Chapter
9
THE AHETUKA
CITTAS
WHICH ARE UNKNOWN IN DAILY LIFE
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There are
eighteen types of ahetuka citta, or cittas arising without hetu (root). Fifteen types of
ahetuka citta are vipaka. As we have seen, ten of these fifteen cittas are dvi-panca
vinnanas. They are:
two seeing-consciousness
two hearing-consciousness
two smelling-consciousness
two tasting-consciousness
two body-consciousness
Seeing-consciousness is the result of kamma. When it is
the result of an ill deed, seeing-consciousness is akusala vipakacitta which experiences
an unpleasant object; when it is the result of a good deed, it is kusala vipakacitta which
experiences a pleasant object. The function of seeing consciousness is to experience
visible object.
Kamma which produces seeing-consciousness does not
only produce the vipakacitta which is seeing-consciousness, it also produces two other
kinds of vipakacitta, which succeed seeing-consciousness. Seeing-consciousness is
succeeded by vipakacitta which receives the object. This citta, which is called
sampaticchana-citta (receiving-consciousness). Visible object which is experienced by
seeing-consciousness does not fall away when seeing-consciousness falls away, because it
is rupa; rupa does not fall away as rapidly as nama. When an object is experienced through
one of the six doors, there is not merely one citta experiencing that object, but there is
a series of cittas succeeding one another, which share the same object.
If the seeing-consciousness is akusala vipaka, the
sampaticchana-citta (receiving-consciousness) is also akusala vipaka; if the
seeing-consciousness is kusala vipaka, the sampaticchana-citta is also kusala vipaka. Thus
there are two types of sampaticchana-citta: one is akusala vipaka and one is kusala
vipaka. Sampaticchana-citta: is ahetuka vipaka; there are no akusala hetus (unwholesome
roots) or sobhana hetus (beautiful roots) arising with this type of citta.
Sampaticchana-citta succeeds seeing-consciousness; seeing- consciousness is a condition
for the arising of sampaticchana-citta. Likewise, when there is a process of cittas
experiencing sound, sampaticchana-citta succeeds hearing-consciousness. It is the same
with regard to nose, tongue, and body.
Sampaticchana-citta always arises with upekkha
(indifferent feeling), no matter whether the sampaticchana- citta is akusala vipaka or
kusala vipaka.
After the sampaticchana-citta has arisen and fallen away,
the process of cittas is not yet over. The sampaticchana-citta is succeeded by another
ahetuka vipakacitta which is still the result of kamma. This type of citta is called
santirana-citta (investigating-consciousness). Santirana-citta investigates or considers
the object which was 'received' by the sampaticchana-citta. Santirana-citta succeeds
sampaticchana-citta through five sense-doors; sampaticchana-citta is a condition for the
arising of santirana-citta. When seeing has arisen, sampaticchana-citta succeeds the
seeing-consciousness, and santirana-citta succeeds the sampaticchana-citta in the process
of cittas which experience visible object through eye-door. It is the same with the
santirana- citta which arises in the process of cittas experiencing an object through
ear-door, nose-door, tongue-door, body-door. It succeeds the sampaticchana-citta. We
cannot choose whether santirana-citta should arise or not; cittas arise because of
conditions, they are beyond control.
Santirana-citta is also an ahetuka vipakacitta. When the
object is unpleasant (anittharammana), the santirana- citta is akusala vipaka and it is
accompanied by upekkha (indifferent feeling). As regards santirana-citta which is kusala
vipaka, there are two kinds. When the object is pleasant (ittharammana), but not
extraordinarily pleasant, santirana-citta is accompanied by upekkha. When the object is
extraordinarily pleasant (atittharammana), the santirana-citta is accompanied by
somanassa. Thus, there are three kinds of santirana- citta in all. It depends on
conditions which kind of santirana-citta arises.
