A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma

A Comprehensive Manual
of Abhidhamma

The Abhidhammattha Saògaha
of Ácariya Anuruddha

Bhikkhu Bodhi, General Editor

Pali text originally edited and translated by

Maháthera Nárada

Translation revised by

Bhikkhu Bodhi

Introduction and explanatory guide by

U Rewata Dhamma & Bhikkhu Bodhi

Abhidhamma tables by

U Sìlánanda

BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
KANDY SRI LANKA

Buddhist Publication Society

P.O. Box 61

54, Sangharaja Mawatha
Kandy, Sri Lanka

First published, 1993

Second edition, 1999

Third edition, 2007

Copyright © 1993, 1997, 2006 by Buddhist Publication Society

ISBN-10: 955–24–0103–8

ISBN-13: 978-955-24-0103-9

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Pali Text Society and to Ven.
U Sìlánanda for permission to use the Abhidhamma tables indicated in
“A Note on the Tables” following the Preface.

National Library of Sri Lanka - Cataloguing in Publication Data

A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma:

The Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha of Ácariya Anuruddha/comp. by
Bhikkhu Bodhi Himi; Translated by Nárada Maháthera:-

Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 2006 426p.; 22 c.m.
ISBN-10: 955–24–0103–8

ISBN-13: 978-955-24-0103-9

i. 294.3829 DDC 22 ii. Title

1. Buddhism - Abhidhammapitaka

Typeset at the BPS in Times_BPS with Helvetica_BPS headings

Printed by

Ajith Printers,
Borelasgamuwa.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

MAHÁTHERA NÁRADA was born in Colombo in 1898. At the age of 18
he was ordained as a novice under the revered teacher, Ven. Pelene
Vajirañáṇa Mahánáyaka Thera, and at the age of 20 he received the
higher ordination. During his 65 years in the Sangha, Ven. Nárada
distinguished himself by his piety, his disciplined conduct, and his
work in propagating the Buddha Dhamma both in Sri Lanka and abroad.
He passed away in Colombo in 1983. Ven. Nárada is best known for
his book The Buddha and His Teachings, widely regarded as one of
the clearest and most detailed introductions to Theravada Buddhism
in English.

BHIKKHU BODHI is a Buddhist monk of American nationality, born
in New York City in 1944. After completing a doctorate in philosophy
at the Claremont Graduate School, he came to Sri Lanka for the purpose
of entering the Sangha. He received novice ordination in 1972 and
higher ordination in 1973, both under the eminent scholar-monk, Ven.
Balangoda Ananda Maitreya, with whom he studied Pali and Dhamma.
He is the author of several works on Theravada Buddhism and has
edited Ven. Ñáṇamoli’s translation of the Majjhima Nikáya (Middle) and translated the Saṃyutta Nikáya
(Connected Discourses of the Buddha). He has been the President of
the Buddhist Publication Society since 1988 and was its Editor from
1984 until 2001. He now resides at Bodhi Monastery in New Jersey in
the United States.

U REWATA DHAMMA was born in Burma and entered the monastery
at an early age. He studied Pali and Theravada Buddhism under various
eminent scholar-monks in Burma and passed the highest examination in
scriptural studies at the age of 23. In 1953 the then president of Burma
awarded him the prestigious title of Sásanadhaja-siripavara-. He studied in India from 1956 to 1967, obtaining a
doctorate from the Benares Hindu University. In 1975 he moved to
England, where he established a Buddhist centre in Birmingham as his
base. For many years he taught meditation and Buddhism at various
centres in Europe and the United States. Ven. Rewata Dhamma edited and
published the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha with the Vibhávinì-Ṭìká in 1965
and the Visuddhimagga with its Mahá-Ṭìká in 1970, both in Varanasi.
His translation of the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha into Hindi, with his
own commentary written in Hindi, was published in 1967 and was

awarded the Kalidasa Prize by the Hindi Academy as one of the
outstanding books of the year. It is used as a textbook in Buddhist
studies in many universities in India. In 2002 the Myanmar Government
granted him the high title of Aggamahápaṇðita. He was a long-time
Vice President of the World Buddhist Sangha Council, as well as a
founder-member of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists.
His book, The First Discourse of the Buddha, is published by Wisdom
Publications. Ven. Rewata Dhamma passed away in May 2004.

U SILÁNANDA was born in Burma and became a Buddhist monk
in 1947. He held two degrees of Dhammácariya (Master of Dhamma)
and was a university lecturer in Pali and Buddhist studies in Sagaing
and Mandalay. He held a prominent position in the Sixth Buddhist
Council, convened in Rangoon in 1954, as the chief compiler of
the comprehensive Pali-Burmese Dictionary and as one of the final
editors of the Pali Canon and Commentaries. He came to the United
States in 1979, where he taught Vipassana meditation, Abhidhamma,
and various other aspects of Theravada Buddhism. Ven. Sìlánanda
founded the Dhammánanda Vihara and was the Spiritual Director
of the Theravada Buddhist Society of America, the Dhammachakka
Meditation Center, and the Tathagata Meditation Center in
California. For his outstanding contributions to Buddhism, Ven.
Sìlánanda was awarded the prestigious titles of Aggamahápaṇðitain 1993 and Aggamahásaddhammajotikadhaja in 1999. He was also
the Rector of the Theravada Buddhist Missionary University in
Yangon. His book, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, is
published by Wisdom Publications. Ven. Sìlánanda passed away in
August 2005.

GENERAL CONTENTS

Detailed Contents ix
List of Tables xix
Abbreviations xxi
Preface xxiii
Introduction 1

A MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA:

1. Compendium of Consciousness 23

2. Compendium of Mental Factors 76

3. Compendium of the Miscellaneous 114

4. Compendium of the Cognitive Process 149

5. Compendium of the Process-freed 185

6. Compendium of Matter 234

7. Compendium of Categories 264

8. Compendium of Conditionality 292

9. Compendium of Meditation Subjects 329
   Colophon 365

Notes 369

Appendix I: Textual Sources for the 89 and 121 Cittas 376
Appendix II: Textual Sources for the 52 Mental Factors 379
Bibliography 381

Glossary 387

Index 395

x A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

CHAPTER II

COMPENDIUM OF MENTAL FACTORS

CHAPTER III

COMPENDIUM OF THE MISCELLANEOUS

CONTENTS xi

Para. Page

Compendium of Roots 5-7

CHAPTER IV

COMPENDIUM OF THE COGNITIVE PROCESS

xii A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

CHAPTER V

COMPENDIUM OF THE PROCESS-FREED

CHAPTER VI

COMPENDIUM OF MATTER

xiv A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

CHAPTER VII

COMPENDIUM OF CATEGORIES

CONTENTS xv

CHAPTER VIII

COMPENDIUM OF CONDITIONALITY

xvi A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

CHAPTER IX

COMPENDIUM OF MEDITATION SUBJECTS

CONTENTS

xvii

LIST OF TABLES

CHAPTER I

1. The 89 and 121 Cittas at a Glance 28

2. The Unwholesome Cittas 35

3. The Rootless Cittas 43

4. The Sense-Sphere Beautiful Cittas 47

5. The Fine-material-Sphere Cittas 55

6. The Immaterial-Sphere Cittas 64

7. The Eight Supramundane Cittas 66

8. The 89 Cittas by Kind 69

9. The 89 Cittas by Plane 70

10. The Forty Supramundane Cittas 72

11. Jhána Cittas—Mundane and Supramundane 74

CHAPTER II

1. The 52 Mental Factors at a Glance 79

2. Association of Mental Factors 92

3. Combinations of Mental Factors 101

4. Comprehensive Chart on Mental Factors 112-13

CHAPTER III

1. Compendium of Feeling 118

2. Compendium of Roots 121

3. Compendium of Functions 127

4. Compendium of Doors 133

5. Compendium of Objects 141

6. Conceptual Objects of Sublime Cittas 142

7. The Seven Consciouness Elements 146

8. Compendium of Bases 147

CHAPTER IV

1. A Complete Eye-Door Process 155

2. Grades of Sense-Door Processes 161

3. The Limited Javana Process 166

4. The Absorption Javana Process 169

5. Individuals, Planes, and Cittas 182

xx A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

CHAPTER V

1. Planes of Existence 186-87

2. Life-Spans in the Sense-Sphere Heavens 197

3. Fourfold Kamma at a Glance 201

4. Kamma and its Results 212-13

5. Results of Sense-Sphere Wholesome Kamma 216

6. The Process of Death and Rebirth 225

7. Determination of Rebirth 230-33

CHAPTER VI

1. The 28 Material Phenomena at a Glance 236

2. Consciousness as a Cause of Material Phenomena 249

3. Comprehensive Chart on Matter 262-63

CHAPTER VII

1. The Defilements as Mental Factors 270

2. Mixed Categories 277

3. The Requisites of Enlightenment as Mental Factors 284

4. Aggregates, Sense Bases, and Elements 288

CHAPTER VIII

1. Dependent Arising 301

2. The 24 Conditions and their Varieties 304

3. Conditioning and Conditioned States of the 24 Conditions 308-11

4. The Synthesis of Conditions 323

CHAPTER IX

1. The Forty Meditation Subjects at a Glance 334-35

2. The Seven Stages of Purification 345

3. Eradication of Defilements by the Paths 360

ABBREVIATIONS

Names of Texts

A. Aòguttara Nikáya

Asl. Atthasálinì (commentary to Dhs.)

D. Dìgha Nikáya

Dhs. Dhammasaògaụì

Expos. The Expositor (trans. of Asl.)

M. Majjhima Nikáya

Pis. Paiisambhidámagga

S. Saíyutta Nikáya

Smv. Sammohavinodanì (commentary to Vibhaòga)
Vibhv. Vibhávinì-Ṭìká

Vism. Visuddhimagga

In references to Pali texts separated by a slash, the figure to the left of the slash
indicates the number of the text, the figure to the right the volume and page number
of the Pali Text Society edition. References to Vism. are to chapter and section
number of Bhikkhu Ñáụamoli’s translation, The Path of Purification.

Terms used in Tables

advt. adverting

aggr. aggregate

Arh. Arahant, Arahantship

assoc. associated (with)

bhv. bhavaòga

btf. beautiful

cetas. cetasika

comp. compassion

conas. conascent

cons. consciousness

consness. consciousness

delus. delusion

dissoc. dissociated (from)

eqn. equanimity

exc. except

exs. course of existence

FMS fine-material sphere

fnc. functional

xxii A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

frt. fruition

gt. great

gt. ess. great essential
in. applic. initial application
infr. inferior

IS immaterial sphere

invs. investigating

jav. javana

knwl. knowledge

mat. material, matter

m-d-advt. mind-door adverting
med. medium

mun. mundane

n.p. nor n-p. neither perception nor non-perception

N.R. non-returner, non-returning

one-ptns. one-pointedness

O.R. once-returner, once-returning

reb. rebirth-linking

recv. receiving

rst. resultant

rtd. rooted

rtls. rootless

sbl. sublime

S.E. stream-enterer, stream-entry

spm. supramundane

S S sense sphere

supr. superior

sus. applic. sustained application
univ. universal

unwh. unwholesome

w. with

wh. wholesome

wo. without

PREFACE

The present volume contains the Pali text, an English translation, and
a detailed exposition of Ácariya Anuruddha’s Abhidhammattha, the main primer for the study of Abhidhamma used
throughout the Theravada Buddhist world. This volume began almost
four years ago as a revised version of Ven. Maháthera Nárada’s long-
standing edition and annotated translation of the Saṅgaha, A Manual. Now, as the time approaches for it to go to press, it
has evolved into what is virtually an entirely new book published under
essentially the same title. That title has been retained partly to preserve
its continuity with its predecessor, and partly because the name
“Manual of Abhidhamma” is simply the most satisfactory English
rendering of the Pali title of the root text, which literally means “a
compendium of the things contained in the Abhidhamma.” To the
original title the qualification “comprehensive” has been added to
underscore its more extensive scope.

A brief account seems to be called for of the evolution through
which this book has gone. Although Ven. Nárada’s Manual, in the
four editions through which it passed, had served admirably well for
decades as a beginner’s guide to the Abhidhamma, the work obviously
required upgrading both in technical exposition and in arrangement.
Thus when the need for a reprint of the Manual became imminent in
late 1988, I contacted Ven. U Rewata Dhamma of the Buddhist Vihara,
Birmingham, requesting him to prepare a set of corrections to the
explanatory notes in the Fourth Edition. I also suggested that he should
add any further information he thought would be useful to the serious
student of Abhidhamma. I particularly wanted the assistance of Ven.
U Rewata Dhamma in this task because he sustains a rare combination
of qualifications: he is a traditionally trained bhikkhu from Burma,
the heartland of Theravada Abhidhamma studies; he has himself edited
the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha and its classical commentary, the
Vibhávinì-Ṭìká; he has written his own commentary on the work (in
Hindi); and he is fluent in English.

While Ven. Rewata Dhamma in England was compiling his revi-
sions to the notes, in Sri Lanka I set about reviewing Ven. Nárada’s
English translation of the Saṅgaha. A close comparison with the Pali
text in several editions, and with the commentarial gloss, led to a

xxiv A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

number of changes both in the translation and in Ven. Nárada’s Pali
edition of the root text. In revising the translation my objective was
not merely to correct minor errors but also to achieve a high degree of
consistency and adequacy in the rendering of Pali technical terms. To
facilitate cross-references to The Path of Purification, Bhikkhu
Ñáṇamoli’s masterly translation of the Visuddhimagga, I adopted much
of the terminology used in the latter work, though in some instances I
have allowed Ven. Nárada’s choices to stand while in others I have
opted for still different alternatives. Towards the very close of my
editorial work on the Manual I came upon the Pali Text Society’s recent
edition of the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, edited by Ven. Hammalawa
Saddhátissa. This enabled me to make a few additional corrections of
the Pali text, but unfortunately I encountered this edition too late to
utilize its scheme for numbering the paragraphs of the Saṅgaha.

The major challenge in preparing this new edition was the composing
of the explanatory guide. At first, when we started work, our intention
was to retain as much as we could of Ven. Nárada’s original
annotations, making alterations in them and introducing new material
only when we thought this would be necessary or especially desirable.
However, as we proceeded, it soon became clear that far more sweeping
changes were required. The wish to provide precise and detailed
explanations of all the essential principles comprised in the
Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha sent both Ven. Rewata Dhamma and myself
for frequent consultations to the Saṅgaha’s two principal commentaries,
the Abhidhammatthavibhávinì-Ṭìká by Ácariya Sumaṅgalasámi (Sri
Lanka, late twelfth century) and the Paramatthadìpanì-Ṭìká by Ledi
Sayádaw (Burma, first published in 1897). It is from these two
commentaries that much of the explanatory material in the guide has
been extracted.

These two commentaries, as is well known among Abhidhamma
scholars, often take opposite stands in their handling of technical ques-
tions, the Ledi Sayádaw commentary launching a sustained critique
of the older work. Since our purpose here has been to elucidate the
fundamental tenets of the Abhidhamma rather than to enter into the
fray of controversy, we have focused on the convergences between the
two commentaries or their complementary contributions. Generally we
have avoided the contentions that divide them, though on occasion,
when their differences seemed intrinsically interesting, we have cited
their mutually opposed opinions. A great amount of information has
also been drawn from the Visuddhimagga, which includes a lengthy
Abhidhamma-style tract in its chapters on “the soil of understanding”
(paññábhúmi, XIV-XVII).

PREFACE

xxv

From the mass of explanatory material thus collected, we have tried
to compose a detailed guide to the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha that will
at once be capable of steering the newcomer through the intricacies of
the Abhidhamma yet will also prove stimulating and illuminating to
the veteran student. The explanatory guide follows strictly the tradi-
tional methods of exposition as maintained in the Theravadin monastic
community. Thus it deliberately avoids ventures into personal inter-
pretation as well as sidelong comparisons with modern philosophy and
psychology. While such comparative studies have their indubitable
value, we felt that they should be excluded from an “inside” presenta-
tion of the Abhidhamma teaching as upheld by Theravada orthodoxy.
The entire work has been structured somewhat in the manner of a
classical commentary. Each section contains a passage from the Pali
text of the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, followed by an exact transla-
tion and then by an explanation of the important terms and ideas
occurring in the passage cited. Such an approach is necessary because
the Saṅgaha was composed as a concise, highly terse synopsis of the
Abhidhamma, an instruction manual which assumes that a living
teacher would flesh out the outline for his students with instruction.

Read by itself the Saṅgaha hovers at the edge of the arcane.

The Introduction, which is again the joint composition of Ven.
Rewata Dhamma and myself, is intended to introduce the reader not
only to the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha but to the entire Abhidhamma
philosophy in its broader perspectives and aims as well as to the body
of Abhidhamma literature from which the philosophy derives. In the
final stage of the preparation of this volume we were fortunate to re-
ceive permission from another Burmese Abhidhamma scholar, Ven. U
Sìlánanda, to make use of a large number of Abhidhamma tables that
he had prepared for his students in the United States. These tables,
compressing a vast amount of information into a concise schematic
arrangement, will no doubt prove highly effective study aids in grasp-
ing the details of the Abhidhamma. To Ven. Sìlánanda also belongs
credit for the lists of textual sources for the states of consciousness
and the mental factors, included here as appendices.

