Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

Ekuppādanirodhā¹ ca, ekālambaṇavatthukā²

Cetoyuttā dvipaññāsa, dhammā cetasikā matā.^3,4

The fifty-two states⁵ associated with consciousness that arise and cease together,

That have the same object and the same base, these are known as mental factors.

With this verse the Abhidhammatthasaṅgaho introduces the chapter Cetasikaparicchedo that describes and structures all fifty-two cetasikā together. Cetasikā, translated as ‘mental factors’ or ‘mental concomitants’, are the accompanying constituents, concomitants or mental factors that provide the specific character, quality or disposition to all respective cittāni⁶ and execute particular functions in the process of cognition.

Citta and cetasikā cannot be separated: they arise together, they likewise cease together, and they focus on the same object and are arising from the same base.⁷ Different cittāni contain an altered combination of different cetasikā and not all cittāni are accompanied by the same amount of cetasikā.⁸

The previous lessons, that provided a short survey about the states of citta based on the triad of kusalā, akusalā and abyākatā, pursued the order of the Abhidhammatthasaṅgaho beginning with those states that were unwholesome (akusalā).⁹ This lesson now continues with the exposition of the cetasikā as conveyed in the Dhammasaṅgaṇī. The Dhammasaṅgaṇī is the first book in the order of collections in the Abhidhamma, and after having introduced all mātikā,¹⁰ then commences in the ‘section on consciousness and its concomitants’ (Cittuppādakaṇḍaṃ) with the chapter on ‘kammically wholesome states of mind’ (Kāmāvacarakusalaṃ). The Cittuppādakaṇḍaṃ directly describes the wholesome cittāni and enumerates the accompanying cetasikā by raising the question: which are the mental states that are called wholesome (Katame dhammā kusalā)?

In reply, each of the eight wholesome cittāni¹¹ is then analysed in the same way: by first listing then describing all accompanying cetasikā, beginning with the first citta in the group of aṭṭhapi sahetukakāmāvacarakusalacittāni kāmāvacarasobhanacittaṃ.

Yasmiṃ samaye kāmāvacaraṃ kusalaṃ cittaṃ uppannaṃ hoti somanassasahagataṃ ñāṇasampayuttaṃ …¹²

When at a particular moment a certain mental state pertaining to the sensuous sphere has arisen that is accompanied by delightful feeling and associated with knowledge …

After the enumeration of the accompanying factors the cittuppādakaṇḍaṃ then straightaway qualifies each of the listed fifty-six cetasikā in detail in the following manner beginning with the first in the list:¹³

Katamo tasmiṃ samaye phasso hoti?

Yo tasmiṃ samaye phasso phusanā saṃphusanā saṃphusitattaṃ – ayaṃ tasmiṃ samaye phasso hoti.

Now what on that occasion specifies contact?

At that occasion there is contact when there is touching, being brought into contact, that state of being touched – then at that occasion there is contact.

What follows is a similar description of each of the remaining fifty-five listed cetasikā. It then moves through the different additional categories¹⁴ of the mental states by highlighting their respective concomitants. Each section concludes:

Ye vā pana tasmiṃ samaye aññepi atthi paṭiccasamuppannā arūpino dhammā – ime dhammā kusalā.

These or whatever other immaterial phenomena exist at this occasion and are dependently arisen – these are wholesome phenomena.

The Sutta Piṭaka refers to mind in the terminology of nāmarūpa as the pañca upādānakkhandha with the four mental aggregates and matter as rūpakkhandha. It may be noted that the Dhammasaṅgaṇī in the process of giving specific details and an enumeration of the constituents pertaining to the wholesome consciousness of the kāmāvacara¹⁵ asks and refers to the four mental upādānakkhandha:

Katame tasmiṃ samaye cattāro khandhā honti?

Vedanākkhandho, saññākkhandho, saṅkhārakkhandho, viññāṇakkhandho.

The qualification shows that the vedanākkhandha at that moment consists of pleasurable and easeful mental feeling and pleasant and easeful sensation born from the contact with mind (cetosamphassajā).¹⁶

Likewise the exposition of the saññākkhandha refers to the state of perception and perceiving,¹⁷ and the viññāṇakkhandho also is qualified by the general terminology that embraces all variations of thought, cognition, sphere and faculty of mind, consciousness, aggregate of consciousness or appropriate mind-element of consciousness.¹⁸

When the saṅkhārakkhandho is explained,¹⁹ ALL the remaining cetasikā are listed to show that saṅkhāra contains, embraces or includes, and is composed through the combination of all other mental factors excluding the other three mental aggregates:

… ye vā pana tasmiṃ samaye aññepi atthi paṭiccasamuppannā arūpino dhammā ṭhapetvā vedanākkhandhaṃ ṭhapetvā saññākkhandhaṃ ṭhapetvā viññāṇakkhandhaṃ – ayaṃ tasmiṃ samaye saṅkhārakkhandho hoti.

… These or whatever other immaterial phenomena exist at this occasion and are dependently arisen excluding the aggregate of sensation, the aggregate of perception and the aggregate of consciousness – that at that occasion is the aggregate of saṅkhāra.

Here the qualification of the Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary summarises saṅkhāra as [the italics are mine]:

‘… One of the five khandhas, or constitutional elements of physical life, comprising all the citta-sampayutta-cetasikā dhamma — i.e. the mental concomitants, or adjuncts which come, or tend to come, into consciousness at the uprising of a citta, or unit of cognition. As thus classified, the saṅkhāras form the mental factor corresponding to the bodily aggregate or rūpakkhandha, and are in contrast to the three khandhas which represent a single mental function only. …’²⁰