Preface

The Buddha's teachings, contained in the ``Tipiėaka'' (Three Baskets) are: the Vinaya (Book of Discipline for the monks), the Suttanta (Discourses) and the Abhidhamma. All three parts of the Tipiėaka can be an inexhaustible source of inspiration and encouragement to the practice, the development of right understanding of realities. The development of right understanding will eventually lead to the eradication of wrong view and the other defilements. In all three parts of the Tipiėaka we are taught about ``dhamma'', about everything which is real. Seeing is a dhamma, it is real. Colour is a dhamma, it is real. Feeling is a dhamma, it is real. Our defilements are dhammas, they are realities. 
When the Buddha attained enlightenment he clearly knew all dhammas as they really are. He taught the ``Dhamma'', the teaching on realities, to us in order that we also may know dhammas as they are. Without the Buddha's teaching we would be ignorant of reality. We are inclined to take for permanent what is impermanent, for pleasant what is sorrowful and unsatisfactory (dukkha), and for ``self'' what is non-self. The aim of all three parts of the Tipiėaka is to teach people the development of the way leading to the end of defilements. 
The Vinaya contains the rules for the monks and these rules help them to live to perfection the ``brahman life'' and to reach ``... that unsurpassed goal of the brahman life, realizing it by personal knowledge even in this life; for the sake of which clansmen rightly go forth from the home into the homeless life...'' (Gradual Sayings, Book of the Fives, chapter VI, §6, The Preceptor). The goal of the ``brahman life'' is the eradication of defilements.
Not only monks, but also laymen should study the Vinaya. We read about the instances that monks deviated from their purity of life; when there was such a case, a rule was laid down in order to help them to be watchful. When we read the Vinaya we are reminded of our own attachment (lobha), aversion (dosa) and ignorance (moha); they are realities. So long as they have not been eradicated they can arise at any time. We are reminded how deeply rooted defilements are and what they can lead to. When we consider this, we are motivated to develop the eightfold Path which leads to the eradication of wrong view, jealousy, stinginess, conceit and all other defilements.
In the Suttanta, the ``Discourses'', the Dhamma is explained to different people at different places on various occasions. The Buddha taught about all realities appearing through the ``six doors'' of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind. He taught about cause and effect and about the practice leading to the end of all sorrow. 
As regards the Abhidhamma, this is an exposition of all realities in detail. The prefix ``abhi'' is used in the sense of ``preponderance'' or ``distinction''. ``Abhidhamma'' means ``higher dhamma'' or ``dhamma in detail''. The form of this part of the Tipiėaka is different, but the aim is the same: the eradication of wrong view and eventually of all defilements. Thus, when we study the many enumerations of realities, we should not forget the real purpose of our study. The theory (pariyatti) should encourage us to the practice (paėipatti) which is necessary for the realization of the truth (paėivedha). While we are studying the different mental phenomena (nåmas) and physical phenomena (rúpas) and while we are pondering over them, we can be reminded to be aware of the nåma and rúpa which appear at that moment. In this way we will discover more and more that the Abhidhamma explains everything which is real, that is, the ``worlds'' appearing through the six doors of the senses and the mind. 
This book is meant as an introduction to the study of the Abhidhamma. In order to understand this book, some basic knowledge of Buddhism is necessary. My book The Buddha's Path could be helpful to make the reader acquainted with the basic principles and tenets of Buddhism before he starts to read this book on the Abhidhamma. 
I am using terms in Påli which is the original language of the scriptures of the old Theravåda tradition. The English equivalents of the Påli terms are often unsatisfactory since they stem from Western philosophy and psychology and therefore give an association of meaning which is different from the meaning intended by the Buddhist teachings. I hope that the reader, instead of being discouraged by the Påli terms and by the many enumerations which are used in this book, will develop a growing interest in the realities to be experienced in and around himself. 
Ms. Sujin Boriharnwanaket has been of immense assistance and inspiration to me in my study of the Abhidhamma. She encouraged me to discover for myself that the Abhidhamma deals with realities to be experienced through the senses and the mind. Thus I learnt that the study of the Abhidhamma is a process which continues throughout life. I hope that the reader will have a similar experience and that he will be full of enthusiasm and gladness every time he studies realities which can be experienced!
I have quoted many times from the suttas in order to show that the teaching contained in the Abhidhamma is not different from the teaching in the other parts of the Tipiėaka. I have mostly used the English translation of the ``Pali Text Society'' (Translation Series). For the quotations from the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) I have used the translation by Bhikkhu Ņåųamoli (Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1964). The Visuddhimagga is an Encyclopedia on Buddhism written by the commentator Buddhaghosa in the fifth century A.D. He also wrote commentaries to most parts of the Tipiėaka, thereby basing his works on older commentarial traditions.
The Abhidhamma consists of the following seven books:

Dhammasangaųi (Buddhist Psychological Ethics) 
Vibhaōga (Book of Analysis)
Dhåtukathå (Discussion on the Elements)
Puggalapaņņatti (A Designation of Human Types)
Kathåvatthu (Points of Controversy)
Yamaka (the Book of Pairs)
Paėėhåna (Conditional Relations)

When I first started to write this book my sources were the Visuddhimagga and the Atthasåliní (Expositor), the commentary to the Dhammasangaųi, written by Buddhaghosa. I also used the Abhidhammattha Sangaha, an Encyclopedia of the Abhidhamma, written by Anuruddha. These works helped me greatly with the study of the Abhidhamma itself, of the Dhammasangaųi and some of the other books of the abhidhamma I gradually acquired later on. 
The commentaries give a detailed explanation and nomenclature of the different cittas, moments of consciousness, which each perform their own function, and they deal with the different processes of cittas experiencing an object through a sense-door or through the mind-door. Although not all the details concerning the processes of cittas can be found in the scriptures themselves, the commentaries are firmly based on the scriptures. The essence of the subjects explained by the commentaries can be found in the scriptures. The Dhammasangaųi, which is an analytical exposition of realities, enumerates different cittas arising in processes. The Vibhaōga, under ``Analysis of the Elements'', refers to cittas performing their functions in processes and also the Paėėhåna refers to processes of cittas under the heading of some of the conditions it deals with. Moreover, the Paėisambhidåmagga (Khuddaka Nikåya) mentions (I, Treatise on Knowledge, in chapter XVII, under ``behaviour of citta'', viņņåųa cariya) different functions of citta in a process. I hope that these few references show that the commentator did not give his own personal views, but was faithful to the tradition of the original scriptures. 
In the last four chapters of this book I explain about the cittas which attain jhåna, absorption, and the cittas which attain enlightenment. Some readers may wonder why they should know details about these subjects. It is useful to study details about jhåna and enlightenment because people may have wrong notions about them. The study of the Abhidhamma will help one not to be deluded about realities. Moreover, it will help one to understand the suttas where there is often reference to jhåna and to the attainment of enlightenment..
I have added some questions after the chapters which may help the reader to ponder over what he has read. 
The late Bhikkhu Dhammadharo (Alan Driver) and also Mr. Jonothan Abbott gave me most helpful corrections and suggestions for the text of the first edition of this book. I also want to acknowledge my gratitude to the ``Dhamma Study and Propagation Foundation'' and to the publisher Alan Weller who have made possible the third edition of this book.

Nina van Gorkom

Chapter 1


The Four Paramattha Dhammas

There are two kinds of reality: mental phenomena or nåma and physical phenomena or rúpa. Nåma experiences something; rúpa does not experience anything. What we take for ``self'' are only nåma and rúpa 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.

All phenomena in and around ourselves are only nåma and rúpa which arise and fall away; they are impermanent. Nåma and rúpa are absolute realities, in Påli: paramattha dhammas. We can experience their characteristics when they appear, no matter how we name them; we do not necessarily have to call them nåma and rúpa. Those who have developed ``insight'' can experience them as they really are: impermanent and not self. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, experiencing tangible object through the bodysense and thinking, all these nåmas are impermanent. We are used to thinking that there is a self who performs different functions such as seeing, hearing or thinking; but where is the self? Is it one of those nåmas? The more we know different nåmas and rúpas by experiencing their characteristics, the more will we see that ``self'' is only a concept; it is not a paramattha dhamma (absolute or ultimate reality).
Nåmas are mental phenomena, rúpas are physical phenomena. Nåma and rúpa 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 nåma; it has no form or shape, it has no ears. Hearing is different from earsense, but it has earsense as a necessary condition. The nåma which hears experiences sound. Earsense and sound are rúpas, they do not experience anything; they are entirely different from the nåma 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, nåma 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 rúpa 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 rúpa that nåma occurs; and it is when supported by nåma that rúpa occurs. When nåma has the desire to eat, the desire to drink, the desire to speak, the desire to adopt a posture, it is rúpa that eats, drinks, speaks and adopts a posture....

Furthermore (XVIII, 36) we read:

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.

There are two kinds of conditioned nåma : citta (consciousness) and cetasika (mental factors arising together with consciousness). They are nåmas which arise because of conditions and fall away again. 
As regards citta, citta knows or experiences an object. Each citta has its object, in Påli: årammaųa. 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 vipåkacittas. Some cittas are neither cause nor result; they are kiriyacittas (sometimes translated as ``inoperative''). 
Cittas can be classified by way of jåti (jåti literally means ``birth'' or ``nature''). There are four jåtis:

kusala
akusala
vipåka
kiriya

Both kusala vipåka (the result of a wholesome deed) and akusala vipåka (the result of an unwholesome deed) are one jåti, the jåti of vipåka.
It is important to know which jåti a citta is. We cannot develop wholesomeness in our life if we take akusala for kusala or if we take akusala for vipåka. For instance, when we hear unpleasant words, the moment of experiencing the sound (hearing-consciousness) is akusala vipåka, the result of an unwholesome deed we performed ourselves. But the aversion which may arise very shortly afterwards is not vipåka, 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 Påli: bhúmi. There are different planes of consciousness. The sensuous plane of consciousness (kåmåvacara 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 (jhåna), have jhånacittas. The jhånacitta 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 nibbåna. 
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 nåma. 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 Påli: vedanå, is a cetasika which arises with every citta. Citta only knows or experiences its object; it does not feel. Feeling, vedanå, 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 isn't 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, vedanå is a cetasika which arises with every citta. Contact, in Påli: phassa, is another cetasika which arises with every citta; it ``contacts'' the object so that citta can experience it. Perception or remembrance, in Påli: saņņå, is also a cetasika which arises with every citta. In the Visuddhimagga (XIV, 130) we read that saņņå 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...

Citta only experiences or cognizes an object; it does not ``mark'' the object. Saņņå marks the object so that it can be recognized later. Whenever we remember something it is saņņå, not self, which remembers. It is saņņå which, for example, remembers that this colour is red, that this is a house, or that this is the sound of a bird. 
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 (måna), wrong view (diėėhi) and envy (isså). Sobhana cetasikas accompanying wholesome cittas are for example alobha (generosity), adosa (loving kindness), amoha (or paņņå, wisdom). When we are generous alobha and adosa arise with the kusala citta. Paņņå, wisdom, may arise too with the kusala citta, and moreover, there are other kinds of sobhana cetasikas arising with the kusala citta as well. Defilements and wholesome qualities are cetasikas, they are non-self. Altogether there are fifty-two different cetasikas. 
Although citta and cetasika are both nåma, 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 Någasena 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 saņņå (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 Jamunå, or from the Aciravatí, or from the Sarabhú, or from the Mahí?''
``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!''

