Functions of Citta
Citta can experience objects through the six doors. All objects that can be experienced by citta can be classified as sixfold:
Visible object, rūpārammaṇa, can be known by citta through the eye-door and through the mind-door.
Sound, saddārammaṇa, can be known by citta through the ear-door and through the mind-door.
Odour, gandhārammaṇa, can be known by citta through the nose-door and through the mind-door.
Flavour, rasārammaṇa, can be known by citta through the tongue-door and through the mind-door.
Tangible object, phoṭṭhabbārammaṇa, can be known by citta through the body-door and through the mind-door.
Mental object, dhammārammaṇa, can be known by citta only through the mind-door.
The cittas arising in the mind-door process, mano-dvāra vīthi-cittas, can experience all six classes of objects. As regards mental object, dhammārammaṇa, this can be known only by mind-door process cittas.
Each citta that arises performs a function and then it falls away. The rebirth-consciousness, which succeeds the dying-consciousness of the previous life, performs the function of rebirth only once. After that citta has fallen away, bhavanga-cittas arise and all bhavanga-cittas, including the past bhavanga, atīta bhavanga, the vibrating bhavanga, bhavanga calana, and the arrest bhavanga, bhavangupaccheda, perform the function of bhavanga; they preserve the continuity in a lifespan. The bhavangupaccheda is the last bhavanga-citta arising before the stream of bhavanga-cittas is arrested and a series of cittas arising in a process occurs. The bhavangupaccheda is succeeded by the first citta of a process, a vīthi-citta. This citta performs the function of adverting, āvajjana; it pays attention to or adverts to the object that appears through one of the doorways. It does not take part in the succession of bhavanga-cittas, but it turns towards the object that impinges on one of the senses. If the object impinges on the eyesense, the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, the pañca-dvārāvajjana-citta, arises and performs the function of adverting through the eye-door. If the object impinges on one of the other senses, the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness performs the function of adverting to the object through the relevant doorway. It experiences the object which contacts one of the five sense-doors, but it does not see, hear, smell, taste yet, and there is no body-consciousness yet. If the object contacts the mind-door, not one of the five senses, the mind-door adverting-consciousness, the manodvārāvajjana-citta, arises. This is another type of citta that is different from the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness. It performs the function of adverting to the object only through the mind-door.
During the arising and falling away of bhavanga-cittas, flavour, for example, may arise and impinge on the rūpa which is tasting-sense (jivhāppasāda rūpa). The atīta bhavanga, past bhavanga, arises and falls away and is succeeded by the bhavanga calana, vibrating bhavanga, and this again is succeeded by the bhavangupaccheda, the arrest bhavanga. The bhavangupaccheda is succeeded by the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness. This citta attends to the object, it knows that the object impinges on the tongue-door but it cannot taste yet. It is as if one knows that a visitor has arrived at the door but one does not see him yet and does not know who he is.
We all have guests who come to see us. When we think of guests, we are likely to think of people, but in reality our guests are the different objects that appear through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the bodysense and the mind-door. When we see visible object that appears through the eyes, visible object is our visitor. When we hear sound, sound is our visitor. When we do not hear, sound does not appear, and thus, a visitor has not come yet through the ear-door. When flavour appears, flavour is like a visitor, it appears through the door of the tongue just for a moment and then it disappears. Whenever an object appears through one of the doorways, that object can be seen as a visitor who comes through that doorway. It is there just for an extremely short moment and then it disappears completely, it does not come back again in the cycle of birth and death.
Elderly people tend to feel lonely when they lack company. When they were younger they met many people, they enjoyed the company of relatives and friends. When they have become older, the number of visitors, whom they see as people, has dwindled. When one asks elderly people what they like most of all, they will usually answer that they like most of all the company of people. They are happy when other people come to see them, they like to be engaged in conversation. However, in reality everybody has visitors, at each moment one sees, hears, smells, tastes or experiences tangible object. Usually when such visitors come, citta rooted in attachment arises and enjoys what appears through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue or the bodysense.
