Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppāda)

The Law of Dependent Origination is one of the most important teachings of the Buddha, and it is also very profound. The Buddha has often expressed His experience of Enlightenment in one of two ways, either in terms of having understood the Four Noble Truths, or in terms of having understood the nature of the dependent origination. However, more people have heard about the Four Noble Truths and can discuss it than the Law of Dependent Origination, which is just as important.

The fundamental principle at work in dependent origination is that of cause and effect. In dependent origination, what actually takes place in the causal process is described in detail.

In the Dhamma, we are interested to know how the principle of dependent origination is applied to the problem of suffering and rebirth. The issue is how dependent origination can explain why we are still going round in Samsara, or explains the problem of suffering and how we can be free from suffering. Studying (DO) is to find a key crossroad of criss-crossing routes (DO) to complete cessation of all human sufferings.

Dependent Origination (Paticcasamuppāda) is a central doctrine of Buddhism. A proper understanding of Dependent Origination (DO) is essential. It is an integral part of a good and through Knowledge of Theravada Buddhism.

All embryos Buddha, on the night of their Supreme Enlightenment, first investigate into DO and thereafter, practice meditation of mindfulness on five aggregates that are object of all clinging and attain their Supreme Enlightenment. After their attainment of Buddha hood, all Buddha engage themselves in the reflection on DO and the contemplation of Fruition. This clearly illustrates the importance of DO.

DO is indeed very deep and profound. Even the Exquisitor (Commentator) Ashin Maha Buddhaghosa expressed his feeling of inadequacy and trepidation when he came to dealing with the difficult subject of DO in his book “Path of Purity”. He says: “In writing a commentary on DO, I feel like a man who has stepped into the deep ocean. It is far too deep for me”, Venerable Ashin Ananda was also admonished by Lord Buddha, because Ashin Ananda said that DO seemed to be rather shallow to him.

In this DO route there are two orders as the Normal Order which is going round and round in rebirths (saṃsāra) and the Reverse Order that is cutting off the vicious circle (Enlightenment).

Its forward order concerns the first two noble truths, the nature of a living being and rebirth, while its reverse order encompasses the other two truths.

Dependent Origination (DO) in the reverse order:

1. Complete cessation of ignorance, ceases Kamma actions;

2. cessation of Kamma actions, ceases rebirth-linking consciousness;

3. cessation of rebirth-linking consciousness, cease mind and body;

4. cessation of mind and body, cease six sense bases;

5. cessation of six sense bases, ceases contact;

6. cessation of contact, ceases feeling;

7. cessation of feeling, cease craving;

8. cessation of craving, ceases clingings;

9. cessation of clingings, ceases rebirth-producing Kamma (Kamma Bhava);

10. cessation of rebirth-producing Kamma, ceases rebirth;

11. cessation of rebirth, cease old age, death, sorrow, mourning, bodily pain, grief and despair.

In this way the entire mass of suffering ceases by attainment of Path and Fruition Knowledge.

Lord Buddha analyses D.O from different perspectives. In other words, Lord Buddha employs different methods of analyzing. D.O. Basically, there are 7 ways:

(1) 2 roots/ origins

(2) 12 features/ factors/ links

(3) 3 time spans

(4) 20 incidents

(5) 3 connections

(6) 4 layers; and

(7) 3 rounds in DO routes.

To begin with, and very briefly, I will go through each of the twelve factors of dependent origination to give an overall picture of what it is about.

The 12 factors of Dependent Origination namely are

1. Ignorance (Avijjā)

2. Kammic action (Saṅkhāra)

3. Rebirth linking consciousness (Viññāna)

4. Mind and body (Nāmarupa)

5. 6 bases (Saḷayatana)

6. contact (Phassa)

7. feeling (Vedanā)

8. craving (Taṇhā)

9. clinging (Upādāna)

10. Rebirth producing kamma or becoming (Kammabhava)

11. Rebirth (Jāti)

12. Old age/ death (Jarā/ maraṇa)

Two main roots are ignorance (avijjā) and craving (tanhā). By the destruction of these roots, the round ceases. The explanations about twelve factors and are divided into three periods of time (past, present, future) and linked each other.

Its forward order concerns the first two noble truths, the nature of a living being and rebirth, while its reverse order encompasses the other two truths.

According to the Lord Buddha, Ignorance means Ignorance or not realizing the four Noble Truths. At the mundane level, it means not knowing truths and not knowing sense objects and things as they are.

There is one statement by Lord Buddha that ignorance is a starting point of DO. There is the cause to beget ignorance. Four maladies (Four āsavas) are a cause and even a chain of causes that beget ignorance.

Lord Buddha expounded that ignorance has a chain of causes and its origin.

The origin of ignorance is five hindrances in Suttanta Pitaka. Lord Buddha lists 5 hindrances, but in Abhidhamma Pitaka, Lord Buddha lists 6 hindrances, the sixth hindrances being “ignorance” i.e.

(i) craving for sensual pleasures;

(ii) hatred;

(iii) sloth and torpor;

(iv) distraction and remorse;

(v) doubt;

(vi) ignorance.

The origin of five hindrances is threefold sinful action.

The origin of threefold sinful action is not guarding at the six sense doors.

The origin of not guarding at the six sense doors is non-practising of mindfulness and reasoning.

