Enthusiasm

Pīti, translated as enthusiasm, zest or rapture, is another cetasika among the six “particulars” which arise with cittas of the four jātis but not with every citta. Pīti can be kusala, akusala, vipāka or kiriya.

When we think of enthusiasm we presume that it is always kusala. We praise people who are enthusiastic. However, when we study the Abhidhamma we learn that enthusiasm is not always kusala, that it arises also with akusala cittas. There are many more akusala cittas in our life than kusala cittas and thus, when there is enthusiasm it is more often akusala than kusala. Don’t we often take for kusala what is in fact akusala ? Through the study of the Abhidhamma we will have more understanding of kusala and akusala and of the different conditions for their arising.

The Visuddhimagga (IV, 94) gives the following definition of pīti:

…It refreshes (pīṇayati, gladdens, satisfies), thus it is happiness (pīti)(64). It has the characteristic of satisfaction(65) (sampiyāna). Its function is to refresh the body and the mind; or its function is to pervade (thrill with rapture). It is manifested as elation…

The Atthasālinī ( I, Part IV, Chapter 1, 115) gives a similar definition of pīti(66) .

Pīti takes an interest in the object which citta cognizes and which is also experienced by the accompanying cetasikas. It is satisfied, delighted with the object and it “refreshes” citta and the accompanying cetasikas.

In the case of the kāmāvacara cittas (cittas of the sense-sphere) pīti arises with the cittas which are accompanied by pleasant feeling (somanassa). Thus, whenever there is somanassa, there is also pīti. Pīti is not the same as pleasant feeling, its characteristic and function are different. Pīti is not feeling, vedanākkhandha, but saṅkhārakkhandha (the khandha which includes all cetasikas except vedanā and saññā).

Pleasant feeling experiences the flavour of the object, its function is to exploit in one way or other the desirable aspect of the object (Vis. XIV, 128). Pīti does not feel, its characteristic is, as we have seen, satisfaction and its function is refreshing or invigorating body and mind, or to pervade them with rapture. Pīti takes an interest in the object and is delighted with it, it has its own specific function while it assists the citta; its function is different from the function of feeling.

The Visuddhimagga (IV, 100) explains in the section on the first jhāna the difference between pleasant feeling (sukha, translated here as “bliss”) and pīti (translated here as “happiness”) which are both jhāna-factors. We read:

And whenever the two are associated, happiness (pīti) is the contentedness at getting a desirable object, and bliss (sukha) is the actual experience of it when got. Where there is happiness there is bliss; but where there is bliss there is not necessarily happiness(67). Happiness is included in the saṅkhārakkhandha; bliss is included in the vedanākkhandha. If a man exhausted in a desert saw or heard about a pond on the edge of a wood, he would have happiness; if he went into the wood’s shade and used the water, he would have bliss…

The different words which are used to describe pleasant feeling and enthusiasm and also the above-quoted simile can help us to have theoretical knowledge of these two realities. If there is mindfulness of realities when they appear, a more precise understanding of their characteristics can be developed. However, we should not try to “catch” particular realities, it depends on conditions of which reality sati is aware.

As we have seen, in the case of the kāmāvacara cittas, pīti arises with the cittas which are accompanied by pleasant feeling. Whenever there is interest in the object and delight with it there is also pleasant feeling; in such cases there cannot be indifferent feeling or unpleasant feeling.

In the case of akusala cittas, pīti arises with the types of lobha-mūla-cittas which are accompanied by pleasant feeling(68). When the lobha-mūla-citta is accompanied by pleasant feeling, the lobha is more intense than when it is accompanied by indifferent feeling. Pīti which arises together with lobha-mūla-citta accompanied by pleasant feeling takes an interest in the desirable object, it is delighted, thrilled with it. For example, when we have thoroughly enjoyed listening to beautiful music we may applaud with great enthusiasm. When we admire a musician, a painter or a famous sportsman, there may be many moments of lobha-mūla-citta with pīti. Whenever we are attached to an object with pleasant feeling, there is also pīti. The object may be a pleasant sight, a beautiful sound, a fragrant odour, a delicious flavour, a pleasant tangible object or an agreeable object experienced through the mind-door. There are many moments of akusala pīti we are not aware of.

Pīti does not arise with dosa-mūla-citta. When dosa-mūla-citta arises, the citta dislikes the object and then there cannot be at the same time a pleasurable interest. Pīti does not arise either with moha-mūla-citta; at the moment of moha-mūla-citta there is no enthusiasm.