Citta and cetasika are paramattha dhammas (absolute realities) which each have their own unchangeable characteristic. These characteristics can be experienced, regardless how one names them. Paramattha dhammas are not words or concepts, they are realities. Pleasant feeling and unpleasant feeling are real; their characteristics can be experienced without having to call them ``pleasant feeling'' or ``unpleasant feeling''. Aversion is real; it can be experienced when it presents itself.
There are not only mental phenomena, there are also physical phenomena. Physical phenomena or rúpa are the third paramattha dhamma. There are several kinds of rúpas which each have their own characteristic. There are four principle rúpas which are called the Great Elements (in Påli: mahå-bhúta-rúpa). 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 rúpas which arise together with all the other kinds of rúpa, which are the derived rúpas (in Påli: upådå-rúpa). Rúpas never arise alone; they arise in ``groups'' or ``units''. There have to be at least eight kinds of rúpa arising together. For example, whenever the rúpa which is temperature arises, solidity, cohesion, motion and other rúpas have to arise as well. ``Derived rúpas'' 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 rúpa 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 rúpas 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 rúpa when they appear.
Citta, cetasika and rúpa only arise when there are the right conditions, they are conditioned dhammas (in Påli: saōkhåra 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 rúpas succeeding one another. 
The fourth paramattha dhamma is nibbåna. Nibbåna is a paramattha dhamma because it is real. Nibbåna 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. Nibbåna is nåma. However, it is not citta or cetasika, paramattha dhammas which arise because of conditions and fall way. Nibbåna is the nåma which is an unconditioned reality; therefore it does not arise and it does not fall away. Citta and cetasika are nåmas which experience an object; nibbåna is the nåma which does not experience an object, but nibbåna itself can be the object of citta and cetasika which experience it. Nibbåna is not a person, it is non-self, anattå. 
Summarizing the four paramattha dhammas, they are:

citta		
cetasika
rúpa

nibbåna

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 rúpa-paramattha dhammas, not citta or cetasika. We should know that nibbåna is not citta or cetasika, but the fourth paramattha dhamma. Nibbåna 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 nåmas and rúpas which arise and fall away. 
All conditioned dhammas, citta, cetasika and rúpa, are impermanent, ``anicca''.
All conditioned dhammas are ``dukkha''; they are ``suffering'' or unsatisfactory, since they are impermanent.
All dhammas are non-self, ``anattå'' (in Påli: sabbe dhammå anattå, Dhammapada, vs. 279).
Thus, the conditioned dhammas, not nibbåna, are impermanent and dukkha. But all dhammas, that is, the four paramattha dhammas, nibbåna included, have the characteristic of anattå, non-self.

Questions

	i	What is the difference between nåma and rúpa?
	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 nibbåna experience an object?
	vi	Is nibbåna a ``self''?


Chapter 2


The Five Khandhas

The Buddha discovered the truth of all phenomena. He knew the characteristic of each phenomenon by his own experience. Out of compassion he taught other people to see reality in many different ways, so that they would have a deeper understanding of the phenomena in and around themselves. When realities are classified by way of paramattha dhammas (absolute realities), they are classified as: 

citta
cetasika
rúpa
nibbåna

Citta, cetasika and rúpa are conditioned realities (saōkhåra dhammas). They arise because of conditions and fall away again; they are impermanent. One paramattha dhamma, nibbåna, is an unconditioned reality (asaōkhata dhamma); it does not arise and fall away. All four paramattha dhammas are anattå, non-self.
Citta, cetasika and rúpa, the conditioned realities, can be classified by way of the five khandhas. Khandha means ``group'' or ``aggregate''. What is classified as khandha arises because of conditions and falls away again. The five khandhas are not different from the three paramattha dhammas which are citta, cetasika and rúpa. Realities can be classified in many different ways and thus different names are given to them. The five khandhas are:

Rúpakkhandha, which are all physical phenomena Vedanåkkhandha, which is feeling (vedanå)
Saņņåkkhandha, which is remembrance or 
	``perception'' (saņņå)
Saōkhårakkhandha, comprising fifty cetasikas
	(mental factors arising with the citta)
Viņņåųakkhandha, comprising all cittas (89 or 121)
As regards the fifty-two kinds of cetasika which may arise with citta, they are classified as three khandhas: the cetasika which is feeling (vedanå) is classified as one khandha, the vedanåkkhandha; the cetasika which is remembrance or ``perception'' (saņņå) is classified as one khandha, the saņņåkkhandha; as regards the other fifty cetasikas, they are classified altogether as one khandha, the saōkhårakkhandha. For example, in saōkhårakkhandha are included the following cetasikas: volition or intention (cetanå), attachment (lobha), aversion (dosa), ignorance (moha), loving kindness (mettå), generosity (alobha) and wisdom (paņņå). All defilements and all good qualities are included in saōkhårakkhandha, they are impermanent not ``self''. Saōkhårakkhandha is sometimes translated as ``activities'' or ``mental formations'' 
As regards citta, all cittas are one khandha: viņņåųakkhandha. The Påli terms viņņåųa, mano and citta are three terms for the same reality: that which has the characteristic of knowing or experiencing something. When citta is classified as khandha the word viņņåųa is used. Thus, one khandha is rúpakkhandha and the other four khandhas are nåmakkhandhas. Three nåmakkhandhas are cetasika and one nåmakkhandha is citta.
Anything which is khandha does not last; as soon as it has arisen it falls away again. Although khandhas arise and fall away, they are real; we can experience them when they present themselves. Nibbåna, the unconditioned dhamma which does not arise and fall away, is not a khandha. 
The Visuddhimagga (XX, 96) explains about the arising and falling away of nåma and rúpa:

There is no heap or store of unarisen nåma-rúpa (existing) prior to its arising. When it arises it does not come from any heap or store; and when it ceases, it does not go in any direction. There is nowhere any depository in the way of heap or store or hoard of what has ceased. But just as there is no store, prior to its arising, of the sound that arises when a lute is played, nor does it come from any store when it arises, nor does it go in any direction when it ceases, nor does it persist as a store when it has ceased (``Kindred Sayings'' IV, 197), but on the contrary, not having been, it is brought into being owing to the lute, the lute's neck, and the man's appropriate effort, and having been, it vanishes--so too all material and immaterial states (rúpa and nåma), not having been, are brought into being, having been, they vanish.
The khandhas are realities which can be experienced. We experience rúpakkhandha when, for example, we feel hardness. This phenomenon does not stay; it arises and falls away. Rúpakkhandha is impermanent. Not only rúpas of the body, but the other physical phenomena are included in rúpakkhandha as well. For example, sound is rúpakkhandha; it arises and falls away, it is impermanent.
Vedanåkkhandha (feeling) is real; we can experience feelings. Vedanåkkhandha comprises all kinds of feelings. Feeling can be classified in different ways. Sometimes feelings are classified as threefold:

pleasant feeling
unpleasant feeling
indifferent feeling

Sometimes they are classified as fivefold. In addition to pleasant feeling, unpleasant feeling and indifferent feeling there are:

pleasant bodily feeling
painful bodily feeling

Bodily feeling is feeling which has bodysense, the rúpa which has the capacity to receive bodily impressions, as condition; the feeling itself is nåma, but it has rúpa (bodysense) as condition. When an object contacts the bodysense, the feeling is either painful or pleasant; there is no indifferent bodily feeling. When the bodily feeling is painful it is akusala vipåka (the result of an unwholesome deed), and when the bodily feeling is pleasant it is kusala vipåka (the result of a wholesome deed).
Since there are many different moments of feeling arising and falling away it is difficult to distinguish them from each other. For instance, we are inclined to confuse pleasant bodily feeling which is vipåka and the pleasant feeling which may arise shortly afterwards together with attachment to that pleasant bodily feeling. Or we may confuse painful bodily feeling and unpleasant feeling which may arise afterwards together with aversion. When there is bodily pain, the painful feeling is vipåka, it accompanies the vipåkacitta which experiences the unpleasant object impinging on the bodysense. Unpleasant (mental) feeling may arise afterwards; it is not vipåka, but it accompanies the akusala citta with aversion, and thus it is akusala. The akusala citta with aversion arises because of our accumulated aversion (dosa). Though bodily feeling and mental feeling are both nåma, they are entirely different kinds of feelings, arising because of different conditions. When there are no more conditions for dosa there can still be painful bodily feeling, but there is no longer unpleasant (mental) feeling. The arahat, the perfected one who has eradicated all defilements, may still have akusala vipåka so long as his life has not terminated yet, but he has no aversion.
We read in the Kindred Sayings (I, Sagåthå-vagga, the Måra-suttas, chapter II, §3, The Splinter):

Thus have I heard: The Exalted One was once staying at Råjagaha, in the Maddakucchi, at the Deer-preserve. Now at that time his foot was injured by a splinter. Sorely indeed did the Exalted One feel it, grievous the pains he suffered in the body, keen and sharp, acute, distressing and unwelcome. He truly bore them, mindful and deliberate, nor was he cast down...

Feelings are sixfold when they are classified by way of the contacts occurring through the six doors: there is feeling which arises because of what is experienced through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the bodysense and the mind. All these feelings are different; they arise because of different conditions. Feeling arises and falls away together with the citta it accompanies and thus at each moment feeling is different. 
We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Saîåyatana-vagga, Part II, Kindred Sayings about Feeling, §8, Sickness II) that the Buddha said to the monks:

... Monks, a monk should meet his end collected and composed. This is our instruction to you.
... Now, monks, as that monk dwells collected, composed, earnest, ardent, strenuous, there arises in him feeling that is pleasant, and he thus understands: ``There is arisen in me this pleasant feeling. Now that is owing to something, not without cause. It is owing to this contact. Now this contact is impermanent, compounded, arisen owing to something. Owing to this impermanent contact which has so arisen, this pleasant feeling has arisen: How can that be permanent?'' Thus he dwells contemplating the impermanence in contact and pleasant feeling, contemplating their transience, their waning, their ceasing, the giving of them up. Thus as he dwells contemplating their impermanence... the lurking tendency to lust for contact and pleasant feeling is abandoned in him.
So also as regards contact and painful feeling... contact and neutral feeling...

There are still many more ways of classifying feelings. If we know about different ways of classifying feelings it will help us to realize that feeling is only a mental phenomenon which arises because of conditions. We are inclined to cling to feeling which has fallen away, instead of being aware of the reality of the present moment as it appears through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense or mind. In the passage of the Visuddhimagga which was quoted above (XX, 96) nåma and rúpa are compared to the sound of a lute which does not come from any ``store'' when it arises, nor goes in any direction when it ceases, nor persists as a ``store'' when it has ceased. However, we cling so much to feelings that we do not realize that the feeling which has fallen away does not exist any more, that it has ceased completely. Vedanåkkhandha (feeling) is impermanent.
Saņņåkkhandha (perception) is real; it can be experienced whenever we remember something. There is saņņå with every moment of citta. Each citta which arises experiences an object and saņņå which arises with the citta remembers and ``marks'' that object so that it can be recognized. Even when there is a moment that one does not recognize something citta still experiences an object at that moment and saņņå which arises with the citta ``marks'' that object. Saņņå arises and falls away with the citta; saņņå is impermanent. So long as we do not see saņņå as it really is: only a mental phenomenon which falls away as soon as it has arisen, we will take saņņå for self.
Saōkhårakkhandha (all the cetasikas other than vedanå and saņņå) is real; it can be experienced. When there are beautiful mental factors (sobhana cetasikas) such as generosity and compassion, or when there are unwholesome mental factors such as anger and stinginess, we can experience saōkhårakkhandha. All these phenomena arise and fall away; saōkhårakkhandha is impermanent.
Viņņåųakkhandha (citta) is real; we can experience it when there is seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, experiencing tangible object through the bodysense or thinking. Viņņåųakkhandha arises and falls away; it is impermanent. All saōkhåra dhammas (conditioned phenomena), that is, the five khandhas, are impermanent.
Sometimes the khandhas are called the ``khandhas of clinging'' (in Påli: upådånakkhandha). Those who are not arahats still cling to the khandhas. We take the body for self; thus we cling to rúpakkhandha. We take mentality for self; thus we cling to vedanåkkhandha, to saņņåkkhandha, to saōkhårakkhandha and to viņņåųakkhandha. If we cling to the khandhas and do not see them as they are, we will have sorrow. So long as the khandhas are still objects of clinging for us, we are like people afflicted by sickness.
We read in the Kindred Sayings (III, Khandha-vagga, the First Fifty, paragraph1, Nakulapitar) that the housefather Nakulapitar, who was an old, sick man, came to see the Buddha at Crocodile Haunt in the Deerpark. The Buddha said to him that he should train himself thus:

``Though my body is sick, my mind shall not be sick.''

