The Feelings which accompany the different cittas:
Pleasant bodily feeling (sukha) arises with only one type of citta: the body-consciousness (kaya-vinnana) which is kusala vipaka. This kind of kaya-vinnana experiences a pleasant tangible object.
Painful bodily feeling (dukkha) arises with only one type of citta: the kaya-vinnana which is akusala vipaka. This kind of kaya-vinnana experiences an unpleasant tangible object.
Happy feeling (somanassa) arises with cittas of the four jatis but not with every citta. As regards akusala cittas accompanied by somanassa, four of the eight types of lobha-mula-citta are accompanied by somanassa. The other types of akusala citta are not accompanied by somanassa.
As regards ahetuka cittas (cittas without roots, hetus), accompanied by somanassa, one type of santirana-citta (investigating consciousness) which is ahetuka kusala vipakacitta, and which investigates an extraordinarily pleasant object, is accompanied by somanassa. One type of santirana-citta which is ahetuka kusala vipakacitta and which investigates a pleasant but not extraordinarily pleasant object, is accompanied by upekkha. The santirana-citta which is akusala vipakacitta is also accompanied by upekkha. Thus, only one of the three types of santirana-citta is accompanied by somanassa.[1]
The ahetuka kiriyacitta which is the hasituppada-citta producing
the smile of an arahat[2] is accompanied by somanassa.
Of the kamavacara sobhana cittas[3] (beautiful cittas of the sense-
Sphere) four types of maha-kusala cittas, four types of maha-
vipakacittas and four types of maha-kiriyacittas are accompanied
by somanassa.
The functions of patisandhi (rebirth), bhavanga (life-continuum) and cuti (dying) can be performed by maha-vipakacittas.[4] In that case they are the result of kamma performed by maha-kusala cittas. Maha-vipakacittas can be accompanied by somanassa depending on the kamma which produces them. Those who are born with somanassa have bhavanga-cittas accompanied by somanassa throughout life.[5]
As regards rupavacara cittas (rupa-jhanacittas)[6], those of the first, second, third and fourth stages of jhana (of the fivefold system) are accompanied by somanassa. Thus, four rupavacara kusala cittas, four rupavacara vipakacittas and four rupavacara kiriyacittas are accompanied by somanassa. The rupavacara cittas of the fifth stage of jhana are not accompanied by somanassa but by upekkha.
As regards arupavacara cittas (arupa-jhanacittas), these are of the same type of citta as the rupavacara cittas of the fifth stage of jhana, thus, they are not accompanied by somanassa but by upekkha.
Lokuttara cittas can be accompanied by somanassa or by upekkha, depending on conditions. Lokuttara cittas can be classified as eight, since there are for each of the four stages of enlightenment the magga-cittas (path-consciousness) and its result, the phala-citta (fruition-consciousness).
People who have accumulated great skill in jhana and who have also developed insight, can attain enlightenment with lokuttara jhana-cittas. The lokuttara jhanacittas, which experience nibbana, are accompanied by jhana-factors of different the stages of jhana. When lokuttara jhanacittas are taken into account, there are, instead of eight lokuttara cittas, forty lokuttara cittas (five times eight, since there are five stages of jhana).[7]
In the case of the lokuttara jhanacittas, the accompanying feeling is in accordance with the accompanying jhana-factors. In the fifth stage of jhana there is upekkha instead of somanassa, and therefore eight lokuttara jhanacittas, accompanied by the jhana-factors of the fifth stage, are not accompanied by somanassa but by upekkha. Thus, of the forty lokuttara jhanacittas thirtytwo types are accompanied by somanassa. The feeling which accompanies the phala-citta (fruition-consciousness, the result of the magga-citta) is in each case the same type as the feeling which accompanies the magga-citta.
Summarizing the cittas accompanied by somanassa, they are:
- 4 lobha-mula-cittas
- 1 santiraga-citta
- 1 hasituppada-citta
- 12 kiriyavacara sobhana cittas
- 12 rupavacara cittas
- 12 lokuttarajhanacittas
Altogether 62.
Domanassa, unhappy feeling, arises with the two types of dosa-mula-citta: one type is asankkha (unprompted) and one type is sasanikharika (Prompted).[8] Domanassa cannot arise with other types of citta except these two.
Upekkha, indifferent feeling, can arise with citta of the four jatis but it does not arise with every citta. Thus, upekkha can be kusala, akusala, vipaka and kiriya. Upekkha can arise with kamavacara cittas (cittas of the sense.sphere), rupavacara citta arupavacara arias and lokuttata atlas.