As regards ahetuka cittas(69), only the two types which are accompanied by pleasant feeling arise with pīti: one type of santīraṇa-citta which is kusala vipāka and investigates an extraordinarily pleasant object(70) and the hasituppāda-citta, the smile-producing consciousness of the arahat(71).

When there is seeing, which is one of the dvi-pañcaviññāṇas (sense-cognitions), there is no delight or enthusiasm about visible object, seeing merely sees it. If visible object is an extraordinarily pleasant object, the santīraṇa-citta in that process which investigates visible object is accompanied by pleasant feeling and pīti. As regards the kāmāvacara sobhana cittas (beautiful cittas of the sense-sphere), only the types of citta which are accompanied by pleasant feeling arise with pīti. When we, with generosity and full of joy, help someone else, the kusala citta is accompanied by pleasant feeling and also by pīti which invigorates body and mind. Even if there was tiredness before, it is gone; one is refreshed. The same may happen when one reads a sutta with kusala citta accompanied by joy and enthusiasm. At such a moment one is not bored or tired, there is pīti which takes a pleasurable interest in the object.

Sometimes we are full of joy and enthusiasm while we help others, while we give something away or while we are performing other ways of kusala, but it is not always possible to have joy and enthusiasm at such moments. There are also moments of kusala citta accompanied by indifferent feeling, upekkhā, and then there is no pīti. It depends on conditions whether pīti arises or not. When one has great confidence in kusala and sees the benefit of it there are conditions for the arising of joy and enthusiasm while applying oneself to it. When kusala citta with pleasant feeling arises the accompanying pīti invigorates the citta and the other cetasikas. Viriya, for example, is intensified by pīti. We may be able to notice that, when there is joy and enthusiasm for kusala, we also have more energy to perform it.

There is another aspect of pīti: it can become an enlightenment factor. The other enlightenment factors are, as we have seen, mindfulness, investigation of the Dhamma (dhamma vicaya), energy (viriya), calm (passaddhi), concentration (samādhi) and equanimity (upekkhā)(72) . When the enlightenment factors have been developed through satipaṭṭhāna, they lead to the realization of the four noble Truths. When we have just started to be mindful of nāma and rūpa, we cannot expect the enlightenment factors to be developed yet. They will develop through satipaṭṭhāna.

The Atthasālinī (75) mentions the following factors which are conducive to the arising of the enlightenment factor of pīti:

…recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, of sīla, of generosity, of devas, of peace (nibbāna), avoidance of rough (i.e. ill-tempered persons), serving meek persons, reflection on a Suttanta which instills confidence and a tendency to all this.

When we read a sutta, ponder over it and test the meaning by being mindful of the realities the Buddha taught time and again, we can prove the truth of his teachings. Thus our confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha can grow and we will be inspired to continue to develop the eightfold Path. There can be conditions for the arising of enthusiasm which invigorates citta and the accompanying cetasikas. Also pīti can be object of mindfulness so that paññā can see it as it is, as not self. We should remember that without the development of satipaṭṭhāna the enlightenment factor of pīti and also the other enlightenment factors cannot develop.

We read in the “Mahānāma-sutta” (Gradual Sayings, Book of the Sixes, Chapter I, par10) that the Buddha recommended Mahānāma to recollect the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, sīla, generosity and devas (their good qualities). According to the Visuddhimagga Mahānāma was a sotāpanna, thus, he had right understanding of nāma and rūpa and he did not take any reality for self. We read:

…Mahānāma, what time the ariyan disciple minds the Tathāgata, his heart is never overwhelmed by passion, never overwhelmed by hatred, never overwhelmed by delusion; then, verily, is the way of his heart made straight because of the Tathāgata. And with his heart’s ways straightened, Mahānāma, the ariyan disciple becomes zealous of the goal, zealous of Dhamma, wins the joy that is linked to Dhamma; and of his joy zest (pīti) is born; when his mind is rapt in zest, his whole being becomes calm; calm in being, he experiences ease; and of him who dwells at ease the heart is composed.

Mahānāma, of this ariyan disciple it is said: Among uneven folk he lives evenly; among troubled folk he lives untroubled; with the ear for Dhamma won, he makes become the ever minding of the Buddha.