Later on Såriputta gave him a further explanation of the Buddha's words:

Herein, housefather, the untaught many-folk... who are unskilled in the worthy doctrine, untrained in the worthy doctrine--these regard body as the self, they regard the self as having body, body as being in the self, the self as being in the body. ``I am the body'', they say, ``body is mine'', and are possessed by this idea; and so, possessed by this idea, when body alters and changes, owing to the unstable and changeful nature of the body, then sorrow and grief, woe, lamentation and despair arise in them. They regard feeling (vedanå) as the self... They regard perception (saņņå) as the self... They regard the activities (saōkhårakkhandha) as the self... They regard consciousness (viņņåųa) as the self... That, housefather, is how body is sick and mind is sick too.
And how is body sick, but mind is not sick?
Herein, housefather, the well-taught ariyan disciple... regards not body as the self, regards not the self as having body, nor body as being in the self, nor self as being in the body. He says not ``I am body'', he says not ``body is mine'', nor is possessed by this idea. As he is not so possessed, when body alters and changes owing to the unstable and changeful nature of body, then sorrow and grief, woe, lamentation and despair do not arise in him. He regards not feeling (vedanå) as the self... He regards not perception (saņņå) as the self... He regards not the activities (saōkhårakkhandha) as the self... He regards not consciousness (viņņåųa) as the self... Thus, housefather, body is sick, but mind is not sick.

So long as we are still clinging to the khandhas we are like sick people, but we can be cured of our sickness if we see the khandhas as they are. The khandhas are impermanent and thus they are dukkha (unsatisfactory). We read in the Kindred Sayings (III, Khandha-vagga, Last Fifty, §104, Suffering) that the Buddha taught to the monks the four noble Truths: the Truth of dukkha, the Truth of the arising of dukkha, the Truth of the ceasing of dukkha, the Truth of the way leading to the ceasing of dukkha. He said:

Monks, I will teach you dukkha, the arising of dukkha, the ceasing of dukkha, the way leading to the ceasing of dukkha. Do you listen to it. 
And what, monks, is dukkha? It is to be called the five khandhas of grasping. What five? The rúpakkhandha of grasping, the vedanåkkhandha of grasping, the saņņåkkhandha of grasping, the saōkhårakkhandha of grasping, the viņņåųakkhandha of grasping. This, monks, is called dukkha. 
And what, monks, is the arising of dukkha? It is that craving... that leads downward to rebirth... the craving for feeling, for rebirth, for no rebirth... This, monks, is called the arising of dukkha.
And what, monks, is the ceasing of dukkha? It is the utter passionless ceasing, the giving up, the abandonment of, the release from, the freedom from attachment to that craving...
This, monks, is called the ceasing of dukkha.
And what, monks, is the way going to the ceasing of dukkha? 
It is the ariyan eightfold Path... This, monks, is the way going to the ceasing of dukkha.

So long as there is still clinging to the khandhas there will be the arising of the khandhas in rebirth, and this means sorrow. If we develop the eightfold Path, the development of right understanding of realities, we will learn to see what the khandhas really are. Then we are on the way leading to the ceasing of dukkha, which means: no more birth, old age, sickness and death. Those who have attained the last stage of enlightenment, the stage of the arahat, will be, after their life-span is over, free from the khandhas.

Questions. 
 
	i	Which paramattha dhammas are nåma?
	ii	Which paramattha dhammas are saōkhåra 		dhamma (conditioned realities)?
	iii	Which paramattha dhamma is the unconditioned 		reality?
	iv	Which saōkhåra dhammas are nåma?
	v	Are all cetasikas saōkhårakkhandha?
	vi	Is vedanå cetasika (feeling) a khandha?
	vii	Is saņņå cetasika (remembrance or perception) a 		khandha?
viii		Is painful bodily feeling vipåka?
	ix	Is unhappy mental feeling vipåka?
	x	Which khandhas are nåma?
	xi	Is seeing-consciousness a khandha?
	xii	Is the concept ``human being'' a khandha?
	xiii	Is sound a khandha?
	xiv	Which paramattha dhammas are khandha? 

Chapter 3


Different Aspects of Citta

The Buddha spoke about everything which is real. What he taught can be proved by our own experience. However, we do not really know the most common realities of daily life: the mental phenomena and physical phenomena which appear through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind. It seems that we are mostly interested in the past or the future. However, we will find out what life really is if we know more about the realities of the present moment, and if we learn to be aware of them when they appear.
The Buddha explained that citta (consciousness) is a reality. We may doubt whether cittas are real. How can we prove that there are cittas? Could it be that there are only physical phenomena and not mental phenomena? There are many things in our life we take for granted such as our homes, meals, clothes, or the tools we use every day. These things do not appear by themselves. They are brought about by a thinking mind, by citta. Citta is a mental phenomenon; it knows or experiences something. Citta is not like a physical phenomenon which does not experience anything. We listen to music which was written by a composer. It was citta which had the idea for the music; it was citta which made the composer's hand move in order to write down the notes. His hand could not have moved without citta.
Citta can achieve many different effects. We read in the Atthasåliní (the commentary to the Dhammasangaųi, the first book of the Abhidhamma) Book I, Part II, Analysis of Terms, 64:

How is consciousness (i.e. mind) capable of producing a variety or diversity of effects in action? There is no art in the world more variegated than the art of painting. In painting, the painter's masterpiece is more artistic than the rest of his pictures. An artistic design occurs to the painters of masterpieces that such and such pictures should be drawn in such and such a way. Through this artistic design there arise operations of the mind (or artistic operations) accomplishing such things as sketching the outline, putting on the paint, touching up, and embellishing... Thus all classes of arts in the world, specific or generic, are achieved by the mind. And owing to its capacity thus to produce a variety or diversity of effects in action, the mind, which achieves all these arts, is in itself artistic like the arts themselves. Nay, it is even more artistic than the art itself, because the latter cannot execute every design perfectly. For that reason the Blessed One has said, ``Monks, have you seen a masterpiece of painting?'' ``Yes, Lord.'' ``Monks, that masterpiece of art is designed by the mind. Indeed, monks, the mind is even more artistic than that masterpiece.'' (Kindred Sayings, III, 151)

We then read about the many different things which are accomplished by citta: good deeds, such as deeds of generosity, and bad deeds, such as deeds of cruelty and deceit, are accomplished by citta and these deeds produce different results. There is not just one type of citta, but many different types of cittas.
Different people react differently to what they experience, thus, different types of citta arise. What one person likes, another dislikes. We can also notice how different people are when they make or produce something. Even when two people plan to make the same thing the result is quite different. For example, when two people make a painting of the same tree, the paintings are not at all the same. People have different talents and capacities; some people have no difficulty with their studies, whereas others are incapable of study. Cittas are beyond control; they each have their own conditions for their arising.
Why are people so different from one another? The reason is that they have different experiences in life and thus they accumulate different inclinations. When a child has been taught from his youth to be generous he accumulates generosity. People who are angry very often accumulate a great deal of anger. We all have accumulated different inclinations, tastes and skills.
Each citta which arises falls away completely and is succeeded by the next citta. How then can there be accumulations of experiences in life, accumulations of good and bad inclinations? The reason is that each citta which falls away is succeeded by the next citta. Our life is an uninterrupted series of cittas and each citta conditions the next citta and this again the next, and thus the past can condition the present. It is a fact that our good cittas and bad cittas in the past condition our inclinations today. Thus, good and bad inclinations are accumulated.
We all have accumulated many impure inclinations and defilements (in Påli: kilesa). Defilements are for example greed or attachment (lobha), anger (dosa) and ignorance (moha). There are different degrees of defilements: there are subtle defilements or latent tendencies, medium defilements and gross defilements. Subtle defilements do not appear with the citta, but they are latent tendencies which are accumulated and lie dormant in the citta. At the time we are asleep and not dreaming, there are no akusala cittas but there are unwholesome latent tendencies. When we wake up akusala cittas arise again. How could they appear if there were not in each citta accumulated unwholesome latent tendencies? Even when the citta is not akusala there are unwholesome latent tendencies so long as they have not been eradicated by wisdom. Medium defilement is different from subtle defilement since it arises together with the citta. Medium defilement arises with akusala cittas rooted in attachment, lobha, aversion, dosa, and ignorance, moha. Medium defilement is, for example, attachment to what one sees, hears or experiences through the bodysense, or aversion towards the objects one experiences. Medium defilement does not motivate ill deeds. Gross defilement motivates unwholesome actions, akusala kamma, through body, speech and mind, such as killing, slandering or the intention to take away other people's possessions. Kamma is actually volition or intention; it can motivate good deeds or bad deeds. Kamma is a mental phenomenon and thus it can be accumulated. People accumulate different defilements and different kammas. 
Different accumulations of kamma are the condition for different results in life. This is the law of kamma and vipåka, of cause and result. We see that people are born into different circumstances. Some people live in agreeable surroundings and they have many pleasant experiences in their lives. Other people may often have disagreeable experiences; they are poor or they suffer from ill health. When we hear about children who suffer from malnutrition, we wonder why they have to suffer whereas other children receive everything they need. The Buddha taught that everyone receives the results of his own deeds. A deed or kamma of the past can bring about its result later on, because akusala kamma and kusala kamma are accumulated. When there are the right conditions the result can be brought about in the form of vipåka. When the word ``result'' is used, people may think of the consequences of their deeds for other people, but ``result'' in the sense of vipåka has a different meaning. Vipåkacitta is a citta which experiences an unpleasant object or a pleasant object and this citta is the result of a deed we did ourselves. We are used to thinking of a self who experiences unpleasant and pleasant things. However, there is no self; there are only cittas which experience different objects. Some cittas are cause; they can motivate good deeds or bad deeds which are capable of bringing about their appropriate results. Some cittas are result or vipåka. When we see something unpleasant, it is not self who sees; it is a citta, seeing-consciousness, which is the result of an unwholesome deed (akusala kamma) we performed either in this life or in a past life. This kind of citta is akusala vipåka. When we see something pleasant, it is a citta which is kusala vipåka, the result of a wholesome deed we performed. Every time we experience an unpleasant object through one of the five senses, there is akusala vipåka. Every time we experience a pleasant object through one of the five senses there is kusala vipåka.
If one is being hit by someone else, the pain one feels is not the vipåka (result) of the deed performed by the other person. The person who is being hit receives the result of a bad deed he performed himself; for him there is akusala vipåka through the bodysense. The other person's action is the proximate cause of his pain. As regards the other person who performs the bad deed, it is his akusala citta which motivates that deed. Sooner or later he will receive the result of his own bad deed. When we have more understanding of kamma and vipåka we will see many events of our life more clearly.
The Atthasåliní (Book I, Analysis of Terms, Part II, 65) explains that kamma of different people causes different results at birth and throughout life. Even bodily features are the result of kamma. We read:

...In dependence on the difference in kamma appears the difference in the destiny of beings without legs, with two legs, four legs, many legs, vegetative, spiritual, with perception, without perception, with neither perception nor without perception. Depending on the difference in kamma appears the difference in the births of beings, high and low, base and exalted, happy and miserable. Depending on the difference in kamma appears the difference in the individual features of beings as beautiful or ugly, high-born or low-born, well-built or deformed. Depending on the difference in kamma appears the difference in the worldly conditions of beings as gain and loss, fame and disgrace, blame and praise, happiness and misery.