Thus, there are fifteen (15) types of ahetuka citta which
are vipaka. Summarizing them, they are:
10 cittas which are dvi-panca-vinnana (five pairs)
1 sampaticchana-citta (receiving-consciousness) which is
akusala vipaka
1 sampaticchana-citta which is kusala vipaka
1 santirana-citta (investigating-consciousness) which is akusala vipaka, accompanied by
upekkha
1 santirana-citta which is kusala vipaka, accompanied by upekkha
1 santirana-citta which is kusala vipaka, accompanied by somanassa
Seven types of the ahetuka vipakacittas are akusala vipaka
and eight types are kusala vipaka, since there are two types of santirana-citta which are
kusala vipaka.
As we have seen, there are altogether eighteen ahetuka
cittas. Of these eighteen ahetuka cittas fifteen are vipakacittas and three are
kiriyacittas. Kiriyacittas are different from akusala cittas and kusala cittas and from
vipakacittas. Akusala cittas and kusala cittas are cittas which are cause; they can
motivate ill deeds and
good deeds which are capable of producing their appropriate results. Vipaka-cittas are
cittas which are the result of akusala kamma and kusala kamma. Kiriyacittas are cittas
which are neither cause nor result.
One type of ahetuka kiriyacitta is the
'five-door-adverting-consciousness', in Pali: panca-dvaravajjana-citta. ('Panca' is five,
'dvara' is door, 'avajjana' is adverting or turning towards.';) When an object
impinges on one of the five senses, there has to be a citta which adverts or turns towards
the object through that sense-door. When visible object impinges on the eye-sense, there
has to be the adverting-consciousness which adverts towards visible object through the
eye-door, or cakkhu-dvaravajjana-citta (eye-door-adverting- consciousness), before there
can be seeing-consciousness (cakkhu-vinnana). When sound impinges on the ear-sense, the
ear-door-adverting-consciousness (sota-dvaravajjana-citta) has to advert to the sound
through the ear-door before there can be hearing-consciousness (sota-vinnana). The
panca-dvaravajjana-citta merely turns towards the object which impinges on one of the five
sense-doors. But it does not see or hear. The panca-dvaravajjana-citta is an ahetuka
kiriyacitta, it arises without hetu (root); there is not yet like or dislike. The
panca-dvaravajjana-citta is succeeded by one of the dvi-panca-vinnanas (five pairs), which
is vipakacitta.
Each citta which arises in the process of cittas
experiencing an object has its own function.
The cittas which experience an object through one of the
senses do not know anything else but that object. When one, for example, is reading, the
citta which sees experience only visible object and it does not know the meaning of the
letters. After the eye-door process has been completed visible object is experienced
through the mind-door and then there can be other mind-door processes of cittas which know
the meaning of what has been written and which think about it. Thus, there are processes
of cittas which experience an object through one of the senses and processes of cittas
which experience an object through the mind-door.
Another type of ahetuka kiriyacitta is the
mano-dvaravajjana-citta (mind-door-adverting-consciousness), which arises both in the
sense-door process and in the mind-door process but performs two different functions
according as it arises in each of those two kinds of processes. When an object contacts
one of the sense-doors, the panca-dvaravajjana-citta (five-door-adverting-consciousness)
turns towards the object, one of the dvi-panca-vinananas experiences it,
sampaticchana-citta receives the object and santirana-citta investigates it. The
santirana-citta is succeeded by an ahetuka kiriyacitta which experiences the object
through that sense-door and 'determines' (votthapana) the object. It is actually the same
type of citta as the mano- dvara vajjana-citta, (mind-door-adverting-consciousness, the
first citta of the mind-door process), but when it arises in the sense-door process it can
be called votthapana-citta, since it performs the function of determining the object in
the sense-door process. The votthapana-citta, after it has determined the object, is, on
the case of non-arahats, followed by akusala cittas or by kusala cittas. It depends on
one's accumulations of akusala and kusala whether the votthapana citta will be succeeded
by akusala cittas or by kusala cittas.
