Volition in the Cycle of Birth and Death
Cetanā, volition, is a cetasika which arises with every citta, as we have seen. Seeing, hearing or thinking which arise now are accompanied by cetanā. Every type of cetanā performs the function of coordinating the different tasks of the accompanying dhammas, no matter whether the citta is kusala citta, akusala citta, vipākacitta or kiriyacitta.
Kusala cetanā or akusala cetanā can be of the intensity of motivating wholesome or unwholesome deeds through body, speech or mind which produce their appropriate results. In that case, kusala cetanā and akusala cetanā are actually asynchronous kamma or kamma working from a different time (nāṇakkhaṇika kamma).
Kusala kamma and akusala kamma can produce results in the form of rebirth-consciousness in different planes of existence or in the form of vipākacittas which arise in the course of one’s life, such as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or the experience of tangibles through the body-sense. We experience pleasant objects and unpleasant objects through the senses and it depends on kamma whether we have a pleasant experience or an unpleasant experience through these senses.
Cetanā or kamma which motivates a good deed or a bad deed falls away immediately together with the citta, but since each citta is succeeded by the next one, kamma is accumulated and thus it can produce its result later on, even in a next life. How do we know whether there is a next life? We will understand more about the next life if we understand our life right now. By the term ’human life’ in conventional language we mean the duration of time we are in this human plane of existence. However, in order to know the truth we should know realities, not merely conventional terms. In fact, our life consists of innumerable moments of citta which arise and fall away, succeeding one another. There is birth and death of citta at each moment and thus life lasts as long as one moment of citta. When there is citta which sees, there is only that citta, there cannot be any other citta at the same time. At that moment our life is seeing. Seeing does not last, it falls away again. When there is citta which hears there is only that citta and our life is hearing. This citta also falls away and is succeeded by the next one. In this life we see and hear pleasant and unpleasant objects, we have pleasant feeling, unpleasant feeling or indifferent feeling. We are full of attachment, aversion and ignorance. Sometimes we perform wholesome deeds: we are generous, we abstain from killing and we develop right understanding. Our life actually consists of one moment of citta which experiences an object. The citta of a moment ago has fallen away completely, but right now another citta has arisen and this falls away again. When we understand that there are conditions for each citta to be succeeded by the next one, we will also understand that the last citta of this life, the dying-consciousness, will be succeeded by a next citta which is the rebirth-consciousness of the next life. So long as we are in the cycle of birth and death there are conditions for citta to arise and to be succeeded by a next one.
Rebirth-consciousness, the first citta of life, and its accompanying cetasikas are the mental result of kamma. In the planes where there are nāma and rūpa kamma also produces rūpas from the first moment of life. Also throughout life there are rūpas produced by kamma such as eyesense, earsense and the other senses which are the means for vipākacittas to experience pleasant or unpleasant objects. The rūpas produced by kamma are the physical results of kamma. The different rūpas of our body are not only produced by kamma, but also by citta, by temperature and by nutrition. Thus, there are four factors which each produce different rūpas of our body.
In this life we perform good deeds and bad deeds; we do not know which deed will produce the next rebirth-consciousness. Also a deed which was performed in a past life is capable of producing the next rebirth-consciousness. Since we are now in the human plane of existence, it was kusala kamma which produced the first citta of our life; birth in the human plane is a happy rebirth. If the kamma which will produce the rebirth-consciousness of the next life is akusala kamma, there will be an unhappy rebirth, and if it is kusala kamma there will be a happy rebirth. Nobody can choose his own rebirth, the rebirth-consciousness is a conditioned dhamma, it is saṅkhāra dhamma. This life consists of citta, cetasika and rūpa which are conditioned dhammas. Also in a next life there are bound to be citta, cetasika and rūpa, conditioned dhammas. There will be kusala cittas, akusala cittas, vipākacittas and kiriyacittas. If we are not born in an unhappy plane there can be again the development of right understanding.
Since kusala kamma and akusala kamma are capable of producing rebirth-consciousness, they are a link in the ’Dependant Origination’ (Paṭiccasamuppāda, the conditional origination of phenomena). The doctrine of the ’Dependant Origination’ explains the conditions for the continuation of the cycle of birth and death by way of twelve links, starting from ignorance (avijjā). Ignorance is mentioned as the first link. It is because of not knowing realities as they are, that we have to be born and that we have to suffer old age, sickness and death. The eradication of ignorance is the end of the cycle and thus the end of dukkha.
Ignorance, the first link, conditions saṅkhāra, the second link. Saṅkhāra are the kusala cetanās and akusala cetanās, the kammas, which are capable of producing vipāka. Saṅkhāra conditions viññāṇa (consciousness). Viññāṇa, the third link, is vipākacitta which can be rebirth-consciousness or vipākacitta arising throughout life such as seeing or hearing. The Dependant Origination represents the conditions for our present life and our life in the future, thus, the conditions for the continuation of the cycle of birth and death.