Further on we read:

By kamma the world moves, by kamma men
Live, and by kamma are all beings bound
As by its pin the rolling chariot wheel. (``Sutta Nipåta'', 654)

The Buddha taught that everything arises because of conditions; it is not by chance that people are so different in bodily features and character, and that they live in such different circumstances. Even the difference in bodily features of animals is due to different kamma. Animals have citta too; they may behave badly or they may behave well. Thus they accumulate different kammas which produce different results. If we understand that each kamma brings about its own result, we will know that there is no reason to be proud if we are born into a rich family or if we receive praise, honour or other pleasant things. When we have to suffer we will understand that suffering is due to our own deeds. Thus we will be less inclined to blame other people for our unhappiness or to be jealous when others receive pleasant things. When we understand reality we know that it is not self who receives something pleasant or who has to suffer; it is only vipåka, a citta which arises because of conditions and which falls away immediately.
We see that people who are born into the same circumstances still behave differently. For example, among people who are born into rich families, some are stingy, others are not. The fact that one is born into a rich family is the result of kamma. Stinginess is conditioned by one's accumulated defilements. There are many different types of conditions which play their part in the life of each person. Kamma causes one to be born into certain circumstances and one's accumulated tendencies condition one's character.
One may have doubts about past lives and future lives, since one only experiences the present life. However, in the present life we notice that different people experience different results. These results must have their causes in the past. The past conditions the present and the deeds we perform now will bring about their results in the future. In understanding the present we will be able to know more about the past and the future.
Past, present and future lives are an uninterrupted series of cittas. Each citta which arises falls away immediately to be succeeded by the next citta. Cittas do not last, but there isn't any moment without citta. If there were moments without citta the body would be a dead body. Even when we are sound asleep there is citta. Each citta which arises falls away but it conditions the next citta and evenso the last citta of this life conditions the first citta of the next life, the rebirth-consciousness. Thus we see that life goes on and on. We are moving in a cycle, the cycle of birth and death.
The next citta cannot arise until the previous citta has passed away. There can be only one citta at a time, but cittas arise and fall away so rapidly that one has the impression that there can be more than one citta at a time. We may think that we can see and hear at the same time, but in reality each of these cittas arises at a different moment. We can verify through our own experience that seeing is a type of citta which is different from hearing; these cittas arise because of different conditions and experience different objects.
A citta is that which experiences something; it experiences an object. Each citta must experience an object, there cannot be any citta without an object. Cittas experience different objects through the six doors of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind. Seeing is a citta experiencing that which appears through the eyes. We can use the word ``visible object'' for the object which is seen but it is not necessary to name it ``visible object''. When visible object contacts the eyesense there are conditions for seeing. Seeing is different from thinking about what we see; the latter is a type of citta which experiences something through the mind-door. Hearing is a citta which is different from seeing; it has different conditions and it experiences a different object. When sound contacts the earsense, there are conditions for a citta which experiences sound. There have to be the right conditions for the arising of each citta. We cannot smell through the ears and taste with the eyes. A citta which smells experiences odour through the nose. A citta which tastes experiences flavour through the tongue. A citta which experiences tangible object experiences this through the bodysense. Through the mind-door citta are able to experience all kinds of objects. There can be only one citta at a time and citta can experience only one object at a time.
We may understand in theory that a citta which sees has a characteristic which is different from a citta which hears, and that citta is different from a physical phenomenon which does not experience anything. Knowing this may seem quite simple to us, but theoretical knowledge is different from knowing the truth by one's own experience. Theoretical knowledge is not very deep; it cannot eradicate the concept of self. Only in being aware of phenomena as they appear through the six doors, will we know the truth by our own experience. This kind of understanding can eradicate the concept of self. 
The objects which we experience are the world in which we live. At the moment we see, the world is visible object. The world of visible object does not last, it falls away immediately. When we hear, the world is sound, but it falls away again. We are absorbed in and infatuated with the objects we experience through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind-door, but not one of these objects lasts. What is impermanent should not be taken for self.
In the Gradual Sayings (Book of the Fours, chapter V, §5, Rohitassa) we read that Rohitassa, a deva, asked the Buddha about reaching the world's end. He said to the Buddha:

``Pray, lord, is it possible for us, by going, to know, to see, to reach world's end, where there is no more being born or growing old, no more dying, no more falling (from one existence) and rising up (in another)?'' 
``Your reverence, where there is no more being born or growing old, no more dying, no more falling from one existence and rising up in another, I declare that end of the world is not by going to be known, seen or reached.''
``It is wonderful, lord! It is marvellous, lord, how well it is said by the Exalted One: `Where there is no more being born... that end of the world is not by going to be known, seen or reached!'
Formerly, lord, I was the hermit called Rohitassa, Bhoja's son, one of psychic power, a skywalker... The extent of my stride was as the distance between the eastern and the western ocean. To me, lord, possessed of such speed and of such a stride, there came a longing thus: I will reach the world's end by going. 
But, lord, not to speak of (the time spent over) food and drink, eating, tasting and calls of nature, not to speak of struggles to banish sleep and weariness, though my life-span was a hundred years, though I travelled a hundred years, yet I reached not world's end but died ere that. Wonderful indeed, lord! Marvellous it is, lord, how well it has been said by the Exalted One: `Your reverence, where there is no more being born... that end of the world is not by going to be known, seen or reached.'''
``But your reverence, I declare not that there is any making an end of ill (dukkha) without reaching the world's end. Nay, your reverence, in this very fathom-long body, along with its perceptions and thoughts, I proclaim the world to be, likewise the origin of the world and the making of the world to end, likewise the practice going to the ending of the world.

Not to be reached by going is world's end.
Yet there is no release for man from ill
Unless he reach the world's end. Then let a man
Become world-knower, wise, world-ender,
Let him be one who lives the holy life. 
Knowing the world's end by becoming calmed
He longs not for this world or another.''

The Buddha taught people about the ``world'' and the way to reach the end of the world, that is, the end of suffering, dukkha. The way to realize this is knowing the world, that is, knowing ``this very fathom-long body, along with its perceptions and thoughts'', knowing oneself.




Questions

	i	People are born into different circumstances: some are 		born rich, others are born poor. What is the cause of 		this?
	ii	People behave differently: some are stingy, others 		are generous. By what is this conditioned?
	iii	Each citta which arises falls away completely. How 		is it possible that defilements can be accumulated?

Chapter 4


The Characteristic of Lobha

Cittas are of different types. They can be classified as kusala cittas (wholesome cittas), akusala cittas (unwholesome cittas), vipåkacittas (cittas which are result) and kiriyacittas (cittas which are neither cause nor result). All these kinds of cittas arise in a day, yet we know so little about them. Most of the time we do not know whether the citta is kusala, akusala, vipåka or kiriya. If we learn to classify our mind we will have more understanding of ourselves and of others. We will have more compassion and loving kindness towards others, even when they behave in a disagreeable way. We do not like the akusala cittas of others; we find it unpleasant when they are stingy or speak harsh words. However, do we realize at which moments we ourselves have akusala cittas? When we dislike other people's harsh words, we ourselves have akusala cittas with aversion at that moment. Instead of paying attention to the akusala cittas of others we should be aware of our own akusala cittas. If one has not studied the Abhidhamma which explains realities in detail, one may not know what is akusala. People may take what is unwholesome for wholesome and thus accumulate unwholesomeness without knowing it. If we know more about different types of citta we can see for ourselves which types arise more often, kusala cittas or akusala cittas, and thus we will understand ourselves better.
We should know the difference between kusala and akusala. The Atthasåliní (Book I, Part I, chapter I, 38) speaks about the meaning of the word ``kusala''. The word ``kusala'' has many meanings; it can mean ``of good health'', ``faultless'', ``skilful'', ``productive of happy results''. 
When we perform dåna (generosity), síla (good moral conduct) and bhåvanå (mental development), the citta is kusala. All different kinds of wholesomeness such as the appreciation of other people's good deeds, helping others, politeness, paying respect, observing the precepts, studying and teaching Dhamma, samatha (tranquil meditation) and vipassanå (development of ``insight'', right understanding of realities), are included in dåna, síla or bhåvanå. Kusala is ``productive of happy results''; each good deed will bring a pleasant result. The Atthasåliní (Book I, Part I, chapter I, 39) states about akusala: 

``A-kusala means ``not kusala''. Just as the opposite to friendship is enmity, or the opposite to greed, etc. is disinterestedness, etc., so ``akusala'' is opposed to ``kusala''...

Unwholesome deeds will bring unhappy results. Nobody wishes to experience an unhappy result, but many people are ignorant about the cause which brings an unhappy result, about akusala. They do not realize when the citta is unwholesome, and they do not always know it when they perform unwholesome deeds.
When we study the Abhidhamma we learn that there are three groups of akusala cittas. They are:

Lobha-múla-cittas, 
	or cittas rooted in attachment (lobha)
Dosa-múla-cittas, 
	or cittas rooted in aversion (dosa)
Moha-múla-cittas, 
	or cittas rooted in ignorance (moha)

Moha (ignorance) arises with every akusala citta. Akusala cittas rooted in lobha (attachment) actually have two roots: moha and lobha. They are named ``lobha-múla-cittas'', because there is not only moha, which arises with every akusala citta, but lobha as well. Lobha-múla-cittas are thus named after the root which is lobha. Akusala cittas rooted in dosa (aversion) have two roots as well: moha and dosa. They are named ``dosa-múla-cittas'' after the root which is dosa. Akusala cittas rooted in moha (ignorance), have only one root which is moha. Each of these three classes of akusala cittas includes again different types of akusala citta and thus we see that there is a great variety of cittas. 
Now I shall deal first with lobha-múla-citta. Lobha is the paramattha dhamma (absolute reality) which is cetasika (mental factor arising with the citta); it is a reality and thus it can be experienced.
Lobha is ``clinging'' or ``attachment''. The Visuddhimagga (XIV, 162) states:

...lobha has the characteristic of grasping an object, like birdlime (lit. ``monkey lime''). Its function is sticking, like meat put in a hot pan. It is manifested as not giving up, like the dye of lampblack. Its proximate cause is seeing enjoyment in things that lead to bondage. Swelling with the current of craving, it should be regarded as taking (beings) with it to states of loss, as a swift-flowing river does to the great ocean.

Lobha is sometimes translated as ``greed'' or ``craving''; it can be translated by different words, since there are many degrees of lobha. Lobha can be coarse, medium or subtle. Most people can recognize lobha when it is very obvious, but not when it is of a lesser degree. For example, we can recognize lobha when we are inclined to eat too much of a delicious meal, or when we are attached to alcoholic drinks and cigarettes. We are attached to people and we suffer when we lose those who are dear to us through death. Then we can see that attachment brings sorrow. Sometimes attachment is very obvious, but there are many degrees of lobha and often we may not know that we have lobha. Cittas arise and fall away very rapidly and we may not realize it when lobha arises on account of what we experience in daily life through the six doors, especially if the degree of lobha is not as intense as greed or lust. Every time there is a pleasant sight, sound, odour, taste or tangible object, lobha is likely to arise. It arises many times a day. 
Lobha arises when there are conditions for its arising; it is beyond control. In many suttas the Buddha speaks about lobha, points out the dangers of it and the way to overcome it. The pleasant objects which can be experienced through the five senses are in several suttas called the ``five strands of sense-pleasures''. We read in the Mahå-dukkhakkhandha-sutta (``Greater Discourse on the Stems of Anguish'', Middle Length Sayings I, no. 13) that the Buddha, when he was staying near Såvatthí, in the Jeta Grove, said to the monks:

And what, monks, is the satisfaction in pleasures of the senses? These five, monks, are the strands of sense-pleasures. What five? Visible objects cognisable by the eye, agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing, connected with sensual pleasures, alluring. Sounds, cognisable by the ear... Smells, cognisable by the nose... Tastes cognisable by the tongue... Touches, cognisable by the body, agreeable, pleasant, liked, enticing, connected with sensual pleasures, alluring. These, monks, are the five strands of sense-pleasures. Whatever pleasure, whatever happiness arises in consequence of these five strands of sense-pleasures, this is the satisfaction in sense-pleasures.
The satisfaction in sense-pleasures is not true happiness. Those who do not know the Buddha's teachings may think that attachment is wholesome, especially when it arises with pleasant feeling. They may not know the difference between attachment and loving kindness (mettå), phenomena which may both arise with pleasant feeling. However, a citta accompanied by pleasant feeling is not necessarily kusala citta. When we learn more about akusala cittas and kusala cittas and when we are mindful of their characteristics, we will notice that the pleasant feeling which may arise with lobha-múla-citta (citta rooted in attachment) is different from the pleasant feeling which may arise with kusala citta. Feeling (vedanå) is a cetasika which arises with every citta. When the citta is akusala, the feeling is also akusala, and when the citta is kusala, the feeling is also kusala. We may be able to know the difference between the characteristic of the pleasant feeling arising when we are attached to an agreeable sight or sound, and the characteristic of the pleasant feeling arising when we are generous.
The Buddha pointed out that lobha brings sorrow. When we have lose people who are dear to us or when we lose the things we enjoy, we have sorrow. If we are attached to a comfortable life we may have aversion when we have to endure hardship or when things do not turn out the way we want them to be. We read in the Greater Discourse on the Stems of Anguish, which was quoted above, that the Buddha spoke to the monks about the dangers in the pleasures of the senses:

And what, monks, is the peril in sense-pleasures? In this case, monks, a young man of family earns his living by some craft... He is afflicted by the cold, he is afflicted by the heat, suffering from the touch of gadflies, mosquitos, wind, sun, creeping things, dying of hunger and thirst. This, monks, is a peril in pleasures of the senses that is present, a stem of ill...
If, monks, this young man of family rouses himself, exerts himself, strives thus, but if these possessions do not come to his hand, he grieves, mourns, laments, beating his breast and wailing, he falls into disillusionment, and thinks: ``Indeed my exertion is in vain, indeed my striving is fruitless.'' This too, monks, is a peril in the pleasures of the senses that is present...
And again, monks, when sense-pleasures are the cause... kings dispute with kings, nobles dispute with nobles, brahmans dispute with brahmans, householders dispute with householders, a mother disputes with her son, a son disputes with his mother, a father disputes with his son, a son disputes with his father, a brother disputes with a brother, a brother disputes with a sister, a sister disputes with a brother, a friend disputes with a friend. Those who enter into quarrel, contetion, dispute and attack one another with their hands and with stones and with sticks and with weapons, these suffer dying then and pain like unto dying. This too, monks, is a peril in the pleasures of the senses that is present...

