Feeling, in Pali vedana, is another cetasika
among the seven 'universals'. Feeling accompanies every citta,
there is no moment without feeling.
We may think that we all know what feeling is and we believe that it is
easy to recognize pleasant feeling and unpleasant feeling. However, do
we really know the characteristic of feeling when it appears or do we merely
think of a concept of feeling? Throughout our life we have seen ourselves
as a 'whole' of mind and body; also when we consider our feelings we think
of this 'whole' which we take for 'self. when someone asks us : 'How do
you feel?' and we answer, for example, 'I am happy', we do not know the
characteristic of happy feeling, which is a mental phenomenon, a nama;
we cling to the 'whole' of mind and body. Thus we only know concepts, not
realities.
Is there feeling now? we think that we can recognize pleasant feeling or
unpleasant feeling, but are we not mixing up feeling with bodily
phenomena? Feeling is nama, quite different from rupa. So long as we do
not distinguish nama from rupa we cannot know the characteristic of feeling
as it is.
When we study the Abhidhamma we learn that 'vedana' is not the same
as what we mean by feeling in conventional language. Feeling is nama, it
experiences something. Feeling never arises alone; it accompanies citta
and other cetasikas and it is conditioned by them. Thus, feeling is a conditioned
nama. Citta does not feel, it cognizes the object and vedana feels.
Feeling accompanies all cittas of the four jatis: akusala citta, kusala
citta, vipakacitta and kiriyacitta. Feeling is of the same jati as the
citta it accompanies. The feeling which accompanies, for example, akusala
citta is also akusala and entirely different from the feeling which accompanies
vipakacitta. Since there are many different types of citta there is a great
variety of feeling. Although there are many kinds of feeling, they have
one characteristic in common: they all are the paramattha dhamma, non-self,
which feels.
All feelings have the function of experiencing the taste, the flavour of
an object (Atthasalini, I, Part IV, chapter I, 109). The Atthasalini uses
a simile in order to illustrate that feeling experiences the taste of an
object and that citta and the other cetasikas which arise together with
feeling experience the taste only partially. A cook who has prepared a
meal for the king merely tests the food and then offers it to the king
who enjoys the taste of it:
...and the
king, being lord, expert, and master, eats whatever he likes, even so the
mere testing of the food by the cook is like the partial enjoyment of the
object by the remaining dhammas (the citta and the other cetasikas), and
as the cook tests a portion of the food, so the remaining dhammas enjoy
a portion of the object, and as the king, being lord, expert and master,
eats the meal according to his pleasure, so feeling, being lord, expert
and master, enjoys the taste of the object, and therefore it is said that
enjoyment or experience is its function.
Thus, all feelings have
in common that they experience the 'taste' of an object, citta and the
other accompanying cetasikas also experience the object, but feeling experiences
it in its own characteristic way.
Feelings are manifold and they can be classified in different ways, when
they are classified as three feelings, they are:
pleasant feeling
(sukha)
unpleasant feeling
(dukkha)
indifferent (or neutral)
feeling (adukkhamasukha: neither painful nor pleasant)
There is no moment without
feeling, When there is not pleasant feeling or unpleasant feeling, there
is indifferent feeling. It is difficult to know what indifferent feeling
is. So long as we cannot distinguish nama from rupa we cannot know precisely
the characteristic of feeling and thus we cannot know indifferent feeling
either. When mental feelings and bodily feelings are taken into account,
feelings can be classified as fivefold:
pleasant bodily
feeling (sukha)
painful bodily feeling
(dukkha)
happy feeling (somanassa)
unhappy feeling (domanassa)
indifferent feeling
(upekkha).
Pleasant bodily feeling
and painful bodily feeling are namas. We can call them 'bodily feeling'
because they are conditioned by impact on the bodysense. When, for example,
temperature which is just the right amount of heat or cold impinges on
the bodysernse the body-consciousness (kaya-vinnana) which experiences
it is accompanied by pleasant bodiIy feeling. Body-consciousness is vipakacitta
and in this case kusala vipakacitta (1 the five sense-cognitions are vipakacittas,
results of kamma.) When they experience a pleasant object, they are the
result of kusala kamma, a wholesome deed, and when they experience an unpleasant
object, they are the result of akusala kamma, an unwholesome deed.. The
pleasant bodily feeling which accompanies this kusala vipakacitta is also
kusala vipaka. Pleasant bodily feeling cannot accompany any other kind
of citta but the body-consciousness, kaya-vinnana, which is kusala vipaka.