After the cittas of the sense-door process have fallen
away the object can be experienced through the mind-door. The mano-dvaravajjana-citta is
the first citta of the mind-door process which experiences that object which has fallen
away already. In the sense-door process the panca-dvara vajjana-citta adverts to the
object which has not fallen away yet. For example, it adverts to visible object or sound
which is still impinging on the appropriate sense-door. The mano-dvaravajjana-citta which
arises in the mind-door process however, can experience an object which has fallen away
already. After the mano-dvaravajjana-citta has adverted to the object it is succeeded by
either kusala cittas or akusala cittas (in the case of non-arahats), which experience that
same object. The mano-dvaravajjana-citta itself is neither akusala citta nor kusala citta;
it is kiriyacitta.
Although the votthapana-citta in the sense-door process
and the mano-dvaravajjana-citta in the mind-door process are the same type of citta, an
ahetuka kiriyacitta, their functions are different. In the sense-door process this citta
performs the function of votthapana (determining the object) and in the mind-door process
it performs the function of avajjana (adverting). Thus, whenever we deal with the
mano-dvaravajjana-citta we have to know what function it is performing.
When sound impinges on the earsense it can be experienced
by cittas arising in the ear-door process and after that it is experienced by cittas
arising in a mind-door process. Processes of cittas which experience in object through one
of the five senses and through the mind-door succeed one another time and again.
How can there be akusala cittas or kusala cittas in the
process of cittas which experience an object through one of the sense-doors, when one does
not even know yet what it is that is experienced? There can be akusala cittas or kusala
cittas before one knows what it is. One can compare this situation with the case of a
child who likes a brightly coloured object such as a balloon before it knows that the
object is a balloon. We can have like or dislike of an object before we know what it is.
Another ahetuka kiriyacitta is the hasituppada-citta
(smile-producing-consciousness). Only arahats have this kind of citta. Laughing and
smiling can be motivated by different kinds of cittas. When people who are
not arahats smile, it is usually motivated by lobha or by kusala citta. Arahats do not
have any defilements; they do not have akusala cittas. Neither do they have kusala cittas;
they do not accumulate any more kamma. Instead of kusala cittas they have kiriyacittas,
accompanied by sobhana (beautiful) roots, sobhana kiriyacittas. Arahats do not laugh
aloud, because they have no accumulations for laughing; they only smile. When they smile
the smiling may be motivated by sobhana kiriyacitta or by the ahetuka kiriyacitta which is
called hasituppada-citta.
Thus, of the eighteen ahetuka cittas, fifteen are
vipakacittas and three are kiriyacittas. The ahetuka kiriyacittas are:
1. Panca-dvaravajjana-citta
(five-door-adverting
consciousness)
2. Mano-dvaravajjana-citta (mind-door-adverting-
consciousness), which performs the function of
adverting to the object through the
mind-door
when it arises in the mind-door process and
which performs the
function of votthapana
(determining the object) when it arises in the
sense-door
process
3. Hasituppada-citta (smile-producing-consciousness)
Those who are not arahats can have only seventeen of the
eighteen ahetuka cittas. These seventeen types of ahetuka citta arise in our daily life.
When an object impinges on one of the five senses, panca-dvaravajjana- citta
(five-door-adverting consciousness) turns towards the object through that sense-door. This
citta is followed by panca-vinnana which experiences the object, by sampaticchana-citta
which receives it, by santirana-citta which investigates it and by votthapana-citta which
determines the object and then by akusala cittas or kusala cittas. When the cittas of the
sense-door process have fallen away the object is experienced through the mind-door. The
mano-dvaravajjana-citta adverts to the object through the mind-door and is then followed
by akusala cittas or kusala cittas. There is 'unwise attention' (ayoniso manasikara) to
the object which is experienced if akusala cittas arise, and there is 'wise attention'
(yoniso manasikara) to the object if kusala cittas arise. For example, when we see insects
there may be dosa-mula-cittas (cittas rooted in aversion). Thus, there is ayoniso
manasikara (unwise attention). The dosa may be so strong that one wants to kill the
insects; then there is akusala kamma. If one realizes that killing is akusala and one
abstains from killing, there are kusala cittas and thus there is yoniso manasikara (wise
attention). If one studies Dhamma and develops vipassana (insight) it is a condition for
yoniso manasikara. When we are mindful of the nama or rupa which appears through one of
the six doors, there is yoniso manasikara at that moment.