The origin of non-practising of mindfulness and reasoning is inappropriate (wrongful) consideration.

The origin of inappropriate consideration is the lack of confidence.

The origin of the lack of confidence is not listening to sermons and counsel of respectable persons of high morality and wisdom.

The origin of not listening to sermons and counsel of respectable persons of high morality and wisdom is non-association with such persons.

There one thing that it is not because ignorance has no cause. It does have a chain of causes. It is only that ignorance is the first in the sequential order because it is the key crossroad; it is the turning point that if you follow the right route leads you to the exit or can, if you choose the wrong route, send you back into the tangled network of the maze. That is why ignorance is placed find on the requested order.

Kammic action means all moral and immoral action performed by us. The term includes all 29 types of consciousness (12 immoral consciousnesses + 8 Great moral consciousnesses + 5 Fine Material moral consciousnesses + 4 Immaterial moral consciousnesses) complete with 52 mental factors.

Rebirth linking consciousness means resultant consciousness that can perform as Rebirth linking consciousness. The term includes 19 types of resultant consciousness (8 Great resultant consciousnesses + 5 Fine Material resultant consciousnesses + 4 Immaterial resultant consciousnesses + 2 inquiring consciousnesses accompanied by indifferent feeling.

By extended calculation method, rebirth-linking consciousness (Viññāna) includes all 89 types of consciousness. This is what Lord Buddha expounds in the Book of Discourse on Elements (Dhātukathā).

Mind and body means mind and body at the time of conception. Consciousness produces mind and matter. Therefore, with the arising of rebirth-consciousness, mind and matter also arise.

Dependent upon mind and matter the six sense bases arises: eye base, ear base, nose base, tongue base, body base, and mind base. These sense-bases are the doors through which the processes of consciousness occur.

We will now deal with contact, which is conditioned by the six senses. Contact occurs between 6 sense bases and 6 types of external sense objects. The contact between a sense organ and the corresponding sense-objects is called phassa.

Feeling means enjoying the 6 types of external sense objects. The impact on the sense-organs leads to feelings, which may be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral according to the nature of the sense-object.

If the object is beautiful, pleasant feeling arises. If is ugly, we have unpleasant feeling. The feeling is neutral if the object is ordinary. Neutral feeling does not cause any comment, whether favourable or unfavourable. It is not even recognized as a feeling, though it is accepted by the ego. In fact, feelings have nothing to do with the ego or self, but are aspects of the mental process stemming from sense-contact.

Craving means lust or greed on enjoying the sense objects. Because of pleasant or unpleasant feeling, craving (Taṇhā) arises. It craves for sensual objects that one lacks or for more of the objects that one has already.

For the six sense-objects there are six kinds of craving. These six cravings may mean just craving for sensual pleasures (kamataṇhā), or may be associated with craving for existence (bhavataṇhā), which implies eternalism. Craving is also linked with desire for non-existence (vibhavataṇhā).

So, for each of the six sense objects, there are three kinds of craving (kamataṇhā, bhavataṇhā and vibhavataṇhā). These can be summarized in just three groups: craving for sensuality, craving for existence and craving for non-existence.

Craving for sensual pleasure, is focused on sensual objects and sensual realm. Craving for existence is based on the eternity-belief. It assumes the permanence of living beings. Craving for non-existence means the desire for the cessation of the life-stream after death.

Each of these three craving stems from the failure to realize impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self through the introspection of feelings.

Dependent on craving, clinging (attachment) (Upādāna) arises. The term upādāna is a compound of upā = intense, extreme, and adāna = grasp, take. Thus it means to grasp firmly, or intense, obsessive craving.

There are four kinds of clinging, namely,

1. Clinging to sensual pleasure;

2. Clinging to wrong view;

3. Clinging to wrong practices of purification; and

4. Clinging to the notions of the existence of self (worng view of the existence of self).

All these attachments (clinging) are undoubtedly stemmed from craving. Hence the Buddha’s expounds “Dependent on craving, attachment arises,” So, craving is the cause and attachment is the effect.

Attachment leads to becoming (bhāva), of which there are two kinds: kammabhava and upapattibhava. Kammabhava means the kamma that leads to rebirth. In short, kammabhava is the wholesome or unwholesome volition that leads to rebirth.

Upapattibhava means the aggregates of existence that result from kamma. It comprises consciousness, mind and matter, sense-bases, contact, and feeling.

Rebirth occurs in the human, celestial or lower realms because of wholesome or unwholesome kamma. Rebirth producing kamma has as it were, kammic code numbers like genetic code numbers.

Aging, disease, and death are inevitable as long as rebirth takes place. Because of old age /death occurs sorrow (soka), lamentation (parideva), bodily pain (dukkha), grief (domanassa) and despair (upāyāsa) as its consequential effects.

I would like to stress here that (DO) is very much like a maze and how to find a key crossroad, such a key crossroad will be a fork of two routes, one route leading to the exit of the maze and another route, if you go in the wrong direction, sending you back into the tangled network of maze.

It is like difficult to find a way out of the maze. It is much, much more difficult to find an escape route from the maze of (DO).

Insight (cessation of ignorance) is the key crossroad and likes also a right route for a group of people who have lost their way in a wild jungle. At long last, one very intelligent man finds the key crossroad and the route that will take them out of the dangerous jungle to the Golden City of wealth and happiness, which is their destination.