To conclude this Preface there remains only the pleasant task of
acknowledging the generous help which others have extended towards
the completion of this book. Both Ven. U Rewata Dhamma and I wish
to acknowledge the capable assistance of Mirko Fryba in preparing
the early portion of the Guide. In addition, Ven. Rewata Dhamma ex-
presses his gratitude to Mar Mar Lwin, Peter Kelly, Jill Robinson,
Upasaka Karuna Bodhi, and Dhamma Tilak. I myself wish to thank
Ven. U Rewata Dhamma for taking out time from a tight schedule to

xxvi A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

compile the material that was incorporated into this book; I also ex-
press appreciation to the team of helpers who made his work easier.
Closer to home, I thank Ayyá Nyanasirì for entering onto disk, with
remarkable accuracy, the Pali text and revised English translation of
the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha; Savithri Chandraratne for typing the
handwritten manuscript of the expository guide, also with remarkable
accuracy; and Ayyá Vimalá for her perceptive comments on a draft
version of the guide, which led to significant improvements in the text.
Finally I extend thanks to Ven. U Sìlánanda for kindly permitting us
to use his valuable tables for this edition.

Bhikkhu Bodhi

Kandy, Sri Lanka
August 1992

A NOTE ON THE TABLES

The following tables were provided by Ven. U Sìlánanda, and were
originally intended by him for private instruction: 1.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4,

3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.8, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 6.2, 6.3,

8.2, 8.3, 9.1.

The following tables appeared in Ven. Maháthera Nárada’s Manual: 1.11, 4.1, 5.1, 7.1, 7.3.

Table 5.4 is based on U Nárada, Guide to Conditional Relations,
Part 1, Chart 7 (pp. 198-99); Table 7.4 is based on U Nárada, trans.,
Discourse on Elements, Method of Chapter I Chart (facing p. 26). Both
are used with the kind permission of the Pali Text Society.

The originals of the above tables have been modified in some re-
spects for the purposes of this edition. The other tables appearing in
this book have either been newly created or are in general use in the
study of Abhidhamma.

INTRODUCTION

The nucleus of the present book is a medieval compendium of Buddhist
philosophy entitled the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha. This work is ascribed
to Ácariya Anuruddha, a Buddhist savant about whom so little is known
that even his country of origin and the exact century in which he lived
remain in question. Nevertheless, despite the personal obscurity that
surrounds the author, his little manual has become one of the most
important and influential textbooks of Theravada Buddhism. In nine
short chapters occupying about fifty pages in print, the author provides
a masterly summary of that abstruse body of Buddhist doctrine called the
Abhidhamma. Such is his skill in capturing the essentials of that system,
and in arranging them in a format suitable for easy comprehension, that
his work has become the standard primer for Abhidhamma studies
throughout the Theravada Buddhist countries of South and Southeast
Asia. In these countries, particularly in Burma where the study of
Abhidhamma is pursued most assiduously, the Abhidhammattha Saṅgahais regarded as the indispensable key to unlock this great treasure-store of
Buddhist wisdom.

The Abhidhamma

At the heart of the Abhidhamma philosophy is the Abhidhamma Piṭaka,
one of the divisions of the Pali Canon recognized by Theravada Bud-
dhism as the authoritative recension of the Buddha’s teachings. This
canon was compiled at the three great Buddhist councils held in India in
the early centuries following the Buddha’s demise: the first, at Rájagaha,
convened three months after the Buddha’s Parinibbána by five hundred
senior monks under the leadership of the Elder Mahákassapa; the second,
at Vesálì, a hundred years later; and the third, at Páṭaliputta, two hundred
years later. The canon that emerged from these councils, preserved in the
Middle Indian language now called Pali, is known as the Tipiṭaka, the
three “baskets” or collections of the teachings. The first collection, the
Vinaya Piṭaka, is the book of discipline, containing the rules of conduct
for the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis—the monks and nuns—and the regu-
lations governing the Sangha, the monastic order. The Sutta Piṭaka, the
second collection, brings together the Buddha’s discourses spoken by

2 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

him on various occasions during his active ministry of forty-five years.
And the third collection is the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, the “basket” of the
Buddha’s “higher” or “special” doctrine.

This third great division of the Pali Canon bears a distinctly different
character from the other two divisions. Whereas the Suttas and Vinaya
serve an obvious practical purpose, namely, to proclaim a clear-cut
message of deliverance and to lay down a method of personal training, the
Abhidhamma Piṭaka presents the appearance of an abstract and highly
technical systemization of the doctrine. The collection consists of seven
books: the Dhammasaṅgaṇì, the Vibhaṅga, the Dhátukathá, the Puggala-, the Kathávatthu, the Yamaka, and the Paṭṭhána. Unlike the
Suttas, these are not records of discourses and discussions occurring in
real-life settings; they are, rather, full-blown treatises in which the
principles of the doctrine have been methodically organized, minutely
defined, and meticulously tabulated and classified. Though they were no
doubt originally composed and transmitted orally and only written down
later, with the rest of the canon in the first century B.C., they exhibit the
qualities of structured thought and rigorous consistency more typical of
written documents.

In the Theravada tradition the Abhidhamma Piṭaka is held in the
highest esteem, revered as the crown jewel of the Buddhist scriptures. As
examples of this high regard, in Sri Lanka King Kassapa V (tenth century
A.C.) had the whole Abhidhamma Piṭaka inscribed on gold plates and the
first book set in gems, while another king, Vijayabáhu (eleventh century)
used to study the Dhammasaṅgaṇì each morning before taking up his
royal duties and composed a translation of it into Sinhala. On a cursory
reading, however, this veneration given to the Abhidhamma seems
difficult to understand. The texts appear to be merely a scholastic
exercise in manipulating sets of doctrinal terms, ponderous and
tediously repetitive.

The reason the Abhidhamma Piṭaka is so deeply revered only
becomes clear as a result of thorough study and profound reflection,
undertaken in the conviction that these ancient books have something
significant to communicate. When one approaches the Abhidhamma
treatises in such a spirit and gains some insight into their wide
implications and organic unity, one will find that they are attempting
nothing less than to articulate a comprehensive vision of the totality
of experienced reality, a vision marked by extensiveness of range,
systematic completeness, and analytical precision. From the standpoint
of Theravada orthodoxy the system that they expound is not a figment
of speculative thought, not a mosaic put together out of metaphysical
hypotheses, but a disclosure of the true nature of existence as

INTRODUCTION 3

apprehended by a mind that has penetrated the totality of things both
in depth and in the finest detail. Because it bears this character, the
Theravada tradition regards the Abhidhamma as the most perfect
expression possible of the Buddha’s unimpeded omniscient knowledge
(sabbaññutá-ñáṇa). It is his statement of the way things appear to the
mind of a Fully Enlightened One, ordered in accordance with the two
poles of his teaching: suffering and the cessation of suffering.

The system that the Abhidhamma Piṭaka articulates is simultaneously
a philosophy, a psychology, and an ethics, all integrated into the
framework of a program for liberation. The Abhidhamma may be de-
scribed as a philosophy because it proposes an ontology, a perspective
on the nature of the real. This perspective has been designated the
“dhamma theory” (dhammaváda). Briefly, the dhamma theory maintains
that ultimate reality consists of a multiplicity of elementary constituents
called dhammas. The dhammas are not noumena hidden behind phenom-
ena, not “things in themselves” as opposed to “mere appearances,” but the
fundamental components of actuality. The dhammas fall into two broad
classes: the unconditioned dhamma, which is solely Nibbána, and the
conditioned dhammas, which are the momentary mental and material
phenomena that constitute the process of experience. The familiar world
of substantial objects and enduring persons is, according to the dhamma
theory, a conceptual construct fashioned by the mind out of the raw data
provided by the dhammas. The entities of our everyday frame of reference
possess merely a consensual reality derivative upon the foundational
stratum of the dhammas. It is the dhammas alone that possess ultimate
reality: determinate existence “from their own side” (sarúpato) inde-
pendent of the mind’s conceptual processing of the data.

Such a conception of the nature of the real seems to be already implicit
in the Sutta Piṭaka, particularly in the Buddha’s disquisitions on the
aggregates, sense bases, elements, dependent arising, etc., but it remains
there tacitly in the background as the underpinning to the more pragmati-
cally formulated teachings of the Suttas. Even in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka
itself the dhamma theory is not yet expressed as an explicit philosophical
tenet; this comes only later, in the Commentaries. Nevertheless, though
as yet implicit, the theory still comes into focus in its role as the regulating
principle behind the Abhidhamma’s more evident task, the project of
systemization.

This project starts from the premise that to attain the wisdom that
knows things “as they really are,” a sharp wedge must be driven between
those types of entities that possess ontological ultimacy, that is, the
dhammas, and those types of entities that exist only as conceptual
constructs but are mistakenly grasped as ultimately real. Proceeding from

4 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

this distinction, the Abhidhamma posits a fixed number of dhammas as
the building blocks of actuality, most of which are drawn from the Suttas.
It then sets out to define all the doctrinal terms used in the Suttas in ways
that reveal their identity with the ontological ultimates recognized by the
system. On the basis of these definitions, it exhaustively classifies the
dhammas into a net of pre-determined categories and modes of relatedness
which highlight their place within the system’s structure. And since the
system is held to be a true reflection of actuality, this means that the
classification pinpoints the place of each dhamma within the overall
structure of actuality.

The Abhidhamma’s attempt to comprehend the nature of reality,
contrary to that of classical science in the West, does not proceed from the
standpoint of a neutral observer looking outwards towards the external
world. The primary concern of the Abhidhamma is to understand the
nature of experience, and thus the reality on which it focuses is conscious
reality, the world as given in experience, comprising both knowledge and
the known in the widest sense. For this reason the philosophical enterprise
of the Abhidhamma shades off into a phenomenological psychology. To
facilitate the understanding of experienced reality, the Abhidhamma
embarks upon an elaborate analysis of the mind as it presents itself to
introspective meditation. It classifies consciousness into a variety of
types, specifies the factors and functions of each type, correlates them
with their objects and physiological bases, and shows how the different
types of consciousness link up with each other and with material phenom-
ena to constitute the ongoing process of experience.

This analysis of mind is not motivated by theoretical curiosity but by
the overriding practical aim of the Buddha’s teaching, the attainment of
deliverance from suffering. Since the Buddha traces suffering to our
tainted attitudes—a mental orientation rooted in greed, hatred, and
delusion—the Abhidhamma’s phenomenological psychology also takes
on the character of a psychological ethics, understanding the term
“ethics” not in the narrow sense of a code of morality but as a complete
guide to noble living and mental purification. Accordingly we find that
the Abhidhamma distinguishes states of mind principally on the basis of
ethical criteria: the wholesome and the unwholesome, the beautiful
factors and the defilements. Its schematization of consciousness follows
a hierarchical plan that corresponds to the successive stages of purity to
which the Buddhist disciple attains by practice of the Buddha’s path. This
plan traces the refinement of the mind through the progression of
meditative absorptions, the fine-material-sphere and immaterial-sphere
jhánas, then through the stages of insight and the wisdom of the
supramundane paths and fruits. Finally, it shows the whole scale of ethical

INTRODUCTION 5

development to culminate in the perfection of purity attained with the
mind’s irreversible emancipation from all defilements.

All three dimensions of the Abhidhamma—the philosophical, the
psychological, and the ethical—derive their final justification from the
cornerstone of the Buddha’s teaching, the program of liberation an-
nounced by the Four Noble Truths. The ontological survey of dhammas
stems from the Buddha’s injunction that the noble truth of suffering,
identified with the world of conditioned phenomena as a whole, must be
fully understood (pariññeyya). The prominence of mental defilements
and requisites of enlightenment in its schemes of categories, indicative
of its psychological and ethical concerns, connects the Abhidhamma to
the second and fourth noble truths, the origin of suffering and the way
leading to its end. And the entire taxonomy of dhammas elaborated by the
system reaches its consummation in the “unconditioned element”
(asaṅkhatá dhátu), which is Nibbána, the third noble truth, that of the
cessation of suffering.

The Twofold Method

The great Buddhist commentator, Ácariya Buddhaghosa, explains the
word “Abhidhamma” as meaning “that which exceeds and is distin-
guished from the Dhamma” (dhammátireka-dhammavisesa), the prefix
abhi having the sense of preponderance and distinction, and dhammahere signifying the teaching of the Sutta Piṭaka.1 When the Abhidhamma
is said to surpass the teaching of the Suttas, this is not intended to suggest
that the Suttanta teaching is defective in any degree or that the Abhidhamma
proclaims some new revelation of esoteric doctrine unknown to the
Suttas. Both the Suttas and the Abhidhamma are grounded upon the
Buddha’s unique doctrine of the Four Noble Truths, and all the principles
essential to the attainment of enlightenment are already expounded in the
Sutta Piṭaka. The difference between the two in no way concerns fundamen-
tals but is, rather, partly a matter of scope and partly a matter of method.

As to scope, the Abhidhamma offers a thoroughness and completeness
of treatment that cannot be found in the Sutta Piṭaka. Ácariya Buddhaghosa
explains that in the Suttas such doctrinal categories as the five aggregates,
the twelve sense bases, the eighteen elements, and so forth, are classified
only partly, while in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka they are classified fully
according to different schemes of classification, some common to the
Suttas, others unique to the Abhidhamma.2 Thus the Abhidhamma has
a scope and an intricacy of detail that set it apart from the Sutta Piṭaka.
The other major area of difference concerns method. The discourses

6 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

contained in the Sutta Piṭaka were expounded by the Buddha under
diverse circumstances to listeners with very different capacities for
comprehension. They are primarily pedagogical in intent, set forth in the
way that will be most effective in guiding the listener in the practice of
the teaching and in arriving at a penetration of its truth. To achieve this
end the Buddha freely employs the didactic means required to make the
doctrine intelligible to his listeners. He uses simile and metaphor; he
exhorts, advises, and inspires; he sizes up the inclinations and aptitudes
of his audience and adjusts the presentation of the teaching so that it will
awaken a positive response. For this reason the Suttanta method of
teaching is described as pariyáya-dhammadesaná, the figurative or
embellished discourse on the Dhamma.

In contrast to the Suttas, the Abhidhamma Piṭaka is intended to
divulge as starkly and directly as possible the totalistic system that
underlies the Suttanta expositions and upon which the individual dis-
courses draw. The Abhidhamma takes no account of the personal incli-
nations and cognitive capacities of the listeners; it makes no concessions
to particular pragmatic requirements. It reveals the architectonics of
actuality in an abstract, formalistic manner utterly devoid of literary
embellishments and pedagogical expedients. Thus the Abhidhamma
method is described as the nippariyáya-dhammadesaná, the literal or
unembelished discourse on the Dhamma.

This difference in technique between the two methods also influences
their respective terminologies. In the Suttas the Buddha regularly makes
use of conventional language (voháravacana) and accepts conventional
truth (sammutisacca), truth expressed in terms of entities that do not
possess ontological ultimacy but can still be legitimately referred to
them. Thus in the Suttas the Buddha speaks of “I” and “you,” of “man”
and “woman,” of living beings, persons, and even self as though they were
concrete realities. The Abhidhamma method of exposition, however,
rigorously restricts itself to terms that are valid from the standpoint of
ultimate truth (paramatthasacca): dhammas, their characteristics, their
functions, and their relations. Thus in the Abhidhamma all such concep-
tual entities provisionally accepted in the Suttas for purposes of meaning-
ful communication are resolved into their ontological ultimates, into bare
mental and material phenomena that are impermanent, conditioned, and
dependently arisen, empty of any abiding self or substance.

But a qualification is necessary. When a distinction is drawn between
the two methods, this should be understood to be based on what is most
characteristic of each Piṭaka and should not be interpreted as an absolute
dichotomy. To some degree the two methods overlap and interpenetrate.
Thus in the Sutta Piṭaka we find discourses that employ the strictly

INTRODUCTION 7

philosophical terminology of aggregates, sense bases, elements, etc., and
thus come within the bounds of the Abhidhamma method. Again, within
the Abhidhamma Piṭaka we find sections, even a whole book (the
Puggalapaññatti), that depart from the rigorous manner of expression
and employ conventional terminology, thus coming within the range of
the Suttanta method.

Distinctive Features of the Abhidhamma

Apart from its strict adherence to the philosophical method of exposition,
the Abhidhamma makes a number of other noteworthy contributions
integral to its task of systemization. One is the employment, in the main
books of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, of a mátiká—a matrix or schedule of
categories—as the blueprint for the entire edifice. This matrix, which
comes at the very beginning of the Dhammasaṅgaṇì as a preface to the
Abhidhamma Piṭaka proper, consists of 122 modes of classification
special to the Abhidhamma method. Of these, twenty-two are triads (tika),
sets of three terms into which the fundamental dhammas are to be
distributed; the remaining hundred are dyads (duka), sets of two terms
used as a basis for classification.3 The matrix serves as a kind of grid for
sorting out the complex manifold of experience in accordance with
principles determined by the purposes of the Dhamma. For example, the
triads include such sets as states that are wholesome, unwholesome,
indeterminate; states associated with pleasant feeling, painful feeling,
neutral feeling; states that are kamma results, productive of kamma
results, neither; and so forth. The dyads include such sets as states that are
roots, not roots; states concomitant with roots, not so concomitant; states
that are conditioned, unconditioned; states that are mundane,
supramundane; and so forth. By means of its selection of categories, the
matrix embraces the totality of phenomena, illuminating it from a variety
of angles philosophical, psychological, and ethical in nature.

