3.10.8.3

Lesson 3.10.8.3 Paṭṭhānapāli – Citta, Part Three - ‘Rūpāvacaracittāni, Arūpāvacaracittāni, Lokuttaracittāni’ - States of Consciousness

Beings who dwell in the first sphere of existence, the sphere of sense (kāmāvacara), will commonly experience fifty-four possible mental states of consciousness. These are the twelve unwholesome cittāni, the eighteen rootless states (ahetukacittāni), and the twenty-four beautiful (sobhanacittāni) states based on the wholesome roots of non-aversion, non-greed and non-delusion. The humans that devote themselves to intensive, ardent meditation — depending on the subject and focus of their concentration — can attain and encounter further states of consciousness that ordinary worldlings do not usually encounter. These further states of consciousness, described in the current lesson, belong to the sphere of fine material matter, rūpāvacara. Fifteen stages that occur in this sphere are divided into five wholesome, five resultant and five merely functional. Likewise twelve types of cittāni can be experienced in the arūpāvacara, the immaterial plane of existence, which are separated into three sets of wholesome, resultant and functional. Furthermore, eight rare types of consciousness are encountered by someone who pursues and finally achieves the four stages of liberation. These are called supramundane consciousness (lokuttarakusalacittāni) and each is experienced twofold as path-consciousness (maggacitta) and fruition-consciousness (phalacitta).