The leader shows his followers the way out of the jungle to the Golden City. Lord Buddha may be likened to the leader in this parable and the beings are his followers. The wild jungle with a large complicated network of criss-crossing routes is D.O

Our experience with the phenomenal world is very much like a dream.

When dreaming, one is experiencing happy moments and unhappy moments.

Then, one gradually awakens. One may be half awakened and half dreaming. Finally, one is fully awakened. He is now a man, enjoying full peace of mind, entirely liberated and free from all illusion.

In this analogy, not realizing that one is dreaming is ignorance of 4 Noble Truths. Consequently, he gets himself involved in the dream, and does certain actions (Kammic actions).

So long as he is involved or so long as he is drifting in the dream, the dream will continue.

His such involvement in the dream and the continuation of the dream clearly explain Kammic actions (saṅkhāra) and the arising of rebirth-linking consciousness (viññāna) (the First Connection).

As the dream goes on, other links will also arise accordingly.

As he drifts through the dream, he enjoys and develops a liking or attachment for the dreaming experience. This will prolong the dream, and take him into a new dream story. Such enjoyment or liking or attachment is similar to the clinging.

The prolongation of the dream or beginning of a new dream story is similar to the arising of rebirth-producing kamma and rebirth (Third Connection.)

Dependent Origination encompasses two life-cycles, the anterior life-cycle and the posterior life-cycle. The anterior cycle begins with ignorance as its main source and end with feeling, while the posterior cycle begins with craving and ends with aging and death.

In the anterior cycle, ignorance and mental formations is the past life lead to rebirth, while in the posterior cycle, craving, attachment, and becoming cause rebirth in the future.

The two cycles show how a person’s lives are linked through cause and effect.

Again, ignorance and mental formations are two links in the past life, the links from consciousness to becoming concern the present life, while birth, aging, and death are the links in the future. Thus the doctrine refers to three periods.

There also twenty factors are involved in the psychophysical process: five causes in the past, five effects in the present, five causes in the present and five effects in the future.

There are four groups of factors are involved in the chain of causation: the first group of causes in the past, the second group of effects in the present, the third group of cause in the present, and the fourth group of effects in the future. They may also be translated as layers.

These four groups have three connections.

(1) The connection between the past cause and the present effect, with mental formations as the cause and consciousness as the effect.

(2) The connection between the present cause and the present effect, with feeling as the cause and craving as the effect.

(3) The connection between the present cause and the future effect, with becoming as the cause and birth as the effect.

The doctrine of Dependent Origination deals with three cycles or rounds (vaṭṭas): defilements, kamma, and resultants.

- The first cycle comprises ignorance, desire, and attachment;

- The second comprises mental formations and becoming; and

- The third comprises consciousness, mind and matter, sense-bases, contact, and feeling.

- Third cycle leads again to the cycle of defilements, which gives rise to the cycle of kamma, and so on without end.

The three cycles drive the saṃsāric round of suffering. Saṃsāra means the continuum of the psychophysical process occurring in a cause-effect relationship.

If we wish to stop the threefold cycle, we must remove its cause – the cycle of defilements. Defilements originate with seeing, hearing, etc., and so we must practice mindfulness to prevent them from arising.

So, you should try to overcome defilements through mindfulness of psychophysical processes arising at the six sense-doors.

In this way you can destroy the spokes of the wheel of life and keep your mind always pure. Eventually you may become arahants and earn the glorious title of Araham.

In conclusion, Understanding the Law of Dependent Origination, how because of one thing something else arises, we can begin to break the chain of conditioning. When pleasant things arise, we don’t cling. When unpleasant things arise, we don’t condemn. And when neutral things arise, we’re not forgetful.

The Buddha said that the way of forgetfulness is the way of death. And that the way of wisdom and awareness is the path to the deathless. We are free to break this chain, to free ourselves from conditioned reactions. It takes a powerful mindfulness in every moment not to allow feelings to generate desire.

When there’s ignorance in the mind, feeling conditions desire. If there’s something pleasant, we want it; something unpleasant, we desire to get rid of it. But if instead of ignorance in the mind there is wisdom and awareness, then we experience feeling but don’t compulsively or habitually grasp or push away. If the feelings are pleasant, we experience them mindfully without clinging.

If unpleasant, we experience them mindfully without condemning. No longer do feelings condition desire; instead, there is mindfulness, detachment, letting go. When there is no desire, there’s no grasping; without grasping, there’s no volitional activity of becoming. If we are not generating that energy, there’s no rebirth, no disease, no old age, no death. We become free. No longer driven on by ignorance and desire, the whole mass of suffering is brought to an end.

Every moment of awareness is a hammer stroke on this chain of conditioning. Striking it with the force of wisdom and awareness, the chain gets weaker and weaker until it breaks. What we are doing here is penetrating into the truth of the Law of Dependent Origination, and freeing our minds from it.

The Seven Books of the Abhidhamma

The Abhidhamma consists of the following seven books:

Dhammasangaṇī (translated as “Buddhist Psychological Ethics”)

Vibhaṅga (translated as “ Book of Analysis”)

Dhātukathā (Translated as “Discourse on Elements”)

Puggalapaññatti (Translated as “A Designation of Human Types”)

Kathā vatthu (Translated as “Points of Controversy”)

Yamaka (the Book of Pairs, not translated into English)

Paṭṭhāna (Translated in part as “Conditional Relations” )

The Dhammasaṅganī begins with the Mātika, a table of contents or matrix, which is an introduction. It is more extensive than a table of contents. It is a survey of the contents of the first book and can even serve as an introduction to all seven books.