We then read about many more perils in pleasures of the senses, and about the bad results they will cause in the future. The Buddha also explained about the satisfaction and peril in ``material shapes''. We read:

``And what, monks, is the satisfaction in material shapes? Monks, it is like a girl in a noble's family or a brahman's family or a householder's family who at the age of fifteen or sixteen is not too tall, not too short, not too thin, not too fat, not too dark, not too fair--is she, monks, at the height of her beauty and loveliness at that time?''
``Yes, Lord.''
``Monks, whatever happiness and pleasure arise because of beauty and loveliness, this is satisfaction in material shapes.
And what, monks, is peril in material shapes? As to this, monks, one might see that same lady after a time, eighty or ninety or a hundred years old, aged, crooked as a rafter, bent, leaning on a stick, going along palsied, miserable, youth gone, teeth broken, hair thinned, skin wrinkled, stumbling along, the limbs discoloured...
...And again, monks, one might see that same lady, her body thrown aside in a cemetery, dead for one, two or three days, swollen, discoloured, decomposing. What would you think, monks? That which was former beauty and loveliness has vanished, a peril has appeared?''
``Yes, Lord.''
``This too, monks, is a peril in material shapes...''

What the Buddha told the monks may sound crude to us, but it is reality. We find it difficult to accept life as it really is: birth, old age, sickness and death. We cannot bear to think of our own body or the body of someone who is dear to us as being a corpse. We accept being born, but we find it difficult to accept the consequences of birth, which are old age, sickness and death. We wish to ignore the impermanence of all conditioned things. When we look into the mirror and when we take care of our body we are inclined to take it for something which stays and which belongs to us. However, the body is only rúpa, elements which fall away as soon as they have arisen. There is no particle of the body which lasts.
One may cling to the body with wrong view, in Påli: diėėhi. Diėėhi is a cetasika which can arise with lobha-múla-citta (citta rooted in attachment). Sometimes there is lobha without wrong view, diėėhi, and sometimes with wrong view. 
There are different kinds of diėėhi. The belief in a ``self'' is one kind of diėėhi. We may cling to mental phenomena as well as to physical phenomena with the wrong view of self. Some people believe that there is a self who exists in this life and who will continue to exist after this life-span is over. This is the ``eternity-belief''. Others believe in a self who, existing only in this life, will be annihilated after this life-span is over. This is the ``annihilation-belief''. Another form of diėėhi is the belief that there is no kamma which produces vipåka, that deeds do not bring their results. There have always been people in different countries who think that they can be purified of their imperfections merely by ablution in water or by prayers. They believe that the results of ill deeds they committed can thus be warded off. They do not know that each deed can bring about its own result. We can only purify ourselves of imperfections if the wisdom is cultivated which can eradicate them. If one thinks that deeds do not bring about their appropriate results one may easily be inclined to believe that the cultivation of wholesomeness is useless. This kind of belief may lead to ill deeds and to the corruption of society.
There are eight types of lobha-múla-citta and of these, four types arise with wrong view, diėėhi (in Påli: diėėhigata-sampayutta; sampayutta means: associated with). Four types of lobha-múla-citta arise without wrong view (in Påli: diėėhigata-vippayutta; vippayutta means: dissociated from). 
As regards the feeling which accompanies the lobha-múla-citta, lobha-múla-cittas can arise either with pleasant feeling or indifferent feeling, never with unpleasant feeling. Of the four types of lobha-múla-citta which are accompanied by diėėhi, two types arise with pleasant feeling, somanassa (in Påli: somanassa-sahagata; sahagata means: accompanied by); two types arise with indifferent feeling, upekkhå (in Påli: upekkhå-sahagata). For example, when one clings to the view that there is a self who will continue to exist, the citta can be accompanied by pleasant feeling or by indifferent feeling. Of the four lobha-múla-cittas arising without diėėhi, two types are accompanied by pleasant feeling and two types are accompanied by indifferent feeling. Thus, of the eight types of lobha-múla-citta, four types arise with pleasant feeling and four types arise with indifferent feeling.
In classifying lobha-múla-cittas there is yet another distinction to be made. Lobha-múla-cittas can be ``unprompted'', asaōkhårika, or ``prompted'', sasaōkhårika. ``Asaōkhårika'' can be translated as ``unprompted``, ``not induced'', or ``spontaneous''; sasaōkhårika can be translated as ``prompted'' or ``induced''. The Visuddhimagga (XIV, 91) states about lobha-múla-citta that it is ``sasaōkhårika'' ``when it is with consciousness which is sluggish and urged on.'' The lobha-múla-cittas which are sasaōkhårika can be prompted by the advice or request of someone else, or they arise induced by one's own previous consideration. Even when they are induced by one's own consideration, they are sasaōkhårika; the cittas are ``sluggish and urged on''.
Of the four lobha-múla-cittas arising with diėėhi, two types are unprompted, asaōkhårika, and two types are prompted, sasaōkhårika. As regards the lobha-múla-cittas arising without diėėhi, two types are unprompted, asaōkhårika, and two types are prompted, sasaōkhårika. Thus, of the eight types of lobha-múla-cittas, four types are unprompted and four types are prompted.
It is useful to learn the Påli terms and their meaning, because the English translation does not render the meaning of realities very clearly.
The eight types of lobha-múla-citta are:

ŋ Accompanied by pleasant feeling, with wrong view,	unprompted. (Somanassa-sahagata˙, diėėhigata-sampayutta˙, asaōkhårikam eka˙).

Ą Accompanied by pleasant feeling, with wrong view, prompted. (Somanassa-sahagata˙, diėėhigata-sampayutta˙, sasaōkhårikam eka˙).

Ŧ Accompanied by pleasant feeling, without wrong view, unprompted. (Somanassa-sahagata˙, diėėhigata-vippayutta˙, asaōkhårikam eka˙).

[Sqrt] Accompanied by pleasant feeling, without wrong view, prompted. (Somanassa-sahagata˙, diėėhigata-vippayutta˙, sasaōkhårikam eka˙).

[f] Accompanied by indifferent feeling, with wrong view, unprompted. (Upekkhå-sahagata˙, diėėhigata-sampayutta˙, asaōkhårikam eka˙). 

~= Accompanied by indifferent feeling, with wrong view, prompted. (Upekkhå-sahagata˙, diėėhigata-sampayutta˙, sasaōkhårikam eka˙).

[delta] Accompanied by indifferent feeling, without wrong view, unprompted. (Upekkhå-sahagata˙, diėėhigata-vippayutta˙, asaōkhårikam eka˙).

Ģ Accompanied by indifferent feeling, without wrong view, prompted. (Upekkhå-sahagata˙, diėėhigata-vippayutta˙, sasaōkhårikam eka˙).

As we have seen, lobha-múla-cittas can be unprompted or prompted. The Atthasåliní (Book II, Part IX, chapter III, 225) gives an example of lobha-múla-cittas, accompanied by diėėhi, which are prompted. A son of a noble family marries a woman who has wrong views and therefore he associates with people who have wrong views. Gradually he accepts those wrong views and then they are pleasing to him.
Lobha-múla-cittas without diėėhi which are sasaōkhårika arise, for example, when one, though at first not attached to alcoholic drink, takes pleasure in it after someone else persuades one to drink.
As we have seen, lobha-múla-cittas can be accompanied by pleasant feeling or by indifferent feeling. Lobha-múla-cittas without diėėhi, accompanied by pleasant feeling, can arise, for example, when we enjoy ourselves while seeing a beautiful colour or hearing an agreeable sound. At such moments we can be attached without wrong view about realities. When we enjoy beautiful clothes, go to the cinema, or laugh and talk with others about pleasurable things there can be many moments of enjoyment without the idea of self, but there can also be moments with diėėhi, moments of clinging to a ``self''. 
Lobha-múla-cittas without diėėhi, accompanied by indifferent feeling, may arise, for example, when we like to stand up, or like to take hold of different objects. Since we generally do not have happy feeling with these actions, there may be lobha with indifferent feeling at such moments. Thus we see that lobha often motivates the most common actions of our daily life.

Questions.

	i	When there is lobha is there always pleasant feeling, 		somanassa, as well?
	ii	Does diėėhi, wrong view, arise only with lobha-múla-		citta?
	iii	How many types of lobha-múla-citta are there? Why 		is it useful to know this?
Chapter 5


Different Degrees of Lobha

Lobha, attachment, leads to sorrow. If we really understand this, we will wish to eradicate lobha. The eradication of lobha, however, cannot be done immediately. We may be able to suppress lobha for a while, but it will appear again when there are the right conditions for its arising. Even though we know that lobha brings sorrow, it is bound to arise time and again. However, there is a way to eradicate it: it can be eradicated by the wisdom which sees things as they are.
When we study cittas more in detail it will help us to know ourselves. We should know not only the gross lobha but also the degrees of lobha which are more subtle. The following sutta gives an example of lobha which is more subtle. We read in the Kindred Sayings (I, Sagåthå-vagga IX, Forest Suttas §14):

A certain monk was once staying among the Kosalese in a certain forest-tract. Now while there was that monk, after he had returned from his alms-round and had broken his fast, plunged into the lotus-pool and sniffed up the perfume of a red lotus. Then the deva who haunted that forest tract, moved with compassion for that monk, desiring his welfare, and wishing to agitate him, drew near and addressed him in the verse:

``That blossom, water-born, thing not given,
You stand sniffing up the scent of it.
This is one class of things that may be stolen.
And you a smell-thief must I call, dear sir.''

(The monk:)
``Nay, nought I bear away, I nothing break.
Standing apart I smell the water's child.
Now for what reason am I smell-thief called?
One who does dig up water-lilies, one
Who feeds on lotuses, in motley tasks
Engaged: why have you no such name for him?''

(The Deva:)
``A man of ruthless, wicked character,
Foul-flecked as is a handmaid's dirty cloth:
With such the words I say have no concern.
But this it is meet that I should say (to you):
To him whose character is void of vice,
Who ever makes quest for what is pure:
What to the wicked but a hair-tip seems,
To him does great as a rain-cloud appear...''

We should also know the more subtle lobha which arises when we enjoy a fragrant smell or beautiful music. It seems that there are no akusala cittas when we do not harm others, but also the more subtle lobha is akusala; it is different from generosity which is kusala. We cannot force ourselves not to have lobha, but we can come to know the characteristic of lobha when it appears. 
Not only the suttas, but also the Vinaya (Book of Discipline for the monks) gives examples of lobha which is more subtle. Each part of the teachings, the Vinaya, the Suttanta and the Abhidhamma can help us to know ourselves better. When we read the Vinaya we see that even monks who lead a life with contentment with little, still have accumulated conditions for lobha. Every time there was a case where monks deviated from their purity of life, a rule was laid down in order to help them to be more watchful. Thus we can understand the usefulness of the rules, which go into even the smallest details of the monk's behaviour. The rules help the monk to be watchful even when performing the most common actions of daily life such as eating, drinking, robing himself and walking. There are rules which forbid seemingly innocent actions like playing in the water or with the water (Expiation, Påcittiya 53), or teasing other monks. Such actions are not done with kusala cittas, but with akusala cittas.
We read in the Vinaya (III, Suttavibhaųga, Expiation, Påcittiya 85) that the monks should not enter a village at the wrong time. The reason is that they would indulge more easily in worldly talk. We read:

Now at that time the group of six monks, having entered a village at the wrong time, having sat down in a hall, talked a variety of worldly talk, that is to say: talk of kings, of thieves, of great ministers, of armies, of fears, of battles, of food, of drink, of clothes, of beds, of garlands, of scents, of relations, of vehicles, of villages, of little towns, of towns, of the country, of women, of strong drink, of streets, of wells, of those departed before, of diversity, of speculation about the world, about the sea, on becoming and not becoming thus and thus...