The same is said with regard to the other recollections. According to the Visuddhimagga (VII, 121) only the ariyan disciple can cultivate the above mentioned subjects with success, since the non-ariyan cannot really fathom the meaning of these subjects. If one has not attained enlightenment, how could one know what it means to be enlightened and how could one clearly understand the meaning of “Buddha”? Nevertheless, also the non-ariyan can think of the Buddha with confidence and then pīti may arise as well.

We cannot induce the arising of kusala pīti, it can only arise because of its own conditions. Shortly after kusala pīti has arisen and fallen away, attachment is bound to arise. We may feel very satisfied about “our kusala” and we may find it very important to have pīti. We may think that it can last, but in reality it falls away immediately. It is essential to realize the difference between kusala citta and akusala citta; thus we will see that there are not kusala cittas all the time, even when we think that we are performing kusala. We may expect pleasant things from other people, we like to be praised by them, we want to show others our good qualities and our knowledge, or we are attached to the company of people. Defilements are so deeply rooted and they arise whenever there is an opportunity for their arising. There are many objects which can condition lobha and lobha can be accompanied by somanassa and pīti. Enthusiasm which is unwholesome can arise very shortly after enthusiasm which is wholesome and it is hard to know their difference. We may find it discouraging to discover that there are many more akusala cittas than kusala cittas, but at the moment of knowing akusala citta as it is there is right understanding. At such a moment the citta is kusala citta and there is no aversion nor feeling of discouragement.

Not only mahā-kusala cittas, kusala cittas of the sense-sphere, which are accompanied by somanassa arise with pīti, but also the mahā-vipākacittas and the mahā-kiriyacittas which are accompanied by somanassa arise with pīti. As regards mahā-vipākacittas, these are produced by kamma, and thus it depends on the kamma which produces the mahā-vipākacitta whether it is accompanied by somanassa and pīti or not. Among those who are reborn with mahā-vipākacitta, some are born with somanassa and pīti, others with upekkhā and in that case there is no pīti. If one is born with somanassa and pīti, all bhavanga-cittas of that life and also the cuti-citta (dying-consciousness) are accompanied by somanassa and pīti as well(73).

Pīti has many intensities. The Visuddhimagga (IV, 94) and the Atthasālinī (I, Part IV, Chapter 1, 115,116) explain that there are five kinds of pīti. We read in the Visuddhimagga:

…But it is of five kinds as minor happiness, momentary happiness, showering happiness, uplifting happiness, and pervading (rapturous) happiness.

Herein, minor happiness is only able to raise the hairs on the body. Momentary happiness is like flashes of lightning at different moments. Showering happiness breaks over the body again and again like waves on the sea shore.

Uplifting happiness can be powerful enough to levitate the body and make it spring into the air…

But when pervading (rapturous happiness) arises, the whole body is completely pervaded, like a filled bladder, like a rock cavern invaded by a huge inundation (IV, 98).

Pīti is able to condition bodily phenomena. The “uplifting happiness” which is the fourth kind of pīti can even levitate the body. One example given by the Visuddhimagga and the Atthasālinī is the case of a young woman whose parents did not allow her to go to the monastery to listen to the Dhamma. She looked at the shrine which was lit by moonlight, saw people worshipping and circumambulating the shrine and heard the chanting. Then “uplifting happiness” made her jump into the air and arrive at the monastery before her parents.

In the case of kāmāvacara cittas, pīti always arises together with somanassa. In the case of the jhāna-cittas, this is not always so. Pīti is one of the jhāna-factors which are developed in samatha in order to inhibit the hindrances(74). Pīti inhibits the hindrance which is ill-will (vyāpāda). When there is delight in a meditation subject there is no ill-will or boredom. As we just read, there are five kinds of pīti with different intensities. The fifth kind of pīti, the “pervading happiness”, which has the greatest intensity, is the “root of absorption” and “comes by growth into association with absorption” (Vis. IV, 99).

