Abhidhamma in Daily Life

by Nina van Gorkom

Chapter 1

The Four Paramattha Dhammas

There are two kinds of reality: mental phenomena or nama and physical phenomena or rupa. Nama experiences something; rupa does not experience anything. What we take for self are only nama and rupa which arise and fall away. The Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification chapter XVIII, 25) explains:

For this has been said:
As with the assembly of parts
The word chariot is countenanced,
So, when the khandhas are present,
A being is said in common usage.
(Kindred Sayings I, 135)
So in many hundred suttas there is only mentality-materiality which is illustrated, not a being, not a person. Therefore, just as when the component parts (of a chariot) such as axles, wheels, frame, poles are arranged in a certain way, there comes to be the mere conventional term chariot, yet in the ultimate sense, when each part is examined, there is no chariot so too, when there are the five khandhas of clinging there comes to be the mere conventional term a being, a person, yet in the ultimate sense, when each component is examined, there is no being as a basis for the assumption I am or I; in the ultimate sense there is only mentality-materiality. The vision of one who sees in this way is called correct vision.

Namas are mental phenomena, rupas are physical phenomena. Nama and rupa are different types of realities. If we do not distinguish them from each other and learn the characteristic of each we will continue to take them for self. For example, hearing is nama; it has no form or shape, it has no ears. Hearing is different from earsense, but it has earsense as a necessary condition. The nama which hears experiences sound. Earsense and sound are rupas, they do not experience anything; they are entirely different from the nama which hears. If we do not learn that hearing, earsense and sound are realities which are altogether different from each other, we will continue to think that it is self who hears.

The Visuddhimagga (XVIII, 34) explains:

Furthermore, nama has no efficient power, it cannot occur by its own efficient power It does not eat, it does not drink, it does not speak, it does not adopt postures. And rupa is without efficient power; it cannot occur by its own efficient power. For it has no desire to eat, it has no desire to drink, it has no desire to speak, it has no desire to adopt postures. But rather it is when supported by rupa that nama occurs; and it is when supported by nama that rupa occurs. When nama has the desire to eat, the desire to drink, the desire to speak, the desire to adopt a posture, it is rupa that eats, drinks, speaks and adopts a posture....

And just as men depend upon
A boat for traversing the sea,
So does the mental body need
The matter-body for occurrence.
And as the boat depends upon
The men for traversing the sea,
So does the matter-body need
The mental body for occurrence.
Depending each upon the other
The boat and men go on the sea.
And so do mind and matter both
Depend the one upon the other.

As regards citta, citta knows or experiences an object. Each citta has its object, in Pali: arammana. 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 isnt 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 vipakacittas. Some cittas are neither cause nor result; they are kiriyacittas (sometimes translated as inoperative).

Cittas can be classified by way of jati (jati literally means birth or nature). There are four jatis:

kusala
akusala
vipaka
kiriya

Both kusala vipaka ( the result of a wholesome deed) and akusala vipaka (the result of an unwholesome deed) are one jati, the jati of vipaka.

It is important to know which jati a citta is. We cannot develop wholesomeness in our life if we take akusala for kusala or if we take akusala for vipaka. For instance, when we hear unpleasant words, the moment of experiencing the sound (hearing-consciousness) is akusala vipaka, the result of an unwholesome deed we performed ourselves. But the aversion which may arise very shortly afterwards is not vipaka, but it arises with akusala citta. We can learn to distinguish these moments from each other by realizing their different characteristics.

Another way of classifying citta is by plane of consciousness, in Pali: bhumi. There are different planes of consciousness. The sensuous plane of consciousness (kamavacara cittas) is the plane of sense-impressions, which are: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and the experiencing of tangible object through the bodysense. On account of pleasant and unpleasant objects experienced through the senses kusala cittas (wholesome cittas) and akusala cittas (unwholesome cittas) arise. There are other planes of citta which do not experience sense-impressions. Those who cultivate samatha (tranquil meditation) and attain absorption (jhana), have jhanacittas. The jhanacitta is another plane of citta; it does not experience sense-impressions. The lokuttara citta (supramundane consciousness) is the highest plane of consciousness because it is the citta which directly experiences nibbana.