As regards upekkha which accompanies akusala cittas, four the eight types of lobha-mula-citta are accompanied bv upekkha. Upekkha also accompanies the two types of moha-mula-citta which are: moha-mula-citta accompanied by vicikiccha (doubt) and moha- mula-citta accompanied by uddhacca (restlessness).[9]
As regards ahetuka cittas, fourteen among the eighteen types are accompanied by upekkha, namely: twelve ahetuka vipakacittas which are: four pairs of dvi-pancavinnanas (the pair which is body-consciousness is excepted), two types of sampaticchana-citta (receiving-consciousness), and two among the three types of santirana (investigating-consciousness). Only santrana-citta which invesdgates an extraordinaly pleasant object is, as we have seen, accompanied by somanassa. The other two types, one of which is kusala vipaka and one of which is akusala vipaka, are accompanied by upekkha.[10]
The are two types of ahetuka kiriyacittas which are accompanied by upekkha, namely: the pancadvacavacittaa-citta (the five-sense-door-adverting-consciousness) and the mano-dvaravajjana-citta (the mind-door-adverting-consciousness) which performs, in the sense-door process, the function of determining the object (votthapatta)[11] and in the mind-door process the function of adverting to the object through the mind-door. Thus, there are fourteen types of ahetuka citta in all which are accompanied by upekkha.
As regards kamavacara sobhana cittas, four of the eight maha-kusala cittas, four of the eight maha-vipakacittas and four of the eight maha-kiriyacittas are accompanied by upekkha. Thus, twelve kamavacara sobhana cittas are accompanied by upekkha.
As regards rupavacara cittas, only the tripavacara kusala citta, the tripavacara vipaka-citta and the rupavacara kiriyacitta of the fifth stage of jhana are accompanied by upekkha; thus, there are three rupavacara cittas accompanied by upekkha. The arupavacara cittas are the same types of citta as the rupavacara citta of the fifth stage of jhana; they all are accompanied by upekkha.
There are twelve arupavacara cittas, namely the arupavacara kusala citta, the arupavacara vipakacitta and the arupavacara kiriyacitta of each of the four stages of arupa-jhana. At the fourth stage of arrupa-jhana, the 'Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception', there is 'neither feeling nor non-feeling', feeling is present 'in a subtle state as a residual formation' (Vis.X, 50).[12]
As regards lokutara cittas, they can, depending on conditions, be accompanied by upekkha. When lokuttara jhana-ciittas are taken into account, the lokuttara cittas accompanied by the jhana-factors of the fifth stage of jhana are accompanied by upekkha, thus, there are eight types accompanied by upekkha.
Summarizing, the cittas accompanied by upekkha are the following :
- 4 Lobha-mula-cittas
- 2 moha-mula-cittas
- 1 panca-dvaravajjana-citta
- 8 dvi-panca-vinnanas
- 2 sampaticchana-cittas
- 2 santirana cittas
- 1 mano-dvaravajjana-citta
- 12 kamavacara sobhana cittas
- 3 rupavacara cittas
- 12 arupavacara cittas
- 8 lokuttara cittas
altogether : 55 types accompanied by upekkha.
July 1, 2001
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Abhidhamma in Daily Life Chapter 9
[2]:
Ibidem Chapter 9
[3]:
Ibidem Chapter 19. Kamavacara-sobhana cittas, beautiful cittas of the sense-sphere are: eight types of maha-kusala cittas, eight types of maha-vipakacittas and eight types of maha-kiriyacittas [inoperative, neither cause nor result] which are cittas of the arahat.
[4]:
lbidem Chapter 19
[5]:
The bhavanga-citta is the same type of citta as the patttisandhi-citta.
[6]:
Ibidem Chapter 22.
[7]:
This is the reason why cittas can be counted as eightynine or as hundred-and-twentyone, which include lokuttara jhanacittas.
[8]:
unprompted: arisen without inducement, spontaneously; prompted: arisen because of inducement either by oneself or by someone else.
[9]:
Abhidhamma in Daily Life Chapter 7
[10]:
Santirana-citta can also perform the funcdon of rebirth. when it is akusala vipaka, accompanied by upekkha, it can perform the function of rebirth in woeful planes. When it is kusala vipaka, accompanied hy upekkha, it can perform the function of rebirth of thos who are handicapped from the first moment of life. The same type of citta which peform the function of rebirth also peform the functions of bhavanga and cuti dying, in that life.
[11]:
Abhidhamma in Daily Life Chapter 9
[12]:
Ahhidhamma in Daily Life Chapter 22