Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammāsambuddhassa

Introduction to 3.8.12 - Cittānupassanā 

The Observation of Mind – Comprehending its Quality and Character  

Tattha cittaṃ tāva catubbidhaṃ hoti

kāmāvacaraṃ rūpāvacaraṃ

arūpāvacaraṃ lokuttarañceti¹

 

Thus the state of mind/consciousness is fourfold:

Belonging to the sense sphere, to the fine material sphere,

To the immaterial sphere or supramundane. 

 

Aṭṭhadhā lobhamūlāni, dosamūlāni ca dvidhā.

Mohamūlāni ca dveti, dvādasākusalā siyuṃ²

 

Eight states are rooted in greed, two in aversion

Two rooted in delusion, thus there are

Twelve types of unwholesome states of mind/consciousness.

 

     The Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta subdivides the observation of the multiple manifestations occurring in the complex mind-matter phenomenon into the four chapters of kāyānupassanā, vedanānupassanā, cittānupassanā and dhammānupassanā. While the material structure of the body is understood by observation/awareness of kāyānupassanā and vedanānupassanā, the mental structure gets comprehended by observation/awareness with cittānupassanā and dhammānupassanā. Both sides of the psychic structure, the observation of mind –cittānupassanā– and the observation of the mind’s contents –dhammānupassanā– belong likewise together as so do kāyānupassanā and vedanānupassanā on the physical level.³

     Citta – ‘citte cittānupassī’ – translated as ‘observing mind in mind’ follows the traditional habitually used term ‘mind’. Here a meditator experiences different states of mind and consciousness (as referred to below) and should discern these detached and neutrally. Still this fundamental and wide-ranging expression ‘mind’ needs some further investigation.

     The revised PTS-dictionary by Margaret Cone provides the following definition and translation for ‘citta’: ‘process of thinking’, ‘thought’, ‘state of mind’, ‘moment of consciousness, mental state’, and ‘type of consciousness’. Its close connection to ‘mano’ and ‘viññāṇa’ is described in the traditional PTS-dictionary by Rhys Davids and William Stede: ‘mano’ as mind represents the intellectual functioning of consciousness, ‘viññāṇa’ the field of sense and sense-perception and ‘citta’ the subjective aspect of consciousness’. ‘Mano’ also represents the sixth sense in the field of internal sense organs and external objects of sense-doors of the twelve āyatanāni⁴. Likewise each of the six senses gets perceived by its respective ‘viññāṇa’⁵.

     ‘Viññāṇa’ signifies the resultant base on which mind and body arise as highlighted in the paṭiccasamuppāda anuloma⁶, and ‘viññāṇa’ further carries the last thought-moment⁷ and connects⁸ with the subsequent sphere of the next existence. ‘Mind’ is also used in the context of the term ‘nāmarūpa’, the designation of a conceptional potential identity of individuality – ‘pañcupādānakkhandhā’ – where ‘nāma’ denotes the four mental aggregates, rūpa’ the material corporality⁹.

     The commentary¹⁰ qualifies citta and its activity in the following way:

‘Cintetīti cittaṃ, ārammaṇaṃ vijānātīti attho.’

‘Citta signifies that which cognizes and properly discerns an object.’

     So ‘citta’ is defined as the agent and at the same time likewise the activity of the process of cognizing the object: Atha vā cintanamattaṃ cittaṃ.

     ‘Citta’ is also the apparatus by which the associated states are being recognized: Cintenti vā etena karaṇabhūtena sampayuttadhammāti¹¹ cittaṃ.

     Citte cittānupassī – observing and understanding ‘mind in mind’ refers to the quality, the character of the mind, to the condition and state of the respective consciousness. When mind or consciousness turn into the object of observation itself then its condition is qualified by the accompanying factors that determine the respective current character. Thus the meditator is advised to remain aware of the occurring different sixteen types of consciousness highlighted below:

     “… kathetvā idāni soḷasavidhena cittānupassanaṃ kathetuṃ…”¹²

     In general these sixteen types – soḷasavidhena cittānupassanaṃ – designate pairs of unwholesome or wholesome, undeveloped or developed, emergent or established character.