There are different kinds of visitors. Nobody would like a wicked person as visitor, but a dear relative or friend is most welcome. In reality, the different objects that appear through the senses are only rūpas. Rūpa does not know anything and therefore it cannot have any evil intention towards anybody. When would a visitor be an enemy and when a dear relative or friend? Actually, when an object appears and one enjoys it and clings to it, there is an enemy, because enjoyment with clinging is akusala dhamma. Akusala dhamma is not a friend to anybody. Whereas kusala dhamma is like a close relative who is ready to help one, eager to give assistance at all times. Therefore, we should know the difference between the characteristics of kusala citta and of akusala citta.
Akusala citta is evil, harmful, it is like an enemy, not a friend. When we think of an enemy we may be afraid, and we do not like his company. However, it is akusala citta that is wicked, it is a condition for creating an enemy in the future. Whereas, kusala citta, which is like a dear relative or friend, is a condition for a dear relative or friend to come in the future.
Rūpa is not a condition for foe or friend, because rūpa does not know anything, it has no evil or good intentions. The sound that appears is a reality that does not experience anything, it has no wish for anybody to hear or not hear it. Sound is rūpa that arises because there are conditions for its arising. The kind of sound that will impinge on someone’s earsense is dependent on conditions. When we are fast sleep, we do not even hear the deafening, frightening sound of thunder. Then the sound of thunder is not our visitor. However, it can be someone else’s visitor when the accumulated conditions, which cause the earsense to be impinged upon by that sound, are there. It is dependent on conditions whether an object will be someone’s visitor through the doorway of eyes, ears, nose, tongue or bodysense. Kamma that has been accumulated causes the arising of vipākacitta, which experiences an object through one of the sense-doors.
Thus, the visitors that present themselves through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue and the bodysense are visible object, sound, odour, flavour and tangible object. They appear just for a moment and then they fall away, they disappear, not to return again. There is no living being, person, self or anything there. Nobody knows in a day which visitor will come through which doorway and at which moment.
Whenever citta experiences an object through the eyes, the other senses or the mind-door, it is vīthi-citta, citta arising in a process. The five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, which succeeds the bhavangupaccheda, is the first vīthi-citta in a sense-door process. This citta performs the function of adverting to the object. It merely knows that an object is impinging on one of the five sense-doors. Thus, it is different from the citta that performs the function of seeing or from the other sense-cognitions. If the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness had not arisen and fallen away first, the other vīthi-cittas of that sense-door process could not arise, be it a process of the doorway of the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue or the bodysense.
Thus, the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness is the first vīthi-citta in a sense-door process and it adverts to the object through one of the five sense-doors. Therefore, it is called five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, pañca-dvārāvajjana-citta, and is named after the corresponding doorway, as the case may be. When it adverts to visible object through the eye-door, it is called eye-door adverting-consciousness, cakkhu-dvārāvajjana-citta. In the same way, the adverting-consciousness that adverts to the object through each of the other sense-doors is called ear-door adverting-consciousness, nose-door adverting-consciousness, tongue-door adverting-consciousness and body-door adverting-consciousness. However, the collective name five-sense-door adverting-consciousness can also be used for this type of citta, since it performs the function of adverting through all five sense-doors.
There is also a type of citta that is the first vīthi-citta of the mind-door process that experiences different objects through the mind-door. Before kusala cittas or akusala cittas in a mind-door process arise that may think of different subjects, there must be a citta that performs the function of adverting to the object that contacts the mind-door. This citta, which is the mind-door adverting-consciousness, mano-dvārāvajjana-citta, is the first vīthi-citta of the mind-door process. If this citta does not arise, the next vīthi-cittas that experience an object through the mind-door cannot arise. The mind-door adverting-consciousness is different from the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness. The five-sense-door adverting-consciousness can arise only in the five-sense-door processes, not in a mind-door process. The mind-door adverting-consciousness can perform the function of adverting only through the mind-door.
Thus, there are two types of vīthi-cittas that perform the function of adverting: the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, which performs the function of adverting through the five sense-doors, and the mind-door adverting-consciousness, which performs the function of adverting only through the mind-door.