The Mātikā begins with: kusala dhammā, akusala dhammā, avyākata dhammā. In these three terms all that is real has been contained.

In avyākata dhammā, indeterminate dhammas, are included all realities that are not kusala or akusala, namely: vipākacittas, kiriyacittas, rūpas and nibbāna.

The whole Tipiṭaka is directed towards the liberation from the cycle of birth and death through insight. This appears also in the Mātika.

The Dhammasaṅganī, the first Book of the Abhidhamma

The Dhammasaṅganī, begins, after the Mātika, with a description of mahā-kusala citta accompanied by paññā.

It enumerates all the sobhana cetasikas assisting this citta while they accompany it just for a moment.

It refers to mahā-kusala citta experiencing an object, be it visible object, sound, odour, flavour, tangible object or dhamma object.

This points to daily life. Time and again citta experiences an object through one of the six doors.

The mahā-kusala citta is accompanied by the cetasikas that always accompany citta, the “universals”, such as contact, feeling or remembrance, saññā, as well as by the “particulars”, pakinnakas, cetasikas that accompany many cittas but not all.

Then follows a list of all the sobhana cetasikas necessary for the arising of even one moment of kusala citta of the sense sphere.

For example, the cetasika confidence or faith, saddhā, always has to accompany kusala citta. If there is no confidence in kusala, kusala citta could not arise. There have to be non-attachment and non-aversion.

When we perform dāna or observe sīla we are not selfish, we are not thinking of our own pleasure and comfort. There is calm with each kusala citta, at such a moment there is no agitation. There has to be sati which is non-forgetful of kusala.

Sobhana cetasikas are necessary so that mahā-kusala citta with paññā can arise just for one extremely brief moment and perform its function, and then citta and cetasikas fall away together.

The cetasikas condition the citta by way of conascence-condition and by several other conditions. Thus, we cannot make kusala arise at will, it has no possessor; there is no one who can direct its arising. It arises when the right conditions are present and then it falls away immediately; nobody can cause it to last.

All the sobhana cetasikas that fall away are accumulated from moment to moment so that there are conditions for the arising again of kusala citta. We shall see that several cetasikas are listed more than once under different aspects, such as understanding as faculty, or as power.

The list ends with: sampajañña (sati and pañña), samatha, vipassanā, paggāha (grasp, which is the faculty of energy), avikkhepa (balance, self-collectedness, another word for ekaggata cetasika, one-pointedness or concentration). Thus we see that these lists are not a mere summing up, but that they point to the development of right understanding of realities.

The Vibhaṅga, the Second Book of the Abhidhamma

The second book of the Abhidhamma is the Vibhaṅga, the Book of Analysis, and its commentary is the “Sammoha Vinodanī” , translated as the “Dispeller of Delusion”.

The Vibhaṅga gives an explanation of the khandhas (aggregates), āyatanas (sense bases), dhātus (elements), and several other subjects.

It gives explanations according to the Suttanta method, by way of conventional terms, and the Abhidhamma method, by way of ultimate realities.

It also has sections of interrogation. The aim is, as is the case of the whole of the Abhidhamma, to develop right understanding of nāma and rūpa as they appear in daily life.

The Dhātu-Kathā, the Third Book

The third book of the Abhidhamma is the Discourse on Elements, Dhātu-Kathā.

This book deals with all realities, classified with reference to the khandhas, the āyatanas (translated as bases) and the dhātus, elements.

It deals with realities that are ‘included’ (sangahita), or not included (asangahita), and this pertains to the different classifications of dhammas.

It deals with dhammas that are associated (sampayutta) or dissociated (vippayutta). Only nāma can be associated with another nāma, such as citta and cetasikas.

Rūpa does not have such a close association with nāma. The charts added by the translator makes the reading of these classifications easier. But we should not forget that all these classifications pertain to the reality appearing at this moment.

The khandhas are citta, cetasika and rūpa arising and falling away at this moment.

When seeing arises, there is the khandha of consciousness, viññāṇakkhandha, and there are the accompanying cetasikas: the khandha of feeling, vedanākkhandha, saññā khandha, saṅkhārakkhandha (including other cetasikas apart from feeling and saññā), and there is eyesense which is rūpakkhandha.

As to the āyatanas, there are six internal āyatanas and six external ā yatanas.

The internal āyatanas are the five senses and mind-base, manāyatana, which includes all cittas. The external āyatanas are the five sense objects and dammāyatana, which includes cetasikas, subtle rūpas and nibbāna.

When we see, hear or think we believe that a self-experiences different objects, but in reality there is the association of the internal āyatana and the external āyatana, the objects “outside”.

As to the elements, these can be classified in different ways, and in this book they are classified as eighteen: the five senses, the five sense objects, the “five pairs” of sense-cognitions experiencing the five sense-objects (one of each pair being kusala vipākacitta and one akusala vipākacitta), and in addition: mind-element (mano-dhātu), dhamma-dhātu and mind-consciousness- element (mano-viññāṇa-dhātu).