Thus we see that not every kind of feeling can arise with aIl types of
citta.
Painful bodily feeIing accompanies only the kaya-vinnana which is akusala
vipaka. When, for example, temperature which is too hot or too cold impinges
on the bodysense, kaya-vinnana which is akusala vipakacitta experiences
this unpleasant object. This akusala vipakacitta is accompanied by painful
bodily feeling. Painful bodily feeling cannot accompany any other kind
of citta but the kaya-vinnana which is akusala vipaka.
Bodily feelings arise because of impingement of "a pleasant or unpleasant
object on the bodysense. The kaya-vinnana cognizes the pleasant or unpleasant
object which impinges on the bodysense, phassa 'contacts' the object and
vedana experiences the "taste" of the object. The feeling which accompanies
kaya-vinnana is either pleasant feeling or painful feeling, it cannot be
indifferent feeling. In the case of the other panca-vinnanas (the five
pairs of sense-cognitions, seeing, hearing, etc). One of each pair is kusala
vipaka and one akusala vipaka. which are seeing, hearing smelling and tasting,
the accompanying feeling is always indifferent feeling, no matter whether
the vipakacitta which experiences the object is kusaIa vipakacitta or akusala
vipakacitta.
The Paramattha Manjusa, a commentary to the Visuddhimagga (XIV, note 56)
explains why kaya-vinnana is accompanied by either pleasant feeling or
unpleasant feeling. This is because of the 'violence of the impact's blow
'; there is the direct impact of tangible object on the bodysense. Tangible
objects which are experienced through the rupa which is the bodysense are
the following rupas: soIidity, appearing as hardness or softness, temperature,
appearing as heat or cold, and motion, appearing as oscillation or
pressure. By way of a simile the difference is explained between the impact
of tangible object on the bodysense and the impact of the other sense objects
on the relevant senses. When a man places cottonwool on an anvil and strikes
it with an iron hammer, the hammer goes right through the cottonwool because
of the violence of the impact. In the case, however, of the other panca-vinnanas,
the impact is gentle, like the contact between two pieces of cottonwool.
Thus, they are accompanied by indifferent feeling. The 'impact' of visible
object on the eye-sense is gentle when compared with the direct physical
contact of tangible object with the bodysense. We may believe that bodily
feeling can be indifferent, but this is not so. The moment of body-consciousness
(kaya-vinnana) is extremely short; it is only one moment of vipaka and
after it has fallen away akusala cittas or kusala cittas arise. Body-consciousness
Is accompanied either by pleasant bodily feeling or by painful bodily feeling.
The akusala cittas or kusala cittas which arise shortly afterwards are
accompanied by feelings which are different from bodily feeling. They can
be accompanied by happy feeling, unhappy feeling or indifferent feeling.
Somannassa, happy feeling, can arise with cittas of all four jatis, with
kusala citta, akusala citta, vipakacitta and kiriyacitta.
Somanassa is of the same jati as the citta it accompanies. It does not
arise with every citta. Somanassa cannot accompany dosa-mula-citta which
has aversion towards an object and it cannot accompany moha-mula-citta,
citta rooted in ignorance. Somanassa can accompany lobha-muIa-citta but
it does not always accompany lobha-mula-citta. Lobha-mula-citta can be
accompanied by somanassa or by upekkha, indifferent feeling. When somanassa
accompanies lobha-mula-citta, somanassa is also akusala. There can be pleasant
feeling when one likes a pleasant visible object, a beautiful sound, a
fragrant odour, a delicious taste, a soft touch or an agreeable thought.
We would like to have pleasant feeling all the time, it often seems to
be the goal of our life. However, pleasant feeling cannot last and when
it is gone we are sad. We find it very important what kind of feeling we
have, but feelings are beyond control, they arise because of conditions.
Lobha accompanied by somanassa is more intense than lobha accompanied by
upekkha.
Lobha-mula-citta accompanied by somanassa arises when there are the appropriate
conditions; there is no self who can prevent this. If we study the different
types of feeling and the cittas they accompany it will help us to recognize
akusala cittas. If we would not know that somanassa may accompany lobha-mula-citta
We would think that it is good to have happy feeling. One may see the disadvantage
of unhappy feeling but does one recognize the disadvantage of all kinds
of akusala, also when they are accompanied by somanassa? Somanassa does
not stay. When We do not get the pleasant objects we are longing for our
attachment conditions aversion which is always accompanied by unhappy feeling.
