Chapter 11 - The Duration Of Different Processes

When we see and we are then attached to the visible object and enjoy it, it seems that there is just "normal" attachment which is not harmful. However, we should realize that even "normal" attachment is a Dhamma which is harmful. Its result is suffering, dukkha, and little by little the conditions are being accumulated for more dukkha later on. It is true that dukkha does not occur immediately when there is just a slight amount of attachment. However, when attachment is accumulated more and more, it becomes powerful and it can reach the degree of a "hindrance" (nīvaraṇa), a defilement which obstructs kusala, which causes worry and is oppressive. Then the characteristic of heaviness is evident, the heaviness of akusala, the Dhamma which is restless, not calm.

We can find out for ourselves whether, the whole day, from the time we wake up until we go to sleep, the javana-cittas arise more often in a series of akusala cittas or in a series of kusala cittas. What could be done to cure ourselves of akusala? In fact, we are all taking poison, the poison of akusala, and when we realize this we should look for the right medicine which can cure us. If one does not know that one is taking poison, one will accumulate the inclination to take it. Its harmful effect will gradually increase, evermore. There is only one medicine which can cure us and that is the development of right understanding of realities, of satipaṭṭhāna. If sati of satipaṭṭhāna does not arise, there is no way to become free from the accumulation of akusala. Akusala will be accumulated evermore and there is not much opportunity for the arising of the different ways of wholesomeness. Whereas, when one develops satipaṭṭhāna, satipaṭṭhāna can arise instead of akusala, and votthapana-citta (determining-consciousness arising just before the javana-cittas) can then be contiguity-condition (anantara-paccaya ^[1] ) for the arising of kusala cittas according to one’s accumulations. Kusala citta can be accompanied by the degree of sati which is mindful of the reality which is appearing.

The javana vīthi-cittas which are kusala and those which are akusala arise and fall away in succession and they accumulate kusala or akusala all the time. This conditions each person to have different inclinations, a different character and a different behavior. The accumulations in the citta of each person are most intricate. Also the arahats, those who have reached perfection, have different inclinations, they excel in different qualities. Venerable Shariputra was preeminent in wisdom, venerable Maha Moggallāna in superpowers, venerable Maha Kassapa in the observance of ascetical practices which he also encouraged others to observe, and venerable Anuruddha was preeminent in clairvoyance. The javana vīthi-cittas of each one of us arrange themselves in their own series or continuity and accumulate different kinds of kusala and of akusala time and again, and this is the reason that, at the present time, we all think, speak and act in completely different ways.

Cittas which are kusala, akusala and maha-kiriya which arrange themselves in a series of javana, cause people to have a different behavior through body and speech. It could happen that people who saw an arahat had contempt for him because they judged him by his outward behavior which he had accumulated for an endlessly long time. The Brahman Vassakāra, the prime minister of Magadha, for example, made a serious mistake by misjudging an arahat from his outward behavior. When he saw Maha Kacchana coming down from a mountain he said that Maha Kacchana behaved like a monkey. Vassakāra’s haughtiness was conditioned by the accumulation of his javana vīthi-cittas. The Buddha told him to ask Maha Kacchana forgiveness, but his accumulated conceit was the condition that he was unable to do so. The Buddha predicted that Vassakāra, after he had died, would be reborn as a monkey in a bamboo wood. Vassakāra had thereupon banana trees planted as well as other things monkeys could eat. Then his food would be all ready for him when he would be reborn as a monkey in that bamboo wood.

We should see the danger of the accumulation of akusala in the javana vīthi-cittas which arise and fall away in a succession of seven cittas. Akusala is accumulated time and again so that it becomes one’s nature and appears in one’s behavior and speech and this accumulated behavior is called in Pali: "vāsanā" ^[2] . Even when one has become an arahat there are inclinations accumulated in the citta which condition different kinds of behavior. The Buddha is the only person who could eradicate "vāsanā". All arahats have eradicated defilements completely so that not even a germ is left of them, but nevertheless they are unable to eradicate "vāsanā". This is because they have accumulated "vāsanā" for an endlessly long time in the cycle of birth and death through the power of javana vīthi-cittas.