At the first stage of rūpa-jhāna all five jhāna-factors arise with the jhānacitta. At each of the higher stages of jhāna the jhānacitta becomes more refined and more tranquil, and the jhāna-factors are successively abandoned. At the second stage (of the five-fold system) vitakka is abandoned and at the third stage vicāra. At that stage there are three jhāna-factors remaining: pīti, happy feeling (sukha) and concentration (samādhi). At the fourth stage pīti has been abandoned but happy feeling still arises. In the case of the kāmāvacara cittas, pīti arises whenever there is pleasant feeling, but this is not so in the case of the jhāna-citta of the fourth stage of jhāna. The jhānacitta without pīti is more tranquil, more refined. The kind of pīti which has been abandoned at this stage is the “pervading happiness” which is of the highest intensity. The person who has experienced this kind of pīti and is able to forego it is worthy of praise as stated by the Atthasālinī (I, Part V, Chapters 111, 175).

At the highest stage of rūpa-jhāna (the fourth of the four-fold system and the fifth of the five-fold system) the jhāna-factor of sukha has been abandoned and pīti does not arise either at this stage. As regards arūpāvacara cittas, they are of the same type as the rūpāvacara cittas of the highest stage of rūpa-jhāna, and thus they are not accompanied by pīti. As regards lokuttara cittas, they are not always accompanied by pīti, this depends on different conditions(75) .

There are many different kinds of pīti as it accompanies different types of citta. The pīti which accompanies lobha-mūla-citta is entirely different from the pīti which accompanies kusala citta. The pīti which accompanies jhānacitta is again very different. As we have seen, the “pervading happiness”, the fifth kind of pīti which is of the highest degree, is the “root of absorption”. Pīti which is an enlightenment factor and which develops through mindfulness of nāma and rūpa is different again from all other kinds. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Saḷāyatana-vagga, Part II, Kindred Sayings about Feeling, Chapter III, par29, Purified and free from carnal taint) about “zest”, pīti, that is carnal, pīti that is not carnal and pīti that is still less carnal:

And what, monks, is the zest that is carnal?

There are five sensual elements, monks. What five? Objects cognizable by the eye, objects desirable, pleasant, delightful and dear, passion-fraught, inciting to lust…There are objects cognizable by the ear…the nose…the tongue…There are things cognizable by the body, tangibles, desirable, pleasant… These, monks, are the five sensual elements. Whatsoever zest, monks, arises owing to these five, that is called “zest that is carnal”.

We then read about the “ zest that is not carnal”, which is pīti accompanying the jhānacitta. At the moment of jhānacitta carnal zest is temporarily subdued, one is not infatuated with the five “sensual elements”. We read about the “zest that is still less carnal” than the other kinds:

…And what monks, is the zest that is still less carnal than the other?

That zest which arises in a monk who has destroyed the āsavas(76), who can look upon his heart as released from lust—that zest, monks, is called “the zest that is still less carnal than the other”.

The same is said about pleasure, indifference and “release”, which can be carnal, not carnal and still less carnal. The term “still less carnal” refers to the arahat who has eradicated all forms of attachment so that it never arises again. This sutta reminds us again to be aware of the realities appearing through the different doorways, one at a time. We are usually so absorbed in people and things that we forget that they are not realities, only concepts. It is not a person which is experienced through the eyes, but only a kind of rūpa which is visible object and does not last. We are infatuated with the objects we experience and we do not realize when there is “pīti which is carnal”. Pīti which is carnal can arise on account of all the objects we experience through the six doors. The sutta illustrates how different pīti is when it arises with different types of citta. Pīti is conditioned by the accompanying dhammas and, in its turn, it conditions the accompanying dhammas. Pīti is saṅkhāra dhamma, not self. We may find it difficult to know when enthusiasm is wholesome and when it is unwholesome, but through mindfulness of it when it appears its characteristic can be known more precisely.

Questions

1. When we give a gift to someone and there is somanassa (pleasant

   feeling), is there pīti as well?

2. What is the function of pīti which arises with kusala citta?

3. When we are helping someone with pleasant feeling and enthusiasm, is

   there kusala pīti all the time?

4. How can we know the difference between kusala pīti and akusala pīti?

5. Does pīti arise with each kusala citta?

6. With how many types of lobha-mūla-citta does pīti arise?

7. Which types of vipākacitta are accompanied by pīti?

8. Does pīti always arise together with pleasant feeling, no matter of

   what plane of consciousness the citta is which pīti accompanies?

9. Pīti can be an enlightenment factor. How can we cultivate the

   enlightenment factor of pīti?

10. Which factors can condition kusala citta with pīti and somanassa?

11. Can recollections on the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha be

    helpful even to those who are not ariyans and can therefore not

    really understand the meaning of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha? In what

    way can they be helpful?