A Process of Citta

As we read in the “Atthasālinī” (I, Book I, Part II, § 63) about citta:

“...Or, inasmuch as this word citta is common to all states or classes of citta, that which is known as mundane: kusala, akusala or mahā-kiriya, is termed ‘citta’, because it arranges itself (cināti) in its own series or continuity by way of javana (impulsion), in a process of citta.”

In order to understand the aspect of citta as that which arranges itself in its own series or continuity by way of javana, we should remember that cittas arise and fall away, succeeding one another very rapidly, and that wholesome and unwholesome qualities, cetasikas, which accompany a citta and fall away with the citta, are accumulated from one moment of citta to the next moment of citta.

When citta arises and sees what appears through the eyes, hears sound through the ears or experiences another sense object, it is usually not known that such experiences are a characteristic of citta. We are more likely to notice citta when it is unhappy, sad or annoyed, when it is happy or pleased, when there is citta with anger or loving-kindness, when there is the inclination to help someone else or to treat him with affection. Each citta that arises and falls away very rapidly is succeeded by the next citta and therefore the accumulations of the preceding citta are going on to the following citta. Whether the citta is kusala citta or akusala citta, each citta that arises and falls away conditions the next citta, which immediately succeeds it. That is why inclinations accumulated in the preceding citta can go on to the next citta, and so it continues all the time.

We can notice that everybody has different inclinations, a different character, and this is so because all the different inclinations have been accumulated in the citta, and these are going on from one citta to the next. Some people are inclined to perform wholesome deeds. They are able to do so because kusala citta that in the past arose and fell away, was succeeded by the next citta that accumulated the inclination toward wholesomeness. Thus, conditions have been created for the arising of kusala citta later on. It is the same in the case of akusala citta, be it akusala citta rooted in attachment, in aversion or in ignorance. When the akusala citta falls away, it conditions the arising of the succeeding citta and thus the inclination to akusala accumulated in the preceding citta goes on to the next citta, and in this way, there are conditions for the arising of akusala citta in the future.

The fact that cittas succeed one another is due to contiguity-condition, anantara-paccaya: each citta is anantara-paccaya for the next 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 parinibbāna, the final passing away of the khandhas, occurs. Therefore, the dying-consciousness of the arahat is not succeeded by rebirth-consciousness nor by any other citta.

Summarizing the conditions that were already dealt with, they are three:

• conascence-condition – sahajāta-paccaya,

• object-condition – ārammaṇa-paccaya,

• contiguity-condition – anantara-paccaya.

To repeat the “Atthasālinī” about the second aspect of citta:

“...Or, inasmuch as this word ‘citta’ is common to all states or classes of citta, that which is known as mundane: kusala, akusala or mahā-kiriya, is termed citta, because it arranges itself (cināti) in its own series or continuity, by way of javana, in a process of citta.”

This seems rather complicated, but it refers to realities in daily life. People may have heard time and again the words kusala citta and akusala citta, but they may not be familiar with the terms “mundane,” “mahā-kiriyacitta” and with the term “javana in a process.”

All the different types of citta can be classified by way of four jātis or categories (jāti meaning birth or nature):

• kusala citta,

• akusala citta,

• vipākacitta,

• kiriyacitta.

Kusala citta is the citta that is wholesome, it is the cause that will produce pleasant result, kusala vipāka, 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. Thus, they are a condition for the arising of kusala vipākacitta and the accompanying cetasikas in the future; they are the result of the kusala citta which formerly arose. It has been explained in the commentary that the cetasikas that accompany the vipākacitta are vipāka cetasikas, but since citta is the “leader” the word vipākacitta is used; the accompanying cetasikas are also vipāka.

Another example where the word citta also refers to the accompanying cetasikas is the term “cittaja rūpa,” the rūpa that originates from citta. In fact, cittaja rūpa arises because citta and the accompanying cetasikas are the condition for its arising. Thus, the word cittaja rūpa also refers to the accompanying cetasikas that condition the arising of that rūpa. In the same way, the word vipākacitta also refers to the accompanying vipāka cetasikas.

Akusala citta is a reality that is harmful and dangerous. It causes the arising of unhappy, unpleasant result in the form of different kinds of akusala vipākacittas.