This passage is useful for laypeople as well. We cannot help talking about worldly matters, but we should know that our talking, even if it seems innocent, is often motivated by lobha-múla-cittas or by dosa-múla-cittas (cittas rooted in aversion). In order to know ourselves we should find out by what kind of citta our talking is motivated.
Every time a lobha-múla-citta arises lobha is accumulated. When the conditions are there, lobha can motivate ill deeds through body, speech or mind. When we see to what kinds of deeds lobha can lead we will be more inclined to develop the wisdom which eventually will lead to its eradication.
Ill deeds are called in Påli: akusala kamma. Kamma is the cetasika (mental factor arising with the citta) which is intention or volition, in Påli: cetanå. However, the word ``kamma'' is also used in a more general sense for the deeds which are intended by cetanå. The term kamma-patha (literally ``course of action'') is used as well in this sense. There are akusala kamma-pathas and kusala kamma-pathas, ill deeds and good deeds, accomplished through body, speech and mind. As regards akusala kamma-patha, there are ten akusala kamma-pathas and these are conditioned by lobha, dosa and moha. Moha, ignorance, accompanies every akusala citta, it is the root of all evil. Thus, whenever there is akusala kamma-patha, there must be moha. Some akusala kamma-pathas can sometimes be performed with lobha-múla-citta and sometimes with dosa-múla-citta. Therefore, when we see someone else committing an ill deed we cannot always be sure which kind of citta motivates that deed. 
The ten akusala kamma-pathas are the following:


ŋ Killing
Ą Stealing
Ŧ Sexual misbehaviour
[Sqrt] Lying
[f] Slandering
~= Rude speech
[delta] Frivolous talk
Ģ Covetousness
ģ Ill-will
... Wrong view (diėėhi)

Killing, stealing and sexual misbehaviour are three akusala kamma-pathas accomplished through the body. Lying, slandering, rude speech and frivolous talk are four akusala kamma-pathas accomplished through speech. Covetousness, ill-will and wrong view are three akusala kamma-pathas accomplished through the mind. As regards akusala kamma-patha through the body, killing is done with dosa-múla-citta. Stealing can sometimes be performed with lobha-múla-citta and sometimes with dosa-múla-citta. It is done with lobha-múla-citta if one wishes to take what belongs to someone else in order to enjoy it oneself. It is done with dosa-múla-citta if one wishes someone else to suffer damage. Sexual misbehaviour is performed with lobha-múla-citta. 
As far as the akusala kamma-pathas through speech are concerned, lying, slandering and frivolous talk are performed with lobha-múla-citta if one wishes to obtain something for oneself, or if one wishes to endear oneself to other people. As regards lying, we may think that there is no harm in a so-called ``white lie'' or a lie said for fun. However, all kinds of lies are motivated by akusala cittas. We read in the ``Discourse on an Exhortation to Råhula at Ambalaėėhikå'' (Middle Length Sayings II, no. 61, Bhikkhu-vagga) that the Buddha spoke to his son Råhula about lying. The Buddha said:

Even so, Råhula, of anyone for whom there is no shame at intentional lying, of him I say that there is no evil he cannot do. Wherefore, for you, Råhula, ``I will not speak a lie, even for fun''--this is how you must train yourself, Råhula.

Lying can also be done with dosa-múla-citta and this is the case when one wants to harm someone else.
As regards slandering, we all are inclined to talk about others. When there is no intention to harm the reputation of others, there is no akusala kamma-patha. However, when talking about others becomes a habit, there can easily be an occasion for akusala kamma-patha. This kind of akusala kamma-patha is performed with lobha-múla-citta if one slanders in order to obtain something for oneself or in order to please others. It is performed with dosa-múla-citta if one wants to harm someone else. We will be less inclined to talk about others or to judge them when we see ourselves and others as phenomena which arise because of conditions and which do not stay. At the moment we talk about other people's actions, these phenomena have fallen away already; what they said or did exists no more. 
Rude speech is performed with dosa-múla-citta. Frivolous talk is talk about idle, senseless things. This kind of talk can be performed with lobha-múla-citta or with dosa-múla-citta. Frivolous talk is not always akusala kamma-patha. It can be done with akusala citta which does not have the intensity of akusala kamma-patha.
As regards akusala kamma-patha through the mind, ill-will, the intention to hurt or harm someone else, is performed with dosa-múla-citta; covetousness and wrong view are performed with lobha-múla-citta. There is akusala kamma-patha which is covetousness when one intends to obtain by dishonest means what belongs to someone else. As regards diėėhi (wrong view), there are many kinds of diėėhi; however, three kinds of diėėhi are akusala kamma-patha through the mind. One of them is ahetuka-diėėhi, the belief that there is no cause for the existence of beings and no cause for their purity or corruption. Another wrong view which is akusala kamma-patha through the mind is akiriyå-diėėhi, the belief that there are no good and bad deeds which produce their results. The third wrong view which is akusala kamma-patha through the mind is natthika-diėėhi or annihilation view. Natthika-diėėhi is the belief that there is no result of kamma and that there is no further life after death.
All degrees of lobha, be it coarse or more subtle, bring sorrow. We are like slaves so long as we are absorbed in and infatuated with the objects which present themselves through eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind. We are not free if our happiness depends on the situation we are in, and the way others behave towards us. One moment people may be kind to us, but the next moment they may behave in an unpleasant way towards us. If we attach too much importance to the affection of others, we shall be easily disturbed in mind, and thus become slaves of our moods and emotions.
We can become more independent and free if we realize that both we ourselves and other people are only nåma and rúpa, phenomena arising because of conditions and falling away again. When others speak in an unpleasant way to us there are conditions which cause them to speak in that way, and there are conditions which cause us to hear such speech. Other people's behaviour and our reactions to it are conditioned phenomena which do not stay. At the moment we are thinking about these phenomena, they have fallen away already. The development of insight is the way to become less dependent on the vicissitudes of life. When there is more understanding of the present moment, we will attach less importance to the way people behave towards us.
Since lobha is rooted so deeply, it can only be eradicated in different stages. Diėėhi has to be eradicated first. The sotåpanna, the person who has realized the first stage of enlightenment, has eradicated diėėhi. He has developed the wisdom which realizes that all phenomena are nåma and rúpa, not self. Since he has eradicated diėėhi, the lobha-múla-cittas with diėėhi do not arise anymore. As we have seen, four types of lobha-múla-citta arise with diėėhi (they are diėėhigata-sampayutta), and four types arise without diėėhi (they are diėėhigatha-vippayutta). As for the sotåpanna, the four types of lobha-múla-citta without diėėhi still arise; he has not yet eradicated all kinds of attachment. The sotåpanna still has conceit. Conceit can arise with the four types of lobha-múla-citta which are without diėėhi (diėėthigata-vippayutta). There may be conceit when one compares oneself with others, when one, for example, thinks that one has more wisdom than others. When we consider ourselves better, equal or less in comparison with others we may find ourselves important and then there is conceit. When we think ourselves less than someone else it is not necessarily kusala; there may still be a kind of upholding of ourselves and then there is conceit. Conceit is rooted so deeply that it is eradicated only when one has become an arahat.
The person who has attained the second stage of enlightenment, the sakadågåmí (once-returner), has less lobha than the sotåpanna. The person who has attained the third stage of enlightenment, the anågåmí (never-returner), has no more clinging to the objects which present themselves through the five senses, but he still has conceit and he clings to rebirth. The arahat, the perfected one who has attained the fourth and last stage of enlightenment, has eradicated all forms of lobha completely.
The arahat is completely free since he has eradicated all defilements. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Saîåyatanavagga, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Third Fifty, chapter IV, §136, Not including), that the Buddha said to the monks, while he was staying among the Sakkas at Devadaha:

Devas and mankind, monks, delight in objects, they are excited by objects. It is owing to the instability, the coming to an end, the ceasing of objects, monks, that devas and mankind live woefully. They delight in sounds, scents, savours, in touch, they delight in mindstates, and are excited by them. It is owing to the instability, the coming to an end, the ceasing of mindstates, monks, that devas and mankind live woefully. 
But the Tathågata, monks, who is arahat, a Fully-enlightened One, seeing, as they really are, both the arising and the destruction, the satisfaction, the misery and the way of escape from objects,--he delights not in objects, takes not pleasure in them, is not excited by them. It is owing to the instability, the coming to an end, the ceasing of objects that the Tathågata dwells at ease...

The Buddha and all those who are arahats have eradicated clinging to all objects which are experienced. They have penetrated the true nature of conditioned realities which arise and fall away, which are impermanent. The arahat will attain the end of rebirth, the cessation of the arising of conditioned realities and therefore, he is ``dwelling at ease''.

Questions

	i 	When the objective is not dåna (generosity), síla 		(morality) or bhåvanå (mental development), can 		talking be done with kusala citta?
	ii	Which cetasika is kamma?
	iii	Which are the ten akusala kamma-pathas?
	iv	Are all kinds of wrong view, diėėhi, akusala kamma-		patha?
	v	Why does attachment always lead to sorrow?
	vi	Who has eradicated all kinds of lobha?
Chapter 6


The Characteristic of Dosa

When we are angry with other people we harm ourselves by our anger. The Buddha pointed out the adverse effects of anger (dosa). We read in the Gradual Sayings (Book of the Sevens, chapter VI, §10, Anger) about the ills a rival wishes his rival to have and which are actually the ills coming upon an angry woman or man. The sutta states:

...Monks, there is the case of a rival, who wishes thus of a rival: ``Would that he were ugly!'' And why? A rival, monks, does not like a handsome rival. Monks, this sort of person, being angry, is overwhelmed by anger; he is subverted by anger: and however well he be bathed, anointed, trimmed as to the hair and beard, clad in spotless linen; yet for all that he is ugly, being overwhelmed by anger. Monks, this is the first condition, fostered by rivals, causing rivals, which comes upon an angry woman or man.
Again, there is the case of a rival, who wishes thus of a rival: ``Would that he might sleep badly!'' And why? A rival, monks, does not like a rival to sleep well. Monks, this sort of person, being angry, is overwhelmed by anger; he is subverted by anger: and in spite of his lying on a couch, spread with a fleecy cover, spread with a white blanket, spread with a woollen coverlet, flower embroidered, covered with rugs of antelope skins, with awnings above; or on a sofa, with crimson cushions at either end; yet for all that he lies in discomfort, being overwhelmed by anger. Monks, this is the second condition...

We then read about other misfortunes a rival wishes for his rival, which come upon an angry woman or man. We read that a rival wishes his rival to be without prosperity, wealth and fame. Further we read that a rival wishes a rival to be without friends and this happens to someone who is an angry person. The text states:

Monks, this sort of person, being angry... whatever friends, intimates, relations and kinsmen he may have, they will avoid him and keep far away from him, because he is overwhelmed by anger...

A rival wishes his rival to have an unhappy rebirth and this can happen to an angry person. We read:

... Monks, this sort of person, being angry... he misconducts himself in deed, in word and thought; so living, so speaking and so thinking, on breaking up of the body after death he is reborn in the untoward way, the ill way, the abyss, hell...

We would like to live in a world of harmony and unity among nations and we are disturbed when people commit acts of violence. We should consider what the real cause is of war and discord between people: it is the defilements which people have accumulated. When we have aversion we think that other people or unpleasant situations are the cause of our aversion. However, our accumulation of dosa is the real cause for aversion to arise time and again. If we want to have less dosa we should know the characteristic of dosa and we should be aware of it when it arises.
Dosa has many degrees; it can be a slight aversion or it can be more coarse, such as anger. We can recognize dosa when it is coarse, but do we realize that we have dosa when it is more subtle? Through the study of the Abhidhamma we learn more about the characteristic of dosa. Dosa is an akusala cetasika (mental factor) arising with akusala citta. A citta rooted in dosa is called in Påli: dosa-múla-citta. The characteristic of dosa is different from the characteristic of lobha. When there is lobha, the citta likes the object which it experiences at that moment, whereas when there is dosa, the citta has aversion towards the object it experiences. We can recognize dosa when we are angry with someone and when we speak disagreeable words to him. But when we are afraid of something there is dosa as well, because one has aversion towards the object one is afraid of. There are so many things in life we are afraid of; we are afraid of the future, of diseases, of accidents, of death. We look for many means in order to be cured of anguish, but the only way is the development of the wisdom which eradicates the latent tendency of dosa.
Dosa is conditioned by lobha: we do not want to lose what is dear to us and when this actually happens we are sad. Sadness is dosa, it is akusala. If we do not know things as they are, we believe that people and things last. However, people and things are only phenomena which arise and then fall away immediately. The next moment they have changed already. If we can see things as they are we will be less overwhelmed by sadness. It makes no sense to be sad about what has happened already.
In the Psalms of the Sisters (Therígåthå, 33) we read that the King's wife Ubbirí mourned the loss of her daughter Jívå. Every day she went to the cemetery. She met the Buddha who told her that in that cemetery about eighty-four thousand of her daughters (in past lives) had been burnt. The Buddha said to her:

O, Ubbirí, who wails in the wood
Crying, ``O Jívå! O my daughter dear!''
Come to yourself! See, in this burying-ground
Are burnt full many a thousand daughters dear, 
And all of them were named like her.
Now which of all those Jívås do you mourn?