A second distinguishing feature of the Abhidhamma is the dissection
of the apparently continuous stream of consciousness into a succession
of discrete evanescent cognitive events called cittas, each a complex
unity involving consciousness itself, as the basic awareness of an object,
and a constellation of mental factors (cetasika) exercising more special-
ized tasks in the act of cognition. Such a view of consciousness, at least
in outline, can readily be derived from the Sutta Piṭaka’s analysis of
experience into the five aggregates, among which the four mental
aggregates are always inseparably conjoined, but the conception remains
there merely suggestive. In the Abhidhamma Piṭaka the suggestion is not

1. A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

   simply picked up, but is expanded into an extraordinarily detailed and
   coherent picture of the functioning of consciousness both in its micro-
   scopic immediacy and in its extended continuity from life to life.

   A third contribution arises from the urge to establish order among the
   welter of technical terms making up the currency of Buddhist discourse.
   In defining each of the dhammas, the Abhidhamma texts collate long lists
   of synonyms drawn mostly from the Suttas. This method of definition
   shows how a single dhamma may enter under different names into
   different sets of categories. For example, among the defilements, the
   mental factor of greed (lobha) may be found as the taint of sensual desire,
   the taint of (attachment to) existence, the bodily knot of covetousness,
   clinging to sensual pleasures, the hindrance of sensual desire, etc.; among
   the requisites of enlightenment, the mental factor of wisdom (paññá) may
   be found as the faculty and power of wisdom, the enlightenment factor of
   investigation of states, the path factor of right view, etc. In establishing
   these correspondences, the Abhidhamma helps to exhibit the intercon-
   nections between doctrinal terms that might not be apparent from the
   Suttas themselves. In the process it also provides a precision-made tool
   for interpreting the Buddha’s discourses.

   The Abhidhamma conception of consciousness further results in a new
   primary scheme for classifying the ultimate constituents of existence, a
   scheme which eventually, in the later Abhidhamma literature, takes
   precedence over the schemes inherited from the Suttas such as the
   aggregates, sense bases, and elements. In the Abhidhamma Piṭaka the
   latter categories still loom large, but the view of mind as consisting of
   momentary concurrences of consciousness and its concomitants leads to
   a fourfold method of classification more congenial to the system. This is
   the division of actuality into the four ultimate realities (paramattha):
   consciousness, mental factors, material phenomena, and Nibbána (citta, rúpa, nibbána), the first three comprising conditioned reality
   and the last the unconditioned element.

   The last novel feature of the Abhidhamma method to be noted here—
   contributed by the final book of the Piṭaka, the Paṭṭhána—is a set of
   twenty-four conditional relations laid down for the purpose of showing
   how the ultimate realities are welded into orderly processes. This scheme
   of conditions supplies the necessary complement to the analytical
   approach that dominates the earlier books of the Abhidhamma. The
   method of analysis proceeds by dissecting apparent wholes into their
   component parts, thereby exposing their voidness of any indivisible core
   that might qualify as self or substance. The synthetic method plots the
   conditional relations of the bare phenomena obtained by analysis to show
   that they are not isolated self-contained units but nodes in a vast multi-

   INTRODUCTION 9

   layered web of inter-related, inter-dependent events. Taken in conjunc-
   tion, the analytical method of the earlier treatises of the Abhidhamma
   Piṭaka and the synthetic method of the Paṭṭhána establish the essential
   unity of the twin philosophical principles of Buddhism, non-self or
   egolessness (anattá) and dependent arising or conditionality (paṭicca). Thus the foundation of the Abhidhamma methodology
   remains in perfect harmony with the insights that lie at the heart of the
   entire Dhamma.

   
   

   The Origins of the Abhidhamma

   
   

   Although modern critical scholarship attempts to explain the formation
   of the Abhidhamma by a gradual evolutionary process,4 Theravada
   orthodoxy assigns its genesis to the Buddha himself. According to the
   Great Commentary (mahá-aṭṭhakathá) quoted by Ácariya Buddhaghosa,
   “What is known as Abhidhamma is not the province nor the sphere of a
   disciple; it is the province, the sphere of the Buddhas.”5 The commen-
   tarial tradition holds, moreover, that it was not merely the spirit of the
   Abhidhamma, but the letter as well, that was already realized and
   expounded by the Buddha during his lifetime.

   The Atthasálinì relates that in the fourth week after the Enlightenment,
   while the Blessed One was still dwelling in the vicinity of the Bodhi Tree,
   he sat in a jewel house (ratanaghara) in the northwest direction. This
   jewel house was not literally a house made of precious stones, but was the
   place where he contemplated the seven books of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka.
   He contemplated their contents in turn, beginning with the
   Dhammasaṅgaṇì, but while investigating the first six books his body did
   not emit rays. However, upon coming to the Paṭṭhána, when “he began
   to contemplate the twenty-four universal conditional relations of root,
   object, and so on, his omniscience certainly found its opportunity therein.
   For as the great fish Timiratipingala finds room only in the great ocean
   84,000 yojanas in depth, so his omniscience truly finds room only in the
   Great Book. Rays of six colours—indigo, golden, red, white, tawny, and
   dazzling—issued from the Teacher’s body, as he was contemplating the
   subtle and abstruse Dhamma by his omniscience which had found such
   opportunity.”6

   Theravada orthodoxy thus maintains that the Abhidhamma Piṭaka is
   authentic Word of the Buddha, in this respect differing from an early rival
   school, the Sarvástivádins. This school also had an Abhidhamma Piṭaka
   consisting of seven books, considerably different in detail from the
   Theravada treatises. According to the Sarvástivádins, the books of the

   10 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

   Abhidhamma Piṭaka were composed by Buddhist disciples, several being
   attributed to authors who appeared generations after the Buddha. The
   Theravada school, however, holds that the Blessed One himself ex-
   pounded the books of the Abhidhamma, except for the detailed refutation
   of deviant views in the Kathávatthu, which was the work of the Elder
   Moggaliputta Tissa during the reign of Emperor Asoka.

   The Pali Commentaries, apparently drawing upon an old oral tradition,
   maintain that the Buddha expounded the Abhidhamma, not in the human
   world to his human disciples, but to the assembly of devas or gods in the
   Távatiṃsa heaven. According to this tradition, just prior to his seventh
   annual rains retreat the Blessed One ascended to the Távatiṃsa heaven
   and there, seated on the Paṇðukambala stone at the foot of the Páricchattaka
   tree, for the three months of the rains he taught the Abhidhamma to the
   devas who had assembled from the ten thousand world-systems. He made
   the chief recipient of the teaching his mother, Mahámáyá-devì, who had
   been reborn as a deva. The reason the Buddha taught the Abhidhamma
   in the deva world rather than in the human realm, it is said, is because in
   order to give a complete picture of the Abhidhamma it has to be
   expounded from the beginning to the end to the same audience in a single
   session. Since the full exposition of the Abhidhamma requires three
   months, only devas and Brahmás could receive it in unbroken continuity,
   for they alone are capable of remaining in one posture for such a length
   of time.

   However, each day, to sustain his body, the Buddha would descend to
   the human world to go on almsround in the northern region of Uttarakuru.
   After collecting almsfood he went to the shore of Anotatta Lake to partake
   of his meal. The Elder Sáriputta, the General of the Dhamma, would meet
   the Buddha there and receive a synopsis of the teaching given that day
   in the deva world: “Then to him the Teacher gave the method, saying,
   ‘Sáriputta, so much doctrine has been shown.’ Thus the giving of the
   method was to the chief disciple, who was endowed with analytical
   knowledge, as though the Buddha stood on the edge of the shore and
   pointed out the ocean with his open hand. To the Elder also the doctrine
   taught by the Blessed One in hundreds and thousands of methods became
   very clear.”7

   Having learnt the Dhamma taught him by the Blessed One, Sáriputta
   in turn taught it to his own circle of 500 pupils, and thus the textual
   recension of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka was established. To the Venerable
   Sáriputta is ascribed the textual order of the Abhidhamma treatises as well
   as the numerical series in the Paṭṭhána. Perhaps we should see in these
   admissions of the Atthasálinì an implicit acknowledgement that while
   the philosophical vision of the Abhidhamma and its basic architecture

   INTRODUCTION 11

   originate from the Buddha, the actual working out of the details, and
   perhaps even the prototypes of the texts themselves, are to be ascribed to
   the illustrious Chief Disciple and his entourage of students. In other early
   Buddhist schools, too, the Abhidhamma is closely connected with the
   Venerable Sáriputta, who in some traditions is regarded as the literal
   author of Abhidhamma treatises.8

   
   

   The Seven Books

   
   

   A brief outline of the contents of the seven canonical Abhidhamma books
   will provide some insight into the plethora of textual material to be
   condensed and summarized by the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha. The first
   book, the Dhammasaṅgaṇì, is the fountainhead of the entire system. The
   title may be translated “Enumeration of Phenomena,” and the work does
   in fact undertake to compile an exhaustive catalogue of the ultimate
   constituents of existence.

   Opening with the mátiká, the schedule of categories which serves as
   the framework for the whole Abhidhamma, the text proper is divided into
   four chapters. The first, “States of Consciousness,” takes up about half of
   the book and unfolds as an analysis of the first triad in the mátiká, that of
   the wholesome, the unwholesome, and the indeterminate. To supply that
   analysis, the text enumerates 121 types of consciousness classified by
   way of their ethical quality.9 Each type of consciousness is in turn
   dissected into its concomitant mental factors, which are individually
   defined in full. The second chapter, “On Matter,” continues the inquiry
   into the ethically indeterminate by enumerating and classifying the
   different types of material phenomena. The third chapter, called “The
   Summary,” offers concise explanations of all the terms in the Abhidhamma
   matrix and the Suttanta matrix as well. Finally, a concluding “Synopsis”
   provides a more condensed explanation of the Abhidhamma matrix but
   omits the Suttanta matrix.

   The Vibhaṅga, the “Book of Analysis,” consists of eighteen chapters,
   each a self-contained dissertation, dealing in turn with the following:
   aggregates, sense bases, elements, truths, faculties, dependent arising,
   foundations of mindfulness, supreme efforts, means to accomplishment,
   factors of enlightenment, the eightfold path, jhánas, illimitables, training
   rules, analytical knowledges, kinds of knowledge, minor points (a nu-
   merical inventory of defilements), and “the heart of the doctrine”
   (dhammahadaya), a psycho-cosmic topography of the Buddhist uni-
   verse. Most of the chapters in the Vibhaṅga, though not all, involve three
   sub-sections: an analysis according to the methodology of the Suttas; an
   analysis according to the methodology of the Abhidhamma proper; and

   12 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

   an interrogation section, which applies the categories of the matrix to the
   subject under investigation.

   The Dhátukathá, the “Discourse on Elements,” is written entirely in
   catechism form. It discusses all phenomena with reference to the three
   schemata of aggregates, sense bases, and elements, seeking to determine
   whether, and to what extent, they are included or not included in them,
   and whether they are associated with them or dissociated from them.

   The Puggalapaññatti, “Concepts of Individuals,” is the one book of
   the Abhidhamma Piṭaka that is more akin to the method of the Suttas than
   to the Abhidhamma proper. The work begins with a general enumeration
   of types of concepts, and this suggests that it was originally intended as
   a supplement to the other books in order to take account of the conceptual
   realities excluded by the strict application of the Abhidhamma method.
   The bulk of the work provides formal definitions of different types of
   individuals. It has ten chapters: the first deals with single types of
   individuals; the second with pairs; the third with groups of three, etc.

   The Kathávatthu, “Points of Controversy,” is a polemical treatise
   ascribed to the Elder Moggaliputta Tissa. He is said to have compiled it
   during the time of Emperor Asoka, 218 years after the Buddha’s Pari-
   nibbána, in order to refute the heterodox opinions of the Buddhist schools
   outside the Theravadin fold. The Commentaries defend its inclusion in
   the Canon by holding that the Buddha himself, foreseeing the errors that
   would arise, laid down the outline of rebuttal, which Moggaliputta Tissa
   merely filled in according to the Master’s intention.

   The Yamaka, the “Book of Pairs,” has the purpose of resolving
   ambiguities and defining the precise usage of technical terms. It is so
   called owing to its method of treatment, which throughout employs the
   dual grouping of a question and its converse formulation. For instance,
   the first pair of questions in the first chapter runs thus: “Are all wholesome
   phenomena wholesome roots? And are all wholesome roots wholesome
   phenomena?” The book contains ten chapters: roots, aggregates, sense
   bases, elements, truths, formations, latent dispositions, consciousness,
   phenomena, and faculties.

   The Paṭṭhána, the “Book of Conditional Relations,” is probably the
   most important work of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka and thus is traditionally
   designated the “Great Treatise” (mahápakaraṇa). Gigantic in extent as
   well as in substance, the book comprises five volumes totalling 2500
   pages in the Burmese-script Sixth Council edition. The purpose of the
   Paṭṭhána is to apply its scheme of twenty-four conditional relations to
   all the phenomena incorporated in the Abhidhamma matrix. The main
   body of the work has four great divisions: origination according to the
   positive method, according to the negative method, according to the

   INTRODUCTION 13

   positive-negative method, and according to the negative-positive method.
   Each of these in turn has six sub-divisions: origination of triads, of dyads,
   of dyads and triads combined, of triads and dyads combined, of triads and
   triads combined, and of dyads and dyads combined. Within this pattern
   of twenty-four sections, the twenty-four modes of conditionality are
   applied in due order to all the phenomena of existence in all their
   conceivable permutations. Despite its dry and tabular format, even from
   a “profane” humanistic viewpoint the Paṭṭhána can easily qualify as one
   of the truly monumental products of the human mind, astounding in its
   breadth of vision, its rigorous consistency, and its painstaking attention
   to detail. To Theravada orthodoxy, it is the most eloquent testimony to
   the Buddha’s unimpeded knowledge of omniscience.

   
   

   The Commentaries

   
   

   The books of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka have inspired a voluminous mass
   of exegetical literature composed in order to fill out, by way of explana-
   tion and exemplification, the scaffoldings erected by the canonical texts.
   The most important works of this class are the authorized commentaries
   of Ácariya Buddhaghosa. These are three in number: the Atthasálinì,
   “The Expositor,” the commentary to the Dhammasaṅgaṇì; the
   Sammohavinodanì , “The Dispeller of Delusion,” the commentary to the
   Vibhaṅga; and the Pañcappakaraṇa Aṭṭhakathá, the combined com-
   mentary to the other five treatises. To this same stratum of literature also
   belongs the Visuddhimagga, “The Path of Purification,” also composed
   by Buddhaghosa. Although this last work is primarily an encyclopaedic
   guide to meditation, its chapters on “the soil of understanding” (XIV-
   XVII) lay out the theory to be mastered prior to developing insight and
   thus constitute in effect a compact dissertation on Abhidhamma. Each of
   the commentaries in turn has its subcommentary (múlaṭìká), by an elder
   of Sri Lanka named Ácariya Ánanda, and these in turn each have a sub-
   subcommentary (anuṭìká), by Ánanda’s pupil Dhammapála (who is to be
   distinguished from the great Ácariya Dhammapála, author of the ṭìkás to
   Buddhaghosa’s works).

   When the authorship of the Commentaries is ascribed to Ácariya
   Buddhaghosa, it should not be supposed that they are in any way original
   compositions, or even original attempts to interpret traditional material.
   They are, rather, carefully edited versions of the vast body of accumulated
   exegetical material that Buddhaghosa found at the Mahávihára in
   Anurádhapura. This material must have preceded the great commentator
   by centuries, representing the collective efforts of generations of erudite

   14 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

   Buddhist teachers to elucidate the meaning of the canonical Abhidhamma.
   While it is tempting to try to discern evidence of historical development
   in the Commentaries over and beyond the ideas embedded in the
   Abhidhamma Piṭaka, it is risky to push this line too far, for a great deal
   of the canonical Abhidhamma seems to require the Commentaries to
   contribute the unifying context in which the individual elements hang
   together as parts of a systematic whole and without which they lose
   important dimensions of meaning. It is thus not unreasonable to assume
   that a substantial portion of the commentarial apparatus originated in
   close proximity to the canonical Abhidhamma and was transmitted
   concurrently with the latter, though lacking the stamp of finality it was
   open to modification and amplification in a way that the canonical texts
   were not.