Summarizing the different types of vīthi-cittas in the five-sense-door process, they are the following seven types:

1. The first vīthi-citta is the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness, pañca-dvārāvajjana-citta.
2. The second vīthi-citta is one of the five pairs ^[3] of sense-cognitions, dvi-pañca-viññāṇas, which are seeing-consciousness, hearing- consciousness, smelling-consciousness, tasting-consciousness and body-consciousness.
3. The third vīthi-citta is the receiving-consciousness, sampaṭicchana-citta, which receives the object from the preceding citta, one of the sense-cognitions, after this has fallen away.
4. The fourth vīthi-citta is the investigating-consciousness, santīraṇa-citta, which examines, considers the object.
5. The fifth vīthi-citta is the determining-consciousness, votthapana-citta, which performs the function of determining whether it will be succeeded by kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta (in the case of the arahat).
6. The sixth type of vīthi-citta is the javana vīthi-citta of which there are usually seven types in succession. Javana can be translated as impulsion or "running". It goes quickly through the object with kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta.
7. The seventh type of vīthi-citta is the tadārammṇa vīthi-citta (tadārammaṇa means: "that object") or tadālambana vīthi-citta (ālambana means delaying, hanging on). This citta is called in English retention or registering-consciousness. It performs the function of receiving the object, hanging on to the object after the javana-cittas, if the object has not fallen away yet, since rupa lasts not longer than seventeen moments of citta.

The following summary shows the duration of an object which is rupa, lasting as long as seventeen moments of citta.

When a rupa arises and impinges on a sense-base:

1. The first moment of citta which arises and falls away is the bhavanga-citta which is called past bhavanga, atīta-bhavanga.
2. The vibrating bhavanga, bhavanga calana, is the second moment of citta.
3. The arrest bhavanga, bhavangupaccheda, is the third moment of citta.
4. The five-sense-door adverting-consciousness is the fourth moment of citta.
5. One of the sense-cognitions is the fifth moment of citta.
6. The receiving-consciousness is the sixth moment of citta.
7. The investigating-consciousness is the seventh moment of citta.
8. The determining-consciousness is the eighth moment of citta
9. The first javana-citta is the ninth moment of citta. |
10. The second javana-citta is the tenth moment of citta. |
11. The third javana-citta is the eleventh moment of citta. |
12. The fourth javana-citta is the twelfth moment of citta. |seven
13. The fifth javana-citta is the thirteenth moment of citta. | javana-
14. The sixth javana-citta is the fourteenth moment of citta. |cittas
15. The seventh javana-citta is the fifteenth moment of citta. |

From the moment of atīta bhavanga when the rupa which is object arose, fifteen moments have passed when the seventh javana-citta has fallen away. Thus, there are still two more moments left before the rupa will fall away, since, in comparison with the duration of nama, rupa lasts seventeen times longer. People who are born in the sensuous planes of existence have accumulated kamma in the past which is connected with visible object, sound, odor, flavor and tangible object, with the sense objects. When the javana-cittas "run through" a sense object and it has not fallen away yet, kamma conditions the arising of vipākacitta after the javana-cittas in the form of tadālambana-citta, retention, which "hangs on" to the object. This is in accordance with the nature of those born in sensuous planes. The tadālambana-citta receives the object after the javana-cittas and there are two types of this citta in succession.

The tadālambana-citta is the last vīthi-citta which performs its function in a process and experiences the object through the corresponding doorway. Then bhavanga-cittas arise again, succeeding one another, until vīthi-cittas of a following process arise and experience an object through one of the doorways.
At the moment of bhavanga-citta this world does not appear, there is no remembrance connected with the different people and the events of this world. The situation is the same as when one is fast asleep and one is not aware of anything that has to do with this world. At the moments one is fast asleep and also in between processes there are just bhavanga-cittas arising and falling away. The rebirth-consciousness, paṭisandhi-citta, the bhavanga-citta and the dying-consciousness, cuti-citta, are not vīthi-cittas, they do not experience an object through one of the six doors, thus, an object of this world ^[4] . The dying-consciousness is the last citta of this lifespan, it performs the function of passing away from one’s life as this particular individual. It is succeeded by the rebirth-consciousness of the next life, and then there are again vīthi-cittas experiencing objects connected with the world of the next life, which is different. So long as the dying-consciousness has not arisen yet we are still leading this life, and there are, apart from the bhavanga-cittas which do not know anything connected with this world, vīthi-cittas which just have to know objects of this world, namely, the visible object, sound, odor, flavor and tangible object of this world.

