Chapter 8 - Decisive Support-condition Part 2

As we have seen, there are three kinds of decisive support-condition: decisive support of object, arammanupanissaya-paccaya, decisive support of proximity, anantarupanissaya-paccaya, and natural decisive support-condition, pakatupanissaya-paccaya. With regard to the third decisive support-condition, pakatupanissaya-paccaya, the commentary to the "Patthana" (the Pancappakaranatthakatha) explains the term "pakata" in pakatupanissaya. Pakata means done properly, done thoroughly. Kusala and akusala which were "done thoroughly", often performed, can become firmly accumulated, they can become habitual. In this way they are a cogent reason, a powerful inducement for the arising of kusala and akusala later on, which are the dhammas conditioned by them, the paccayupanna dhammas. Also external conditions, such as temperature, food, dwelling place and friends one associates with can be cogent reasons for the dhammas which they cause to arise.

The commentary defines in addition the term pakatupanissaya, by explaining the word "pakati" which is connected with "pakatupanissaya", as naturally, by nature. The conditioning factor conditions the arising of other dhammas naturally, and it can condition them without the assistance of decisive support-condition of object or proximate decisive support-condition. For example, when there is strong confidence (saddha) in kusala, this can be a cogent reason for the arising of kusala citta without the need to be dependent on decisive support-condition of object or proximity decisive support-condition.

We read in the "Patthana" (Faultless Triplet, VII, Investigation Chapter, Conditions Positive, §423,c, natural strong dependence):

By the strong dependence of confidence... of precept (sila)... of learning... generosity... By the strong dependence of wisdom, (one) offers the offering, undertakes the precept, fulfils the duty of observance, develops jhana, develops insight, develops path, develops superknowledge, develops attainment. Confidence, precept, learning, generosity, wisdom is related to confidence, precept, learning, generosity, wisdom, by strong dependence condition.

Good and bad qualities accumulated in the past become our nature, they condition the different cittas in the present life by way of natural decisive support-condition. We read in the "Maha-Sutasoma Jataka" (Jataka Stories V, no. 537) that the Buddha said that not only in his present life he had tamed the robber Angulimala who had slain many people but later on attained arahatship, but also in a former life when the Buddha was King Sutasoma and Angulimala was the King of Baranasi. Once the King's cook could not obtain meat and gave him, without telling him, human flesh. We read (458):

... No sooner was a bit of the meat placed on the tip of the King's tongue than it sent a thrill through the seven thousand nerves of taste and continued to create a disturbance throughout his whole body. Why was this? From his having previously resorted to this food....

His longing for human flesh became exceedingly strong, it determined his whole life. He was unable to give up his craving, so he abandoned his kingdom and kept on murdering for the sake of human flesh. He had accumulated greed for human flesh because in his preceding life he had been a man-eating Yakkha. His previous accumulations were the natural decisive support-condition for the arising of greed for human flesh and for his killing of human beings. He could not refrain from taking human flesh. Thus we see that deeds performed in the past are a natural decisive support-condition for deeds at the present. Akusala kamma is dangerous since it does not only produce unpleasant vipaka, but by performing akusala kamma the tendency is accumulated to perform akusala kamma again.

We read in the same jataka that one day the King seized Sutasoma, the Bodhisatta. Sutasoma asked permission to be temporarily released in order to fulfill a promise he had made to a brahmin, and after he had done so he returned to the man-eater without fear, and preached to him. He said (491):

Of all the sweets this world can yield to me
None sweeter than the joys of Truth I see:
Brahmins and priests that in the Truth abide,
Birth, death escaping, reach the further side.

The Bodhisatta said that he was willing to give up all his wealth, his limbs and his life for the sake of truth. He converted and tamed the man-eater. The perfections (paramis) he had accumulated conditioned his heroic attitude and his preference for the truth.

The Bodhisatta developed all the perfections during countless lives in order to attain Buddhahood. We may have accumulated an interest in the Dhamma but the perfections have not been accumulated to the degree that stages of insight can arise and that enlightenment can be attained. Mindfulness of realities does not often arise, but its arising cannot be controlled by a "self", it is dependent on the right conditions. Not only right understanding, but also other wholesome qualities such as generosity, sila, metta and patience have to be developed. They are sobhana cetasikas, beautiful mental factors, which are sankharakkhandha, the khandha of "formations"^[1]. The different factors of which this khandha is composed mutually strengthen and support one another and thus conditions are accumulated for enlightenment. During the process of cittas when enlightenment is attained panna realizes the true nature of the reality which appears, it realizes one of the three characteristics of that reality, namely impermanence, dukkha or anatta. At that moment the accumulated perfections including panna are the natural decisive support-condition, pakatupanissaya paccaya, for the complete abandoning of all clinging to the wrong view of self and then nibbana can be realized.