Apart from kusala citta, akusala citta and vipākacitta, there is another class of citta, and this is kiriyacitta, inoperative citta. Kiriyacitta is neither kusala citta nor akusala citta, and, therefore, it is not a cause for the arising of vipākacitta. Nor is it vipākacitta, the result of kusala citta or akusala citta. As we have seen, all cittas can be classified by the four jātis of kusala, akusala, vipāka and kiriya.

If we do not study realities in detail, we shall not know when citta is kusala, when akusala, when vipāka and when kiriya. The rebirth-consciousness, paṭisandhi-citta, is the first citta that has arisen in this lifespan. We all are alive at this moment because the rebirth-consciousness has arisen in this lifespan and it conditions us to be a particular individual. The rebirth-consciousness is neither kusala nor akusala; when it arises it cannot commit any kamma (action) through body, speech or mind. The rebirth-consciousness is vipākacitta; it arises because it is conditioned by a particular kamma. No matter how numerous the kammas may have been which were performed in each of our lifespans, whichever of these kammas conditions the arising of the rebirth-consciousness or any other type of vipākacitta, that kamma is kamma-condition, kamma-paccaya, for the rebirth-consciousness or the other types of vipākacitta. If someone is born in the human plane of existence, which is a happy plane, that birth must be the result of kusala kamma. In such a case, the rebirth-consciousness is kusala vipāka. If one is born in an unhappy plane, a hell plane, as a ghost (peta), as an asura (demon) or as an animal, it is the result of akusala kamma. The rebirth-consciousness that arises in an unhappy plane is akusala vipāka.

A kamma that was formerly committed conditions the arising of the rebirth-consciousness, the first citta of this life, which immediately succeeds the dying-consciousness of the previous life. After the rebirth-consciousness has fallen away, the same kamma is the condition for the arising of the next vipākacittas, which perform the function of life-continuum, bhavanga. The bhavanga-citta maintains the continuation in the life of someone as a particular person. It performs its function throughout life, in between the processes of cittas, until the dying-consciousness arises and one passes away from life in this plane of existence. Then there is no longer this particular person in this lifespan. In the course of life, other kammas can be the condition for the arising of different vipākacittas, which experience objects through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue and the bodysense.

Kusala is the reality that is good, wholesome, blameless, not harmful. Some people think that they can only perform kusala if they are rich and are able to spend money, but they forget that one can be generous and give assistance in other ways. Even if someone does not have much money, he may still have some things he can share with others in order to help them. Can one give assistance to others? If one cannot do this, is that kusala or akusala? If someone with few means does not know that kusala citta is the citta that is good, wholesome and faultless, he will perhaps be unhappy and believe that he cannot perform deeds of merit. But there are actually many other kinds of kusala, apart from donations of money, one can perform. One can have loving-kindness towards someone else. Then one treats him as a fellow human being and the citta is tender and gentle; one can utter affectionate, amiable speech that comes from one’s heart. There are always ways and means to give assistance to others and share things with them. At such moments the citta is kusala citta, it is a dhamma that is faultless, which cannot cause any harm or danger.

When there is conceit and someone thinks himself more important, superior or more clever than someone else, when he compares himself with someone else and thinks in terms of “he” and “I,” there cannot be kusala citta arising. At such moments one cannot help others, there cannot be any giving or sharing; instead there is akusala citta, the dhamma that is unwholesome and harmful.

If we really understand the characteristic of kusala we shall find ways and means to develop many different kinds of kusala. However, if a person wants to keep things for himself he is unable to be generous. He may have desire for calm, or he may be attached to the idea of eradicating defilements and becoming a sotāpanna, but he is unable to give something away to someone else.

Each person has accumulated inclinations for different kinds of kusala and akusala. We should consider and investigate our own citta and find out whether there is still a great deal of stinginess, or whether we can gradually begin to give away useful things to others. In that way, generosity can become our nature, it can even become a powerful condition, a support for paññā, which eliminates the wrong view that takes nāma and rūpa for self. When paññā has been developed, it can become so keen that nibbāna can be realized.