   Bearing this in mind, we might briefly note a few of the Abhidhammic
   conceptions that are characteristic of the Commentaries but either un-
   known or recessive in the Abhidhamma Piṭaka itself. One is the detailed
   account of the cognitive process (cittavìthi). While this conception seems
   to be tacitly recognized in the canonical books, it now comes to be drawn
   out for use as an explanatory tool in its own right. The functions of the
   cittas, the different types of consciousness, are specified, and in time the
   cittas themselves come to be designated by way of their functions. The
   term khaṇa, “moment,” replaces the canonical samaya, “occasion,” as the
   basic unit for delimiting the occurrence of events, and the duration of a
   material phenomenon is determined to be seventeen moments of mental
   phenomena. The division of a moment into three sub-moments—arising,
   presence, and dissolution—also seems to be new to the Commentaries.10
   The organization of material phenomena into groups (kalápa), though
   implied by the distinction between the primary elements of matter and
   derived matter, is first spelled out in the Commentaries, as is the specifi-
   cation of the heart-base (hadayavatthu) as the material basis for mind
   element and mind-consciousness element.

   The Commentaries introduce many (though not all) of the categories
   for classifying kamma, and work out the detailed correlations between
   kamma and its results. They also close off the total number of mental
   factors (cetasika). The phrase in the Dhammasaṅgaṇì, “or whatever other
   (unmentioned) conditionally arisen immaterial phenomena there are on
   that occasion,” apparently envisages an open-ended universe of mental
   factors, which the Commentaries delimit by specifying the “or-whatever
   states” (yevápanaká dhammá). Again, the Commentaries consummate
   the dhamma theory by supplying the formal definition of dhammas as
   “things which bear their own intrinsic nature” (attano sabhávaṃ dhárentì dhammá). The task of defining specific dhammas is finally rounded off

   INTRODUCTION 15

   by the extensive employment of the fourfold defining device of charac-
   teristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause, a device derived
   from a pair of old exegetical texts, the Peṭakopadesa and the
   Nettipakaraṇa.

   
   

   The Abhidhammattha Saògaha

   
   

   As the Abhidhamma system, already massive in its canonical version,
   grew in volume and complexity, it must have become increasingly
   unwieldy for purposes of study and comprehension. Thus at a certain
   stage in the evolution of Theravada Buddhist thought the need must have
   become felt for concise summaries of the Abhidhamma as a whole in order
   to provide the novice student of the subject with a clear picture of its main
   outlines—faithfully and thoroughly, yet without an unmanageable mass
   of detail.

   To meet this need there began to appear, perhaps as early as the fifth
   century and continuing well through the twelfth, short manuals or
   compendia of the Abhidhamma. In Burma these are called let-than or
   “little-finger manuals,” of which there are nine:

   1. Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, by Ácariya Anuruddha;

   2. Námarúpa-pariccheda, by the same;

   3. Paramattha-vinicchaya, by the same (?);

   4. Abhidhammávatára, by Ácariya Buddhadatta (a senior contempo-
      rary of Buddhaghosa);

   5. Rúpárupa-vibhága, by the same;

   6. Sacca-saṅkhepa, by Bhadanta Dhammapála (probably Sri Lankan;
      different from the great subcommentator);

   7. Moha-vicchedanì, by Bhadanta Kassapa (South Indian or Sri
      Lankan);

   8. Khema-pakaraṇa, by Bhadanta Khema (Sri Lankan);

   9. Námacára-dìpaka, by Bhadanta Saddhamma Jotipála (Burman).

   Among these, the work that has dominated Abhidhamma studies from
   about the twelfth century to the present day is the first mentioned, the
   Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, “The Compendium of Things contained in
   the Abhidhamma.” Its popularity may be accounted for by its remarkable
   balance between concision and comprehensiveness. Within its short
   scope all the essentials of the Abhidhamma are briefly and carefully
   summarized. Although the book’s manner of treatment is extremely terse
   even to the point of obscurity when read alone, when studied under a
   qualified teacher or with the aid of an explanatory guide, it leads the

   16 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

   student confidently through the winding maze of the system to a clear
   perception of its entire structure. For this reason throughout the Theravada
   Buddhist world the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha is always used as the first
   textbook in Abhidhamma studies. In Buddhist monasteries, especially in
   Burma, novices and young bhikkhus are required to learn the Saṅgahaby heart before they are permitted to study the books of the Abhidhamma
   Piṭaka and its Commentaries.

   Detailed information about the author of the manual, Ácariya
   Anuruddha, is virtually non-existent. He is regarded as the author of two
   other manuals, cited above, and it is believed in Buddhist countries that
   he wrote altogether nine compendia, of which only these three have
   survived. The Paramattha-vinicchaya is written in an elegant style of Pali
   and attains a high standard of literary excellence. According to the
   colophon, its author was born in Káveri in the state of Káñcìpura
   (Conjeevaram) in South India. Ácariya Buddhadatta and Ácariya
   Buddhaghosa are also said to have resided in the same area, and the
   subcommentator Ácariya Dhammapála was probably a native of the
   region. There is evidence that for several centuries Káñcìpura had been
   an important centre of Theravada Buddhism from which learned bhikkhus
   went to Sri Lanka for further study.

   It is not known exactly when Ácariya Anuruddha lived and wrote his
   manuals. An old monastic tradition regards him as having been a fellow
   student of Ácariya Buddhadatta under the same teacher, which would
   place him in the fifth century. According to this tradition, the two elders
   wrote their respective books, the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha and the
   Abhidhammávatára, as gifts of gratitude to their teacher, who remarked:
   “Buddhadatta has filled a room with all kinds of treasure and locked the
   door, while Anuruddha has also filled a room with treasure but left the door
   open.”11 Modern scholars, however, do not endorse this tradition, main-
   taining on the basis of the style and content of Anuruddha’s work that he
   could not have lived earlier than the eighth century, more probably
   between the tenth and early twelfth centuries.12

   In the colophon to the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha Ácariya Anuruddha
   states that he wrote the manual at the Múlasoma Monastery, which all
   exegetical traditions place in Sri Lanka. There are several ways to
   reconcile this fact with the concluding stanzas of the Paramattha-, which state that he was born in Káñcìpura. One hypothesis
   is that he was of South Indian descent but came to Sri Lanka, where he
   wrote the Saṅgaha. Another, advanced by G.P. Malalasekera, holds that
   he was a native of Sri Lanka who spent time at Káñcìpura (which, however,
   passes over his statement that he was born in Káñcìpura). Still a third
   hypothesis, proposed by Ven. A.P. Buddhadatta Maháthera, asserts that

   INTRODUCTION 17

   there were two different monks named Anuruddha, one in Sri Lanka who
   was the author of the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, another in Káñcìpura
   who wrote the Paramattha-vinicchaya.13

   
   

   Commentaries on the Saògaha

   
   

   Owing to its extreme concision, the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha cannot be
   easily understood without explanation. Therefore to elucidate its terse
   and pithy synopsis of the Abhidhamma philosophy, a great number of
   ṭìkás or commentaries have been written upon it. In fact, this work has
   probably stimulated more commentaries than any other Pali text, written
   not only in the Pali language but also in Burmese, Sinhala, Thai, etc. Since
   the fifteenth century Burma has been the international centre of
   Abhidhamma studies, and therefore we find many commentaries written
   on it by Burmese scholars both in Pali and in Burmese. Commentaries on
   the Saṅgaha in Pali alone number nineteen, of which the following are
   the most important:

   1. Abhidhammatthasaṅgaha-Ṭìká, also known as the Poráṇa-Ṭìká,
      “the Old Commentary.” This is a very small ṭìká written in Sri Lanka in
      the twelfth century by an elder named Ácariya Navavimalabuddhi.

   2. Abhidhammatthavibhávinì-Ṭìká, or in brief, the Vibhávinì, written
      by Ácariya Sumaṅgalasámi, pupil of the eminent Sri Lankan elder
      Sáriputta Mahásámi, also in the twelfth century. This ṭìká quickly
      superceded the Old Commentary and is generally considered the most
      profound and reliable exegetical work on the Saṅgaha. In Burma this
      work is known as ṭìká-gyaw, “the Famous Commentary.” The author is
      greatly respected for his erudition and mastery of the Abhidhamma. He
      relies heavily on older authorities such as the Abhidhamma-Anuṭìká and
      the Visuddhimagga-Maháṭìká (also known as the Paramatthamañjúsá).
      Although Ledi Sayádaw (see below) criticized the Vibhávinì extensively
      in his own commentary on the Saṅgaha, its popularity has not diminished
      but indeed has even increased, and several Burmese scholars have risen
      to defend it against Ledi Sayádaw’s criticisms.

   3. Saṅkhepa-vaṇṇaná, written in the sixteenth century by Bhadanta
      Saddhamma Jotipála, also known as Chapada Maháthera, a Burmese
      monk who visited Sri Lanka during the reign of Parákramabáhu VI of
      Kotte (fifteenth century).14

   4. Paramatthadìpanì-Ṭìká, “The Elucidation of the Ultimate Mean-
      ing,” by Ledi Sayádaw. Ledi Sayádaw of Burma (1846-1923) was one of
      the greatest scholar-monks and meditation masters of the Theravada
      tradition in recent times. He was the author of over seventy manuals on
      different aspects of Theravada Buddhism, including philosophy, ethics,

      18 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

      meditation practice, and Pali grammar. His ṭìká created a sensation in the
      field of Abhidhamma studies because he pointed out 325 places in the
      esteemed Vibhávinì-ṭìká where he alleged that errors and misinterpreta-
      tions had occurred, though his criticisms also set off a reaction in defense
      of the older work.

   5. Aṅkura-Ṭìká, by Vimala Sayádaw. This ṭìká was written fifteen years
      after the publication of the Paramatthadìpanì and supports the com-
      monly accepted opinions of the Vibhávinì against Ledi Sayádaw’s
      criticisms.

   6. Navanìta-Ṭìká, by the Indian scholar Dhammánanda Kosambi,
      published originally in devanágarì script in 1933. The title of this work
      means literally “The Butter Commentary,” and it is so called probably
      because it explains the Saṅgaha in a smooth and simple manner, avoiding
      philosophical controversy.

   
   

   Outline of the Saògaha

   
   

   The Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha contains nine chapters. It opens by
   enumerating the four ultimate realities—consciousness, mental factors,
   matter, and Nibbána. The detailed analysis of these is the project set for
   its first six chapters. Chapter I is the Compendium of Consciousness,
   which defines and classifies the 89 and 121 cittas or types of conscious-
   ness. In scope this first chapter covers the same territory as the States of
   Consciousness chapter of the Dhammasaṅgaṇì, but it differs in approach.
   The canonical work begins with an analysis of the first triad in the mátiká,
   and therefore initially classifies consciousness on the basis of the three
   ethical qualities of wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate; then
   within those categories it subdivides consciousness on the basis of plane
   into the categories of sense sphere, fine-material sphere, immaterial
   sphere, and supramundane. The Saṅgaha, on the other hand, not being
   bound to the mátìká, first divides consciousness on the basis of plane, and
   then subdivides it on the basis of ethical quality.

   The second chapter, the Compendium of Mental Factors, first
   enumerates the fifty-two cetasikas or concomitants of consciousness,
   divided into four classes: universals, occasionals, unwholesome fac-
   tors, and beautiful factors. Thereafter the factors are investigated by
   two complimentary methods: first, the method of association (sam-), which takes the mental factors as the unit of inquiry and
   elicits the types of consciousness with which they are individually
   associated; and second, the method of inclusion or combination
   (saṅgahanaya), which takes the types of consciousness as the unit of

   INTRODUCTION 19

   inquiry and elicits the mental factors that enter into the constitution
   of each. This chapter again draws principally upon the first chapter of
   the Dhammasaṅgaṇì.

   The third chapter, entitled Compendium of the Miscellaneous, clas-
   sifies the types of consciousness along with their factors with respect to
   six categories: root (hetu), feeling (vedaná), function (kicca), door (dvára),
   object (árammaṇa), and base (vatthu).

   The first three chapters are concerned principally with the structure of
   consciousness, both internally and in relation to external variables. In
   contrast, the next two chapters deal with the dynamics of consciousness,
   that is, with its modes of occurrence. According to the Abhidhamma,
   consciousness occurs in two distinct but intertwining modes—as active
   process and as passive flow. Chapter IV explores the nature of the
   “cognitive process,” Chapter V the passive “process-freed” flow, which
   it prefaces with a survey of the traditional Buddhist cosmology. The
   exposition here is largely based upon the Abhidhamma Commentaries.
   Chapter VI, Compendium of Matter, turns from the mental realm to the
   material world. Based primarily on the second chapter of the
   Dhammasaṅgaṇì, it enumerates the types of material phenomena, classi-
   fies them in various ways, and explains their modes of origination. It also
   introduces the commentarial notion of material groups, which it treats in
   detail, and describes the occurrence of material processes in the different
   realms of existence. This chapter concludes with a short section on the
   fourth ultimate reality, Nibbána, the only unconditioned element in the
   system.

   With the sixth chapter, Ácariya Anuruddha has completed his analyti-
   cal exposition of the four ultimate realities, but there remain several
   important subjects which must be explained to give a complete picture
   of the Abhidhamma. These are taken up in the last three chapters. Chapter
   VII, the Compendium of Categories, arranges the ultimate realities into
   a variety of categorical schemes that fall under four broad headings: a
   compendium of defilements; a compendium of mixed categories, which
   include items of different ethical qualities; a compendium of the requi-
   sites of enlightenment; and a compendium of the whole, an all-inclusive
   survey of the Abhidhamma ontology. This chapter leans heavily upon the
   Vibhaṅga, and to some extent upon the Dhammasaṅgaṇì.

   Chapter VIII, the Compendium of Conditionality, is introduced to
   include the Abhidhamma teaching on the inter-relatedness of physical
   and mental phenomena, thereby complementing the analytical treatment
   of the ultimate realities with a synthetical treatment laying bare their
   functional correlations. The exposition summarily presents two alternative
   approaches to conditionality found in the Pali Canon. One is the method

   20 A COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL OF ABHIDHAMMA

   of dependent arising, prominent in the Suttas and analyzed from both
   Suttanta and Abhidhamma angles in the Vibhaṅga (VI). This method
   examines conditionality in terms of the cause-and-result pattern that
   maintains bondage to saṃsára, the cycle of birth and death. The other is
   the method of the Paṭṭhána, with its twenty-four conditional relations.
   This chapter concludes with a brief account of concepts (paññatti),
   thereby drawing in the Puggalapaññatti, at least by implication.

   The ninth and final chapter of the Saṅgaha is concerned, not with
   theory, but with practice. This is the Compendium of Meditation
   Subjects. This chapter functions as a kind of summary of the
   Visuddhimagga. It concisely surveys all the methods of meditation
   exhaustively explained in the latter work, and it sets forth condensed
   accounts of the stages of progress in both systems of meditation,
   concentration and insight. Like the masterwork it summarizes, it
   concludes with an account of the four types of enlightened individuals
   and the attainments of fruition and cessation. This arrangement of the
   Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha perhaps serves to underscore the ultimate
   soteriological intent of the Abhidhamma. All the theoretical analysis
   of mind and matter finally converges upon the practice of meditation,
   and the practice culminates in the attainment of the supreme goal of
   Buddhism, the liberation of the mind by non-clinging.

   
   

   I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 21

   A Manual of Abhidhamma
   (Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha)

   Namo tassa Bhagavato Arahato
   Sammásambuddhassa

   
   

   CHAPTER I

   COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

   (Cittasaògahavibhága)

   
   

   §1 Words of Praise
   (thutivacana)

   
   

   Sammásambuddham atulaṃ
   Sasaddhammagaṇuttamaṃ
   Abhivádiya bhásissaṃ
   Abhidhammatthasaṅgahaṃ.

   Having respectfully saluted the Fully Enlightened One, the
   Peerless One, along with the Sublime Teaching and the Noble Order,
   I will speak the Manual of Abhidhamma—a compendium of the
   things contained in the Abhidhamma.

   
   

   Guide to §1

   Having respectfully saluted (abhivádiya): It is an established prac-
   tice in the Pali Buddhist tradition for expositors of the Dhamma to begin
   their expositions with a verse of homage to the Triple Gem—the Buddha,
   the Dhamma, and the Sangha—the ultimate refuge for all who seek the
   undistorted comprehension of actuality. Thus, following this custom,
   with deep devotion the author, Ácariya Anuruddha, opens his treatise
   with a verse of praise in which he expresses his veneration for the Triple
   Gem. A thought of veneration directed towards a worthy object is a
   wholesome kamma that generates merit in the mental continuum of the
   person who gives rise to such a thought. When this veneration is directed
   towards the most worthy objects of homage—the Triple Gem—the merit
   generated is vast and powerful. Such merit, accumulated in the mind, has
   the capacity to ward off obstructions to the fulfilment of one’s virtuous
   undertakings and to support their successful completion. Moreover, for
   a follower of the Buddha the writing of a book on the Dhamma is a valuable
   opportunity to develop the perfection of wisdom (paññápáramì). There-
   fore, when beginning his work, the author expresses, with blissful words
   of praise, his joy at gaining such an opportunity.