     The English translation provides conventional corresponding terms for these sixteen qualifications of mental states a meditator may encounter – from ‘sarāgaṃ vā’ … ‘vītarāgaṃ vā’ … to … ‘vimuttaṃ vā’ … ‘avimuttaṃ vā.’ The chosen terms for translation usually should allow the meditator sufficient base for proper comprehension. Still, the following reference to the commentatial explanation – ‘vaṇṇanā’ – in the subsequent sequence may invite for a more sophisticated and deeper reconsideration:

●      sarāgaṃ vā cittaṃ                                        vītarāgaṃ vā cittaṃ

Vaṇṇanā:

                                            ‘tattha sarāganti aṭṭhavidhalobhasahagataṃ’¹³

‘(mind) with craving’ designates the eight types (of consciousness) accompanied by greed’¹⁴

                                             ‘vītarāganti lokiyakusalābyākataṃ’¹⁵

‘mind without craving’ designates those worldly wholesome and indeterminate states’¹⁶

 

●      sadosaṃ vā cittaṃ                                        vītadosaṃ vā cittaṃ

Vaṇṇanā:

                                               Sadosanti duvidhadomanassasahagataṃ¹⁷

‘mind with aversion’ designates the two types (of consciousness) accompanied by dejection,

 

                                          Vītadosanti lokiyakusalābyākataṃ

‘mind without aversion’ designates those worldly wholesome and indeterminate states

 

●      samohaṃ vā cittaṃ                                   vītamohaṃ vā cittaṃ

Vaṇṇanā:

                                                Samohanti vicikicchāsahagatañceva, uddhaccasahagatañcāti duvidhaṃ¹⁸

‘mind with delusion’ designates the two types (of consciousness) accompanied by doubt and accompanied by agitation

                                          Vītamohanti lokiyakusalābyākataṃ

‘mind without delusion’ designates those worldly wholesome and indeterminate states

 

●      saṅkhittaṃ vā cittaṃ                                vikkhittaṃ vā cittaṃ

Vaṇṇanā:

                                               Saṅkhittanti thinamiddhānupatitaṃ. Etañhi saṅkuṭitacittaṃ nāma.

‘Collected mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) oppressed by sloth and torpor. This is why it is called ‘shriveled mind’.

                                               Vikkhittanti uddhaccasahagataṃ, etañhi pasaṭacittaṃ nāma¹⁹

‘Scattered mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) associated with agitation. This is why it is called ‘stretched mind’. ²⁰

 

●      mahaggataṃ vā cittaṃ                             amahaggataṃ vā cittaṃ

Vaṇṇanā:

                                               Mahaggatanti rūpārūpāvacaraṃ

‘expanded mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) of fine-material and immaterial spheres.

                                          Amahaggatanti kāmāvacaraṃ²¹

‘Unexpanded mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) of the sense sphere.

 

●      sauttaraṃ vā cittaṃ                                  anuttaraṃ vā cittaṃ

Vaṇṇanā:

                                              Sauttaranti kāmāvacaraṃ

‘Surpassable mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) of the sense sphere.

                                        Anuttaranti rūpāvacaraṃ arūpāvacarañca.

Tatrāpi sauttaraṃ rūpāvacaraṃ, anuttaraṃ arūpāvacarameva.²²

‘Unsurpassable mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) of fine-material and immaterial spheres. Here ‘surpassable’ refers to the sense sphere, ‘unsurpassable’ refers to the fine-material and immaterial sphere.

 

●      samāhitaṃ vā cittaṃ                                 asamāhitaṃ vā cittaṃ

Vaṇṇanā:

                                              Samāhitanti yassa appanāsamādhi upacārasamādhi vā atthi

‘concentrated mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) that is of the state of attainment concentration or neighborhood concentration.²³

                                        Asamāhitanti ubhayasamādhivirahitaṃ²⁴

‘unconcentrated mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) without these two kinds of concentration

 

●      vimuttaṃ vā cittaṃ                                      avimuttaṃ vā cittaṃ.

Vaṇṇanā:

                                             Vimuttanti tadaṅgavikkhambhanavimuttīhi²⁵ vimuttaṃ

‘freed mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) that is freed by emancipation and elimination (of the nīvaraṇā) and thus liberated.

                                       Avimuttanti ubhayavimuttivirahitaṃ. Samucchedapaṭippassaddhinissaraṇavimuttīnaṃ²⁶ pana idha okāsova natthi

‘not freed mind’ designates the type (of consciousness) without these two kinds of liberation. Here there is no occasion for release through cutting off (the defilements) by tranquillisation and expulsion.²⁷

     A reminder may conclude this lesson:

     None of the four satipaṭṭhānā is isolated, all ‘flow’ along with each other, all are interrelated and reciprocally interconnected; everything that arises in the mind is accompanied by respective sensations in the physical structure as it is highlighted:

… “vedanāsamosaraṇā sabbe dhammā”²⁸  

The meditator dwells with neutral observation and objective notification of the above sixteen states of mind, with the main focus on the arising and disappearance of the flow of different vedanā:

… samudayadhammānupassī vā cittasmiṃ viharati,

vayadhammānupassī vā cittasmiṃ viharati,

samudayavayadhammānupassī vā cittasmiṃ viharati