One may wonder whether a five-sense-door adverting-consciousness is arising at this very moment. There must be, otherwise there could not be seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or the experiencing of tangible object. There is also at this moment mind-door adverting-consciousness. Different vīthi-cittas arise which experience an object through one of the five sense-doors and then they fall away. When the sense-door process is over, there are many bhavanga-cittas arising in succession, and then vīthi-cittas of a mind-door process arise which again experience the same object as the vīthi-cittas of the preceding sense-door process. They experience this object through the mind-door, which is the citta preceding the mind-door adverting-consciousness, the bhavangupaccheda, arrest bhavanga.
When we are fast sleep, we do not experience any object through one of the six doors. The five-sense-door adverting-consciousness or the mind-door adverting-consciousness cannot arise at that time. 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.
In the five-sense-door process there are seven different types of vīthi-cittas arising in a fixed order. When the first vīthi-citta, the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, has arisen, has performed the function of adverting to the object and has fallen away, it conditions the arising of the second vīthi-citta. In the case of the eye-door process, seeing-consciousness (cakkhu-viññāṇa) arises and performs the function of seeing (dassana kicca) just once and then it falls away. It is the same in the case of the other sense-door processes: hearing-consciousness, smelling-consciousness, tasting-consciousness and body-consciousness, which arise, perform their function just once and then fall away. Types of citta other than the five sense-cognitions cannot succeed the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness.
The five-sense-door adverting-consciousness is the first vīthi-citta. Seeing-consciousness, or one of the other sense-cognitions, is the second vīthi-citta in the process. When the second vīthi-citta has fallen away, it is succeeded by the third vīthi-citta, which is the receiving-consciousness, the sampaṭicchana-citta. This citta performs the function of sampaṭicchana; it receives the object from one of the sense-cognitions. When the sampaṭicchana-citta has fallen away, the fourth vīthi-citta arises, the investigating-consciousness, santīraṇa-citta. This citta performs the function of investigating, it investigates the object just once and then it falls away. The fifth vīthi-citta is the determining-consciousness, votthapana-citta. This is actually the same type of citta that is the mind-door adverting-consciousness, mano-dvārāvajjana-citta. But, in the five-sense-door process, it performs the function of determining the object and it is then called after its function, determining-consciousness, votthapana-citta. It determines whether kusala citta, akusala citta or mahā-kiriyacitta will succeed it. It prepares the way for these types of cittas.
When the determining-consciousness, the votthapana-citta, has fallen away, the sixth type of vīthi-citta arises, and this can be kusala citta, akusala citta or mahā-kiriyacitta. There are different types of kusala cittas, of akusala cittas and of mahā-kiriyacittas, and when the series of javana cittas occurs, these cittas are all of the same type of kusala citta, of akusala citta or of mahā-kiriyacitta. They perform the function of javana, impulsion, “running through” the object. As has been stated, this type of citta “arranges itself in its own series or continuity by way of javana.”
All the types of vīthi-cittas that experience an object through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body-sense or the mind-door arise in a fixed sequence. This fixed order of cittas (citta niyāma) takes its course according to conditions and no one has any power or control over this fixed order.
It is because of the appropriate conditions that first the vīthi-citta, which is the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, arises, performs its function only once and falls away. The second type of vīthi-citta of the sense-door process, which is in the case of the eye-door process seeing-consciousness, arises and performs the function of seeing only once and then it falls away. The third type of vīthi-citta, the receiving-consciousness, sampaṭicchana-citta, arises once and then falls away. The fourth type of vīthi-citta, the investigating-consciousness, santīraṇa-citta, arises only once. The fifth type of vīthi-citta, the determining-consciousness, votthapana-citta, arises only once. The sixth type of vīthi-citta, which may be kusala citta, akusala citta or mahā-kiriyacitta, performs the function of impulsion, javana, and this function is performed seven times by seven javana-cittas arising in succession. It is according to conditions that the javana vīthi-citta arranges itself in its own series or sequence. Conditions also determine that this type of vīthi-citta arises and falls away seven times in succession.
For those who are not arahats, the citta that performs the function of javana is kusala citta or akusala citta. For the arahat there are no kusala cittas or akusala cittas, but there are mahā-kiriyacittas that can perform the function of javana. For the arahat there are only cittas of the jātis (classes) of vipāka and kiriya. There are several types of kiriyacittas. After seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, the experiencing of tangible object and also while thinking, the javana-cittas of the arahat are “mundane” kiriyacittas. At such moments, the citta experiences visible object, sound, odour, flavour and tangible object, objects which are “the world.”