   24 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   The Fully Enlightened One (sammásambuddha): The Buddha is

   called the Fully Enlightened One because he is the one who has fully
   understood by himself the ultimate nature of all phenomena both in their
   particular and universal characteristics. The term implies the direct
   knowledge of all realities gained without help from a teacher. The Buddha
   is also called the Peerless One (atula) because his qualities and attributes
   cannot be matched by any other being. Though all Arahants possess the
   distinguished qualities of morality, concentration, and wisdom sufficient
   to result in liberation, none possess the innumerable and immeasurable
   virtues with which a supreme Buddha is fully endowed—the ten Tathá-
   gata’s powers of knowledge (M.12), the four grounds of self-confi-
   dence (M.12), the attainment of great compassion (Pṭs.i,126), and the
   unobstructed knowledge of omniscience (Pṭs.i,131). Hence the Bud-
   dha is without a peer among all sentient beings. As it is said: “There
   is one person, bhikkhus, who is unique, without a peer, without
   counterpart, incomparable, unequalled, matchless, unrivalled, the
   best of humans—the Tathágata, the Arahant, the Fully Enlightened
   One” (A.1:13/i,22).

   The Sublime Teaching (saddhamma): The Teaching, or Dhamma,
   signifies the three aspects of study (pariyatti), practice (paṭipatti), and
   realization (paṭivedha). “Study” is the study of the Tipiṭaka, the scrip-
   tures which record the teachings of the Buddha, comprising the three
   collections of the Vinaya, the Suttas, and the Abhidhamma. “Practice” is
   the threefold training in virtue, concentration, and wisdom. “Realiza-
   tion” is the penetration of the supramundane paths and attainment of the
   noble fruits. Each of these is the foundation for the next, since study
   provides the guidelines to practice and practice brings the breakthrough
   to realization. The Teaching is called “sublime” in the sense of true and
   good, because when it is applied in accordance with the Buddha’s
   instructions it definitely leads to the attainment of Nibbána, the supreme
   truth and highest good.

   And the Noble Order (gaụuttama): The word gaṇa, meaning com-
   pany or group, is used here as a synonym of saṅgha, the community or
   order. There are two kinds of Sangha: the conventional Sangha (sammuti-), the order of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, fully ordained monks and
   nuns; and the Sangha of noble ones (ariyasaṅgha), referred to in the verse
   of homage as “the Noble Order.” The Noble Order is the noble or holy
   community of the accomplished followers of the Buddha—
   that is, the four pairs of persons who have arrived at the planes of the noble
   ones, distinguished as eightfold according to whether they have reached
   the paths or the fruits of stream-entry, once-returning, non-
   returning, and Arahantship.

   I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 25

   
   

   I will speak the Manual of Abhidhamma: The title of the work,
   Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha, literally means “a compendium of the things
   contained in the Abhidhamma,” that is, in the Buddha’s special or
   “distinguished” (abhi) teaching (dhamma) handed down in the
   Abhidhamma Piṭaka. The author’s statement, “I will speak” (bhásissaṃ)
   reminds us that our text is meant to be recited and learnt by heart so that
   it will always be available to us as an instrument for analyzing reality.

   
   

   §2 The Fourfold Ultimate Reality
   (catudhá paramattha)

   
   

   Tattha vutt’ábhidhammatthá
   Catudhá paramatthato
   Cittaṃ cetasikaṃ rúpaṃ
   Nibbánam iti sabbathá.

   
   

   The things contained in the Abhidhamma, spoken of therein, are
   altogether fourfold from the standpoint of ultimate reality:
   consciousness, mental factors, matter, and Nibbána.

   
   

   Guide to §2

   From the standpoint of ultimate reality (paramatthato): According
   to the Abhidhamma philosophy, there are two kinds of realities—the
   conventional (sammuti) and the ultimate (paramattha). Conventional
   realities are the referents of ordinary conceptual thought (paññatti) and
   conventional modes of expression (vohára). They include such entities
   as living beings, persons, men, women, animals, and the apparently stable
   persisting objects that constitute our unanalyzed picture of the world. The
   Abhidhamma philosophy maintains that these notions do not possess
   ultimate validity, for the objects which they signify do not exist in their
   own right as irreducible realities. Their mode of being is conceptual, not
   actual. They are products of mental construction (parikappaná), not
   realities existing by reason of their own nature.

   Ultimate realities, in contrast, are things that exist by reason of their
   own intrinsic nature (sabháva). These are the dhammas: the final, irreduc-
   ible components of existence, the ultimate entities which result from a
   correctly performed analysis of experience. Such existents admit of no
   further reduction, but are themselves the final terms of analysis, the true
   constituents of the complex manifold of experience. Hence the word
   paramattha is applied to them, which is derived from parama = ultimate,
   highest, final, and attha = reality, thing.

   26 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   The ultimate realities are characterized not only from the ontological
   angle as the ultimate existents, but also from the epistemological angle
   as the ultimate objects of right knowledge. As one extracts oil from sesame
   seed, so one can extract the ultimate realities from the conventional
   realities. For example “being,” and “man,” and “woman” are concepts
   suggesting that the things they signify possess irreducible ultimate unity.
   However, when we wisely investigate these things with the analytical
   tools of the Abhidhamma, we find that they do not possess the ultimacy
   implied by the concepts, but only a conventional reality as an assemblage
   of impermanent factors, of mental and physical processes. Thus by
   examining the conventional realities with wisdom, we eventually arrive
   at the objective actualities that lie behind our conceptual constructs. It
   is these objective actualities—the dhammas, which maintain their intrin-
   sic natures independently of the mind’s constructive functions—that
   form the ultimate realities of the Abhidhamma.

   Although ultimate realities exist as the concrete essences of things,
   they are so subtle and profound that an ordinary person who lacks training
   cannot perceive them. Such a person cannot see the ultimate realities
   because his mind is obscured by concepts, which shape reality into
   conventionally defined appearances. Only by means of wise or thorough
   attention to things (yoniso manasikára) can one see beyond the concepts
   and take the ultimate realities as one’s object of knowledge. Thus
   paramattha is described as that which belongs to the domain of ultimate
   or supreme knowledge.1

   Altogether fourfold: In the Suttas the Buddha usually analyzes a
   being or individual into five types of ultimate realities, the five aggre-
   gates (pañcakkhandhá): matter, feeling, perception, mental formations,
   and consciousness. In the Abhidhamma teaching the ultimates are grouped
   into the four categories enumerated in the text. The first three—con-
   sciousness, mental factors, and matter—comprise all conditioned reali-
   ties. The five aggregates of the Suttanta teaching fit within these three
   categories. The aggregate of consciousness (viññáṇakkhandha) is here
   comprised by consciousness (citta), the word citta generally being
   employed to refer to different classes of consciousness distinguished by
   their concomitants. The middle three aggregates are, in the Abhidhamma,
   all included within the category of mental factors (cetasikas), the mental
   states that arise along with consciousness performing diverse functions.
   The Abhidhamma philosophy enumerates fifty-two mental factors: the
   aggregates of feeling and perception are each counted as one factor; the
   aggregate of mental formations (saṅkhárakkhandha) of the Suttas is
   finely subdivided into fifty mental factors. The aggregate of matter is, of
   course, identical with the Abhidhamma category of matter, which will

   I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 27

   later be divided into twenty-eight types of material phenomena.

   To these three types of reality, which are conditioned, is added a fourth
   reality, which is unconditioned. That reality, which is not included in the
   five aggregates, is Nibbána, the state of final deliverance from the
   suffering inherent in conditioned existence. Thus in the Abhidhamma
   philosophy there are altogether these four ultimate realities: conscious-
   ness, mental factors, matter, and Nibbána.

   
   

   §3 Four Classes of Consciousness
   (catubbidha citta)

   
   

   Tattha cittaṃ táva catubbidhaṃ hoti: (i) kámávacaraṃ;

   (ii) rúpávacaraṃ; (iii) arúpávacaraṃ; (iv) lokuttarañ cá ti.

   Of them, consciousness, firstly, is fourfold: (i) sense-sphere
   consciousness; (ii) fine-material-sphere consciousness; (iii) immaterial-
   sphere consciousness; (iv) supramundane consciousness.

   
   

   Guide to §3

   Consciousness: The first chapter of the Abhidhammattha Saṅgahais devoted to an examination of citta, consciousness or mind, the first
   of the four ultimate realities. Consciousness is taken up for study first
   because the focus of the Buddhist analysis of reality is experience,
   and consciousness is the principal element in experience, that which
   constitutes the knowing or awareness of an object.

   The Pali word citta is derived from the verbal root citi, to cognize,
   to know. The commentators define citta in three ways: as agent, as
   instrument, and as activity. As the agent, citta is that which cognizes
   an object (árammaṇaṃ cintetì ti cittaṃ). As the instrument, citta is
   that by means of which the accompanying mental factors cognize the
   object (etena cintentì ti cittaṃ). As an activity, citta is itself nothing
   other than the process of cognizing the object (cintanamattaṃ cittaṃ).
   The third definition, in terms of sheer activity, is regarded as the
   most adequate of the three: that is, citta is fundamentally an activity
   or process of cognizing or knowing an object. It is not an agent or
   instrument possessing actual being in itself apart from the activity of
   cognizing. The definitions in terms of agent and instrument are
   proposed to refute the wrong view of those who hold that a permanent
   self or ego is the agent and instrument of cognition. The Buddhist
   thinkers point out, by means of these definitions, that it is not a self
   that performs the act of cognition, but citta or consciousness. This citta

   28 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   TABLE 1.1 :

   THE 89 AND 121 CITTAS AT A GLANCE

   
   

   MUNDANE CITTAS 81

   Sense–sphere cittas 54

   Unwholesome cittas 12

   (1) – (8) Greed–rooted cittas 8

   (9) – (10) Hatred–rooted cittas 2

   (11) – (12) Delusion–rooted cittas 2

   Rootless cittas 18

   (13) – (19) Unwholesome–resultant 7

   (20) – (27) Wholesome–resultant 8

   (28) – (30) Rootless functional 3

   Sense–sphere beautiful cittas 24

   (31) – (38) Sense–sphere wholesome 8

   (39) – (46) Sense–sphere resultant 8

   (47) – (54) Sense–sphere functional 8

   Fine–material–sphere cittas 15

   (55) – (59) Fine–material–sphere wholesome 5

   (60) – (64) Fine–material–sphere resultant 5

   (65) – (69) Fine–material–sphere functional 5

   Immaterial–sphere cittas 12

   (70) – (73) Immaterial–sphere wholesome 4

   (74) – (77) Immaterial–sphere resultant 4

   (78) – (81) Immaterial–sphere functional 4

   SUPRAMUNDANE CITTAS 8 or 40

   Supramundane wholesome cittas 4 or 20

   1. or (82) – (86) Path of stream–entry 1 or 5

   2. or (87) – (91) Path of once–returning 1 or 5

   3. or (92) – (96) Path of non–returning 1 or 5

   4. or (97) – (101) Path of Arahantship 1 or 5

      Supramundane resultant cittas 4 or 20

   5. or (102) – (106) Fruit of stream–entry 1 or 5

   6. or (107) – (111) Fruit of once–returning 1 or 5

   7. or (112) – (116) Fruit of non–returning 1 or 5

   8. or (117) – (121) Fruit of Arahantship 1 or 5

   I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 29

   
   

   is nothing other than the act of cognizing, and that act is necessarily
   impermanent, marked by rise and fall.

   To elucidate the nature of any ultimate reality, the Pali commentators
   propose four defining devices by means of which it can be delimited.
   These four devices are: (1) its characteristic (lakkhaṇa), i.e., the salient
   quality of the phenomenon; (2) its function (rasa), its performance of a
   concrete task (kicca) or achievement of a goal (sampatti); (3) its manifes-
   tation (paccupaṭṭhána), the way it presents itself within experience; and

   (4) its proximate cause (padaṭṭhána), the principal condition upon which
   it depends.

   In the case of citta, its characteristic is the knowing of an object
   (vijánana). Its function is to be a “forerunner” (pubbaṅgama) of the
   mental factors in that it presides over them and is always accompanied by
   them. Its manifestation—the way it appears in the meditator’s experi-
   ence—is as a continuity of processes (sandhána). Its proximate cause is
   mind-and-matter (námarúpa), because consciousness cannot arise alone,
   in the complete absence of mental factors and material phenomena.

   While citta has a single characteristic as the cognizing of an object,
   a characteristic that remains the same in all its diverse manifestations, the
   Abhidhamma distinguishes citta into a variety of types. These types, also
   called cittas, are reckoned as 89 or, by a finer method of differentiation,
   as 121. (See Table 1.1.) What we ordinarily think of as consciousness is
   really a series of cittas, momentary acts of consciousness, occurring in
   such rapid succession that we cannot detect the discrete occasions, which
   are of diverse types. The Abhidhamma not only distinguishes the types
   of consciousness, but more importantly, it also exhibits them as ordered
   into a cosmos, a unified and closely interwoven whole.

   To do so it employs several overlapping principles of classification.
   The first of these, introduced in the present section of the Saṅgaha, is the
   plane (bhúmi) of consciousness. There are four planes of consciousness.
   Three are mundane: the sense sphere, the fine-material sphere, and the
   immaterial sphere; the fourth plane is the supramundane. The word
   avacara, “sphere,” which qualifies the first three planes, means “that
   which moves about in, or frequents, a particular locality.” The locality
   frequented is the plane of existence (also bhúmi) designated by the name
   of the sphere, that is, the sensuous, the fine-material, and the immaterial
   planes of existence. However, though the three spheres of consciousness
   have a particularly close connection with the corresponding planes of
   existence, they are not identical. The spheres of consciousness are
   categories for classifying types of cittas, the planes of existence are
   realms or worlds into which beings are reborn and in which they pass
   their lives.

   30 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   A definite relation nevertheless exists between the spheres of con-
   sciousness and the planes of existence: a particular sphere of conscious-
   ness comprises those types of consciousness which are typical of the
   corresponding plane of existence and which frequent that plane by
   tending to arise most often there. Consciousness of a particular sphere is
   not tied to the corresponding plane, but may arise in other planes of
   existence as well; for instance, fine-material and immaterial-sphere cittas
   can arise in the sensuous plane, and sense-sphere cittas can arise in the
   fine-material and immaterial planes. But still a connection is found, in
   that a sphere of consciousness is typical for the plane that shares its name.
   Moreover, the kammically active cittas of any particular sphere, the cittas
   that generate kamma, tend to produce rebirth into the corresponding
   plane of existence, and if they succeed in gaining the opportunity to
   generate rebirth, they will do so only in that plane, not in any other plane.
   Hence the tie between the spheres of consciousness and the correspond-
   ing planes of existence is extremely close.

   Sense-sphere consciousness (kámávacaracitta): The word káma means
   both subjective sensuality, i.e., craving for sense pleasures, and objective
   sensuousness, i.e., the five external sense-objects—visible forms, sounds,
   smells, tastes, and tangibles. The kámabhúmi is the sensuous plane of
   existence, which comprises eleven realms—the four woeful states, the
   human realm, and the six sensuous heavens. Sense-sphere conscious-
   ness includes all those cittas that have their proper domain in the
   sensuous plane of existence, though they may arise in other planes as
   well.

   Fine-material-sphere consciousness (rúpávacaracitta): The fine-
   material sphere is the plane of consciousness corresponding to the fine-
   material plane of existence (rúpabhúmi), or the plane of consciousness
   pertaining to the states of meditative absorption called the rúpajjhánas.
   Any consciousness which mostly moves about in this realm is understood
   to belong to the fine-material sphere. The rúpajjhánas are so called
   because they are usually attained in meditation by concentrating on a
   material object (rúpa), which may be a device such as the earth-kasiṇa,
   etc. (see IX, §6) or the parts of one’s own body, etc. Such an object becomes
   the basis on which the jhánas are developed. The exalted states of
   consciousness attained on the basis of such objects are called
   rúpávacaracitta, consciousness of the fine-material sphere.

   Immaterial-sphere consciousness (arúpávacaracitta): The immate-
   rial sphere is the plane of consciousness corresponding to the immaterial
   plane of existence (arúpabhúmi), or the plane of consciousness pertain-
   ing to the immaterial absorptions—the arúpajjhánas. Any conscious-
   ness which mostly moves about in this realm is understood to belong to

   I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 31

   
   

   the immaterial sphere. When one meditates to attain the formless medi-
   tative states beyond the rúpajjhánas, one must discard all objects
   connected with material form and focus upon some non-material object,
   such as the infinity of space, etc. The exalted states of consciousness
   attained on the basis of such objects are called arúpávacaracitta, con-
   sciousness of the immaterial sphere.

   Supramundane consciousness (lokuttaracitta): The word lokuttara,
   supramundane, is derived from loka = world, and uttara = beyond,
   transcendent to. The concept of “world” is threefold: the world of living
   beings (sattaloka), the physical universe (okásaloka), and the world of
   formations (saṅkháraloka), that is, the totality of conditioned phenom-
   ena, physical and mental. The notion of world relevant here is the world
   of formations, that is, all mundane phenomena included within the five
   aggregates of clinging. That which transcends the world of conditioned
   things is the unconditioned element, Nibbána, and the types of con-
   sciousness that directly accomplish the realization of Nibbána are called
   lokuttaracitta, supramundane consciousness. The other three types are
   called, in distinction, lokiyacitta, mundane consciousness.

   * * *

   We thus see that consciousness can be classified by way of plane into
   four broad divisions: sense-sphere consciousness, fine-material-sphere
   consciousness, immaterial-sphere consciousness, and supramundane
   consciousness. Consciousness can also be classified on the basis of other
   principles besides plane. One principle of classification that plays an
   important role in the Abhidhamma philosophy is kind or nature (játi).