If we realize the danger of all kinds of akusala, it can remind us to be
aware of the reality which appears. This is the way leading to the eradication
of akusala.
Somanassa can accompany kusala citta, but it does not accompany each kusala
citta. When we perform dana (generosity), observe sila ( morality) or apply
ourselves to mental development, there can be somanassa or upekkha, indifferent
feeling, with the kusala citta. We would like to have kusala citta with
somanassa, but for the arising of somanassa there have to be the right
conditions. One of these is strong confidence in the benefit of kusala.
Confidence (saddha) is a wholesome cetasika which accompanies each kusala
citta, but there are many degrees of confidence. When one has strong confidence
in kusala, one will perform it with joy. We read in the Atthasalini (I,
Part II, chapter I, 75) that:
abundance of confidence (saddha), purity of views, seeing advantage in
kusala, should be understood as factors of this consciousness in making
it accompanied by joy.
When someone has right
view of realities, right view of kusala and akusala, of kamma and its result,
he will be firmly convinced of the benefit of kusala and this is a condition
to perform it with somanassa.
The pleasant feeling which accompanies kusala citta is quite different
from the pleasant feeling which accompanies lobha-mula-citta. When we give
a present to someone else and there is pleasant feeling, we may think that
there is one kind of feeling which lasts, but in reality there are different
moments of feeling accompanying different cittas. There can be a moment
of pure generosity accompanied by pleasant feeling, but there are bound
to be many moments of attachment after the kusala cittas have fallen away.
We may be attached to the person we give to or to the thing we give, or
we may expect something in return; We want to be liked by the person who
receives our gift. Such moments of attachment may be accompanied by somanassa.
Somanassa which is kusala and somanassa which accompanies lobha are different
kinds of somanassa arising closely one after the other, and it is difficult
to distinguish one from the other. It seems that there is one kind of somanassa
and that it lasts. Without right understanding we cannot tell whether the
somanassa which arises is kusala or akusala. Since there are many more
akusala cittas arising than kusala cittas, there are many more moments
of somanassa which are akusala than moments of somanassa which are kusala.
We cling to somanassa but we cannot choose our own feelings. Who can control
which feeling arises at a particular moment? Feelings arise when there
are the right conditions for their arising, they are anatta, non-self.
When a certain feeling appears it can be known as only a kind of experience,
no self in the feeling.
Somanassa can accompany kamavacara cittas, cittas of the sense-sphere,
rupavacara cittas (rupa-jhanacittas) and lokuttara cittas. As regards rupa-jhanacittas,
somanassa accompanies the cittas of four stages of jhana, it does not accompany
the cittas of the fifth and highest stage of jhana. At this stage the citta
is accompanied by upekkha, which is more refined and tranquil than somanassa.
Domanassa, unhappy feeling, arises only with cittas of the jati which is
akusala; it always arises with dosa-mula-citta, it does not arise with
lobha-mula-citta or with moha-mula-citta. It depends on one's accumulations
whether dosa-mula-cittas arise or not. when an unpleasant object such as
a disagreeable flavour presents itself, dosa-mula-cittas are likely to
arise. If there is, however, wise attention to the unpleasant object, kusala
citta arises instead of akusala citta.
Dosa-mula-citta can arise only in the sensuous planes of existence, it
cannot arise in the higher planes of existence where those who cultivate
jhana can be reborn. In the sensuous planes there is clinging to the sense
objects and this conditions dosa. when one does not obtain pleasant sense
objects dosa is likely to arise. Those who have cultivated rupa-jhana and
arupa-jhana (See Abhidhamma in Daliy Life, Chapter 22). In the development
of samatha, tranquil meditation, stages of rupa-jhana and arupa-jhana can
be attained by those who have accumulated the right conditions. Rupa-jhana,
fine-material jhana, is still dependent on materiality, whereas arupa-jhana,
immaterial jhana, is not dependant on materiality and thus more tranquil.
have suppressed attachment to sense objects. They can be reborn in higher
planes of existence, in rupa-brahma-planes and in arupa-brahma planes and
in these planes there are no conditions for dosa. However, when they are
reborn in sensuous planes where there are conditions for dosa, dosa-mula-cittas
accompanied by domanassa arise again so long as they have not been eradicated.