After Ubbirí pondered over the Dhamma thus taught by the Buddha she developed insight and saw things as they really are; she even attained arahatship.
There are other akusala cetasikas which can arise with cittas rooted in dosa. Regret or worry, in Påli: kukkucca, is an akusala cetasika which arises with dosa-múla-citta at the moment we regret something bad we did or something good we omitted to do. When there is regret we are thinking of the past instead of knowing the present moment. When we have done something wrong it is of no use to have aversion.
Envy (isså) is another cetasika which can arise with dosa-múla-citta. There is envy when we do not like someone else to enjoy pleasant things. At that moment the citta does not like the object it experiences. We should find out how often envy arises, even when it is more subtle. This is a way to know whether we really care for someone else or whether we only think of ourselves when we associate with others. 
Stinginess (macchariya) is another akusala cetasika which may arise with dosa-múla-citta. When we are stingy there is dosa as well. At that moment we do not like someone else to share in our good fortune.
Dosa always arises with an unpleasant feeling (domanassa vedanå). Most people do not like to have dosa because they do not like to have an unpleasant feeling. As we develop more understanding of realities we want to eradicate dosa not so much because we dislike unpleasant feeling, but rather because we realize the adverse effects of akusala. 
Dosa can arise on account of the objects experienced through the five sense-doors and the mind-door. It can arise when we see ugly sights, hear harsh sounds, smell unpleasant odours, taste unappetizing food, experience unpleasant tangible objects through the bodysense and think of disagreeable things. Whenever there is a feeling of uneasiness, no matter how slight, it is evident that there is dosa. Dosa may often arise when there is the experience of unpleasant objects through the senses, for example, when the temperature is too hot or too cold. Whenever there is a slightly unpleasant bodily sensation dosa may arise, be it only of a lesser degree.
Dosa arises when there are conditions for it. It arises so long as there is still attachment to the objects which can be experienced through the five senses. Everybody would like to experience only pleasant things and when one does not have them any more, dosa may arise.
Another condition for dosa is ignorance of the Dhamma. If we are ignorant of kamma and vipåka, cause and result, dosa may arise very easily on account of an unpleasant experience through one of the senses and thus dosa is accumulated time and again. An unpleasant experience through one of the senses is akusala vipåka caused by an unwholesome deed we performed. When we, for example, hear unpleasant words from someone else, we may be angry with that person. Those who have studied the Dhamma know that hearing something unpleasant is akusala vipåka which is not caused by someone else but by an unwholesome deed performed by oneself. A moment of vipåka falls away immediately, it does not stay. Are we not inclined to keep on thinking about an unpleasant experience? If there is more awareness of the present moment one will be less inclined to think with aversion about one's akusala vipåka. 
When we study the Abhidhamma we learn that there are two types of dosa-múla-citta: one of these is unprompted (asaōkhårika) and one is prompted (sasaōkhårika). Dosa is prompted (sasaōkhårika) when, for example, one becomes angry after having been reminded of the disagreeable actions of someone else. Dosa-múla-cittas are always accompanied by domanassa (unpleasant feeling). There are two types of dosa-múla-citta which are the following:

ŋ Accompanied by unpleasant feeling, arising with anger, unprompted (Domanassa-sahagata˙, paėigha-sampayutta˙, asaōkhårikam eka˙).

Ą Accompanied by unpleasant feeling, arising with anger, prompted (Domanassa-sahagata˙, paėigha-sampayutta˙, sasaōkhårikam eka˙).

As we have seen, there are many degrees of dosa; it may be coarse or more subtle. When dosa is coarse, it causes akusala kamma-patha (unwholesome deeds) through body, speech or mind. Two kinds of akusala kamma-patha through the body can be performed with dosa-múla-citta: killing and stealing. If we want less violence in the world we should try not to kill. When we kill we accumulate a great deal of dosa. The monk's life should be a life of non-violence; he should not hurt any living being in the world. However, not everyone is able to live like the monks. Defilements are anattå (not self); they arise because of conditions. The purpose of the Buddha's teaching is not to lay down rules which forbid people to commit ill deeds, but to help people to develop the wisdom which eradicates defilements. There are precepts for laypeople, but these are rules of training rather than commandments. 
As regards stealing, this can either be performed with lobha-múla-citta or with dosa-múla-citta. It is done with dosa-múla-citta when there is the intention to harm someone else. Doing damage to someone else's possessions is included in this kamma-patha.
Four kinds of akusala kamma-patha through speech are performed with dosa-múla-citta: lying, slandering, rude speech and frivolous talk. Lying, slandering and frivolous talk can either be done with lobha-múla-citta or with dosa-múla-citta. Slandering, for example, is done with dosa-múla-citta when there is the intention to cause damage to someone else, such as doing harm to his good name and causing him to be looked down upon by others. Most people think that the use of weapons is to be avoided, but they forget that the tongue can be a weapon as well, a weapon which can badly wound. Evil speech does a great deal of harm in the world; it causes discord between people. When we speak evil we harm ourselves, because at such moments akusala kamma is accumulated and it is capable of producing akusala vipåka. 
We read in the Sutta Nipåta (Chapter III, the Great Chapter, 10, Kokåliya, ``Khuddaka Nikåya'') that while the Buddha was staying at Såvatthí, the bhikkhu Kokåliya visited him. Kokåliya spoke evil of Såriputta and Moggallåna, saying that they had evil desires. Three times the Buddha told him not to speak in that way. After Kokåliya had departed boils developed all over his body which became bigger and bigger and discharged pus and blood. He died and was reborn in the Paduma hell. Later on the Buddha told the monks about Kokåliya's evil speech and his rebirth in hell. We read (vs. 657, 658) that the Buddha said:

``Surely in the mouth of a man, when born, an axe is born, with which the fool cuts himself, saying a badly-spoken (utterance).
He who praises him who is to be blamed, or blames him who is to be praised, accumulates evil by his mouth. Because of that evil he does not find happiness...

As regards akusala kamma-patha through the mind performed with dosa-múla-citta, this is the intention to hurt or harm someone else. 
People often speak about violence and the ways to cure it. Who of us can say that he is free from dosa and that he will never kill? We do not know how much dosa we have accumulated in the course of many lives. When the conditions are present we might commit an act of violence we did not realize we were capable of. When we understand how ugly dosa is and to what deeds it can lead we want to eradicate it.
In doing kind deeds to others we cannot eradicate the latent tendency of dosa, but at least at those moments we do not accumulate more dosa. The Buddha exhorted people to cultivate loving kindness (mettå). We read in the Karaniya Mettå-sutta (Sutta Nipåta, vs. 143-152) that the Buddha spoke the following words.

What should be done by one skilful in good
So as to gain the State of Peace is this:

Let him be able, and upright, and straight.
Easy to speak to, gentle, and not proud,
Contented too, supported easily,
With few tasks, and living very lightly,
His faculties serene, prudent and modest,
Unswayed by the emotions of the clans;
And let him never do the slightest thing
That other wise men might hold blamable.

(And let him think) ``In safety and in bliss
May creatures all be of a blissful heart.
Whatever breathing beings there may be,
No matter whether they are frail or firm,
With none excepted, be they long or big
Or middle-sized, or be they short or small
Or thick, as well as those seen or unseen,
Or whether they are dwelling far or near,
Existing or yet seeking to exist,
May creatures all be of a blissful heart.
Let no one work another one's undoing
Or even slight him at all anywhere;
And never let them wish each other ill
Through provocation or resentful thought.''

And just as might a mother with her life
Protect the son that was her only child,
So let him then for every living thing
Maintain unbounded consciousness in being,
And let him too with love for all the world
Maintain unbounded consciousness in being
Above, below, and all around in between,
Untroubled, with no enemy or foe.
And while he stands, or walks or while he sits
Or while he lies down, free from drowsiness,
Let him resolve upon mindfulness:
This is Divine Abiding here, they say.

But when he has no traficking with views,
Is virtuous, and has perfected seeing,
And purges greed for sensual desires,
He surely comes no more to any womb.

The Buddha taught us not to be angry with those who are unpleasant to us. We read in the Vinaya (Mahåvagga X, 349) that the Buddha said to the monks:
They who (in thought) belabour this: That man
has me abused, has hurt, has worsted me, 
has me despoiled: in these wrath is not allayed.

They who do not belabour this: That man
has me abused, has hurt, has worsted me,
has me despoiled: in them wrath is allayed.

Nay, not by wrath are wrathful moods allayed here (and) at any time,
but by not-wrath are they allayed: this is an (ageless) endless rule.

At times it seems impossible for us to have mettå instead of dosa. For example, when people treat us badly we may feel very unhappy and we keep on pondering over our misery. So long as dosa has not been eradicated there are still conditions for its arising. By being mindful of all realities which appear the wisdom is developed which can eventually eradicate dosa. 
Dosa can only be eradicated stage by stage. The sotåpanna (the streamwinner, who has attained the first stage of enlightenment) has not yet eradicated dosa and also at the subsequent stage of enlightenment, the stage of the sakadågåmí (once-returner), dosa is not yet eradicated completely. The anågåmí (the non-returner, who has attained the third stage of enlightenment) has eradicated dosa completely; he has no more latent tendency of dosa. 
We have not eradicated dosa, but when dosa appears, we can be mindful of its characteristic in order to know it as a type of nåma, arising because of conditions. When there is no mindfulness of dosa when it appears, dosa seems to last and we take it for self. Through mindfulness of nåmas and rúpas which present themselves one at a time, we will learn that there are different characteristics of nåma and rúpa, none of which lasts and we will also know the characteristic of dosa as only a type of nåma, not self. 
When a clearer understanding of realities is developed we will be less inclined to ponder for a long time over an unpleasant experience, since it is only a type of nåma which does not last. We will attend more to the present moment instead of thinking about the past or the future. We will also be less inclined to tell other people about unpleasant things which have happened to us, since that may be a condition for both ourselves and others to accumulate more dosa. When someone is angry with us we will have more understanding of his situation; he may be tired or not feeling well. Those who treat us badly deserve compassion because they actually make themselves unhappy.
Right understanding of realities will help us most of all to have more loving kindness and compassion towards others instead of dosa. 

Questions 

	i	Why is lobha a condition for dosa?
	ii	Lying, slandering and frivolous talk are akusala 		kamma-patha through speech which can be 		performed either with lobha-múla-citta or with dosa-		múla-citta. When are they performed with dosa-		múla-citta?
	iii	Is there akusala kamma-patha through the mind 		performed with dosa-múla-citta?




