Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

Pāpāhetukamuttāni,¹ sobhanānīti vuccare.

Ekūnasaṭṭhi² cittāni, athekanavutīpi³ vā.

Those (states of mind) that exclude what is evil⁴ and those that have no roots,⁵

are called beautiful; they are fifty-nine or number up to eighty-nine.

When a meditator studies the Abhidhamma and learns that out of eighty-nine, or even one-hundred-twenty-one, cittāni ONLY twelve are unwholesome, he may be taken by surprise!

Isn’t it so that during one’s inner journey, one seems to initially face truckloads of unwholesome thoughts and reactions compared to those that are calm and tranquil? Isn’t it so that most of the time, unwholesome, unpleasant mental reactions (saṅkharā), based in the negative roots of lobha and dosa, seem to prevail or produce annoying reactions or unfathomable agitation? Additionally, there are other reactions that, based on moha, may not even be noticed properly due to the intrinsic character of delusion!

Doesn’t it take quite a long time till one finally experiences more positive thoughts of non-greed (alobha) and non-aversion (adosa)? Why do those few (twelve) mental states — compared to the high number of the remaining seventy-seven or even one hundred and nine remaining ‘beautiful’ cittāni — seem to play such a dominant role?

Furthermore, does not the cittānupassanā section of the Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta⁶ advise a meditator to further observe and be aware of such stages as:

… mahaggataṃ vā cittaṃ ‘mahaggataṃ citta’nti pajānāti;⁷

… anuttaraṃ vā cittaṃ ‘anuttaraṃ citta’nti pajānāti;⁸

… samāhitaṃ vā cittaṃ ‘samāhitaṃ citta’nti pajānāti;⁹

… vimuttaṃ vā cittaṃ ‘vimuttaṃ citta’nti pajānāti.¹⁰

The reply to these reservations must consider in more detail the possible achievement of those mental states:

These are in general called sobhanacittāni, and it must be fathomed on one hand that to encounter such states in meditation expects a highly developed, skilled and experienced meditator. They require thorough training, enduring persistence and establishment in one’s development of concentration and calm. For this, the ‘grosser’, ‘unrefined’, and ‘sticky’ unwholesome saṅkharā need to be discarded to a certain extent. Only then those fields of ‘subtler’, ‘finer’ and ‘deeper’ stages may be experienced beyond those of the first category, the ‘eight types of wholesome sense-sphere consciousness with roots’.

One the other hand, one will also recognize that many of those states do not belong to the sphere of humankind, but, when those called resultant (vipākacittāni) are experienced in this existence, they will provide the base for a future existence with the same consciousness. Those of merely functional character (kiriyacittāni) can be experienced by an Arahant only, not by any ordinary worldling.

Thus, out of the overall number of eighty-nine or even one hundred and twenty-one only fifty-four mental states can be experienced in general. These states of mind are determined as sobhanacittāni:  sobhanā – ‘beautiful, shining, embellishing, bright’. They are called ‘with roots’ (sahetuka), because they have either two (alobhamūla, adosamūla) or three (alobhamūla, adosamūla, amohamūla) wholesome roots. Thus, they cannot yield demeritorious deeds and are accompanied by ‘beautiful mental concomitants’.¹¹ They harvest wholesome results. They are subdivided into different categories according to the spheres where they occur:

consciousness that arises in the sense-sphere (kāmāvacarasobhanacittaṃ),

consciousness that arises in the fine-material sphere (rūpāvacaracittaṃ),

consciousness that arises in the non-material sphere (arūpāvacaracittaṃ) and

consciousness that ascends to the supramundane field of Nibbāna (lokuttaracittaṃ).

They further undergo a three-fold classification depending on their origination: are they wholesome (kusala), resultant (vipāka) or functional (kiriya)?

The side-by-side table depicts all these twenty-four mental states as they arise in the first category, the sense-sphere: the ‘wholesome consciousness with roots belonging to the sense-sphere (sa + hetu + ka + kāma + āvacara + kusala + cittāni). These get subdivided into the eight wholesome states (kāmāvacarakusalacittāni), the eight resultant kammic states with roots (sahetukakāmāvacaravipākacittāni) and the same eight functional states with roots that occur with Arahants (sahetukakāmāvacarakiriyacittāni). The only difference in their terminology is the denomination of their quality and function.

The resultants are also characterized as ‘great resultants’ (mahāvipāka) because they perform the function of rebirth-linking consciousness at the next existence and thus constitute the ‘mood’ of the bhavaṅgacitta.¹² The ‘great functionals’ (mahākiriya) are so called because they occur in Arahants when they are performing wholesome acts but do not produce further wholesome kamma. An Arahant has abolished and left behind all hindrances so his meritorious deeds will not produce any more kamma, as there ‘is nothing more to be done’: ‘akuppā me vimutti, ayamantimā jāti, natthidāni punabbhavo’ti.

Comparing the denomination or qualifications of the characteristics of those ‘eight types of wholesome sense-sphere consciousness with roots’ (aṭṭhapi sahetukakāmāvacarakusalacittāni) with the twelve of the unwholesome section of (dvādasākusalacittāni), one will find that view (diṭṭhi) gets removed and substituted by knowledge (ñāṇa). In this way, the akusalacitta converts into a kusalacitta and thus the states become established and defined as ‘wholesome cittas’.

Those eight classes of wholesome consciousness are accompanied by discerning and differentiating concomitant factors that are delight, joyful feeling (somanassa), knowledge (ñāṇa), neutrality or indifference (upekkhā)¹³ and are either prompted (sasasaṅkhārika) or spontaneous (asaṅkhārika). Knowledge (ñāṇa) here refers to the wisdom (paññā) that these mental states and the actions that derive therefrom are wholesome and are producing beneficial results. When such knowledge exists, then the citta is ‘associated with knowledge’ (ñāṇasampayutta); if the same act is done but not supported by this wisdom, then it’s called ‘not associated with knowledge’ (ñāṇavippayutta).

To be described with an example:

‘Somanassasahagataṃ ñāṇasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhārikaṃ’: Here someone gives, spontaneously or out of habit and good volition, nourishment to a monk based on the inner urge of giving with the full knowledge that by this act he performs a wholesome and karmatically good deed and thus experiences the feeling of joy.

‘Upekkhāsahagataṃ ñāṇavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhārikaṃ’: In a similar situation someone may likewise give food to a monk but does so based on the persuasion by another but without knowledge about any effect for his kamma of this deed, and along with his action he may encounter a neutral feeling.

The following summary may conclude this succinct introduction:

During one’s existence as a human and as a follower of the Buddha’s teaching, one should try to generate and develop as many of those eight types of wholesome sense-sphere consciousness (sahetukakāmāvacarakusalacittāni) as possible. These lay the foundation for the opportunity of any of those consciousnesses to pop up at the moment of passing away (cuti) and reoccur as relinking consciousness (paṭisandhi) in the resultant function as kāmāvacaravipākacittāni and dominate the mood, character and quality of the next existence’s life continuum or life energy (bhavaṅgā).¹⁴

For Arahants, while still in their last existences, these cittāniare merely functional during their activities.