We dislike domanassa and we would like to get rid of it, but we should
understand that dosa can only be eradicated by the development of the wisdom
which sees realities as they are. There is no other way. Only the
ariyan, the noble person, who has attained the third stage of enlightenment
which is the stage of the anagami (non-returner), has eradicated clinging
to sense objects and thus he has no more conditions for dosa. The anagami
and the arahat have eradicated dosa and thus they never have any more unpleasant
feeling.
Dosa and domanassa always arise together. It is difficult to distinguish
between these two realities, but they are different cetasikas. Domanassa
is feeling, it experiences the taste of the undesirable object. Dosa is
not feeling, it has a different characteristic. Dosa does not like the
object which is experienced. There are many degrees of dosa, it can be
a slight aversion, anger or hate. But in any case dosa does not want the
object and domanassa feels unhappy. We know so little about the different
realities which arise. We may have a backache. Is it painful bodily feeling
which appears, or is it the characteristic of domanassa which accompanies
dosa-mula-citta?
Upekkha indifferent feeling, is different from somanassa and from domanassa;
it is neither happy nor unhappy. Upekkha can arise with cittas of all four
jatis, but it does not arise with every citta. When there is no awareness
many moments of feeling pass unnoticed. There is feeling with every citta
and when we do not notice any feeling there is still feeling: at such moments
there is indifferent feeling. We may not feel either glad or unhappy while
we are busy with our work or while we are thinking. Then there is indifferent
feeling. Indifferent feeling accompanies vipakacittas such as seeing or
hearing. It can accompany lobha-mula-citta; this type of citta can be accompanied
either by pleasant feeling by indifferent feeling. Do we notice clinging
which is accompanied by upekkha? when we walk or when we get hold of different
things we use in our daily life, such as a pen or a book, there is bound
to be clinging even when we do not feel particularly glad. We cling to
life and we want to go on living and receiving sense-impressions. We are
attached to sense-impressions such as seeing and hearing. There are many
moments of seeing and hearing and shortly after they have fallen away there
are bound to be lobha-mula-cittas even when we do not have happy feeling.
After seeing has fallen away there is a mind-door process of cittas which
experience visible object through the mind-door and then there can be other
mind-door processes of cittas which think of concepts. We may think of
a person, a car or a tree. We like to notice a person, a car or a tree,
these are concepts we are familiar with. We like to think and even when
we do not feel glad there can be clinging with indifferent feeling, but
we do not notice this. It is useful to know that lobha can be accompanied
by upekkha. Through the Abhidhamma we can come to know our many defilements.
It is better to know realities than to mislead ourselves with regard to
them. Upekkha can accompany maha-kusala cittas, kusala cittas of the sense-sphere.
We may help others, observe sila or study Dhamma with upekkha. Feeling
is a conditioned reality, we cannot force ourselves to have pleasant feeling
while we apply ourselves to kusala. Upekkha arises with kamavacara cittas
(cittas of the sense-sphere), rupavacara cittas (rupa-jhanacittas), arupavacara
cittas (arupa-jhanacittas) and lokuttara cittas. As regards rupa-jhanacittas,
onIy the cittas of the fifth and highest stage of rupa-jhana are accompanied
by upekkha. At that stage there is a higher degree of calm than at the
lower stages; the upekkha which accompanies that type of jhanacitta is
very subtle. All the arupa-jhanacittas are accompanied by upekkha.
There are many different kinds of feeIing and therefore we should not imagine
that it is easy to recognize feelings. When we study the Abhidhamma we
realize better what we do not know. It is difficult to distinguish painful
bodily feeling from rupa, or from domanassa. When we have pain, we 'feel'
that something is hurting and we may think that it is easy to discern bodily
painful feeling. However, we may not be able to distinguish the painful
feeling which is nama from the rupa which is impinging on the body-sense.
We are usually thinking of the spot which is hurt and then we are thinking
of a concept. The thinking is a reality which can be known when it appears,
the concept is not a reality. It is important to know the difference between
ultimate realities and concepts. A precise knowledge of the different namas
and rupas which arise each because of their own conditions will help us
to be less deluded about our life.
When hardness impinges on the body-sense, the kaya-vinnana cognizes the
hardness and the accompanying feeling experiences the 'taste' of the hardness.
Time and again vipakacittas arise which experience pleasant or unpleasant
objects through the bodysense. There are hardness or softness, heat or
cold impinging on the bodysense, no matter whether we are walking,
standing, sitting or lying down. There is the experience of hardness or
softness time and again when we touch things or take hoId of them, but
we are so absorbed in what we want to get or want to do that we are unaware
of the different experiences through the senses. The feeling which is vipaka
is different from feeling which is associated with attachment or aversion.