Chapter 7


Ignorance

We may know when we have akusala cittas rooted in lobha (attachment) or akusala cittas rooted in dosa (aversion), but do we know when we have akusala cittas rooted in moha (ignorance)? What is the characteristic of moha? We may think someone ignorant who does not have much education, who does not speak foreign languages, who does not know anything about history or politics. We call someone ignorant who does not know what is happening in the world. Is that the kind of ignorance which should be eradicated? If that were true it would mean that there is more wholesomeness in one's life if one speaks foreign languages or if one knows about history and politics. We can find out that this is not true. 
In order to understand the characteristic of moha we should know what we are ignorant of when there is moha. There is the world of concepts which in our daily, ordinary language are denoted by conventional terms and there is the world of paramattha dhammas or ultimate realities. When we think of the concept which in conventional language is denoted by ``world'', we may think of people, animals and things and we call them by their appropriate names. But do we know the phenomena in ourselves and around ourselves as they really are: only nåma and rúpa which do not last?
The world of paramattha dhammas is real. Nåma and rúpa are paramattha dhammas. The nåmas and rúpas which appear in our daily life can be directly experienced through the five sense-doors and the mind-door, no matter how we name them. This is the world which is real. When we see, there is the world of visible object. When we hear, there is the world of sound. When we experience an object through touch there is the world of tangible object. Visible object and seeing are real. Their characteristics cannot be changed and they can be directly experienced; it does not matter whether we call them ``visible object'' and ``seeing'', or whether we give them another name. But when we cling to concepts which are denoted by conventional terms such as ``tree'' or ``chair'', we do not experience any characteristic of reality. What is real when we look at a tree? What can be directly experienced? Visible object is a paramattha dhamma, a reality; it is a kind of rúpa which can be directly experienced through the eyes. Through touch hardness can be experienced; this is a kind of rúpa which can be directly experienced through the bodysense, it is real. ``Tree'' is a concept or idea of which we can think, but it is not a paramattha dhamma, not a reality which has its own unchangeable characteristic. Visible object and hardness are paramattha dhammas, they have their own characteristics which can be directly experienced, no matter how one names them.
The world experienced through the six doors is real, but it does not last; it is impermanent. When we see, there is the world of the visible, but it falls away immediately. When we hear, there is the world of sound, but it does not last either. It is the same with the world of smell, the world of flavour, the world of tangible object and the world of objects experienced through the mind-door. However, we usually know only the world of concepts, because ignorance and wrong view have been accumulated for so long. Ignorance of paramattha dhammas is the kind of ignorance which should be eradicated; it brings sorrow. Ignorance conditions the wrong view of self and all other defilements. So long as there is ignorance we are deluding ourselves, we do not know what our life really is: conditioned phenomena which arise and fall away. 
The world in the sense of paramattha dhammas is in the teachings called ``the world in the ariyan sense''. The ariyan has developed the wisdom which sees things as they are; he truly knows ``the world''. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Saîåyatana-vagga, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Second Fifty, chapter IV, §84, Transitory) that Ånanda said to the Buddha:

`` `The world! The world!' is the saying lord. Pray, how far, lord, does this saying go?''
``What is transitory by nature, Ånanda, is called `the world' in the ariyan sense. And what, Ånanda, is transitory by nature? The eye, Ånanda, is transitory by nature... objects... tongue... mind is transitory by nature, mind-states, mind-consciousness, mind-contact, whatsoever pleasant feeling, unpleasant feeling or indifferent feeling which arises owing to mind-contact, that also is transitory by nature. What is thus transitory, Ånanda, is called `the world' in the ariyan sense.''
Someone may think that he can truly know himself without knowing the world as it appears through the six doors. He may think that he knows his anger and attachment, but, in fact, he has not experienced them as they are: only different types of nåma and not self. So long as he has wrong view of realities he does not really know himself and he cannot eradicate defilements. He clings to an idea, to the concept of self; he has not directly experienced any characteristic of reality. It is difficult to know when there are lobha, dosa and moha, and it is difficult to be aware also of the more subtle degrees of akusala. When we start to develop ``insight'', right understanding of realities, we realize how little we know ourselves.
When there is moha we live in darkness. It was the Buddha's great compassion which moved him to teach people Dhamma. Dhamma is the light which can dispel darkness. If we do not know Dhamma we are ignorant about the world, about ourselves; we are ignorant about good and ill deeds and their results; we are ignorant about the way to eradicate defilements. 
The study of the Abhidhamma will help us to know more about the characteristic of moha. The Atthasåliní (Book II, Part IX, chapter I, 249) states about moha:

``Delusion'' (moha) has the characteristic of blindness or opposition to knowledge; the essence of non-penetration, or the function of covering the intrinsic nature of the object; the manifestation of being opposed to right conduct or causing blindness; the proximate cause of unwise attention; and it should be regarded as the root of all akusala...

There are many degrees of moha. When we study Dhamma we become less ignorant about realities; we understand more about paramattha dhammas, about kamma and vipåka. However, this does not mean that we can already eradicate moha. Moha cannot be eradicated merely by thinking of the truth; it can only be eradicated by developing the wisdom which knows ``the world in the ariyan sense'': eyesense, visible object, seeing-consciousness, earsense, sound, hearing-consciousness, and all realities appearing through the six doors.
When we study the Abhidhamma we learn that moha arises with all akusala cittas. Lobha-múla-cittas have moha and lobha as roots; dosa-múla-cittas have moha and lobha as roots. There are two types of akusala citta which have moha as their only root, these are moha-múla-cittas. One type of moha-múla-citta is moha-múla-citta accompanied by doubt (in Påli: vicikicchå), and one type is moha-múla-citta accompanied by restlessness (in Påli: uddhacca). The feeling which accompanies moha-múla-cittas is always indifferent feeling (upekkhå). When the citta is moha-múla-citta there is no like or dislike; one does not have pleasant or unpleasant feeling. Both types of moha-múla-citta are unprompted (asaōkhårika). 
The characteristic of moha should not be confused with the characteristic of diėėhi (wrong view), which only arises with lobha-múla-cittas. When diėėhi arises one takes, for example, what is impermanent for permanent, or one believes that there is a self. Moha is not wrong view, it is ignorance of realities. Moha conditions diėėhi, but the characteristic of moha is different from the characteristic of diėėhi.
The two types of moha-múla-citta are:

ŋ Arising with indifferent feeling, accompanied by doubt 
(Upekkhå-sahagata˙, vicikicchå-sampayutta˙).

Ą Arising with indifferent feeling, accompanied by restlessness (Upekkhå-sahagata˙, uddhacca-sampayutta˙).

When we have the type of moha-múla-citta which is accompanied by doubt, we doubt about the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. We may doubt whether the Buddha really discovered the truth, whether he taught the Path leading to the end of defilements, whether there are other people who can become enlightened as well. We may doubt about past and future lives, about kamma and vipåka. There are many degrees of doubt. When we start to develop insight we may have doubt about the reality of the present moment; we may doubt whether it is nåma or rúpa. For example, when there is hearing, there is sound as well, but there can be awareness of only one reality at a time, since only one object at a time can be experienced by citta. We may doubt whether the reality which appears at the present moment is the nåma which hears or the rúpa which is sound. Nåma and rúpa arise and fall away so rapidly and when a precise understanding of their different characteristics has not been developed one does not know which reality appears at the present moment. There will be doubt about the world of paramattha dhammas until paņņå (wisdom) clearly knows the characteristics of nåma and rúpa as they appear through the six doors. 
The Atthasåliní (Book II, Part IX, chapter III, 259) states about doubt:

Here doubt means exclusion from the cure (of knowledge). Or, one investigating the intrinsic nature by means of it suffers pain and fatigue (kicchati)--thus it is doubt. It has shifting about as characteristic, mental wavering as function, indecision or uncertainty in grasp as manifestation, unsystematic thought (unwise attention) as proximate cause, and it should be regarded as a danger to attainment.

Doubt is different from wrong view (diėėhi). When there is diėėhi one clings, for example, to the view that phenomena are permanent or that they are self. When vicikicchå, doubt, arises, one wonders whether the mind is different from the body or not, whether phenomena are permanent or impermanent. There is no other way to eradicate doubt but the development of paņņå which sees realities as they are. People who have doubts about the Buddha and his teachings may think that doubt can be cured by studying historical facts. They want to find out more details about the time the Buddha lived and about the places where he moved about; they want to know the exact time the texts were written down. They cannot be cured of their doubt by studying historical events; this does not lead to the goal of the Buddha's teachings which is the eradication of defilements.
People in the Buddha's time too were speculating about things which do not lead to the goal of the teachings. They were wondering whether the world is finite or infinite, whether the world is eternal or not eternal, whether the Tathågata (the Buddha) exists after his final passing away or not. We read in the Lesser Discourse to Måluōkyå (Middle Length Sayings II, no. 63) that Måluōkyåputta was displeased that the Buddha did not give explanations with regard to speculative views. He wanted to question the Buddha on these views and if the Buddha would not give him an explanation with regard to these views he wanted to leave the order. He spoke to the Buddha about this matter and the Buddha asked him whether he had ever said to Måluōkyåputta:

``Come you, Måluōkyåputta, fare the Brahma-faring under me and I will explain to you either that the world is eternal or that the world is not eternal... or that the Tathågata is... is not after dying... both is and is not after dying... neither is nor is not after dying?''

We read that Måluōkyåputta answered: ``No, revered sir.'' The Buddha also asked him whether he (Måluōkyåputta) had said that he would ``fare the Brahma-faring'' under the Lord if the Lord would give him an explanation with regard to these views and again Måluōkyåputta answered: ``No, revered sir.'' The Buddha then compared his situation with the case of a man who is pierced by a poisoned arrow and who will not draw out the arrow until he knows whether the man who pierced him is a noble, a brahman, a merchant or a worker; until he knows the name of the man and his clan; until he knows his outward appearance; until he knows about the bow, the bowstring, the material of the shaft, the kind of arrow. However, he will pass away before he knows all this. It is the same with the person who only wants to ``fare the Brahma-faring'' under the Lord if explanations with regard to speculative views are given to him. We read that the Buddha said:

The living of the Brahma-faring, Måluōkyåputta, could not be said to depend on the view that the world is eternal. Nor could the living of the Brahma-faring, Måluōkyåputta, be said to depend on the view that the world is not eternal. Whether there is the view that the world is eternal or whether there is the view that the world is not eternal, there is birth, there is ageing, there is dying, there are grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and despair, the destruction of which I lay down here and now...
Wherefore, Måluōkyåputta, understand as not explained what has not been explained by me, and understand as explained what has been explained by me. And what, Måluōkyåputta, has not been explained by me? That the world is eternal... that the world is not eternal has not been explained by me... And why, Måluōkyåputta, has this not been explained by me? It is because it is not connected with the goal, it is not fundamental to the Brahma-faring, and does not conduce to turning away from, nor to dispassion, stopping, calming, superknowledge, awakening, nor to nibbåna. Therefore it has not been explained by me, Måluōkyåputta. And what has been explained by me, Måluōkyåputta? ``This is dukkha'' has been explained by me, Måluōkyåputta. ``This is the arising of dukkha'' has been explained by me. ``This is the stopping of dukkha'' has been explained by me. ``This is the course leading to the stopping of dukkha'' has been explained by me. And why, Måluōkyåputta, has this been explained by me? It is because it is connected with the goal, it is fundamental to the Brahma-faring, and conduces to turning away from, to dispassion, stopping, calming, super-knowledge, awakening and nibbåna...

Doubt cannot be cured by speculating about matters which do not lead to the goal; it can only be cured by being aware of the nåma and rúpa which present themselves now. Even when there is doubt, this can be realized as only a type of nåma which arises because of conditions and which is not self. Thus the reality of the present moment will be known more clearly. 
The second type of moha-múla-citta is accompanied by indifferent feeling, arising with restlessness (upekkhå-sahagata˙, uddhacca-sampayutta˙). Uddhacca is translated as restlessness or excitement. Uddhacca arises with all akusala cittas. When there is uddhacca there is no sati (mindfulness) with the citta. Sati arises with each wholesome citta; it is mindful, non-forgetful, of what is wholesome. There is sati not only in vipassanå, the development of right understanding of realities, but also with each kind of kusala. There is sati when one performs dåna (generosity), observes síla (good moral conduct) or applies oneself to bhåvanå, mental development, which comprises studying or teaching the Dhamma, the development of samatha, tranquil meditation, and vipassanå. Sati in vipassanå is aware of a characteristic of nåma or rúpa. 
When there is uddhacca, the citta cannot be wholesome; one cannot at that moment apply oneself to dåna, síla or bhåvanå. Uddhacca distracts the citta from kusala. Uddhacca is restlessness with regard to kusala. Thus, uddhacca is different from what we in conventional language mean by restlessness.
Uddhacca arises also with the moha-múla-citta which is accompanied by doubt, since it arises with each akusala citta. The second type of moha-múla-citta, however, is called uddhacca-sampayutta; it is different from the first type of moha-múla-citta which is called vicikicchå-sampayutta. 
The second type of moha-múla-citta, the moha-múla-citta which is uddhacca-sampayutta, accompanied by restlessness, arises countless times a day, but it is difficult to know its characteristic. If one has not developed vipassanå one does not know this type of citta. When we are forgetful of realities and ``day-dreaming'', there is not necessarily this type of citta. When we are ``day-dreaming'' there is not only the second type of moha-múla-citta (uddhacca-sampayutta), but there may also be lobha-múla-cittas (cittas rooted in attachment) and dosa-múla-cittas (cittas rooted in aversion). 
Moha-múla-citta can arise on account of what we experience th