We may believe that we want to be without defilements, but when defilements actually arise, it seems that we wish to have them. We may have conceit, we may find ourselves important or we may be jealous. Someone else may say that such defilements should be eradicated, that one should rejoice in someone else’s happiness or that one should have loving-kindness towards a disagreeable person, but are we able to follow such advice? People who want to be angry, who want to have contempt for others, who want to be arrogant or jealous, cannot follow the advice to cultivate wholesomeness. This shows that the eradication of defilements cannot occur immediately, that it can only be accomplished very gradually. Paññā can gradually be developed so that it can arise from time to time. If we really want to eradicate defilements, we should know that all kinds of kusala should be developed. It is not right to just perform dāna, generosity, and pay no attention to the defilements which still arise. It is essential to know one’s defilements.

A person may just want to be calm because he often feels restless and disturbed. Because of his thoughts, he is angry or confused, and there seem to be circumstances that make him feel worried or annoyed all the time. The reason is that at such moments he does not examine his own citta, but instead pays attention only to those he is angry with. If one pays attention to other people in an unwholesome way, so that akusala citta arises, the citta will be disturbed, restless and worried. A person may notice when he is upset and then he just wants to be calm. But he fails to see that when there is no anger he will not be disturbed, whereas when there is anger, he is unhappy and disturbed. When one is angry and disturbed, there is akusala citta, the dhamma that is harmful.

If we can be mindful after we have been angry, and we can then think of others in such a way that loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy or equanimity arises, there will immediately be calmness. When loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy or equanimity accompanies the citta, it is kusala citta, without attachment, aversion and ignorance; and then it is calm. There is true calmness with each kusala citta. Thus, if we want to eradicate defilements we should develop all kinds of kusala, not merely generosity, dāna.

Repeating again the “Atthasālinī” with regard to the second aspect of citta:

“...that which is known as mundane: kusala, akusala and mahā-kiriya, is termed citta, because it arranges itself in its own series or continuity, by way of javana, in a process of citta.”

The word “series” or “continuity”, in Pāli “santāna,” refers to the arising and falling away of cittas in succession, in their own series. The citta that sees, hears, smells, tastes or experiences tangible object is vipākacitta, not kusala citta or akusala citta. Therefore, these cittas are not javana-cittas which arise and fall away in their own series in the process of cittas. Vipākacittas are results of past kammas. When a deed or kamma has ripened and it is ready to produce result, and there are also other conditioning factors that play their part, vipākacitta can arise. There are different kinds of vipākacitta that perform different functions, such as seeing or hearing. Vipākacitta does not arise in the succession of javana, it is result produced by kusala kamma or akusala kamma that has been accumulated and is therefore the condition for the arising of vipāka. Vipākacitta that arises and then falls away cannot cause the arising of any other vipākacitta.

We should have right understanding of the second aspect of citta, that kusala cittas, akusala cittas and mahā-kiriyacittas arrange themselves in their own series or continuity by way of javana, in the process of cittas. First of all, we have to know what cittas arising in a process, vīthi-cittas, are, which types of cittas they are and when they arise. Javana cittas in a process are a succession or series of kusala cittas or akusala cittas. For the arahat there is, instead of kusala citta or akusala citta, mahā-kiriyacitta performing the function of javana. Also, the arahat has different types of cittas that condition the movement of the body, which condition speech and which think, arising in the series of javana-cittas.

We should first of all know that vīthi-cittas, cittas arising in a process, are not rebirth-consciousness, bhavanga-citta or dying-consciousness. All types of cittas other than these are vīthi-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 vipākacitta, the result of kamma. The rebirth-consciousness that arises in the human plane of existence is kusala vipākacitta, the result of kusala kamma.

Kamma not only produces the rebirth-consciousness as result. When the rebirth-consciousness has fallen away, kamma also conditions the arising of the succeeding citta which is the same type of vipākacitta and performs the function of bhavanga, life-continuum. As we have seen, this type of citta maintains the continuation in the life span of someone as a particular person until death. So long as the dying-consciousness has not arisen yet, the bhavanga-cittas that arise and fall away perform the function of preserving the continuity in one’s life. They perform their function at the moments when there is no seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, the experiencing of tangible object or thinking. Thus, the rebirth-consciousness, the bhavanga-citta and the dying-consciousness are cittas that do not arise in processes; they are not vīthi-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 vipākacitta arises and 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 would be fast asleep at this moment, we would not know anything, we would not see anyone who is here. We would not experience sound, odour, cold or heat. The bhavanga-citta is not involved with anything in this world. It does not even know who we are, where we are, who are our relatives and friends. It does not know anything about possessions, rank, an honourable 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.