We read in the "Patthana" (under Strong Dependence, §423):

The preparation for the first path^[2] is related to the first path by (natural) strong dependence-condition.

The same is said with regard to the second, third and fourth path. Moreover, the first path is related to the second path by natural strong dependence, and it is the same with the subsequent paths.

This reminds us that lokuttara citta cannot arise without the right conditions. During the process when enlightenment is attained, one of the three characteristics of reality, impermanence, dukkha or anatta, is realized just before lokuttara citta arises. Only one of the three characteristics is realized at that moment since citta can have only one object at a time. However, before the three characteristics of reality can be known as they are, right understanding of all namas and rupas which appear in daily life has to be gradually developed, and moreover, the "perfections" have to be accumulated.

The natural decisive support-condition, pakatupanissaya paccaya, is very wide. Kusala citta can be a natural decisive support-condition for akusala citta. We read in the "Patthana" ( same section, §423, II b):

Confidence, precept, learning, generosity, wisdom is related to lust, hate, delusion, conceit, wrong views, wish, by (natural) strong dependence-condition.

One's knowledge of the Dhamma may be a natural decisive support-condition for conceit or for wrong view. One may have studied the Dhamma but one may not consider nama and rupa appearing in daily life and one may have wrong understanding of the practice of vipassana. Or someone may have confidence in a teacher who practises in the wrong way and thus he may, because of confidence, follow the wrong practice.

Kusala can lead to aversion, it can be a natural decisive support-condition for aversion. When we make an effort to help someone else that person may not appreciate it and then aversion may arise. If we do not study the different conditions we may not understand how the doing of good deeds can be a condition for the arising of akusala citta. If we do not develop satipatthana with the purpose of eradicating akusala, the kusala we perform can, without our noticing it, be a natural decisive support-condition for akusala citta.

Kusala citta can lead to bodily discomfort, which is akusala vipakacitta. One may, for example, pay respect at the Buddhist holy places in India, and this is a wholesome deed. However, the hotel where one stays may be dilapidated, without facilities, and this causes one to suffer from heat, mosquitos and other discomforts. Thus, there is body-consciousness which is akusala vipaka. This is produced by akusala kamma, but it is also conditioned by kusala kamma by way of natural decisive support-condition. Phenomena which arise are not merely conditioned by one type of condition but by several types.

Accumulated unwholesome inclinations are a natural decisive support-condition for the arising of akusala citta at the present time. Accumulated dosa can lead to the killing of living beings. Also accumulated lobha can lead to killing, for example, when one kills because one wishes to have someone's property. At the moment of killing there is dosa-mula-citta, but lobha can motivate the deed, it can be natural decisive support-condition. When one commits one kind of akusala it can easily lead to the committing of other types of akusala. We read in the "Patthana"( same section, §423, IV, c):

Killing is related to killing... stealing... unlawful intercourse with the other sex... lying... slander... rude speech... foolish babble... avarice... ill-will... wrong views by strong dependence-condition.

It is then explained that stealing and the other kinds of evil are related to all kinds of akusala by way of decisive support-condition. We may think that it is not very harmful to indulge in idle, useless speech. However, this kind of speech can be a natural decisive support-condition for lying, stealing, killing or other kinds of akusala kamma. Akusala can also be a natural decisive support-condition for kusala. Because of aversion towards akusala vipaka or attachment to kusala vipaka one may perform good deeds. One may regret the akusala one performed in the past and then, in order to counteract it, one performs kusala. We read in the "Patthana" (same section, §423, V):

After having killed, (one) offers the offering, undertakes the precept, fulfils the duty of observance, develops jhana, develops insight, develops path, develops superknowledge, develops attainment, to counteract it.

