3.10.8.4

Lesson 3.10.8.4 Paṭṭhānapāli – Cittavīthi, Part Four - The Process of Cognition

With the beautiful metaphor ‘like the stream of a river flowing uninterruptedly onward’ (abbocchinnaṃ nadīsoto viya pavattati), the Abhidhamma describes the incessant stream of the life-continuum (bhavaṅga) from the moment of conception up to the instant of passing away (cuticitta). This general passive flow of the life continuum during one’s existence, where hundreds of challenges have to be met and thousands of tasks to be resolved by every individual, humankind tends to take for granted. Furthermore, one usually remains completely ignorant that existence as a human being is a rare condition — and a result of good kamma — and even expects that all bodily functions should automatically work and the psychological processes will run as they do without ever considering the unidentified complexity behind them. This lesson tries to succinctly summarise the thorough explanation that the Abhidhamma offers by throwing light on these ‘unknown’ automatic procedures. For this, the term cittavīthi is used to describe the ‘process of cognition’. Vīthi means an ‘avenue’ — an avenue through which the cittāni ‘travel’ to perform their necessary functions in the process of cognition. In the elucidation of the cittavīthi, the Abhidhamma distinguishes between the processes of imprint on the sense doors by material objects (pañcadvārāvīthi) and the impact that occurs on the mind door through mental objects (manodvārāvīthi). This course of recognition undergoes altered phases and processes. A further differentiation is made for a meditator, who focuses on a clear, distinct and selected object during meditation. Such a process operates differently and is therefore called ‘process of absorption’ (appanājavana manodvāravīthi).