Mind-element and mind-consciousness-element comprise cittas other than the sense-cognitions. Dhamma-dhātu comprises cetasikas, the subtle rū pas (sukhuma rūpas) and nibbāna.

In all these classifications concepts such as person or thing have not been included. Only paramattha dhammas have been included. We may think of concepts, but these are not real in the ultimate sense. Thinking itself is citta, it is a reality.

If there is no understanding of realities as just elements, we shall continue to cling to the wrong view of self who sees, hears or thinks. Seeing is a dhātu that experiences an object, it is nāma. Visible object is rūpa, it is included in rūpakkhandha. Visible object or colour does not know anything, it is dissociated (vippayutta) from nāma, it is completely different from seeing.

Dhātus are not mere names, they have characteristics that can be directly experienced when they appear. We are reminded by the Dhātukathā that the teaching on elements pertains to realities appearing at this moment which are anattā, devoid of a self.

Puggalapaññatti, the fourth Book

The fourth book of the Abhidhamma is the Puggalapaññatti (Translated as “A Designation of Human Types”).

This book deals with the cittas and the different accumulated tendencies of individuals. Some people are easily inclined to anger, whereas others are full of mettā.

We read about an angry person: ‘What sort of person is angry? What then is anger? That which is anger, and the state of being angry, hatred, hating, hatefulness, malice, the act of being malicious, maliciousness, hostility, enmity, rudeness, abruptness, resentment of heart- this is called anger.

He who has not got rid of this anger is said to be an angry person.”

In this definition we read about the “state of being angry”, and this teaches us that anger is not a person, that it is a dhamma which is conditioned.

We think of an angry person, but anger, after it has arisen, is gone completely, it does not last. The contents of this book are the evil and good qualities of individuals, but actually, these are cetasikas, mental factors arising because of conditions.

Thus, we are constantly reminded that these are not persons, they are impermanent and not self.

We read about a person who is guarded as to the sense-doors. There is no person who is guarding the sense-doors, but the realities of sati and paññā are guarding the sense-doors.

When there is mindfulness and understanding of visible object appearing through the eye-door, of sound appearing through the ear-door, of the other sense objects appearing through the other sense-doors, one is not enslaved by these objects but one learns to see these realities as they are: impermanent and non-self. At such moments there is no opportunity for akusala cittas rooted in lobha, dosa and moha. Some persons are able to attain jhāna, others do not.

Kathāvatthu, the Fifth Book

The Fifth book of the Abhidhamma is the Kathāvatthu (Translated as “Points of Controversy”).

Its commentary has been translated as “The Debates Commentary”. In the teachings the term person is used in figurative speech, in conventional sense, but in the ultimate sense there is no person.

We read about speculative questions with regard to the Dependent Origination, the four Truths, kamma and result, emancipation, arahats, the future and the present, destinies, impermanence, jhāna attainments, insight and many other subjects.

Yamaka, the Sixth Book of the Abhidhamma

The Sixth Book of the Abhidhamma is the ’Yamaka’, the Book of Pairs. This book consists of questions and answers about subjects such as the roots (mūla), the khandhas, the āyatanas, the dhātus, the four noble truths, the conditions and the anusayas, latent tendencies.

These questions and answers can correct misunderstandings that may arise about the terms used in the scriptures. For instance, one may think that with regard to the first noble Truth, the Truth of dukkha, dukkha is the same as unhappy feeling.

Dukkha is often translated as sorrow and this is misleading. We learn that the Truth of dukkha does not only refer to painful feeling but to all phenomena that arise because of conditions and fall away.

Since they are impermanent, they cannot be of any refuge and are therefore dukkha. It can also take as object the feelings that accompany kusala citta, vipākacitta and kiriyacitta of the sense-sphere.” in the commentary:

The Paṭṭhāna, the seventh book of the Abhidhamma. The “Paṭṭhāna” describes in detail all possible relations between phenomena. There are twenty-four classes of conditions.

Each reality in our life can only occur because of a concurrence of different conditions which operate in a very intricate way. These conditions are not abstractions; they operate now, in our daily life.

What we take for our mind and our body are mere elements which arise because of their appropriate conditions and are devoid of self. We should consider the conditions for the bodily phenomena which arise and fall away all the time.

At the first moment of our life kamma produced the heart-base and other rūpas together with the rebirth-consciousness, and throughout our life kamma continues to produce the heartbase and the sense-bases.

Not only kamma, but also citta, heat and nutrition produce rūpas of the body.

The cittas which arise are dependent on many different conditions. We tend to forget that seeing is only a conditioned reality and that visible object is only a conditioned reality, and therefore we are easily carried away by sense impressions.

Each citta experiences an object, be it a sense object or a mental object, and the object conditions citta by object-condition, ārammaṇa-paccaya. It is beneficial to remember that seeing, hearing and the other sense-cognitions are vipā kacittas, cittas which are results of kamma. They arise at their appropriate bases, vatthus, which are also produced by kamma. Hearing is conditioned by sound which impinges on the earsense.

Both sound and ear sense are rūpas which also arise because of their own conditions and fall away. Thus, hearing, the reality which they condition, cannot last either; it also has to fall away. Each conditioned reality can exist just for an extremely short moment.

When we understand this it will be easier to see that there is no self who can exert control over realities. How could we control what falls away immediately? When we move our hands, when we walk, when we laugh or cry, when we are attached or worried, there are conditions for such moments.