Pleasant bodiIy feeling which is vipaka is not associated with attachment,
and painful bodily feeling is not associated with aversion. At the moment
of pleasant bodily feeling there is no attachment to the object; pleasant
bodily feeling merely experiences the pleasant object. At the moment of
painful bodily feeIing there is no dislike of the object; painful bodily
feeling merely experiences the unpleasant object. After the vipakacittas
which experience pleasant or unpleasant objects have fallen away, akusala
cittas which are rooted in lobha (attachment), dosa (aversion) or moha
(ignorance) are bound to arise. Akusala cittas arise very often, because
we have accumulated many defilements. On the other hand, when there are
conditions for 'Wise attention' (1 Abhidhamma in Daily Life, Chapter 9)
to the object, kusala cittas arise instead of akusala cittas. There may
be, for example, after the experience of tangible object, mindfulness of
nama or rupa. We have considered the characteristics of pleasant bodily
feeling, painful bodily feeling, happy feeling (somanassa), unhappy feeling
(domanassa) and indifferent feeling (upekkha) 2 For details about the different
feelings which accompany different cittas, see visuddhimagga XIV, 127-128,
and my Appendix 1.. Although all of them are the cetasika which is feeling
(vedana), they are different kinds of feeling with different characteristics.
At every moment feeling is different, because at every moment there is
a different citta. For example, upekkha (indifferent feeling) which accompanies
vipakacitta is different from upekkha which accompanies akusala citta or
upekkha which accompanies kusala citta. Upekkha which accompanies the jhanacitta
of the fifth stage is different again. AlI these feelings are upekkha,
but they are conditioned by different cittas and accompanying cetasikas.
Since there is such a variety of feelings, it is usefuI to know more classifications
of feeling. Feelings can be classified by way of contact through the six
doors of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body-sense and mind. Cittas experience
objects through six doors and through these doors pleasant and unpleasant
objects are experienced. On account of a pleasant object there is often
lobha-mula-citta which can be accompanied by somanassa or upekkha, and
on account of an unpleasant object there is often dosa-mula-citta which
is accompanied by domanassa. If we understand that the experience of pleasant
and unpleasant objects and the different feelings which arise on account
of them are conditioned we will attach less importance to the kind of feeling
which arises at a particular moment.
The experience of pleasant or unpleasant objects through the senses is
vipaka conditioned by kamma, and the kusala cittas or akusala cittas arising
on account of the objects which are experienced are conditioned by our
accumulated
tendencies . There is no self who can exercise power over any reality which
arises, there are only nama and rupa which arise because of conditions.
Sometimes there are conditions for indifferent feeling, sometimes for pleasant
feeling, sometimes for unpleasant feeling (Feelings can be classified in
several more ways. See Kindred Sayings IV, Salayatana-vagga, Kindred Sayings
about Feeling, 22, where feelings are classified as hundred and eight.).
Cittas arise and fall away very rapidly, succeeding one another; there
never is a moment without citta and never a moment without feeling. We
cling to happy feeling, somanassa, but we know so little about ourselves
and thus we may not recognize the different kinds of happy feeling. When
we are laughing there is happy feeling with lobha-mula-citta, but we may
not realize that there is happy feeling which is akusala. We should not
try to suppress laughing, but it is useful to know the different types
of realities which arise. When we see someone else there can be happy feeling
arising with attachment or happy feeling arising with kusala citta. The
cittas which think of the person we meet are akusala cittas when there
is no dana (generosity), sila (good moral conduct), or bhavana (mental
development).
Feeling is sankhara dhamma, a conditioned dhamma. Feeling is conditioned
by the citta and the other cetasikas it accompanies. Feeling which arises,
falls away immediately, it does not stay. Feeling is a khandha, it is one
among the five khandhas, namely, vedanakkhandha (1 See Abhidhamma in Daily
Life, Chapter 2.) Conditioned realities can be classified as five aggregates
or khandhas: the khandha of rupas, of feelings, of perceptions (sanna),
of "formations" or "activities" (all cetasikas other than feeling and sanna)
and of consciousness.. We cling to feeling and we take it for self. If
our knowledge of feeling is merely theoretical we will not know feeling
as it is. When there is awareness of feeling when it appears it can be
known as only a type of nama and not self.