eyes, are eye door process cittas, cakkhu dvara vithi cittas.
• The Sound object which appears through the ears, are ear door process cittas, sotha dvara vithi cittas.
• The Smell object which appears through the nose, are nose door process cittas, ghana dvara vithi cittas.
• The Taste object which appears through the eyes, are tounge door process cittas, jivha dvara vithi cittas.
• The Tangent object which appears through the body, are body door process cittas, kaaya dvara vithi cittas.


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8. Through which doorways does the mind door adverting consciousness know an object?


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Vithi cittas of the mind door process, mano dvara vithi cittas, can experience all kinds of objects. When the mind door process follows upon a sense door process, the vithi cittas of the mind door process experience visible object, sound, odor, flavor or tangible object which were experienced by the vithi cittas of the five sense door processes.

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The vithi cittas of the mind door process can also experience dhammarammaua, mind object, which are the objects which can be experienced only through the mind door.

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They are the following seven types:
1.The first víthi-citta is the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, pañca-dvåråvajjana-citta.

2.The second víthi-citta is one of the five pairs 3 of sense-cognitions, dvi-pañca-viññåùas, which are seeing-consciousness, hearing- consciousness, smelling-consciousness, tasting-consciousness and body-consciousness.

3.The third víthi-citta is the receiving-consciousness, sampaìicchana-citta, which receives the object from the preceding citta, one of the sense-cognitions, after this has fallen away.

4.The fourth víthi-citta is the investigating-consciousness, santíraùa-citta, which examines, considers the object.

5.The fifth víthi-citta is the determining-consciousness, votthapana-citta, which performs the function of determining whether it will be succeeded by kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta (in the case of the arahat).

6.The sixth type of víthi-citta is the javana víthi-citta of which there are usually seven types in succession. Javana can be translated as impulsion or "running". It goes quickly through the object with kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta.

7.The seventh type of víthi-citta is the tadårammùa víthi-citta (tadårammaùa means: "that object") or tadålambana víthi-citta (ålambana means delaying, hanging on). This citta is called in English retention or registering-consciousness. It performs the function of receiving the object, hanging on to the object after the javana-cittas, if the object has not fallen away yet, since rupa lasts not longer than seventeen moments of citta.

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1.The first moment of citta which arises and falls away is the bhavanga-citta which is called past bhavanga, atíta-bhavanga.
2.The vibrating bhavanga, bhavanga calana, is the second moment of citta.
3.The arrest bhavanga, bhavangupaccheda, is the third moment of citta.
4.The five-sense-door adverting-consciousness is the fourth moment of citta.
5.One of the sense-cognitions is the fifth moment of citta.
6.The receiving-consciousness is the sixth moment of citta.
7.The investigating-consciousness is the seventh moment of citta.
8.The determining-consciousness is the eighth moment of citta
9.The first javana-citta is the ninth moment of citta. |
10.The second javana-citta is the tenth moment of citta. |
11.The third javana-citta is the eleventh moment of citta. |
12.The fourth javana-citta is the twelfth moment of citta. |seven
13.The fifth javana-citta is the thirteenth moment of citta. | javana-
14.The sixth javana-citta is the fourteenth moment of citta. |cittas
15.The seventh javana-citta is the fifteenth moment of citta. |

From the moment of atíta bhavanga when the rupa which is object arose, fifteen moments have passed when the seventh javana-citta has fallen away. Thus, there are still two more moments left before the rupa will fall away, since, in comparison with the duration of nama, rupa lasts seventeen times longer. People who are born in the sensuous planes of existence have accumulated kamma in the past which is connected with visible object, sound, odor, flavor and tangible object, with the sense objects. When the javana-cittas "run through" a sense object and it has not fallen away yet, kamma conditions the arising of vipåkacitta after the javana-cittas in the form of tadålambana-citta, retention, which "hangs on" to the object. This is in accordance with the nature of those born in sensuous planes. The tadålambana-citta receives the object after the javana-cittas and there are two types of this citta in succession.

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The javana víthi-cittas which are kusala and those which are akusala arise and fall away in succession and they accumulate kusala or akusala all the time. This conditions each person to have different inclinations, a different character and a different behavior. The accumulations in the citta of each person are most intricate. Also the arahats, those who have reached perfection, have different inclinations, they excel in different qualities. Venerable Shariputra was preeminent in wisdom, venerable Maha Moggallåna in superpowers, venerable Maha Kassapa in the observance of ascetical practices which he also encouraged others to observe, and venerable Anuruddha was preeminent in clairvoyance. The javana víthi-cittas of each one of us arrange themselves in their own series or continuity and accumulate different kinds of kusala and of akusala time and again, and this is the reason that, at the present time, we all think, speak and act in completely different ways.

Cittas which are kusala, akusala and maha-kiriya which arrange themselves in a series of javana, cause people to have a different behavior through body and speech. It could happen that people who saw an arahat had contempt for him because they judged him by his outward behavior which he had accumulated for an endlessly long time. The Brahman Vassakåra, the prime minister of Magadha, for example, made a serious mistake by misjudging an arahat from his outward behavior. When he saw Maha Kacchana coming down from a mountain he said that Maha Kacchana behaved like a monkey. Vassakåra’s haughtiness was conditioned by the accumulation of his javana víthi-cittas. The Buddha told him to ask Maha Kacchana forgiveness, but his accumulated conceit was the condition that he was unable to do so. The Buddha predicted that Vassakåra, after he had died, would be reborn as a monkey in a bamboo wood. Vassakåra had thereupon banana trees planted as well as other things monkeys could eat. Then his food would be all ready for him when he would be reborn as a monkey in that bamboo wood.

We should see the danger of the accumulation of akusala in the javana víthi-cittas which arise and fall away in a succession of seven cittas. Akusala is accumulated time and again so that it becomes one’s nature and appears in one’s behavior and speech and this accumulated behavior is called in Pali: "våsanå" 2 . Even when one has become an arahat there are inclinations accumulated in the citta which condition different kinds of behavior. The Buddha is the only person who could eradicate "våsanå". All arahats have eradicated defilements completely so that not even a germ is left of them, but nevertheless they are unable to eradicate "våsanå". This is because they have accumulated "våsanå" for an endlessly long time in the cycle of birth and death through the power of javana víthi-cittas.

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