Cittas succeed one another without any interval. The citta that has just fallen away conditions the succeeding citta and this is by way of proximity-condition, anantara-paccaya.

Seeing arises time and again and after seeing has fallen away akusala cittas usually arise.

In each process of cittas there are, after the sense-cognitions have fallen away, several moments of kusala cittas or akusala cittas, called javana-cittas.

These experience the object in a wholesome way or unwholesome way. There are usually seven javana-cittas and each preceding javana-citta conditions the following one by way of repetition-condition, āsevana-paccaya.

We cling to visible object, or we have wrong view about it, taking it for a being or a person that really exists. Defilements arise because they have been accumulated and they are carried on, from moment to moment, from life to life.

They are a natural decisive support-condition, pakatūpanissaya-paccaya, for akusala citta arising at this moment.

The study of conditions helps us to have more understanding of the “Dependent Origination”, the conditional arising of phenomena which keep beings in the cycle of birth and death.

Each link of the Dependent Origination conditions the following one by way of several types of conditions. It is necessary to know which conditioning factors are conascent with the dhamma they condition and which are not.

The “Paṭṭhāna” helps us to understand the deep underlying motives for our behaviour and the conditions for our defilements. It explains, for example, that kusala, wholesomeness, can be the object of akusala citta, unwholesome citta.

On account of generosity which is wholesome, attachment, wrong view or conceit, which are unwholesome realities, can arise.

The “Paṭṭhāna” also explains that akusala can be the object of kusala, for example, when akusala is considered with insight. This is an essential point which is often overlooked.

If one thinks that akusala cannot be object of awareness and right understanding, the eightfold Path cannot be developed.

Conclusion

All the texts of the Tipiṭaka , including the Abhidhamma, are not meant merely for intellectual study or memorizing, they are directed to the practice, the development of vipassanā.

All the classifications of cittas, cetasikas and rūpas are terse reminders of the truth, they are an exhortation to develop understanding of what appears at this moment.

This is the development of the eightfold Path leading to the eradication of all defilements.

Feelings (part 1)

We think of ourselves as having happy feeling or unhappy feeling. We take feeling for something lasting and we take it for my feeling.

In reality feeling is a cetasika accompanying each and every citta. It arises with the citta it accompanies and then it falls away immediately.

Feeling experiences the same object as the citta it accompanies, but it is different from citta that is the leader in cognizing an object.

Feeling experiences the object in its own way, it experiences the flavour of the object.

There is no moment without feeling. Feelings are manifold and they can be classified in different ways. When there is not pleasant feeling or unpleasant feeling, there is indifferent feeling.

When mental feelings and bodily feelings are taken into account, feelings can be classified as fivefold:

pleasant bodily feeling (sukha)

painful bodily feeling (dukkha)

happy feeling (somanassa)

unhappy feeling (domanassa)

indifferent feeling (upekkhā)

Feeling is different as it accompanies cittas of the four jātis (classes) of kusala, akusala, vipāka or kiriya. Somanassa, happy feeling, can arise with cittas of all four jatis: with kusala citta, akusala citta, vipākacitta and kiriyacitta.

It is important to know of which jāti feeling is, otherwise we are misled by our feelings. When we have happy feeling, we may believe that this is kusala, but most of the time it accompanies akuala citta rooted in lobha, attachment.

When somanassa accompanies lobha-mūla-citta (citta rooted in attachment), somanassa is also akusala. There can be pleasant feeling when one likes a pleasant visible object, a beautiful sound, a fragrant odour, a delicious taste, a soft touch or an agreeable thought.

When we enjoy delicious food with pleasant feeling, that feeling is different from pleasant feeling arising when we appreciate someone else’s kusala.

In the latter case it is more refined and calm. There are many sobhana cetasikas accompanying kusala citta: calm, evenmindedness, confidence in kusala, mindfulness.

They all condition the pleasant feeling that is kusala.

Somanassa can accompany kusala citta, but it does not accompany each kusala citta.

When we perform dāna (generosity), observe sīla (morality) or apply ourselves to mental development, there can be somanassa or upekkhā, indifferent feeling, with the kusala citta.

When we give a present to someone else with pleasant feeling, we may think that there is one kind of feeling which lasts, but in reality, there are different moments of feeling accompanying different cittas.

There can be a moment of pure generosity accompanied by pleasant feeling, but many moments of attachment are bound to arise after the kusala cittas have fallen away.

We may be attached to the person we give to or to the thing we give, or we may expect something in return; we want to be liked by the person who receives our gift.

Such moments of attachment may be accompanied by somanassa. Somanassa which is kusala and somanassa which accompanies lobha are different kinds of somanassa arising closely one after the other, and it is difficult to distinguish one from the other.

It seems that there is one kind of somanassa and that it lasts. In reality there are many different moments of somanassa.

Feelings (part 2)

Domanassa, unhappy feeling, arises only with cittas of the jāti which is akusala; it always arises with dosa-mūla-citta, citta rooted in aversion, and it does not arise with lobha-mū la-citta, citta rooted in attachment, nor with moha-mūla-citta, citta rooted in ignorance.

When we see someone else suffer, we have compassion and want to help him.

However, kusala cittas and akusala cittas arise closely one after the other.

We may be sad because of someone else’s suffering and then akusala citta rooted in dosa, aversion, arises. This is accompanied by unhappy feeling.