   With respect to its nature, consciousness divides into four classes:
   unwholesome, wholesome, resultant, and functional. Unwholesome con-
   sciousness (akusalacitta) is consciousness accompanied by one or an-
   other of the three unwholesome roots—greed, hatred, and delusion. Such
   consciousness is called unwholesome because it is mentally unhealthy,
   morally blameworthy, and productive of painful results. Wholesome
   consciousness (kusalacitta) is consciousness accompanied by the whole-
   some roots—non-greed or generosity, non-hatred or loving kindness, and
   non-delusion or wisdom. Such consciousness is mentally healthy, mor-
   ally blameless, and productive of pleasant results.

   Both wholesome and unwholesome consciousness constitute kamma,
   volitional action. Those cittas or states of consciousness that arise
   through the ripening of kamma are called resultants (vipáka). These
   constitute a third class of citta distinct from the former two, a class that
   comprises both the results of wholesome kamma and the results of
   unwholesome kamma. It should be understood that both kamma and its

   32 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   results are purely mental. Kamma is volitional activity associated with
   wholesome or unwholesome cittas; its results are other cittas which
   experience the maturation of kamma.

   The fourth class of consciousness, according to the division by way of
   nature, is called in Pali kiriya or kriyá, rendered here as “functional.” This
   type of consciousness is neither kamma nor kamma resultant. It involves
   activity, yet this activity is not kammically determinate and thus is not
   capable of producing kammic results.

   Resultant consciousness and functional consciousness are neither
   wholesome nor unwholesome. Instead, they are classified as indetermi-
   nate (abyákata), that is, consciousness which cannot be determined in
   terms of the dichotomy of wholesome and unwholesome.

   
   

   SENSE-SPHERE CONSCIOUSNESS—54

   (kámávacaracittáni)

   
   

   Unwholesome Consciousness—12
   (akusalacittáni)

   
   

   §4 Consciousness Rooted in Greed (lobhamúlacittáni)—8

   Tattha katamaṃ kámávacaraṃ?

   1. Somanassasahagataṃ diṭṭhigatasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam
      ekaṃ.

   2. Somanassasahagataṃ diṭṭhigatasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam
      ekaṃ.

   3. Somanassasahagataṃ diṭṭhigatavippayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam
      ekaṃ.

   4. Somanassasahagataṃ diṭṭhigatavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam
      ekaṃ.

   5. Upekkhásahagataṃ diṭṭhigatasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   6. Upekkhásahagataṃ diṭṭhigatasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam
      ekaṃ.

   7. Upekkhásahagataṃ diṭṭhigatavippayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   8. Upekkhásahagataṃ diṭṭhigatavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekan

      ti.

      
      

      Imánì aṭṭha pi lobhasahagatacittáni náma.

      Amongst them what pertains to the sense sphere?

      1. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, associated with wrong

         view, unprompted.

         1. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 33

            
            

      2. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, associated with wrong
         view, prompted.

      3. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, dissociated from
         wrong view, unprompted.

      4. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, dissociated from
         wrong view, prompted.

      5. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
         with wrong view, unprompted.

      6. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
         with wrong view, prompted.

      7. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, dissociated
         from wrong view, unprompted.

      8. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, dissociated
         from wrong view, prompted.

         These eight types of consciousness are accompanied by greed.

         
         

         Guide to §4

         Unwholesome consciousness: In analyzing unwholesome conscious-
         ness, the Abhidhamma first classifies it by way of its most prominent root
         (múla, hetu), whether greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), or delusion (moha).
         Greed and hatred, according to the Abhidhamma, are mutually exclusive:
         they cannot coexist within the same citta. Thus those states of conscious-
         ness in which greed is the principal root are termed “cittas rooted in
         greed,” of which eight are enumerated. Those states in which hatred is the
         principal root are termed “cittas rooted in hatred,” of which two are
         enumerated. The third unwholesome root, delusion, is present in every
         state of unwholesome consciousness. Thus, in those cittas rooted in greed
         and in those rooted in hatred, delusion is also found as an underlying root.
         Nevertheless, there are types of consciousness in which delusion arises
         without the accompaniment of greed or hatred. These cittas— two in
         number—are called consciousness involving sheer delusion or “cittas
         rooted in delusion.” (See Table 1.2.)

         Consciousness rooted in greed (lobhamúlacittáni): The Abhidhamma
         begins its analysis of the three classes of unwholesome consciousness by
         distinguishing the different cittas rooted in greed, as greed is always
         mentioned first among the unwholesome roots. The Pali word lobhaincludes all varieties of greed ranging from intense passion or cupidity
         to subtle liking and attachment. Consciousness rooted in greed is divided
         into eight types on the basis of three principles of dichotomization. One
         is the concomitant feeling (vedaná), whether a feeling of joy or

         34 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

         
         

         equanimity; the second is the presence or absence of wrong view; the third
         is the consideration whether the citta is prompted or unprompted. From
         the permutations of these three distinctions, eight types of consciousness
         are obtained.

         Accompanied by joy (somanassasahagata): The word somanassa,
         joy, is derived from su = pleasant + manas = mind; thus it means literally
         a pleasant mental state. Somanassa is a type of feeling, specifically,
         pleasant mental feeling. All consciousness is accompanied by some
         feeling, which may be bodily or mental, pleasant, painful, or neutral.
         Somanassa is a feeling which is mental rather than bodily, and pleasant
         rather than painful or neutral. This feeling “accompanies” (sahagata) this
         type of consciousness in that it is inextricably blended with it, just as when
         the waters of two rivers meet, they blend together and cannot be distin-
         guished.

         The Abhidhamma describes four cittas rooted in greed that are accom-
         panied by joy. The other four cittas in this class are accompanied by (upekkhásahagata). The word upekkhá is often used in the
         Pali texts to signify the lofty spiritual quality of equanimity or impartial-
         ity, the state of mind which cannot be swayed by biases and preferences.
         Here, however, the word is used simply to mean neutral feeling, a mental
         feeling which leans neither towards gladness nor dejection. In contrast to
         pleasant and painful feelings, which experience the object in diametri-
         cally opposed ways, upekkhá experiences the object in a neutral manner.
         Thus upekkhá or equanimous feeling is also called adukkhamasukhá, neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.

         Associated with wrong view (diṭṭhigatasampayutta): Having di-
         vided the greed-rooted consciousness into two classes on the basis of
         feeling—as accompanied by joy or by equanimity—the text again
         divides that same consciousness on the basis of its relationship to wrong
         view. The word diṭṭhi means view, and unless it is specified by the prefix
         sammá, “right,” it generally refers to wrong view (micchá diṭṭhi).2 Wrong
         view accompanies the consciousness rooted in greed as a conviction,
         belief, opinion or rationalization. The view may either reinforce the
         attachment from which the consciousness springs by providing it with a
         rational justification, or the view itself may be an object of attachment in
         its own right. Wrong view is associated with four types of consciousness
         in all—two accompanied by joy and two accompanied by equanimity.
         The other four are dissociated from wrong view (diṭṭhigatavippayutta),
         in that greed operates in them without any accompanying justification
         provided by a view.

         Unprompted (asaòkhárika): The third differentiating principle of
         consciousness rooted in greed is the presence or absence of prompting.

         
         

         35

         TABLE 1.2: THE UNWHOLESOME CITTAS

         
         

         	Root	Feeling	Assoc. with	Dissoc. from	Prompted	NO.
         1	Greed	Joy	Wrong view	…	No	(1)
         2	"	"	Wrong view	…	Yes	(2)
         3	"	"	…	Wrong view	No	(3)
         4	"	"	…	Wrong view	Yes	(4)
         5	"	Equanimity	Wrong view	…	No	(5)
         6	"	"	Wrong view	…	Yes	(6)
         7	"	"	…	Wrong view	No	(7)
         8	"	"	…	Wrong view	Yes	(8)
         9	Hatred	Displeasure	Aversion	…	No	(9)
         10	"	"	"	…	Yes	(10)
         11	Delusion	Equanimity	Doubt	…	…	(11)
         12	"	"	Restlessness	…	…	(12)

         
         

         I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

         KEY: … = nil.

         36 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

         
         

         The multisignificant word saṅkhára is used here in a sense specific to the
         Abhidhamma to mean prompting, instigation, inducement (payoga), or
         the application of an expedient (upáya). This prompting may be imposed
         by others, or it may originate from within oneself; the means employed
         may be bodily, verbal, or purely mental. The instigation is bodily when
         someone induces us by bodily means to give rise to particular types of
         consciousness which may issue in corresponding actions. It is verbal
         when the means employed is another’s command or power of persuasion.
         And it is mental when, either by reflection or the determination of the will,
         we make a deliberate endeavour, despite inner resistance, to generate
         certain types of consciousness. Prompting can be associated with either
         unwholesome or wholesome states of consciousness, as will be shown
         below. That consciousness which arises spontaneously, without prompt-
         ing or inducement by expedient means, is called unprompted. That
         consciousness which arises with prompting or inducement by expedient
         means is called prompted (sasaṅkhárika). In the greed-rooted class of
         consciousness, four types are unprompted or spontaneous, and four types
         are prompted or induced.

         
         

         §5 Consciousness Rooted in Hatred (dosamúlacittáni)—2

   9. Domanassasahagataṃ paṭighasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   10. Domanassasahagataṃ paṭighasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam
       ekan ti.

       Imáni dve pi paṭighasampayuttacittáni náma.

       1. One consciousness, accompanied by displeasure, associated
          with aversion, unprompted.

       2. One consciousness, accompanied by displeasure, associated
          with aversion, prompted.

          These two types of consciousness are associated with aversion.

          
          

          Guide to §5

          Consciousness rooted in hatred (dosamúlacittáni): The second class
          of unwholesome consciousness analyzed by the Abhidhamma is that
          rooted in hatred, the second of the three unwholesome roots. This
          consciousness is of two kinds, distinguished simply as unprompted and
          prompted. In contrast to consciousness rooted in greed, which can arise
          with alternative types of feeling—either joy or equanimity—conscious-
          ness rooted in hatred arises with only one kind of feeling, that of
          displeasure. Again, unlike consciousness rooted in greed, consciousness
          rooted in hatred does not arise in association with wrong view. Although

          1. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 37

             
             

             wrong view can motivate acts of hatred, according to the Abhidhamma
             the wrong view does not arise simultaneously with hate, in the same citta,
             but at an earlier time in a different type of citta.

             Accompanied by displeasure (domanassasahagata): The feeling
             that accompanies states of consciousness rooted in hatred is displeasure.
             The Pali word domanassa, derived from du = bad + manas = mind, signifies
             unpleasant mental feeling. This feeling accompanies only consciousness
             rooted in hatred, and such consciousness is necessarily accompanied by
             this feeling. Thus displeasure, or unpleasant mental feeling, is always
             unwholesome; in this respect it differs from unpleasant bodily feeling,
             which is kammically indeterminate, and from joy and equanimity, which
             may be wholesome, unwholesome, or indeterminate.

             Associated with aversion (paṭighasampayutta): Whereas conscious-
             ness rooted in greed is explicitly said to be accompanied by greed,
             consciousness rooted in hatred (dosa) is expounded under the synony-
             mous term aversion (paṭigha). Paṭigha includes all degrees of aversion,
             from violent rage to subtle irritation. The word means literally “striking
             against,” which indicates a mental attitude of resistance, rejection, or
             destruction.

             Though displeasure and aversion always accompany each other, their
             qualities should be distinguished. Displeasure (domanassa) is the expe-
             rience of unpleasant feeling, aversion (paṭigha) is the mental attitude of
             ill will or irritation. In terms of the five aggregates, displeasure is included
             in the aggregate of feeling (vedanákkhandha), while aversion is included
             in the aggregate of mental formations (saṅkhárakkhandha).

             
             

             §6 Consciousness Rooted in Delusion
             (mohamúlacittáni)—2

       3. Upekkhásahagataṃ vicikicchásampayuttam ekaṃ.

       4. Upekkhásahagataṃ uddhaccasampayuttam ekan ti.
          Imáni dve momúhacittáni náma.

       Icc’evaṃ sabbathá pi dvádasákusalacittáni samattáni.

   11. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
       with doubt.

   12. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
       with restlessness.

   These two types of consciousness involve sheer delusion.

   Thus end, in all, the twelve types of unwholesome consciousness.

   38

   
   

   Guide to §6

   I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   Consciousness rooted in delusion (mohamúlacittáni): This last class
   of unwholesome consciousness comprises those cittas in which the other
   two unwholesome roots—greed and hatred—are absent. Usually delusion
   leads to the arising of greed or hatred as well. But though delusion is
   always present as a root in cittas accompanied by greed and hate, its
   function there is subordinate. In these last two types of unwholesome
   consciousness, however, delusion alone is present as an unwholesome
   root, and thus they are classified as consciousness rooted in delusion.
   Because the function of delusion is especially evident in these two types
   of consciousness, they are also described as consciousness involving delusion (momúhacitta), the Pali word momúha being an
   intensification of moha, delusion. There are two types of consciousness
   in which delusion is especially prominent: one is associated with doubt,
   the other with restlessness.

   Accompanied by equanimity (upekkhásahagata): Even if a desirable
   object is present when a delusion-rooted consciousness arises, it is not
   experienced as desirable and thus pleasant mental feeling (somanassa)
   does not arise. Similarly, an undesirable object is not experienced as such
   and thus unpleasant mental feeling (domanassa) does not arise. Moreover,
   when the mind is obsessed by doubt or restlessneshs, it is not capable of
   forming a determinate positive or negative evaluation of the object, and
   thus cannot be associated with either pleasant or painful feeling. For these
   reasons the feeling that accompanies these two cittas is neutral, the feeling
   of equanimity (upekkhá).

   Associated with doubt (vicikicchásampayutta): The commentators
   give two etymological explanations of the word vicikicchá: (i) vexation
   due to perplexed thinking; and (ii) being devoid of the remedy consisting
   in knowledge.3 Both these explanations indicate that vicikicchá, doubt,
   means perplexity, skepticism or indecisiveness, due to the prevalence of
   delusion. The citta associated with this doubt is the first type of conscious-
   ness rooted in delusion.

   Associated with restlessness (uddhaccasampayutta): Restlessness is
   disquietude, mental distraction, or agitation, and the citta infected by this
   restlessness is the second type of consciousness rooted in delusion.
   According to the Abhidhamma, the mental factor of restlessness is found
   in all twelve unwholesome cittas (see II, §13), but in the other eleven cittas
   its force (satti) is relatively weak and its function is secondary. However,
   in this last type of citta, restlessness becomes the chief factor; thus this last
   type alone is described as consciousness associated with restlessness.

   It should be noted that no qualification in terms of prompted or
   unprompted is attached to the description of these two cittas rooted in

   I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 39

   
   

   delusion. The commentators offer different explanations for this omis-
   sion. The Vibhávinì-Ṭìká and the Mahá-Ṭìká to the Visuddhimaggamaintain that the distinction in terms of prompting is omitted because
   neither alternative is applicable. They state that since these two cittas lack
   natural acuteness, they cannot be described as unprompted; and since
   there is no occasion when one deliberately tries to arouse them, they
   cannot be described as prompted. Ledi Sayadaw, however, rejects this
   position, holding these cittas to be exclusively unprompted. He contends:
   “Since these two cittas occur in beings naturally, by their own intrinsic
   nature, they need not be aroused by any inducement or expedient means.
   They always occur without … trouble or difficulty. Therefore they are
   exclusively unprompted, and this should be seen as the reason the
   distinction by way of prompting is not mentioned here.”

   
   

   §7 Summary of Unwholesome Consciousness

   Aṭṭhadhá lobhamúláni
   Dosamúláni ca dvidhá
   Mohamúláni ca dve’ti
   Dvádas’ ákusalá siyuṃ.

   
   

   Eight are rooted in greed, two in hatred, and two in delusion.

   Thus there are twelve types of unwholesome consciousness.

   
   

   Guide to §7

   The eight types of consciousness rooted in greed may be illustrated
   by the following cases:

   1. With joy, holding the view that there is no evil in stealing, a boy
      spontaneously steals an apple from a fruit stall.

   2. With joy, holding the same view, he steals an apple through the
      prompting of a friend.

   3-4 The same as 1 and 2 except that the boy does not hold any wrong
   view.

   5-8 These four are parallel to 1-4 except that the stealing is done with
   neutral feeling.

   The two types rooted in hatred may be illustrated thus:

2. With hatred one man murders another in a spontaneous fit of rage.

3. With hatred one man murders another after premeditation.

   40 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   The two types rooted in delusion may be illustrated thus:

4. A person, due to delusion, doubts the enlightenment of the
   Buddha or the efficacy of the Dhamma as a way to deliverance.

5. A person is so distracted in mind that he cannot focus his mind
   on any object.

Rootless Consciousness—18
(ahetukacittáni)

§8 Unwholesome-Resultant Consciousness
(akusalavipákacittáni)—7

(1) Upekkhásahagataṃ cakkhuviññáṇaṃ; tathá (2) sotaviññáṇaṃ,

(3) ghánaviññáṇaṃ, (4) jivháviññáṇaṃ; (5) dukkhasahagataṃ

káyaviññáṇaṃ; (6) upekkhásahagataṃ sampaṭicchanacittaṃ; (7)
upekkhásahagataṃ santìraṇacittañ cá ti. Imáni satta pi akusala-
vipákacittáni náma.