After a single moment of seeing, we enjoy what we have seen and then akusala citta rooted in attachment arises seven times. Thus, akusala citta arises seven times more often than seeing-consciousness, which sees only once. In this way, akusala is actually accumulated in daily life, and this concerns all of us. Because of the persistent accumulation of akusala, the eradication of defilements is extremely difficult, it cannot be achieved without right understanding of realities. If someone believes that it is easy to eradicate defilements, he should learn the truth about the process of accumulation, the accumulation of ignorance, attachment, aversion and of all the other faults and vices. One should know that defilements arise seven times more often than seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and body-consciousness, the types of citta that arise only once. If someone has expectations and if he is wondering when he will penetrate the four noble Truths, he does not take into account cause and effect, as they really are, he does not consider the conditioning factors that have been accumulated in the cycle of birth and death. We should develop right understanding of the characteristics of all kinds of realities in order to know them as they are. Then we shall penetrate the four noble Truths and defilements can be eradicated stage by stage.
When we are listening to the Dhamma or studying the subject of citta, and sati of satipaṭṭhāna can be aware of the realities as they are, we are following the right practice. This means that we are developing the way eventually leading to the realization of nibbāna, the reality that is the cessation of defilements. Whenever sati is not aware of the characteristics of realities as they appear, one does not develop the way leading to the eradication of defilements, even if kusala dhamma arises.
The “Atthasālinī” states (I, Book I, Part I, Ch I, Triplets in the Mātikā, 44) that akusala dhamma as well as kusala dhamma that are not of the Eightfold Path, are leading to accumulation, to the continuation of the cycle of birth and death. We read about akusala and kusala that are not of the Path:
“Leading to accumulation (ācayagāmin)’ are ‘those states which go about severally, arranging (births and deaths in) a round of destiny like a bricklayer who arranges bricks, layer by layer, in a wall.”
Whenever we are not aware of the characteristics of realities when they appear, and we do not understand them as they are, no matter whether akusala dhamma or kusala dhamma presents itself, we accumulate and build up life after life, just like the bricklayer who piles up bricks one by one until they become a wall. However, when sati is aware of the characteristics of realities that appear as they really are, this is the Path, it is dispersion (apācayagāmin), because then one does not build up dhammas that lead to accumulation, just as a man tears down the bricks that the bricklayer has piled up. Are we at this moment like the man who knocks down the bricks, or are we like the man who piles them up?
The first vīthi-citta is the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness; the second vīthi-citta, one of the sense-cognitions (pañca-viññāṇas); the third vīthi-citta, receiving-consciousness; the fourth vīthi-citta, investigating-conscious-ness; the fifth vīthi-citta, determining-consciousness. These do not arise in their own series, because there is only one citta of each type that arises and then falls away. Even though the determining-consciousness, votthapana-citta, can arise two or three times when the rūpa that is the object falls away before the javana-citta arises, it cannot be said that the votthapana-citta arises in its own series, like the javana-cittas.
It is only the sixth type of vīthi-citta, the javana-citta, which arranges itself in its own series or continuity, because there are usually seven cittas of this type arising and falling away in succession. When one loses consciousness, the javana-cittas arise and fall away six times in succession, and just before dying they arise and fall away five times in succession. Since the javana-cittas arise and fall away up to seven times in succession, they arise more frequently than the other types of vīthi-cittas. Therefore, it is said that the javana vīthi-citta arranges itself in its own series or sequence.
Questions
What is contiguity-condition, anantara-paccaya?
How many jātis of citta and cetasika are there, and what are these jātis?
What is vīthi-citta? Which citta is not vīthi-citta?
What is past bhavanga, atīta bhavanga?
Can there be bhavanga-citta when one is not asleep?
What objects are known by the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness and through which doorways?
Through which doorways does the mind-door adverting-consciousness know an object?
Through how many doorways does citta know dhammārammaṇa, mental object?
What function is performed by the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, and through which doorways?
What functions are performed by the mind-door adverting-consciousness, and through how many doorways?
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