The same is said with regard to other kinds of evil deeds, they can be a natural decisive support-condition for kusala. Kamma is also a natural decisive support-condition for the vipaka it produces. We performed many kinds of kamma also in past lives, but we do not know which kamma will produce result at a particular moment. When there is at this moment vipakacitta which experiences a pleasant or an unpleasant object through one of the senses we know that kamma is a cogent reason, a decisive support-condition for the result. We are born in the human plane and therefore we know that kusala kamma has produced the patisandhi-citta. Among the innumerable deeds done in the past that particular kamma has been a powerful inducement, a natural decisive support-condition for the patisandhi-citta. Kamma has by its own nature the power to cause the arising of the appropriate result, even after countless lives, it is natural decisive support-condition for that result. It does not have to depend on decisive support-condition of object or on proximate decisive support-condition to produce its result. As we have seen, kusala kamma and akusala kamma performed in the past are also a natural decisive support-condition for kusala kamma and akusala kamma at the present time. Evenso by the performing of good or evil deeds now we accumulate the tendency to doing similar deeds later on, thus, such actions are natural decisive support-condition for future deeds. The natural decisive support-condition is very wide, it comprises also vipaka which conditions akusala citta or kusala citta, or vipaka which conditions vipaka. Vipaka conditions kusala citta when one, for example, suffers bodily pain and is reminded by it that life is short and that one therefore should not delay the development of right understanding. Vipaka conditions akusala citta when one has aversion towards pain. Body-consciousness which is kusala vipaka can condition body-consciousness which is akusala vipaka by natural decisive support-condition. When it is hot outside one may use air-conditioning and this may cause bodily well-being. But then the temperature inside may become too cold and one suffers bodily discomfort or catches a cold. Akusala vipaka can condition kusala vipaka by natural decisive support-condition. When we are sick we may have to follow a painful therapy in order to get cured and then there is akusala vipaka through the bodysense, but as a result there will be bodily well-being again.

Not only realities but also concepts can be a natural decisive support-condition for phenomena which arise. We should know when the object of thinking is a concept. When the object which citta experiences is not a nama or a rupa it is a concept. Most of the time we think of events and circumstances with regard to a particular person. The concept of person can then be a natural decisive support-condition for attachment or for loving kindness. If someone has acquired knowledge in the field of science or art and he knows how to apply what he has learnt, there are concepts which can then condition kusala citta, akusala citta and different types of vipakacitta by way of natural decisive support-condition. We need to think of concepts in order to take care of ourselves or in order to understand the Dhamma, and thus, time and again in our daily life concepts condition different types of citta by way of natural decisive support-condition.

Natural decisive support-condition also comprises factors such as climate, food, dwelling-place, family and friends. We can notice that good and bad friends condition our spiritual progress or decline. Someone may be in the company of bad friends who induce him to take drugs or alcoholic drinks, but the same person may be at another time with a good friend in the Dhamma who explains the teachings to him. It depends on his accumulated inclinations whether he will continue to be with the wrong friends or with the right friends. It is beneficial to know our different accumulations and the different conditions which play their part in our life.

We can experience that bodily health or sickness conditions our cittas. Food, taken in the right amount, can be the condition for our ability to develop right understanding. The Buddha, before his enlightenment, fasted to the extent of becoming completed emaciated. He then understood that he was not practising the Middle Way and he took rice-gruel offered to him by Sujata. On that day food was a natural decisive support-condition for the development of the right path leading to his enlightenment. The right dwelling-place can also be a natural decisive support-condition for one's spiritual progress. The Buddha explained into the minutest details how dwelling-places should be kept and cleaned, out of compassion. He thought of the well-being of the monks. We read for example in the "Vinaya" (Book of the Discipline V, Culla-vagga, Ch VIII, On Observances, 208) that a monk should clear out an unoccupied dwelling-place and then clean it:

... If there are cobwebs in the dwelling-place, he should first remove them from the (floor-) covering. He should wipe the corners of the window-holes. If a wall that was coloured red becomes stained, he should wipe it having moistened a rag, having wrung it out. If ground that was blackened becomes stained, he should wipe it having moistened a rag, having wrung it out. If the ground has not been treated, he should sweep it having sprinkled it all over with water, thinking: "take care lest the dwelling-place is sullied with dust". Having looked for (any) rubbish, he should remove it to one side....