There are still other ways of classifying citta and if we consider the different intensities of citta there are many more distinctions to be made. For instance, akusala cittas, which are rooted in attachment (lobha), aversion (dosa) and ignorance (moha), can be of many different intensities. Sometimes they may motivate deeds, sometimes they may not, depending on the degree of akusala. Kusala cittas too are of many different intensities. It is useful to know different ways of classification because in this way we learn about different aspects of citta. There are altogether eighty-nine (or, in another classification, hundred-and-twenty-one) types of citta. If we develop our knowledge of cittas and if we are aware of them when they appear, we will be less inclined to take them for self.

Cetasika is the second paramattha dhamma which is nama. As we have seen, citta experiences an object: seeing has what is visible as its object, hearing has sound as its object, the citta which thinks experiences the object it is thinking of. However, there is not only citta, there are also mental factors, cetasikas, which accompany citta. One can think of something with aversion, with pleasant feeling or with wisdom. Aversion, feeling and wisdom are mental phenomena which are not citta; they are cetasikas which accompany different cittas. There is only one citta at a time, but there are several cetasikas arising together with the citta and falling away together with the citta; citta never arises alone. For example, feeling, in Pali: vedana, is a cetasika which arises with every citta. Citta only knows or experiences its object; it does not feel. Feeling, vedana, 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. There is always feeling; there isnt any moment of citta without feeling. When, for example, seeing-consciousness arises, feeling arises together with the citta. The citta which sees perceives only visible object; there is not yet like or dislike. The feeling which accompanies this type of citta is indifferent feeling. After seeing-consciousness has fallen away, other cittas arise and there may be cittas which dislike the object. The feeling which accompanies this type of citta is unpleasant feeling. The function of citta is to cognize an object; citta is the chief in knowing. Cetasikas share the same object with the citta, but they each have their own specific quality and function. Some cetasikas arise with every citta whereas others do not.

As we have seen, feeling, vedana is a cetasika which arises with every citta. Contact, in Pali: phassa, is another cetasika which arises with every citta; it contacts the object so that citta can experience it. Perception or remembrance, in Pali: sanna, is also a cetasika which arises with every citta. In the Visuddhimagga (XIV, 130) we read that sanna has the function of perceiving:

Its function is to make a sign as a condition for perceiving again that this is the same, as carpenters, etc., do in the case of timber.

There are also types of cetasika which do not arise with every citta. Akusala (unwholesome) cetasikas arise only with akusala cittas. Sobhana (beautiful) cetasikas arise with sobhana cittas. Lobha (attachment), dosa (aversion) and moha (ignorance) are akusala cetasikas which arise only with akusala cittas. For example, when we see something beautiful, cittas with attachment to what we have seen may arise. The cetasika which is lobha arises with the citta at that moment. Lobha has the function of attachment or clinging. There are several other akusala cetasikas which arise with akusala cittas, such as conceit (mana), wrong view (ditthi) and envy (issa). Sobhana cetasikas accompanying wholesome cittas are for example alobha (generosity), adosa (loving kindness), amoha (or panna, wisdom). When we are generous alobha and adosa arise with the kusala citta. Panna, wisdom, may arise too with the kusala citta, and moreover, there are other kinds of sobhana cetasikas arising with the kusala citta as well. All defilements and wholesome qualities are cetasikas, they are non-self. Altogether there are fifty-two different cetasikas.

Although citta and cetasika are both nama, they each have different characteristics. One may wonder how cetasikas can be experienced. When we notice a change in citta, a characteristic of cetasika can be experienced. For instance, when akusala cittas with stinginess arise after kusala cittas with generosity have fallen away, we can notice a change. Stinginess and generosity are cetasikas which can be experienced; they have different characteristics. We may notice as well the change from attachment to aversion, from pleasant feeling to unpleasant feeling. Feeling is a cetasika we can experience, because feeling is sometimes predominant and there are different kinds of feeling. We can experience that unpleasant feeling is different from pleasant feeling and from indifferent feeling. These different cetasikas arise with different cittas and they fall away immediately, together with the citta they accompany. If we know more about the variety of citta and cetasika, it will help us to see the truth. Since citta and cetasika arise together it is difficult to experience the difference in their characteristics. The Buddha was able to directly experience the different characteristics of all cittas and cetasikas because his wisdom was of the highest degree. We read in the Questions of King Milinda (Book III, The Removal of Difficulties, chapter 7, 87) that the arahat Nagasena said to King Milinda:

A hard thing there is, O King, which the Blessed One has done. And what is that?
The fixing of all those mental conditions which depend on one organ of sense, telling us that such is contact, such is feeling, such is sanna (perception), such is volition and such is citta
Give me an illustration.
Suppose, O King, a man were to wade down into the sea, and taking some water in the palm of his hand, were to taste it with his tongue. Would he distinguish whether it were water from the Ganges, or from the Jamuna, or from the Aciravati, or from the Sarabhu, or from the Mahi?
Impossible, Sir.
More difficult than that, great King, is it to have distinguished between the mental conditions which follow on the exercise of any one of the organs of sense!