(1) Eye-consciousness accompanied by equanimity; as are (2)
ear-consciousness, (3) nose-consciousness, (4) tongue-consciousness;

(5) body-consciousness accompanied by pain; (6) receiving
consciousness accompanied by equanimity; (7) investigating
consciousness accompanied by equanimity. These seven are the
unwholesome- resultant types of consciousness.

Guide to §8

Rootless consciousness (ahetukacittáni): The word ahetuka means
without roots, and qualifies those types of consciousness that are devoid
of the mental factors called hetu, roots. These types, eighteen in number,
do not contain any of the three unwholesome roots—greed, hatred, and
delusion—nor do they contain the three bright roots—non-greed, non-
hatred, and non-delusion—which may be either wholesome or indetermi-
nate. Since a root is a factor which helps to establish stability in a citta,
those cittas which lack roots are weaker than those which possess them.
The eighteen cittas in this class fall into three groups: unwholesome-
resultants, wholesome-resultants, and functional consciousness. (See
Table 1.3.)

Unwholesome-resultant consciousness (akusalavipákacittáni): The
first category of rootless consciousness comprises the seven types of
consciousness that result from unwholesome kamma. These types of
consciousness are not themselves unwholesome but kammically

I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 41

indeterminate (abyákata). The word “unwholesome” (akusala) here
means that they are resultants produced by unwholesome kamma; the
word qualifies, not these states of consciousness themselves, but the
kamma from which they are born.

Eye-consciousness (cakkhuviññáụa): The first five types of resultant
consciousness in both classes, the unwholesome-resultants and the
wholesome-resultants, are those that are based on the sensitive matter
(pasáda) of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. These ten cittas are
collectively designated the “two sets of fivefold sense consciousness”
(dvi-pañcaviññáṇa).

Eye-consciousness arises based upon eye-sensitivity (cakkhu-pasáda).
Its function is simply to see, to cognize directly and immediately, the
visible object. The other types of sense consciousness also arise based
upon their respective sensitivity, and their function is simply to cognize
their respective objects—to hear sounds, to smell smells, to taste tastes,
and to feel tangibles. In the case of unwholesome-resultants, the object
is unpleasant or undesirable (aniṭṭha). However, the impact of the object
on the first four sense faculties is weak and thus the associated feeling is
neutral, i.e., equanimity. But in the case of unwholesome-resultant body-
consciousness, the object’s impact on the body faculty is strong, and thus
the accompanying feeling is bodily pain (dukkha).

Receiving consciousness (sampaṭicchanacitta): When a sense object
impinges on a sense faculty at one of the five sense doors, e.g. a visible
form on the eye, first there arises a citta adverting to the object. Imme-
diately after this, eye-consciousness arises seeing that form. This act of
seeing lasts only for a single mind-moment. Immediately thereafter arises
a citta which apprehends or “receives” the object that had been seen by
eye-consciousness. This is the receiving consciousness, which results
from the same type of kamma that produced the eye-consciousness.

Investigating consciousness (santìraụacitta): This is another rootless
resultant consciousness, which arises immediately after the receiving
consciousness. Its function is to investigate or examine the object that had
just been cognized by the sense consciousness and apprehended by the
receiving consciousness. The receiving consciousness and the investi-
gating consciousness arise only in the five sense doors, and both are
results of past kamma.

§9 Wholesome-Resultant Rootless Consciousness
(kusalavipáka-ahetukacittáni)—8

(8) Upekkhásahagataṃ cakkhuviññáṇaṃ; tathá (9) sotaviññáṇaṃ,

1. ghánaviññáṇaṃ, (11) jivháviññáṇaṃ; (12) sukhasahagataṃ

   42 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   káyaviññáṇaṃ; (13) upekkhásahagataṃ sampaṭicchanacittaṃ; (14)
   somanassasahagataṃ santìraṇacittaṃ; (15) upekkhásahagataṃ
   santìraṇacittañ cá ti. Imáni aṭṭha pi kusalavipákáhetukacittáni náma.

   (8) Eye-consciousness accompanied by equanimity; as are (9)
   ear-consciousness, (10) nose-consciousness, (11) tongue-
   consciousness; (12) body-consciousness accompanied by pleasure;

   (13) receiving consciousness accompanied by equanimity; (14)
   investigating consciousness accompanied by joy; (15) investigating
   consciousness accompanied by equanimity. These eight are the
   wholesome-resultant types of rootless consciousness.

   
   

   Guide to § 9

   Wholesome-resultant rootless consciousness (kusalavipáka-: The eight types of consciousness in this category are
   results of wholesome kamma. In the designation of the previous class, the
   word ahetuka was not included because all unwholesome-resultants are
   rootless; there are no unwholesome-resultants that are accompanied by
   roots. However, as will be seen later, wholesome-resultants can be
   accompanied by roots, namely, by beautiful roots that are kammically
   indeterminate (abyákata). To distinguish the wholesome-resultants that
   are rootless from those with roots, the word ahetuka is included in their
   class designation.

   Seven of these types of consciousness correspond to the unwholesome-
   resultants. But whereas the unwholesome-resultants arise in regard to an
   undesirable object, the wholesome-resultants arise in regard to an object
   that is desirable (iṭṭha) or extremely desirable (ati-iṭṭha). The first four
   sense consciousnesses here, like their counterparts, are associated with
   equanimity, that is, neutral feeling; but the impact of the object on the
   body being strong, the feeling associated with wholesome-resultant
   body-consciousness is that of bodily pleasure (sukha).

   The rootless wholesome-resultants include one type of consciousness
   without a counterpart among the unwholesome-resultants. This is the
   investigating consciousness accompanied by joy (somanassa). Whereas
   the investigating consciousness resulting from unwholesome kamma is
   always accompanied by neutral feeling, that resulting from wholesome
   kamma is twofold: one accompanied by neutral feeling, arisen in regard
   to a moderately desirable object, and one accompanied by joy, which
   arises when the object is especially desirable. Thus there are eight types
   of consciousness in this class, in contrast to the seven types found in the
   former class.

   I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 43

   TABLE 1.3: THE ROOTLESS CITTAS

   
   

   	Kind	Feeling	Citta	No.
   1	Unwholesome- resultant	Equanimity	Eye-consciousness	(13)
   2	"	"	Ear-consciousness	(14)
   3	"	"	Nose-consciousness	(15)
   4	"	"	Tongue-consciousness	(16)
   5	"	Pain	Body-consciousness	(17)
   6	"	Equanimity	Receiving	(18)
   7	"	"	Investigating	(19)
   8	Wholesome- resultant	Equanimity	Eye-consciousness	(20)
   9	"	"	Ear-consciousness	(21)
   10	"	"	Nose-consciousness	(22)
   11	"	"	Tongue-consciousness	(23)
   12	"	Pleasure	Body-consciousness	(24)
   13	"	Equanimity	Receiving	(25)
   14	"	Joy	Investigating	(26)
   15	"	Equanimity	Investigating	(27)
   16	Functional	Equanimity	Five-door adverting	(28)
   17	"	"	Mind-door adverting	(29)
   18	"	Joy	Smile-producing	(30)

   44 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   §10 Rootless Functional Consciousness
   (ahetukakiriya-cittáni)—3

   (16) Upekkhásahagataṃ pañcadvárávajjanacittaṃ; tathá (17)
   manodvárávajjanacittaṃ; (18) somanassasahagataṃ hasituppáda-
   cittañ cá ti. Imáni tìṇi pi ahetukakiriyacittáni náma.

   Icc’evaṃ sabbathá pi aṭṭháras’ áhetukacittáni samattáni.

   (16) Five-sense-door adverting consciousness accompanied by
   equanimity; as is (17) mind-door adverting consciousness; (18)
   smile-producing consciousness accompanied by joy. These three are
   the rootless functional types of consciousness.

   Thus end, in all, the eighteen types of rootless consciousness.

   
   

   Guide to §10

   Rootless functional consciousness (ahetukakiriyacittáni): The re-
   maining three types of consciousness among the ahetukas are not kammic
   results. They belong to the category called kiriya, rendered here as
   “functional” to indicate that they perform tasks which do not have any
   kammic potency. Such types of consciousness are neither causal kamma
   nor the result of kamma. Within this category, three types of conscious-
   ness are rootless, the rest (described later) are with roots.

   Five-sense-door adverting consciousness (pañcadvárávajjanacitta):
   When an external sense object impinges on one of the five physical sense
   organs, before the appropriate sense consciousness can arise—e.g. eye-
   consciousness seeing a form—another consciousness must have arisen
   first. This consciousness is the five-sense-door adverting consciousness,
   which has the function of adverting (ávajjana) to whatever object is
   presenting itself at one of the five sense doors (dvára). This consciousness
   does not see, hear, smell, taste, or touch the object. It simply turns to the
   object, thereby enabling the sense consciousness to arise in immediate
   succession.

   Mind-door adverting consciousness (manodvárávajjanacitta): This
   type of consciousness can arise either in a cognitive process occurring at
   the five sense doors or in a process occurring at the mind door. In each case
   it performs a different function. When it occurs in a five-door process it
   is called the votthapanacitta, determining consciousness. Its function
   then is to determine, or define, the object that has been cognized by sense
   consciousness. In the five-door process, determining consciousness
   succeeds the investigating consciousness. After the investigating con-
   sciousness has examined the object, the determining consciousness
   discriminates it.

   I. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 45

   
   

   In a mind-door process—a cognitive process that occurs through the
   internal ideation faculty—this same type of consciousness performs
   another function. Its function then is to advert to the object appearing at
   the mind door. In such a role this citta is known as the mind-door adverting
   consciousness.

   Smile-producing consciousness (hasituppádacitta): This is a citta
   peculiar to Arahants, including Buddhas and Paccekabuddhas who are
   also types of Arahants. Its function is to cause Arahants to smile about sense-
   sphere phenomena. According to the Abhidhamma, Arahants may smile with
   one of five cittas—the four beautiful sense-sphere functional cittas (I, §15)
   and the rootless smile-producing consciousness mentioned here.

   
   

   §11 Summary of Rootless Consciousness

   Satt’ ákusalapákáni puññapákáni aṭṭhadhá
   Kriyácittáni tìṇì ti aṭṭhárasa ahetuká.

   Seven are unwholesome-resultants. Wholesome-resultants are
   eightfold. Three are functionals. Thus the rootless are eighteen.

   
   

   §12 Beautiful Consciousness
   (sobhanacittáni)

   Pápáhetukamuttáni sobhanánì ti vuccare
   Ekúnasaṭṭhi cittáni ath’ekanavutì pi vá.

   Excluding those that are evil and the rootless, the rest are called
   “beautiful.” They number either fifty-nine or ninety-one.

   
   

   Guide to §12

   Beautiful consciousness (sobhanacittáni): Beautiful consciousness
   includes all cittas “excluding those that are evil,” that is, the twelve types
   of unwholesome consciousness, and “the rootless,” the eighteen types
   that are utterly devoid of roots. This type of consciousness is called
   beautiful because it is accompanied by beautiful mental factors (cetasikas

   —see II, §§ 5-8).

   It should be understood that the beautiful (sobhana) has a wider range
   than the wholesome (kusala). The beautiful includes all wholesome
   cittas, but it also includes resultant and functional cittas that possess
   beautiful mental factors. These latter cittas are not wholesome but
   kammically indeterminate (abyákata). The beautiful comprises the twenty-
   four sense-sphere cittas (to be defined just below) as well as all fine-
   material-sphere cittas, immaterial-sphere cittas, and supramundane cittas.

   46 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

   
   

   Those cittas other than the beautiful are called asobhana, non-beautiful.
   Either fifty-nine or ninety-one: The fifty-nine beautiful cittas are
   obtained thus: 24 sense-sphere + 15 fine-material-sphere + 12 immaterial-
   sphere + 8 supramundane. A total of ninety-one is obtained by dividing
   the supramundane cittas into forty types rather than eight, as will be

   explained below (I, §§30-31).

   
   

   Sense-Sphere Beautiful Consciousness—24
   (kámávacara-sobhanacittáni)

   
   

   §13 Sense-Sphere Wholesome Consciousness
   (kámávacara-kusalacittáni)—8

   1. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   2. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   3. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   4. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   5. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   6. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   7. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   8. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekan ti.
      Imáni aṭṭha pi sahetuka-kámávacara-kusalacittáni náma.

      1. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, associated with
         knowledge, unprompted.

      2. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, associated with
         knowledge, prompted.

      3. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, dissociated from
         knowledge, unprompted.

      4. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, dissociated from
         knowledge, prompted.

      5. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
         with knowledge, unprompted.

      6. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
         with knowledge, prompted.

      7. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, dissociated
         from knowledge, unprompted.

      8. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, dissociated
         from knowledge, prompted.

         1. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 47

            
            

            These are the eight types of sense-sphere wholesome consciousness
            with roots.

            
            

            Guide to §13

            Sense-sphere wholesome consciousness (kámávacara-kusalacittáni):
            This class of consciousness is divided into eight types on the basis of three
            principles of dichotomization. One is the concomitant feeling, which in
            four cases is joy (somanassa), i.e., pleasant mental feeling, and in four
            cases equanimity (upekkhá), i.e., neutral mental feeling; a second is the
            presence or absence of knowledge; and a third is the dyad of unprompted
            and prompted. (See Table 1.4.)

            Associated with knowledge (ñáụasampayutta): Knowledge compre-
            hends things as they are (yathásabhávaṃ). In the consciousness associ-
            ated with knowledge, the word ñáṇa refers to the mental factor of wisdom
            (paññá-cetasika), which also represents the root non-delusion (amoha).
            Consciousness dissociated from knowledge (ñáṇavippayutta) lacks this
            factor of wisdom, but it does not involve ignorance (avijjá) or delusion
            (moha), which pertains only to unwholesome consciousness.

            Unprompted: According to the commentary, one does a good deed
            without prompting due to physical and mental fitness, good food and
            climate, etc., and as a result of having performed similar deeds in the past.

            
            

            TABLE 1.4: THE SENSE-SPHERE BEAUTIFUL CITTAS

            
            

            	Feeling	Knowledge	Prompted	Wh.	Rst.	Fnc.
            1	Joy	Assoc. with	No	(31)	(39)	(47)
            2	"	"	Yes	(32)	(40)	(48)
            3	"	Dissoc. from	No	(33)	(41)	(49)
            4	"	"	Yes	(34)	(42)	(50)
            5	Equanimity	Assoc. with	No	(35)	(43)	(51)
            6	"	"	Yes	(36)	(44)	(52)
            7	"	Dissoc. from	No	(37)	(45)	(53)
            8	"	"	Yes	(38)	(46)	(54)

            48 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

            
            

            Prompting occurs through inducement by another or by personal delib-
            eration, as explained above (p.36).

            With roots (sahetuka): The four wholesome cittas associated with
            knowledge possess all three wholesome roots; the four dissociated from
            knowledge possess non-greed or generosity and non-hate or loving
            kindness, but lack non-delusion.

            The eight types of wholesome sense-sphere consciousness may be
            illustrated by the following examples:

            1. Someone joyfully performs a generous deed, understanding that
               this is a wholesome deed, spontaneously without prompting.

            2. Someone performs the same good deed, with understanding,
               after deliberation or prompting by another.

            3. Someone joyfully performs a generous deed, without prompt-
               ing, but without understanding that this is a wholesome deed.

            4. Someone joyfully performs a generous deed, without under-
               standing, after deliberation or prompting by another.

            5-8 These types of consciousness should be understood in the same
            way as the preceding four, but with neutral feeling instead of
            joyful feeling.

            These eight types of consciousness are called wholesome (kusala) or
            meritorious (puñña) because they inhibit the defilements and produce
            good results. They arise in worldlings (puthujjana) and trainees (sekkha)—
            noble disciples at the three lower stages of stream-enterer, once-returner,
            and non-returner—whenever they perform wholesome bodily deeds and
            verbal deeds and whenever they generate wholesome states of mind
            pertaining to the sense sphere. These cittas do not arise in Arahants, whose
            actions are without kammic potency.

            
            

            §14 Sense-Sphere Resultant Consciousness
            (kámávacara-vipákacittáni)—8

      9. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

      10. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

      11. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

      12. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

      13. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

      14. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

      15. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

      16. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekan ti.
          Imáni aṭṭha pi sahetuka-kámávacara-vipákacittáni náma.

          1. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 49

             
             

   9. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, associated with
      knowledge, unprompted.

   10. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, associated with
       knowledge, prompted.

   11. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, dissociated from
       knowledge, unprompted.

   12. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, dissociated from
       knowledge, prompted.

   13. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
       with knowledge, unprompted.

   14. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
       with knowledge, prompted.

   15. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, dissociated
       from knowledge, unprompted.

   16. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, dissociated
       from knowledge, prompted.

       These are the eight types of sense-sphere resultant consciousness
       with roots.

