Citta and Cetasika
The “Atthasālinī” mentions several aspects of citta:
Citta is so called because it clearly knows an object.
Citta is so called because it arises in its own series by way of
javana.
Citta is so called because it is result conditioned by accumulated
kamma and defilements.
Each citta is so called because it is variegated (vicitta)
according to circumstances, because of the accompanying dhammas
(sampayutta dhammas).
The fact that cittas are variegated (vicitta) means that all of them are different. They are variegated because of the accompanying dhammas. Citta is saṅkhāra dhamma; it arises because of conditions and different combinations of cetasikas condition it. Cetasika is another kind of paramattha dhamma that arises and falls away together with the citta, experiences the same object as the citta and arises at the same physical base as the citta. Therefore, the cetasikas that are the accompanying dhammas arising together with the citta are the condition for cittas to be variegated.
The cittas of one person are completely different from the cittas of any other person. Different accumulated kamma of the past conditions the result, the vipāka in the present, to be varied for different people. Animals and human beings in this world are different because of the diversity of the cause, of kamma. The outward appearance and bodily features of living beings are different, and they also experience different worldly conditions of gain, loss, honour, dishonour, well-being, misery, praise and blame. All these factors are just results that arise from various causes from the past. Past causes condition the results in the present to be varied for different people, from birth to death. It is unknown on which day and at which moment we shall depart from this world. Nobody can tell in which situation he will die, outside his home or inside, on land, in the water or in the air, due to sickness or due to an accident. It all depends on kamma that has been performed in the past. Not only the vipākacittas in the present are variegated for different people, but also the cittas that are causes in the present, kusala cittas and akusala cittas, are variegated. These are the condition for the results arising in the future to also be varied.
The diversity of cittas is endless. They are variegated because of the cetasikas that arise together with the citta, the sampayutta dhammas. We should know the meaning of sampayutta dhamma, associated dhamma. There are four kinds of paramattha dhammas: citta, cetasika, rūpa and nibbāna. Citta and cetasika are realities that have to arise together, they cannot be without one another; they cannot be separated from each other. When they arise together, they also fall away together. They share the same object and they have the same base, place of origin, in the planes where there are five khandhas, that is, nāma and rūpa. These are the characteristic features of their being associated dhammas, sampayutta dhammas.
The characteristics of sampayutta dhammas, citta and cetasikas, have been explained in detail so that it can be clearly known that nāma is completely different from rūpa. When we listen to the teachings and study them, conditions are gradually being built up (as saṅkhārakkhandha) for the arising of sati and paññā. Thus, satipaṭṭhāna will arise and the characteristics of nāma and rūpa will be investigated and known, one at a time. They will appear as clearly distinct from each other, as being not associated (not sampayutta), although they can arise at the same time.
The “Atthasālinī” (I, Book I, Part II, Analysis of Terms, Ch I, 70) explains that when rūpa-dhammas and arūpa-dhammas (nāma-dhammas) are produced together, rūpa arises together with arūpa (nāma), but it is not associated or conjoined with it. The same is true for rūpa arising with rūpa. But arūpa is always accompanied by, coexistent, associated and conjoined with arūpa.
Thus, being associated is a characteristic that only pertains to nāmas, to citta and cetasika that arise and fall away together and experience the same object. Rūpa is completely different from nāma. Rūpa is not a dhamma that experiences an object. Rūpas that arise and fall away together cannot be associated dhammas. The realities that are associated dhammas can only be nāma-dhammas, elements that experience something. They are closely conjoined, since they arise at the same base, share the same object and fall away together.
In the “Atthasālinī” it has been stated as to the fourth aspect of citta, that each citta is variegated (vicitta), according to circumstances, because of the accompanying dhammas, sampayutta dhammas.
There are fifty-two kinds of cetasikas in all, but not all of them accompany each citta. Cittas are different because of the amount of cetasikas and the different types of cetasikas that accompany them. It depends on the type of citta and on its jāti (nature) by which cetasikas it is accompanied. The eighty-nine types of citta that arise are different as to their jāti, which may be kusala, akusala, vipāka or kiriya, one of these four jātis. The classification of citta by way of jāti is a classification as to the nature of citta. Citta that is kusala by nature cannot be anything else but kusala, no matter for whom, where or when it arises. The citta that is akusala cannot be anything else but akusala; no matter for whom it arises. Akusala is akusala, whether one is a monk or lay follower, no matter what rank one has, of what race one is, which colour of skin one has. The nature of citta cannot be changed, because citta is a paramattha dhamma, an absolute or ultimate reality. When the associated dhammas, the cetasikas, are akusala, the citta is akusala. When the associated dhammas are sobhana (beautiful), citta can be kusala, kusala vipāka or sobhana kiriyacitta (of the arahat), in accordance with the jāti of the citta.