Summary of a sense-door process which runs its full course, with seven types of vīthi-cittas:

atīta bhavanga, one moment
bhavanga calana, one moment
bhavangupaccheda, one moment

not vīthi-citta

five-sense-door adverting consciousness, one moment, vīthi-citta
one of the sense cognitions, one moment, vīthi-citta
receiving-consciousness, one moment, vīthi-citta
investigating-consciousness, one moment, vīthi-citta
determining-consciousness, one moment , vīthi-citta

duration of one rupa is equal to the arising and falling away of seventeen moments of citta

kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta

seven javana vīthi-cittas

tadālambana-citta
tadālambana-citta

two moments of vīthi-citta

After the vīthi-cittas of a sense-door process have arisen, experienced an object through one of the five sense-doors (which is the pasāda-rupa) and have fallen away, there are bhavanga-cittas arising and falling away in succession, in between processes. After that the mind-door adverting-consciousness arises and experiences through the mind-door ( the bhavangupaccheda) the same object as the vīthi-cittas of the preceding sense-door process, which just before experienced that object and then fell away.

The process of cittas which experience an object through the mind-door does not last as long as a sense-door process. There is no atīta bhavanga before the mind-door process begins. The object which just before has been experienced by cittas of a sense-door process does not any longer impinge on the eye base or one of the other sense bases when the mind-door process begins. There have to be bhavanga-cittas before the mind-door process and the last bhavanga-cittas which arise and fall away are the bhavanga calana which vibrates, which is stirred by the object, and the bhavangupaccheda, the arrest bhavanga. After this citta has fallen away the mind-door adverting-consciousness arises and this is the first vīthi-citta of the mind-door process which experiences the same object as the cittas of the sense-door process.

The mind-door adverting-consciousness which performs the function of adverting to the object through the mind-door is different from the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness which performs its function only through five sense-doors. The mind-door adverting-consciousness "ponders over" the object, experiences it through the mind-door. Whenever we think about different subjects, as we do time and again, the citta does not at such moments experience objects through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue and the body-sense.

After the bhavanga calana, the bhavangupaccheda and the mind-door adverting-consciousness have arisen and fallen away, kusala cittas or akusala cittas arise in the case of non-arahats. These types of vīthi-cittas perform the function of javana and they arise and fall away in a succession of seven cittas. After these have fallen away there are, if the object is very clear ^[5] , tadālambana-cittas arising in a succession of two cittas.

Thus, there are only three types of vīthi-cittas arising which experience an object through the mind-door. They are the adverting vīthi-citta, the javana vīthi-citta of which there are seven cittas in succession, and the tadālambana or tadārammaṇa vīthi-citta of which there are two types in succession.

Summary of the mind-door process with three types of vīthi-cittas:

bhavanga calana, one moment,
bhavangupaccheda, one moment

not vīthi-citta

mind-door adverting consciousness,

one moment of vīthi-citta

kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta
kusala citta, akusala citta or kiriyacitta

seven moments of javana vīthi-citta

tadālambana-citta
tadālambana-citta

two moments if tadālambana vīthi-citta

When we see what appears through the eyes, all vīthi-cittas which arise in the eye-door process and experience visible object through the eye-door are eye-door process cittas. Of these vīthicittas there are seven different types in all. They depend on the eye-door, they experience the object which appears through the eye-door and which has not fallen away yet. It is the same in the case of the other sense-door processes. There are in each of these processes seven different types of vīthi-cittas experiencing the object which appears through the corresponding doorway and which has not fallen away yet.

The number of vīthi-cittas which experience objects in sense-door processes can be different. Four different courses or rounds (vāras) can be distinguished in sense-door processes:

• the full course ending with the tadālambana-citta (tadālambana vāra)
• the course ending with the javana-citta (javana vāra)
• the course ending with the votthapana-citta (votthapana vāra)
• the futile course (mogha vāra)

A course or vāra are a series of vīthi-cittas which arise and fall away in succession and experience the same object through the same doorway. In some courses seven types of vīthi-citta arise, in others six types, in others again five types, and in some there are no vīthi-cittas arising, there are only the atīta bhavanga and the bhavanga calana.

