Four Planes of Consciousness (part 1)

There are many ways of classifying citta and one way is the classification by way of plane of consciousness, in Pali: bhūmi. There are four planes of consciousness:

• the sensuous plane of consciousness, kāma-bhūmi,

• the plane of rūpa-jhāna, rūpa-bhūmi,

• the plane of arūpa-jhāna, arūpa-bhūmi,

• the plane of supramundane citta, lokuttara-bhūmi

As we have seen, plane of consciousness is different from plane of existence which is the place where one is born. What plane of consciousness a citta belongs to depends on the object it experiences. The sensuous plane of consciousness (kāmāvacara cittas) are the cittas that experience sense objects, such as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, the experience of tangible object through the bodysense and the experience of these objects through the mind-door. On account of pleasant and unpleasant objects experienced through the senses, kusala cittas (wholesome cittas) and akusala cittas (unwholesome cittas) arise. We usually cling to all the sense objects. Those who see the disadvantage of sense impressions and the defilements bound up with them cultivate samatha (tranquil meditation) and may attain absorption (jhāna). The jhānacitta is of another plane of citta, and this is higher than the sensuous plane of citta. Jhā nacittas do not experience sense objects, they experience with absorption a meditation subject through the mind-door. For the development of samatha, tranquil meditation, it is essential to have a keen understanding of the characteristic of calm and of the way to develop calm with a suitable meditation subject. True calm has to be wholesome, it is freedom from defilements. Right understanding, paññā, that knows precisely when the citta is kusala citta and when akusala citta is indispensable. When the objective of citta is not dāna, sī la or mental development, bhāvanā, the citta is usually akusala, but we may not notice this. Indifferent feeling seems to be very calm, but actually, indifferent feeling arises with kusala citta as well as with akusala citta rooted in attachment or rooted in ignorance. One may be attached to silence, and without right understanding one may erroneously believe that there is kusala citta with calm. The Visuddhimagga (Chapters IV-XII) describes forty meditation subjects which can condition calm such as disks (kasinas), recollection of the excellent qualities of the Triple Gem, mindfulness of death, loving-kindness or mindfulness of breathing. A meditation subject does not necessarily bring about calm. Only when there is right understanding of calm and the way to develop it, calm can grow. Through samatha the “hindrances” (nīvaraṇa), which are akusala cetasikas, are temporarily suppressed. The hindrances arise time and again in daily life. They are sensuous desire (kāmacchandha), ill-will (vyāpāda), torpor and languor (thīna and middha), restlessness and worry (uddhacca and kukkucca) and doubt (vicikicchā). Someone who wants to develop samatha so as to be able to attain jhāna, has to develop five jhāna-factors which can inhibit the hindrances, and these are the following cetasikas:

• applied thinking (vitakka

• sustained thinking (vicāra)

• rapture (pīti)

• happy feeling (sukha)

• concentration (samādhi)

Jhāna is developed in stages, with each succeeding stage being more refined than the preceding one. For the first stage of rūpa-jhāna it is still necessary that all five jhāna-factors arise with the jhā nacitta, but at each higher stage, when one has become more advanced, jhāna-factors are successively abandoned. Jhā nacittas do not produce vipāka in the same lifespan: their result is rebirth in higher planes of existence. The result of rūpāvacara kusala cittas is rebirth in rū pa-brahma planes. Those who have attained the highest stage of rūpa-jh āna and see the disadvantages of rūpa-jhāna which is still dependent on materiality, might want to cultivate arūpa-jhāna or “immaterial jhā na”. The meditation subjects of arūpa-jhāna are not connected with materiality. There are four stages of arūpa-jhāna and each one of these is more subtle and more peaceful than the preceding one. These stages are: the “Sphere of Boundless Space” (ākāsā nañcāyatana), the “ Sphere of Boundless Consciousness” (viññāṇañcāyatana), the “ Sphere of Nothingness” (ākiñcaññāyatana), and the “Sphere of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception” (n’eva-saññā-n’āsaññāyatana). Even when one has attained the highest stage of jhāna, defilements cannot be eradicated. They can only be eradicated by lokuttara magga-citta.