The “Atthasālini” (I, Book I, Part IV, Ch II, Section of Exposition, 142) states that the Buddha has accomplished a difficult matter, namely, that he classified cittas and cetasikas, designated them and gave them a name. The “Atthasālinī” uses a simile to illustrate this:
“...True, it would be possible to find out by sight, or by smell, or by taste the difference in colour, smell and taste of a variety of waters or a variety of oils which have been placed in a jar and churned the whole day, yet it would be called a difficult thing to do. But something of greater difficulty has been accomplished by the supreme Buddha, who brought out the designation of nāma dhammas, after making an individual classification of them, namely of citta and the cetasikas which have arisen on account of one object...”
Nāma is more complex and intricate than rūpa, but the Buddha had, for each kind of nāma, designated four characteristic features:
the specific characteristic which appears,
the function,
the mode of manifestation,
the proximate cause or immediate occasion for its arising.
Citta is the “leader,” the “chief,” in knowing an object. The “Atthasālinī” (II, Book I, Part VIII, Ch I, the first Path, 214) states that citta is a base (bhūmi). It is the ground or soil for the accompanying cetasikas that are dependent on it. If there were no citta, there could not be, for example, the cetasika that is pleasant feeling, because then there would be no foundation for it. Whenever pleasant feeling arises, the citta is the base on which the accompanying feeling depends. Thus, citta is the base on which the associated dhammas (sampayutta dhammas), happy feeling and the other accompanying cetasikas, are dependent.
As we have seen, citta can be classified by way of the four jātis of akusala, kusala, vipāka and kiriya. No matter which citta one refers to, one should know of which jāti it is. Vipāka is the result of kamma, and since there are both kusala kamma and akusala kamma, there also have to be both kusala vipāka and akusala vipāka.
When one refers to the result of akusala kamma, one should call it “akusala vipāka,” and one should not abbreviate it as just “akusala.” Akusala vipākacitta is the result of akusala kamma, it is not of the jāti that is akusala, and kusala vipākacitta is the result of kusala kamma, it is not of the jāti that is kusala.
Kiriyacitta, which is again another kind of citta, is not kusala, akusala or vipāka. It is a citta that arises because of conditions other than kamma-condition (kamma-paccaya). It is not result. Neither is it a cause that can condition the arising of vipāka. The arahat has kiriyacittas instead of akusala cittas or kusala cittas, because he no longer has conditions for akusala and kusala. For him there is only vipākacitta, the result of past kamma, and kiriyacitta.
The Buddha did not only classify cittas and cetasikas by way of the four jātis of kusala, akusala, vipāka and kiriya, he also used other methods of classification. He classified all dhammas as threefold (“Atthasālinī”, Book I, Part I, Mātikā, Ch I, The Triplets, 39):
kusala dhammas,
akusala dhammas,
indeterminate (avyākata) dhammas.
All paramattha dhammas that are not kusala dhammas or akusala dhammas are indeterminate dhammas, avyākata dhammas. Thus, when citta and cetasika are classified according to this threefold method, the cittas and cetasikas which are avyākata dhammas are: cittas and cetasikas which are vipāka, and cittas and cetasikas which are kiriya. The four paramattha dhammas of citta, cetasika, rūpa and nibbāna can be classified according to the threefold classification of kusala dhamma, akusala dhamma and avyākata dhamma. Then the four paramattha dhammas are classified as follows:
kusala citta and cetasikas: kusala dhamma;
akusala citta and cetasikas: akusala dhamma;
vipākacitta and cetasikas: avyākata dhamma;
kiriyacitta and cetasikas: avyākata dhamma;
all rūpas:
avyākata dhamma;
nibbāna: avyākata
dhamma.
Questions
Can rūpa be associated dhamma, sampayutta dhamma, with nāma?
Can rūpa be sampayutta dhamma with rūpa?
Is colour that appears through the eyes, kusala dhamma or avyākata dhamma? Explain the reason.
Is seeing-consciousness kusala dhamma, akusala dhamma or avyākata dhamma? Explain the reason.
Can nibbāna be kusala dhamma?
Which citta has no jāti?
With which dhamma can citta be associated dhamma, and when?
Can one type of citta be associated dhamma with another type of citta?
Can akusala dhamma be associated dhamma with kusala dhamma?
With which dhamma can nibbāna be associated dhamma?
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