We may believe that thinking of concepts which, for example, pertain to the cleaning of our house may hinder the practice of satipatthana. We may be inclined to separate awareness of nama and rupa from thinking of the chores we have to do in our home. Both monks and laypeople have to think of concepts, but there can be awareness and understanding of thinking as a conditioned nama and there can also be awareness of other realities which appear. Seeing and visible object appear time and again and by awareness of their characteristics they can be known as they are. The Buddha had explained to the monks very often to be aware during all their activities and thus he did not have to repeat this again, it was understood. When we read about the monk`s chores we can be reminded to be aware, also while we are doing such chores, just as the monks.

A suitable climate is a natural decisive support-condition for the development of panna. We read in the Commentary to the "Satipatthana Sutta", the "Papancasudani"^[3], in the Introduction, about the reason why the Buddha preached this sutta to the people of the Kurus:

The inhabitants of the Kuru country- bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, upasakas, upasikas (layfollowers)- by reason of their country being blessed with a perfect climate and through their enjoyment of other comfortable conditions were always healthy in body and in mind. They, happy with healthy minds and bodies, and having the power of knowledge, were capable of receiving deep teachings....

The climate was not the only condition for them to receive the teachings, they also had accumulated panna. Oppressive weather and bad food can lead to dosa which may be so strong that one kills or performs other evil deeds. Habits such as going to sleep and waking up at a particular time are according to our nature, they are conditioned by way of natural decisive support. If one is not negligent there can be sati before going to sleep and also as soon as one wakes up. Someone who is indolent is bound to have attachment before he goes to sleep and when he wakes up. We may regret it that there is not often sati before going to sleep and when we wake up, but when there is more understanding of conditions we see that sati is anatta.

The place where someone is born and where he lives can be a natural decisive support-condition for panna. Birth in the human plane and in a place where we can hear the Dhamma is rare. By the following sutta we can be reminded not to waste any opportunity to develop right understanding. We read in the "Gradual Sayings" (I, Book of the Ones, Ch XIX, Trifling):

Even as, monks, in this Rose-apple Land trifling in number are the pleasant parks, the pleasant groves, the pleasant grounds and lakes, while more numerous are the steep precipitous places, unfordable rivers, dense thickets of stakes and thorns, and inaccessible mountains,- just so few in number are those beings that are born on land: more numerous are the beings that are born in water.

Just so few in number are the beings that are reborn among men: more numerous are the beings that are born among others than men.

Just so few in number are those beings that are reborn in the middle districts: more numerous are those reborn in the outlying districts, among the undiscerning barbarians.

Just so few in number are those beings that are wise, quick-witted, not deaf or dumb, competent to judge the meaning of what is spoken well or ill: more numerous are those beings that are foolish, slow-witted, deaf or dumb, incompetent to judge the meaning of what is spoken well or ill.

Just so few in number are those beings that are possessed of the ariyan eye of wisdom^[4]: more numerous are those sunk in ignorance and bewilderment.

Just so few in number are those beings that get the chance of seeing a Tathagata^[5]: more numerous are they that do not.

Just so few in number are those beings that welcome, when they hear it, the Dhamma and Discipline set forth by a Tathagata: more numerous are they that do not.

Just so few in number are those beings, that, on hearing Dhamma, learn it by heart: more numerous are they that do not.

Just so few in number are those beings that examine the meaning of the doctrines they have learnt by heart... that, understanding the meaning and understanding the doctrine, live in accordance with it... that are stirred by stirring topics... that, being stirred, strive systematically... that, making resolution their object, win concentration, win one-pointedness of mind... that gain the best of food and condiments: more numerous are they that do not, but just exist on gathered scraps and food collected in a bowl.

Just so few in number are those beings that are winners of the essence of the meaning, the essence of Dhamma, the essence of release: more numerous are those that do not.

Wherefore I say to you, monks, thus must you train yourselves: We will become winners of the essence of the meaning, of the essence of Dhamma, of the essence of release. That is how you must train yourselves.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

All cetasikas other than feeling and sanna, remembrance, are included in sankharakkhandha.

[2]:

The magga-citta of the first stage of enlightenment, the stage of the "streamwinner", sotapanna. There are four stages of enlightenment.

[3]:

Middle Length Sayings I, no. 10. The Sutta and Commentary are translated by Ven. Soma, in "The Way of Mindfulness", B.P.S. Kandy.

[4]:

The path, with insight.

[5]:

The "Thus gone", epithet of the Buddha.