There are not only mental phenomena, there are also physical phenomena. Physical phenomena or rupa are the third paramattha dhamma. There are several kinds of rupas which each have their own characteristic. There are four principle rupas which are called the Great Elements (in Pali: maha-bhuta-rupa). They are:

Element of Earth or solidity (to be experienced as hardness or softness)
Element of Water or cohesion
Element of Fire or temperature (to be experienced as heat or cold)
Element of Wind or motion (to be experienced as oscillation or pressure)
These Great Elements are the principle rupas which arise together with all the other kinds of rupa, which are the derived rupas (in Pali: upada-rupa). Rupas never arise alone; they arise in groups or units. There have to be at least eight kinds of rupa arising together. For example, whenever the rupa which is temperature arises, solidity, cohesion, motion and other rupas have to arise as well. Derived rupas are, for example, the physical sense-organs of eyesense, earsense, smellingsense, tastingsense and bodysense, and the sense-objects of visible object, sound, odour and flavour. Different characteristics of rupa can be experienced through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind. These characteristics are real since they can be experienced. We use conventional terms such as body and table; both have the characteristic of hardness which can be experienced through touch. In this way we can prove that the characteristic of hardness is the same, no matter whether it is in the body or in the table. Hardness is a paramattha dhamma; body and table are not paramattha dhammas but only concepts. We take it for granted that the body stays and we take it for self, but what we call body are only different rupas arising and falling away. The conventional term body may delude us about reality. We will know the truth if we learn to experience different characteristics of rupa when they appear.

Citta, cetasika and rupa only arise when there are the right conditions, they are conditioned dhammas (in Pali: sankhara dhammas). Seeing cannot arise when there is no eyesense and when there is no visible object; these are necessary conditions for its arising. Sound can only arise when there are the right conditions for its arising. When it has arisen it falls away again. Everything which arises because of conditions has to fall away again when the conditions have ceased. One may think that sound stays, but what we take for a long, lasting moment of sound are actually many different rupas succeeding one another.

The fourth paramattha dhamma is nibbana. Nibbana is a paramattha dhamma because it is real. Nibbana can be experienced through the mind-door if one follows the right Path leading towards it: the development of the wisdom which sees things as they are. Nibbana is nama. However, it is not citta or cetasika, paramattha dhammas which arise because of conditions and fall way. Nibbana is the nama which is an unconditioned reality. It does not arise because it is unconditioned, and therefore it does not fall away. Citta and cetasika are namas which experience an object; nibbana is the nama which does not experience an object, but nibbana itself can be the object of citta and cetasika which experience it. Nibbana is not a person, it is non-self, anatta. Summarizing the four paramattha dhammas, they are:

citta
rupa
cetasika
nibbana

When we study Dhamma it is essential to know which paramattha dhamma such or such reality is. If we do not know this we may be misled by conventional terms. We should, for example, know that what we call body are actually different rupa-paramattha dhammas, not citta or cetasika. We should know that nibbana is not citta or cetasika, but the fourth paramattha dhamma. Nibbana is the end of all conditioned realities which arise and fall away: for the arahat, the perfected one, who passes away, there is no more rebirth, no more namas and rupas which arise and fall away.

All conditioned dhammas, citta, cetasika and rupa, are impermanent, anicca.

All conditioned dhammas are dukkha; they are suffering or unsatisfactory, since they are impermanent.

All dhammas are non-self, anatta (in Pali: sabbe dhamma anatta, Dhammapada, vs. 279). Thus, the conditioned dhammas, not nibbana, are impermanent and dukkha. But all dhammas, that is, the four paramattha dhammas, nibbana included, have the characteristic of anatta, non-self.

Questions

i What is the difference between nama and rupa?
ii What is the difference between citta and cetasika?
iii Do cetasikas experience an object?
iv Is there more than one cetasika arising together
with the citta?
v Can nibbana experience an object?
vi Is nibbana a self?

copyright © [Zolag] Revised 12/11/99, e-mail: See Contact Page