At such a moment there is no compassion, but we may not notice this.

Upekkhā, indifferent feeling, is different from somanassa and from domanassa; it is neither happy nor unhappy.

Upekkhā can arise with cittas of all four jātis, but it does not arise with every citta. Indifferent feeling can accompany lobha-mūla-citta.

When we walk or when we get hold of different things we use in our daily life, such as a pen or a book, there is bound to be clinging even when we do not feel particularly glad.

We cling to life and we want to go on living and receiving sense-impressions. Seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting which are vipākacittas experiencing a pleasant or unpleasant object, are always accompanied by indifferent feeling.

Often it is not known whether the object experienced by these cittas was pleasant or unpleasant, they fall away immediately.

When a pleasant or unpleasant tangible object is experienced through the bodysense, the body-consciousness, which is vipākacitta, is not accompanied by indifferent feeling but by pleasant bodily feeling or by painful bodily feeling.

The impact of tangible object on the bodysense is more intense than the impact of the other sense objects on the corresponding senses.

Pleasant bodily feeling and painful bodily feeling are nāma.

We can call them “bodily feeling” because they are conditioned by impact on the bodysense.

When, for example, temperature which is just the right amount of heat or cold impinges on the bodysense the body-consciousness which experiences it is accompanied by pleasant bodiIy feeling.

Body-consciousness is vipākacitta and in this case kusala vipākacitta.

When it experiences a pleasant object, it is the result of kusala kamma, a wholesome deed, and when it experiences an unpleasant object, it is the result of akusala kamma, an unwholesome deed.

We attach great importance to feeling, we let ourselves be carried away by the feelings which arise on account of pleasant or unpleasant objects we experience through the senses.

The Buddha classified feeling as a separate khandha because people cling very much to feeling.

We are enslaved to our feelings, but they are only realities which arise because of the appropriate conditions and do not last.

Citta

The truth is different from what we always assumed. What we take for a person are only nāmas, mental phenomena, and rūpas, physical phenomena, that arise and fall away.

Nāma and rūpa are real in the ultimate sense, they are different from concepts such as person or animal.

Citta, consciousness, and cetasika, mental factor arising with the citta, are both nāma.

They experience different objects. It is not a self or a person who experiences something, it is citta that cognizes an object.

Citta experiences only one object and then it falls away to be succeeded by the next citta.

We may have thought that there is one consciousness that lasts, that can see, hear and think, but this is not so.

Only one citta arises at a time: at one moment a citta that sees arises, at another moment a citta that hears arises.

Each citta lasts only for an extremely short time and then it falls away.

The five senses and the mind are the doorways through which citta can cognize the different objects which present themselves.

Each citta experiences an object, in Pāli: ārammaṇa.

Knowing or experiencing an object does not necessarily mean thinking about it.

The citta which sees has what is visible as object; it is different from the cittas which arise afterwards, such as the cittas which know what it is that was perceived and which think about it.

The citta which hears (hearing-consciousness) has sound as its object.

Even when we are sound asleep and not dreaming, citta experiences an object.

There isn’t any citta without an object.

There are many different types of citta which can be classified in different ways.

Some cittas are kusala (wholesome), some are akusala (unwholesome).

Kusala cittas and akusala cittas are cittas which are cause; they can motivate wholesome or unwholesome deeds through body, speech or mind which are able to bring about their appropriate results.

Some cittas are the result of wholesome or unwholesome deeds, they are vipākacittas. Some cittas are neither cause nor result; they are kiriyacittas (sometimes translated as “inoperative”). Cittas can be classified by way of jāti (jāti literally means “birth” or “nature”). There are four jātis:

Kusala

Akusala

Vipāka

Kiriya

Both kusala vipāka (the result of a wholesome deed) and akusala vipāka (the result of an unwholesome deed) are one jāti, the jāti of vipāka. It is important to know which jāti a citta is.

We cannot develop wholesomeness in our life if we take akusala for kusala or if we take akusala for vipāka.

For instance, when someone speaks unpleasant words to us, the moment of experiencing the sound (hearing-consciousness) is akusala vipāka, the result of an unwholesome deed we performed ourselves.

The aversion which may arise very shortly afterwards is not vipāka, but it arises with akusala citta. Aversion or anger, dosa, can motivate unwholesome action or speech. We can learn to distinguish these moments from each other by realizing their different characteristics.

When we have understood that cittas both of ourselves and others arise because of conditions we shall be less inclined to dwell for a long time on someone else’s behavior.

In the ultimate sense there is no person to be blamed and no person who receives unpleasant results. In reality there are only citta, cetasika and rūpa that arise because of their own conditions.

Citta and Cetasikas

Citta does not arise singly; it is always accompanied by cetasikas, mental factors.

Only one citta arises at a time and each citta is accompanied by several cetasikas.

Citta is the leader in cognizing an object and the accompanying cetasikas have each their own function while they assist citta in cognizing an object.

Citta may be of one of the four jātis of kusala, akusala, vipāka or kiriya. Cetasikas are of the same jāti as the citta they accompany.

Some cetasikas, such as feeling and remembrance or “perception” (saññā), accompany each citta, others do not.

Feeling, in Pāli: vedanā, is a cetasika which arises with every citta.

Citta only knows or experiences its object; it does not feel.