When there are two people in the same situation, one
person may have ayoniso manasikara and the other may have yoniso manasikara. This depends
on their accumulations. We read in the 'Kindred Sayings' (lV, Salayatanavagga, Kindred
Sayings on Sense, Fourth Fifty, Ch.V, par. 202, Lustful) about the monk who,
after he has experienced an object through one of the six doors, has ayoniso manasikara,
and about the monk who has yoniso manasikara. We read that Maha-Moggallana said to the
monks:
Friends, I will teach you the way of lusting and
also
of not lusting....
And how, friends, is one lustful?
Herein, friends, a monk, seeing object with the
eye,
feels attachment for objects that charm, feels aversion from objects that
displease, abides without mindfulness
of the body, and his thoughts are mean. He
realizes not, in its true nature, that emancipation of heart,
that emancipation of
wisdom, wherein those evil, unprofitable states that have arisen cease without remainder.
This monk, friends, is called 'lustful after objects
cognizable by the eye, nose, tongue... objects cognizable by the mind'; When a monk
so abides, friends, if Mara come upon him by way of the eye, Mara gets an
opportunity. If Mara come upon him....by way of the
mind, Mara gets access, gets
opportunity....
So dwelling, friends, objects overcome a monk, a
monk
overcomes not objects. Sounds overcome a monk, a monk overcomes not sounds. Scents,
savours, tangibles and mind-states overcome a monk, a monk overcomes not sounds, scents,
savours, tangibles and mind-states. This monk, friends, is called 'conquered by objects,
sounds, scents, savours, tangibles and
mind-states, not conquerer of them.'; Evil, unprofitable states, passion-fraught,
leading to rebirth overcome him, states unhappy, whose fruit is pain, whose future is
rebirth, decay and death. Thus, friends, one is lustful.
And how, friends, is one free from lust?
Herein, friends, a monk, seeing an object with the
eye, is not attached to objects that charm, nor averse from objects that displease....
Tasting a savour with the tongue...with mind cognizing a
mind-state, he is not attached to mind-states that charm, nor is he averse from
mind-states that displease, but dwells with mindfulness of the body, his thought is
boundless. So that he realizes in its true nature that
emancipation of heart, that emancipation of wisdom, wherein those evil, unprofitable
states that have arisen come to cease without remainder.
This monk, friends, is called 'not lustful after
objects cognizable by the eye... not lustful after
mind-states cognizable by mind.' Thus dwelling, friends, if Mara come upon him by way of
the eye, of the tongue,... of the mind, Mara gets no access, gets no
opportunity....
Moreover, friends, so dwelling a monk conquers
objects, objects do not conquer him. He conquers sounds, scents, savours, tangibles,
mind-states. They do not conquer him. Such a monk, friends, is called,
'conquerer of
objects, sounds, scents, savours, tangibles and mind-states,'; He is conquerer, not
conquered. He conquers those evil, unprofitable states, passion-fraught, inciting to lust,
leading to rebirth, states unhappy, whose
fruit is pain, rebirth, decay and death.
Thus, friends, is one free from lust.
-ooOoo-
Questions
1. What is kiriyacitta?
2. When we smile, is it always motivated by lobha?
3. Can akusala cittas and kusala cittas and arise in a sense-door process?
-ooOoo-
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