When we see, there is no bhavanga-citta, but vīthi-citta instead, 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 bodysense or the mind-door, are all vīthi-cittas. When we hear a sound and then like it or dislike it, there are no bhavanga-cittas, but vīthi-cittas instead.

All the cittas that arise and experience visible object which appears through the eyes, are eye-door process cittas, cakkhu-dvāra vīthi-cittas. There are vīthi-cittas that are ear-door process cittas, nose-door process cittas, tongue-door process cittas, body-door process cittas and mind-door process cittas, all of which experience an object through the corresponding doorway.

The nāma dhammas that naturally occur in our daily life are bhavanga-cittas arising and falling away as well as vīthi-cittas that arise and experience an object through one of the six doors. Successions of bhavanga-cittas and vīthi-cittas arise alternately.

When one is born in a five-khandha plane (where there are nāma and rūpa), kamma conditions the arising of kammaja rūpa (rūpa produced by kamma). These are, among others, the rūpas that are eyesense, earsense, smelling-sense, tasting-sense and bodysense. These rūpas arise and fall away in succession. They provide one with the ability to experience sense objects, thus, they prevent one from being blind, deaf or disabled. However, when kamma at a particular moment no longer conditions the arising of, for example, the rūpa which is eyesense, one will be blind, one will not be able to see anything at all. Thus, the citta which sees and the other sense-cognitions are each dependent on the appropriate conditions which cause their arising.

So long as vīthi-cittas do not arise yet, bhavanga-cittas are arising and falling away in succession. When a rūpa that can be sense object arises and impinges on the corresponding sense-base (pasāda rūpa), vīthi-cittas cannot arise immediately. First, bhavanga-cittas arise and fall away before sense-door process cittas arise, which can experience that rūpa.

Rūpa arises and falls away very rapidly, but citta arises and falls away faster than rūpa. The time one rūpa arises and falls away is equal to the time seventeen cittas arise and fall away. When a rūpa impinges on a sense-base there are, as we have seen, some bhavanga-cittas arising and falling away first. The first bhavanga-citta, which arises when that rūpa impinges on the sense-base, is called atīta-bhavanga, past bhavanga. This bhavanga-citta is of the same type as the bhavanga-cittas that arose before. The name atīta bhavanga is used to point out how long the rūpa that impinges on the sense-base will last so that it can be experienced by vīthi-cittas. Counting from the atīta bhavanga, it cannot last longer than seventeen moments of citta.

When the atīta bhavanga has fallen away, it conditions the succeeding bhavanga-citta, which “vibrates,” and which is stirred by the object, so it is called bhavanga calana, vibrating bhavanga. This citta is still bhavanga-citta, since vīthi-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 vīthi-cittas arise. When the bhavangupaccheda has fallen away, vīthi-cittas arise and experience the object that appears through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the bodysense or the mind-door.

All vīthi-cittas that experience visible object through the eyes are eye-door process cittas, cakkhu-dvāra vīthi-cittas, because they experience a visible object that impinges on the eyesense, but has not yet fallen away.

All vīthi-cittas that experience sound through the ears are ear-door process cittas, sota-dvāra vīthi-cittas, because they experience sound, which impinges on the ear-sense and has not yet fallen away. It is the same in the case of the vīthi-cittas that experience objects through the other doorways; they are named after the relevant doorway.

Vīthi-cittas of the mind-door process, mano-dvāra vīthi-cittas, can experience all kinds of objects. When the mind-door process follows upon a sense-door process, the vīthi-cittas of the mind-door process experience visible object, sound, odour, flavour or tangible object that were experienced by the vīthi-cittas of the five sense-door processes. The vīthi-cittas of the mind-door process can also experience dhammārammaṇa, mind-object, which is an object that can be experienced only through the mind-door.