In the case of the futile course, when a rupa impinges on a sense-base the bhavanga-citta which arises at that moment, the atīta bhavanga, is not succeeded immediately by the bhavanga calana, the vibrating bhavanga. There are several moments of atīta bhavanga arising and falling away before the bhavanga calana which is stirred by the object arises and this citta is then succeeded by several more moments of bhavanga calana, arising and falling away. Since the object which is rupa impinging on the sense-base is about to fall away (lasting not longer than seventeen moments of citta), there is no condition for vīthi-cittas to arise and to experience the object which impinged on one of the sense bases, and in that case there is a futile course.

The futile course of a process can be compared to the situation when someone who is fast asleep and stirred in order to be woken up, does not wake up, and who, when stirred again with force, still does not wake up. In the case of the futile course the adverting-consciousness does not arise, there are only the atīta bhavanga and the bhavanga calana. The object which impinges when there is a futile course is called "very slight" (atiparitta), because it impinges on the sense-base and only affects bhavanga-cittas, it does not condition the arising of vīthi-cittas; it falls away before there is an opportunity for their arising.

It may also happen that there are several types of atīta bhavanga arising and falling away, followed by several types of bhavanga calana arising and falling away and that after that the bhavangupaccheda arises and the stream of bhavanga-cittas is arrested. Then there can be the sense-door adverting-consciousness, one of the sense-cognitions, the receiving-consciousness and the investigating-consciousness, arising and falling away in succession. After that the determining-consciousness arises, but since the rupa cannot last longer than seventeen moments of citta there is no opportunity for the arising of the javana-cittas which experience that rupa. In that case two or three moments of votthapana-citta arise and fall away and then, when the rupa falls away, the process is ended. This course is called the course ending with votthapana (votthapana vāra), since the votthapana-citta is the last vīthi-citta.

All this is according to reality as it occurs in daily life. When an object impinges on a sense base there is not always the full course of seven types of vīthi-cittas arising and falling away. It may happen that there are no vīthi-cittas, thus, that there is a futile course, or that the course ends with votthapana-citta (votthapana vāra). In the last case the object is called "slight" (paritta), because it is the object of only five kinds of vīthi-cittas and then it falls away.

It may happen, when the votthapana-citta has arisen and fallen away and is succeeded by the javana-cittas which arise and fall away in a succession of seven cittas, that then the object falls away. In such a case the tadālambana vīthi-citta cannot arise and there is a course ending with the javana-citta (javana vāra), with six kinds of vīthi-cittas of which the last type is javana-citta, experiencing the object. The object of such a course is called "great" (mahanta), because it is clear and it conditions the arising of kusala citta, akusala citta, or, in the case of the arahat, maha-kiriyacitta.

It may happen, when the javana-cittas have arisen and fallen away in a succession of seven cittas, that the object has not fallen away yet. Then there is a condition for two types of tadārammaṇa-citta (or tadālambana-citta) to arise and to experience the object which has not fallen away yet. The last vīthi-citta which experiences the object is then tadālambana-citta. This is the course ending with tadālambana-citta (tadālambana vāra). The object of such a course is called "very great" (atimahanta). This object is very clear, the process runs its full course with the tadālambana vīthi-cittas succeeding the javana vīthi-cittas and experiencing the object which has not fallen away yet.

In the case of the mind-door process two different courses are possible: the course ending with javana and the course ending with tadālamabana. The object of the course ending with javana is called "obscure" (avibhūta), because it is less clear than the object of the course ending with tadālambana. The object of the course ending with tadālambana is called "clear" (vibhūta), because it is clearer than the object of the course ending with javana.
There are six doorways. A doorway is the means through which vīthi-citta knows an object other than the object of the bhavanga-citta. Of these six doorways through which vīthi-cittas experience objects, five doorways are rupa and one is nama. Summarizing the six doorways, they are:

1. the eye-door, cakkhu-dvāra, which is the cakkhuppasāda rupa ^[6]
2. the ear-door, sota-dvāra, which is the sotappasāda rupa
3. the nose-door, ghāṇa-dvāra, which is the ghāṇappassāda rupa
4. the tongue-door, jivhā-dvāra, which is the jivhāppasāda rupa
5. the body-door, kāya-dvāra, which is the kāyappassāda rupa
6. the mind-door, mano-dvāra, which is the bhavangupaccheda citta ^[7] , preceding the mind-door adverting-consciousness

Six rupas are bases, vatthus, the place of origin for cittas in the planes of existence where there are five khandhas, nama and rupa. These rupas are called vatthu rupa. Summarizing them, they are:

the cakkhuppasāda rupa, which is the eye-base, cakkhu-vatthu, the place of origin for the two types of seeing-consciousness, cakkhu-viññāṇa
the sotappasāda rupa, which is the ear-base, sota-vatthu, for the two types of hearing-consciousness, sota-viññāṇa
the ghāṇappasāda rupa, which is nose-base, ghāṇa-vatthu, for the two types of smelling-consciousness, ghāṇa-viññāṇa,
the jivhāppasāda rupa, which is the tongue-base, jivhā-vatthu, for the two types of tasting-consciousness, jivhā-viññāṇa
the kāyappassāda rupa, which is the body-base, kāya-vatthu, for the two types of kāya-viññāṇa
the heart-base, hadaya-rupa, which is the place of origin in the planes where there are five khandhas for all cittas other than the five pairs of sense-cognitions.

The five pasāda rupas can be door as well as base, place of origin. The cakkhuppassāda rupa (eye-sense) is the eye-door for all the cittas of the eye-door process, namely: eye-door adverting-consciousness, seeing-consciousness, receiving-consciousness, investigating-consciousness, determining-consciousness, javana-citta and tadālambana-citta, experiencing visible object which impinges on the eye-sense and which has not fallen away yet. However, the cakkhuppasāda rupa is the eye-base, cakkhu-vatthu, that is, the place of origin, only for the two types of seeing-consciousness. As regards the other cittas of the eye-door process, the eye-door adverting-consciousness, the receiving-consciousness, the investigating-consciousness, the determining-consciousness, the javana-citta and the tadālambana-citta, they arise at the heart-base, hadaya-vatthu. It is the same in the case of the other pasāda rupas which are the doors of the relevant vīthi-cittas, but which are the base, vatthu, only for the corresponding sense-cognitions.
The hadaya rupa is the base, the place of origin, for the cittas concerned, but it is not a doorway.

Questions

1. Why are the vīthi-cittas of the mind-door process less in number than those of the five-sense-door processes?
2. Through how many doorways can lobha-mūla-citta, citta rooted in attachment, experience an object?
3. Through how many doorways can the five-sense-door adverting-consciousness experience an object? Through how many doorways can the mind-door adverting-consciousness experience an object?
4. What are the futile course, mogha vāra, the votthapana vāra, the javana vāra and the tadālambana vāra?
5. What object is "obscure" (avibhūta) and what object is "clear" (vibhūta) ?
6. Which rupa is the base for the rebirth-consciousness arising in a plane where there are five khandhas?
7. Which rupa is the base for the akusala citta arising in a plane where there are five khandhas?
8. Which rupa is the base for the kiriyacitta arising in a plane where there are five khandhas?
9. Which rupas are the bases for the different ear-door process cittas?
10. Which rupas are the bases for the different cetasikas arising in a plane where there are five khandhas?

 

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Each citta is anantara paccaya, the condition for the arising of the succeeding citta.

[2]:

See Ch 2.

[3]:

Of each pair, one citta is kusala vipākacitta and one citta is akusala vipākacitta.

[4]:

As will be explained later on, they experience the object which was experienced by the last javana cittas of the previous life.

[5]:

This is the case when the sense door process has run its full course with two tadalambana cittas.

[6]:

There are five rupas which are pasāda rupas, the sense organs which can receive the impingement of the relevant sense objects.

[7]:

The bhavangupaccheda is bhavanga citta, not vithi citta. It does not experience the object which is experienced by the cittas of the mind door process. Since it precedes the mind door adverting consciousness, it is merely the doorway, the means through which the vithi cittas of the mind door process can experience the object.