Feeling, vedanā, however, has the function of feeling.

Feeling is sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant.

When we do not have a pleasant or an unpleasant feeling, there is still feeling: at that moment the feeling is neutral or indifferent.

Perception or remembrance, in Pāli: saññā, marks the object so that it can be recognized later on.

Whenever we remember something it is saññā, not self, which remembers.

It is saññā which, for example, remembers that this colour is red, that this is a house, or that this is the sound of a bird.

Contact, in Pāli: phassa, is another cetasika which arises with every citta; it “contacts” the object so that citta can experience it.

There are also types of cetasika which do not arise with every citta.

Unwholesome mental factors, akusala cetasikas, accompany only akusala cittas, whereas sobhana cetasikas, “beautiful” mental factors, accompany kusala cittas.

Among the cetasikas which can accompany akusala cittas or kusala cittas, some are roots, hetus.

A root or hetu is the foundation of the akusala citta or kusala citta, just as the roots are the foundation of a tree.

They give a firm support to the citta and cetasikas they arise together with.

There are three cetasikas which are unwholesome roots, akusala hetus: attachment (lobha), aversion (dosa) and ignorance (moha).

Akusala cittas may be rooted in moha and lobha, or in moha and dosa, or they may have moha as their only root.

Moha arises with each akusala citta. Moha is blindness, it does not know the danger of akusala; it is the root of all evil.

Akusala citta is impure and it leads to sorrow. At the moment of akusala citta there is no confidence in wholesomeness; one does not see that akusala citta is impure and harmful.

Whenever the citta is not intent on wholesomeness, we act, speak or think with akusala citta.

When the citta is kusala, there is confidence in wholesomeness. Confidence, or faith, saddhā, is a sobhana cetasika.

Each kusala citta is assisted by many sobhana cetasikas.

When we see the value of kusala, there are conditions for the arising of kusala citta.

Kusala citta is pure and it is capable of producing a pleasant result.

Defilements and wholesome qualities are cetasikas, they are non-self.

They are not listed just to be read and memorized, they are realities of daily life and they can be known as they are by being mindful of them.

Rootless cittas

Each citta experiences an object. There is not only one type of citta, but there is a great diversity of cittas that experience objects.

If we want to know ourselves we should not merely know the moments of akusala cittas or kusala cittas but other moments as well.

Kusala cittas and akusala cittas are cittas that are cause, they can motivate good or evil deeds, and these deeds can produce their appropriate results later on.

Kusala cittas and akusala cittas are accompanied by cetasikas that are roots, hetus.

As we have seen, three of these hetus are akusala; they are: lobha (attachment), dosa (aversion) and moha (ignorance).

Three hetus are sobhana (beautiful); they are: alobha (greedlessness or generosity), adosa (non-hate or loving kindness) and amoha (paññā or wisdom).

The citta or cetasika which is accompanied by a hetu is sahetuka (“sa” means “with”).

For example, dosa-mūla-citta, citta rooted in dosa, is sahetuka; moha and dosa are the hetus which arise with dosa-mūla-citta.

There are also cittas that are rootless, ahetuka. There are many ahetuka cittas arising in a day. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and the experience of tangible object through the bodysense are ahetuka vipākacittas.

Nobody can cause the arising of seeing, hearing or the other sense-cognitions; they are the results of kamma, a deed performed in the past.

An evil deed produces akusala vipākacitta and a good deed produces kusala vipākacitta.

Seeing that is akusala vipākacitta experiences an unpleasant object and seeing that is kusala vipākacitta experiences a pleasant object.

Of each of the five sense-cognitions (seeing, etc.) there are two kinds experiencing an object through one of the five sense-doors: one is ahetuka akusala vipāka and one is ahetuka kusala vipāka.

Thus, there are five pairs of ahetuka vipākacittas which arise depending on the five sense-doors. These five pairs are called in Pali: dvi-pañca-viññāṇa (two times five viññāṇa).

When a pleasant or an unpleasant object impinges on the eyesense, seeing-consciousness only experiences what appears through the eyes, there is no like or dislike yet of the object. Seeing-consciousness is an ahetuka vipākacitta.

Cittas which like or dislike the object arise later on; these are sahetuka cittas (arising with hetus).

Seeing is not the same as thinking of what is seen.

When one uses the word “seeing” one usually means: paying attention to the shape and form of something and knowing what it is, such as a person or a thing.

However, there must also be a kind of citta which merely sees visible object, and this citta does not know anything else.

What is seen we can call “visible object” or “colour”; what is meant is: what appears through the eyes.

Whenever we see, hear, smell, taste or experience tangible object through the bodysense, there are ahetuka vipākacittas before akusala cittas or kusala cittas arise.

The citta which dislikes the object may arise afterwards.

This citta is “sahetuka”, with hetus (roots); it is akusala citta rooted in dosa, aversion, and it is accompanied by unpleasant feeling.

Or the citta which likes the object may arise; this citta is also “sahetuka”, rooted in lobha, attachment, and it may be accompanied by pleasant feeling or by indifferent feeling.

We are inclined to think that the “five pairs” (dvi-pañca-viññāṇa), such as seeing or hearing, can occur at the same time as like or dislike of the object, but this is not so.

Different cittas arise at different moments and the feelings which accompany the cittas are different too; these realities arise each because of their own conditions and they are non-self.