Saṅkhāra, the second link in the Dependant Origination, is cetanā in its function of kamma which produces vipāka, so that the cycle of birth and death continues(40). Under this aspect cetanā is also called abhisaṅkhāra. The prefix ’abhi’ is sometimes used in the sense of preponderance. Cetanā which is kusala kamma or akusala kamma has preponderance in the conditioning of rebirth. Only cetanā which accompanies kusala citta or akusala citta can be ’abhisaṅkhāra’. Cetanā which accompanies vipākacitta and kiriyacitta cannot be abhisaṅkhāra.(41)
All abhisaṅkhāras or “kamma-formations” are a link in the Dependent Origination, they are conditioned by ignorance. Kusala kamma is still conditioned by ignorance, although at the moment of kusala citta there is no ignorance accompanying the citta. So long as there is ignorance we perform kamma which can produce vipāka; we will be reborn and thus the cycle continues. We read in the Visuddhimagga (XVII, 119) that the ignorant man is like a blind person:
While we study the different aspects of cetanā we can see that cetanā is different as it arises with different cittas. Cetanā which accompanies kusala citta or akusala citta “wills” kusala or akusala and it is capable of producing vipāka; it is, except in the case of cetanā which accompanies magga-citta, abhisaṅkhāra or kamma-formation. The cetanās which accompany rūpāvacara citta and arūpāvacara citta can produce rebirth in higher planes of existence, in rūpa-brahma planes and arūpa-brahma planes, they are a link in the Dependant Origination. Cetanā which accompanies vipākacitta is vipāka, it is produced by akusala kamma or kusala kamma. This type of cetanā has only the function of coordinating the other dhammas it accompanies. The cetanā which accompanies kiriyacitta is not kusala or akusala, nor is it vipāka; it is of the jāti which is kiriya, inoperative. This type of cetanā has only the function of coordinating.
Cetanā which accompanies lokuttara citta is not a link in the Dependant Origination. The lokuttara citta which is ’magga-citta’ (path-consciousness) produces vipāka (the phala-citta or fruit-consciousness) immediately; the phala-citta succeeds the magga-citta. Since the magga-citta eradicates defilements it will free one from the cycle of birth and death. The arahat is freed from rebirth. He does not perform kamma which can produce vipāka. The cetanā which accompanies the kiriyacittas of the arahat and the ahetuka kiriyacitta which is the hasituppāda-citta (smile-producing consciousness) of the arahat, is not abhisaṅkhāra, it is not a link in the Dependant Origination(42).
As we have seen, cetanā which is kusala kamma or akusala kamma can produce vipāka. Time and again there are pleasant or unpleasant experiences through the senses and these are vipākacittas: we see, hear, smell, taste or experience through the bodysense pleasant or unpleasant objects. We may know in theory that vipākacittas are cittas which are result, different from kusala cittas and akusala cittas, but theoretical knowledge is not enough. We should learn to distinguish different types of citta when they appear. Each situation in life consists of many different moments which arise because of different types of conditions. For example, when we hurt ourselves because of an accident, there is an unpleasant experience through the bodysense which is vipāka, but the moments of vipāka fall away immediately and very shortly afterwards aversion is bound to arise. It is difficult to distinguish the moment of vipāka from the moment of akusala citta; cittas succeed one another very rapidly. When we think: ’This is vipāka’, the moments of vipāka have fallen away already, and the cittas which think are either kusala or akusala. There are different types of conditions for the cittas which arise. The akusala cittas and kusala cittas are conditioned by the accumulated tendencies to kusala and akusala, whereas the experience of a pleasant or unpleasant object through one of the senses such as seeing or hearing is vipāka, which is conditioned by kamma.
Cetanā is saṅkhāra dhamma, a conditioned dhamma. It is conditioned by the citta and the other cetasikas it accompanies. The word saṅkhāra has different meanings, depending on the context in which it is used. The word “saṅkhāra” used in the context of the Dependant Origination, means “kamma-formation”. Cetanā as a link in the Dependant Origination is kamma-formation, kamma which is capable of producing vipāka so that the cycle of birth and death continues.
At this moment we are in the cycle of birth and death and we cling to life, we want to go on living. We think that life is desirable because we do not know what life really is: only nāma and rūpa which do not stay. We cling to the self, we want to be liked and admired by others, we want to be successful in our work. However, we have many frustrations in life; when we do not get what we want we are disappointed. So long as there are defilements there is no end to the cycle of birth and death, but there can be an end to the cycle if we begin to know this moment of seeing, visible object, hearing, sound or thinking as it is, as only conditioned realities which do not stay. We are forgetful of realities very often, but reminders to be aware are right at hand. We can be reminded to be aware when we notice our own as well as other people’s clinging to all objects and the sorrow caused by clinging.
In the Kindred Sayings (III, First Fifty, Chapter 3, par23, Understanding) we read that the five khandhas, that is all conditioned realities which appear in our life, have to be understood as they are. We read that the Buddha, while he was at Sāvatthī, said to the monks:
Monks, I will show you things that are to be understood, likewise understanding. Do you listen to it.
And what, monks, are the things to be understood? Body, monks, is a thing to be understood; feeling is a thing to be understood; perception, the activities (saṅkhārakkhandha) and consciousness also. These, monks, are ’the things that are to be understood.’
And what, monks, is ’understanding?’
The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of illusion; that, monks, is called ’understanding’.
If there is awareness and understanding right now of seeing, hearing or any other reality which appears, there will eventually be an end to rebirth.
Questions
How can we know that there is a next life?
Which kinds of cetanā are a link in the Dependant Origination?
Why is cetanā which accompanies magga-citta not kamma-formation?
Kusala kamma is capable of producing vipāka and thus it is a link in
the Dependant Origination. Why does it still make sense to perform
kusala kamma?
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