       
       

       Guide to §14

       Sense-sphere resultant consciousness with roots (sahetuka-: As there are eight wholesome types of
       consciousness, there are also eight corresponding types of resultant
       consciousness. These eight cittas are kammic effects of the sense-sphere
       wholesome cittas. In order to differentiate them from the rootless resultants
       due to wholesome kamma, these are described as sahetuka, “with roots.”
       Both the rootless wholesome-resultants and the rooted resultants are
       produced by the same eight wholesome cittas, but the two sets differ in
       their qualities and functions. These differences will become clearer when
       we discuss the functions of consciousness (III, §§8-11).

       
       

       §15 Sense-Sphere Functional Consciousness
       (kámávacara-kriyácittáni)—8

   17. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   18. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   19. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   20. Somanassasahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   21. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   22. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇasampayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

       50 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

       
       

   23. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ asaṅkhárikam ekaṃ.

   24. Upekkhásahagataṃ ñáṇavippayuttaṃ sasaṅkhárikam ekan ti.
       Imáni aṭṭha pi sahetuka-kámávacara-kriyácittáni náma.
       Icc’evaṃ sabbathá pi catuvìsati sahetuka-kámávacara-kusala-

   vipáka-kriyácittáni samattáni.

   1. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, associated with
      knowledge, unprompted.

   2. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, associated with
      knowledge, prompted.

   3. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, dissociated from
      knowledge, unprompted.

   4. One consciousness, accompanied by joy, dissociated from
      knowledge, prompted.

   5. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
      with knowledge, unprompted.

   6. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, associated
      with knowledge, prompted.

   7. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, dissociated
      from knowledge, unprompted.

   8. One consciousness, accompanied by equanimity, dissociated
      from knowledge, prompted.

      These are the eight types of sense-sphere functional consciousness
      with roots.

      Thus end, in all, the twenty-four types of sense-sphere
      consciousness with roots—wholesome, resultant, and functional.

      
      

      Guide to §15

      Sense-sphere functional consciousness with roots (sahetuka-): Whereas the eight wholesome sense-sphere
      cittas arise in worldlings and trainees, they do not arise in Buddhas and
      Arahants, who have transcended the cycle of kamma and future becoming
      in the realms of rebirth. However, in Buddhas and Arahants there arise
      eight types of consciousness which are their exact counterparts. These are
      called kriyá (kiriya) or functional cittas because they merely perform their
      functions without leaving any kammic deposit. Because a Buddha or an
      Arahant has eradicated all traces of ignorance and craving, the causes of
      rebirth, there is no way his good actions could generate future results.
      They merely arise, accomplish some function, and then fall away without
      residue.

      1. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 51

         
         

         §16 Summary of Sense-Sphere Beautiful Consciousness

         Vedaná-ñáṇa-saṅkhárabhedena catuvìsati
         Sahetu-kámávacarapuññapákakriyá matá.

         The sense-sphere consciousness with roots—understood as
         wholesome, resultant, and functional—becomes twenty-four by
         classification according to feeling, knowledge, and prompting.

         
         

         Guide to §16

         Sense-sphere consciousness with roots becomes threefold as wholesome,
         resultant, and functional, and each of these divides into eight through
         permutation by way of feeling—either joyful or neutral; by way of
         presence or absence of knowledge; and by way of spontaneity or prompt-
         ing. Thus there are twenty-four types of consciousness altogether—the
         twelve connected with knowledge having three roots, the other twelve
         having two roots. These three groups are often referred to as the
         mahákusalas, mahávipákas, and mahákiriyas—the great wholesome
         cittas, the great resultants, and the great functionals—though the teachers
         give different explanations of the prefix mahá, meaning “great.”

         
         

         §17 Summary of Sense-Sphere Consciousness

         Káme tevìsapákáni puññápuññáni vìsati
         Ekádasa kriyá cá ti catupaññása sabbathá.

         In the sense-sphere twenty-three are resultant, twenty are
         wholesome and unwholesome, and eleven are functional. Thus there
         are altogether fifty-four.

         
         

         Guide to §17

         All types of consciousness experienced in the sense-sphere total fifty-
         four. These are classified as follows:

         By way of kind:

         8 great wholesome

         12 unwholesome

         23 resultants:

         7 unwholesome-resultants

         8 rootless wholesome-resultants

         8 great wholesome-resultants

         52

         
         

         11 functionals:

         1. CITTASAṄGAHA

            3 rootless functionals

            8 great functionals

            By way of feeling:

            18 with joy

            32 with equanimity

            2 with displeasure

            1 with pleasure

            1 with pain

            By way of association with knowledge and views:

            16 associated

            16 dissociated

            22 neither

            By way of prompting:

            17 unprompted

            17 prompted

            20 neither (= rootless and deluded).

            
            

            The traditional monastic way of teaching Abhidhamma urges students
            not only to reflect on these lists but to know them well by heart. They are
            very important when one studies the mental factors comprised in these
            types of cittas, as expounded in the next chapter and in the Abhidhamma
            Piṭaka.

            
            

            FINE-MATERIAL-SPHERE CONSCIOUSNESS—15

            (rúpávacaracittáni)

            
            

            §18 Fine-material-Sphere Wholesome Consciousness
            (rúpávacara-kusalacittáni)—5

            1. Vitakka-vicára-pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ paṭhamajjhána-
               kusalacittaṃ.

            2. Vicára-pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ dutiyajjhána-kusalacittaṃ.

            3. Pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ tatiyajjhána-kusalacittaṃ.

            4. Sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ catutthajjhána-kusalacittaṃ.

            5. Upekkh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ pañcamajjhána-kusalacittañ cá ti.
               Imáni pañca pi rúpávacara-kusalacittáni náma.

               1. First jhána wholesome consciousness together with initial
                  application, sustained application, zest, happiness, and one-pointedness.

                  1. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 53

                     
                     

               2. Second jhána wholesome consciousness together with sustained
                  application, zest, happiness, and one-pointedness.

               3. Third jhána wholesome consciousness together with zest,
                  happiness, and one-pointedness.

               4. Fourth jhána wholesome consciousness together with happiness
                  and one-pointedness.

               5. Fifth jhána wholesome consciousness together with equanimity
                  and one-pointedness.

               These are the five types of fine-material-sphere wholesome
               consciousness.

               
               

               §19 Fine-material-Sphere Resultant Consciousness
               (rúpávacara-vipákacittáni)—5

               1. Vitakka-vicára-pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ paṭhamajjhána-
                  vipákacittaṃ.

               2. Vicára-pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ dutiyajjhána-vipákacittaṃ.

               3. Pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ tatiyajjhána-vipákacittaṃ.

               4. Sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ catutthajjhána-vipákacittaṃ.

               5. Upekkh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ pañcamajjhána-vipákacittañ cá ti.
                  Imáni pañca pi rúpávacara-vipákacittáni náma.

               1. First jhána resultant consciousness together with initial
                  application, sustained application, zest, happiness, and one-
                  pointedness.

               2. Second jhána resultant consciousness together with sustained
                  application, zest, happiness, and one-pointedness.

               3. Third jhána resultant consciousness together with zest,
                  happiness, and one-pointedness.

               4. Fourth jhána resultant consciousness together with happiness
                  and one-pointedness.

               5. Fifth jhána resultant consciousness together with equanimity
                  and one-pointedness.

               These are the five types of fine-material-sphere resultant
               consciousness.

               
               

               §20 Fine-material-Sphere Functional Consciousness
               (rúpávacara-kriyácittáni)—5

               1. Vitakka-vicára-pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ paṭhamajjhána-
                  kriyácittaṃ.

                  54 I. CITTASAṄGAHA

                  
                  

               2. Vicára-pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ dutiyajjhána-kriyácittaṃ.

               3. Pìti-sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ tatiyajjhána-kriyácittaṃ.

               4. Sukh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ catutthajjhána-kriyácittaṃ.

               5. Upekkh’-ekaggatá-sahitaṃ pañcamajjhána-kriyácittañ cá ti.
                  Imáni pañca pi rúpávacara-kriyácittáni náma.

               Icc’evaṃ sabbathá pi paṇṇarasa rúpávacara-kusala-vipáka-
               kriyácittáni samattáni.

               1. First jhána functional consciousness together with initial
                  application, sustained application, zest, happiness, and one-
                  pointedness.

               2. Second jhána functional consciousness together with sustained
                  application, zest, happiness, and one-pointedness.

               3. Third jhána functional consciousness together with zest,
                  happiness, and one-pointedness.

               4. Fourth jhána functional consciousness together with happiness
                  and one-pointedness.

               5. Fifth jhána functional consciousness together with equanimity
                  and one-pointedness.

                  These are the five types of fine-material-sphere functional
                  consciousness.

                  Thus end, in all, the fifteen types of fine-material-sphere
                  wholesome, resultant, and functional consciousness.

                  
                  

                  Guide to §§18-20

                  Fine-material-sphere consciousness (rúpávacaracittáni): This sphere
                  of consciousness includes all the cittas which “move about in” or pertain
                  to the fine-material plane of existence (rúpabhúmi), the realms in which
                  gross matter is absent and only a subtle residue of matter remains. Rebirth
                  into these realms is achieved by the attainment of the meditative states
                  called jhánas,4 high attainments in the development of concentration
                  (samádhi). The states of consciousness which “frequent” this plane, in
                  that they are qualitatively connected to it, are called “fine-material-
                  sphere consciousness.”

                  Fifteen cittas fall into this category—five wholesome, five resultant,
                  and five functional (Table 1.5). The wholesome fine-material-sphere
                  cittas are experienced by worldlings and trainees (sekkha) who develop
                  the jhánas within this life itself. Their corresponding results (vipáka) arise
                  only in the fine-material world, in the beings who have been reborn there
                  as a consequence of developing the jhánas. The five functional (kriyá)
                  jhána cittas are experienced only by Arahants who attain the jhánas.

                  1. COMPENDIUM OF CONSCIOUSNESS 55

                     
                     

                     76 II. CETASIKASAṄGAHA

                     CHAPTER II

                     COMPENDIUM OF MENTAL FACTORS

                     (Cetasikasaògahavibhága)

                     §1 Introductory

                     Ekuppáda-nirodhá ca ekálambana-vatthuká
                     Cetoyuttá dvipaññása dhammá cetasiká matá.

                     The fifty-two states associated with consciousness that arise and
                     cease together (with consciousness), that have the same object and
                     base (as consciousness), are known as mental factors.

                     
                     

                     Guide to § 1

                     States associated with consciousness (cetoyuttá dhammá): The sec-
                     ond chapter of the Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha is devoted to the classifi-
                     cation of the second type of ultimate reality, the cetasikas or mental
                     factors. The cetasikas are mental phenomena that occur in immediate
                     conjunction with citta or consciousness, and assist citta by performing
                     more specific tasks in the total act of cognition. The mental factors cannot
                     arise without citta, nor can citta arise completely segregated from the
                     mental factors. But though the two are functionally interdependent, citta
                     is regarded as primary because the mental factors assist in the cognition
                     of the object depending upon citta, which is the principal cognitive
                     element. The relationship between citta and the cetasikas is compared to
                     that between a king and his retinue. Although one says “the king is
                     coming,” the king does not come alone, but he always comes accompa-
                     nied by his attendants. Similarly, whenever a citta arises, it never arises
                     alone but always accompanied by its retinue of cetasikas.1

                     In the Compendium of Mental Factors, Ácariya Anuruddha will first
                     enumerate all the mental factors in their appropriate classes (§§2-9).
                     Thereafter he will investigate the mental factors from two complementary
                     points of view. The first of these is called the method of association
                     (sampayoganaya). This method takes the mental factors as the basis of
                     inquiry and seeks to determine which types of citta each mental factor is
                     associated with (§§10-17). The second point of view is called the method

                  2. COMPENDIUM OF MENTAL FACTORS 77

               of combination or inclusion (saṅgahanaya). This method takes the citta
               as primary and seeks to determine, for each type of citta, which mental
               factors are combined within it (§§18-29).

               That arise and cease together (with consciousness): The first verse
               defines the mental factors by way of four characteristics that are common
               to them all:

               1. arising together with consciousness (ekuppáda);

               2. ceasing together with consciousness (ekanirodha);

               3. having the same object as consciousness (ekálambana);

               4. having the same base as consciousness (ekavatthuka).

               These four characteristics delineate the relationship between the citta
               and its concomitant cetasikas. If only “arising together” were mentioned,
               the definition would include (wrongly) as cetasikas those material
               phenomena that arise simultaneously with the citta, that is, material
               phenomena produced by mind and by kamma. However, these material
               phenomena do not all perish at the same time as the co-arisen citta, but
               mostly endure for seventeen mind-moments. Thus to exclude them the
               characteristic “ceasing together” is introduced.

               Again, there are two material phenomena—bodily intimation and
               vocal intimatioṇ—which arise and cease together with consciousness.
               However, these material phenomena do not take an object, and this
               distinguishes mental phenomena—both citta and cetasikas—from mate-
               rial phenomena: all mental phenomena experience an object, co-arisen
               citta and cetasikas experience the same object, while material phenomena
               do not experience any object at all. Thus the third characteristic is stated,
               that of having the same object.

               Finally, in those realms in which the aggregate of material form is
               found, i.e., in the sensuous world and the fine-material world, the citta and
               its cetasikas have the same physical base, that is, they arise with the
               common support of either one of the material sense organs or the heart-
               base.3 This is the fourth characteristic of cetasikas.

               
               

               THE FIFTY-TWO MENTAL FACTORS

               The Ethically Variable Factors—13
               (aññasamánacetasika)

               §2 The Universals (sabbacittasádháraṇa)—7

               Kathaṃ? I. (1) Phasso, (2) vedaná, (3) saññá, (4) cetaná,

               (5) ekaggatá, (6) jìvitindriyaṃ, (7) manasikáro cá ti satt’ ime
               cetasiká sabbacittasádháraṇá náma.

               78 II. CETASIKASAṄGAHA

               
               

               How? I. (1) Contact, (2) feeling, (3) perception, (4) volition,

               (5) one-pointedness, (6) mental life faculty, and (7) attention: these
               seven mental factors are termed universals, i.e., common to every
               consciousness.

               
               

               Guide to § 2

               The fifty-two mental factors: The Abhidhamma philosophy recog-
               nizes fifty-two cetasikas, which are classified into four broad categories,
               as may be seen in Table 2.1:

               1. seven universals;

               2. six occasionals;

               3. fourteen unwholesome factors; and

               4. twenty-five beautiful factors.

               The ethically variable factors (aññásamánacetasika): The first two
               categories of mental factors—the seven universals and the six
               occasionals—are united under the designation aññasamána, freely ren-
               dered here as “ethically variable.” The expression literally means “com-
               mon to the other.” The non-beautiful cittas are called “other” (añña) in
               relation to the beautiful cittas, and the beautiful cittas are called “other”
               in relation to the non-beautiful cittas. The thirteen cetasikas of the first
               two categories are common (samána) to both beautiful and non-beautiful
               cittas, and assume the ethical quality imparted to the citta by the other
               cetasikas, particularly the associated roots (hetu). In wholesome cittas
               they become wholesome, in unwholesome cittas they become unwhole-
               some, and in kammically indeterminate cittas they become kammically
               indeterminate. For this reason they are called “common to the other,” that
               is, ethically variable.

               The universals (sabbacittasádháraụa): The seven universals are the
               cetasikas common (sádháraṇa) to all consciousness (sabbacitta). These
               factors perform the most rudimentary and essential cognitive functions,
               without which consciousness of an object would be utterly impossible.

               1. Contact (phassa): The word phassa is derived from the verb
                  phusati, meaning “to touch,” but contact should not be understood as the
                  mere physical impact of the object on the bodily faculty. It is, rather, the
                  mental factor by which consciousness mentally “touches” the object that
                  has appeared, thereby initiating the entire cognitive event. In terms of the
                  fourfold defining device used in the Pali Commentaries,4 contact has the
                  characteristic of touching. Its function is impingement, as it causes
                  consciousness and the object to impinge. Its manifestation is the concur-
                  rence of consciousness, sense faculty, and object. Its proximate cause is
                  an objective field that has come into focus.5

                  II. COMPENDIUM OF MENTAL FACTORS 79

                  TABLE 2.1:

                  THE 52 MENTAL FACTORS AT A GLANCE

                  
                  

                  Ethically Variable Factors—13

                  Universals—7

                  1. Contact

                  2. Feeling

                  3. Perception

                  4. Volition

                  5. One-pointedness

                  6. Life faculty

                  7. Attention

                     Occasionals—6

                  8. Initial application

                  9. Sustained application

                  10. Decision

                  11. Energy

                  12. Zest

                  13. Desire

                      Unwholesome Factors—14

                      Unwholesome Universals—4

                  14. Delusion

                  15. Shamelessness

                  16. Fearlessness of wrong

                  17. Restlessness

                      Unwholesome Occasionals—10

                  18. Greed

                  19. Wrong view

                  20. Conceit

                  21. Hatred

                  22. Envy

                  23. Avarice

                  24. Worry

                  25. Sloth

                  26. Torpor

                  27. Doubt

                      
                      

                      Beautiful Factors—25

                      Beautiful Universals—19

                  28. Faith

                  29. Mindfulness

                  30. Shame

                  31. Fear of wrong

                  32. Non-greed

                  33. Non-hatred

                  34. Neutrality of mind

                  35. Tranquillity of mental body

                  36. Tranquillity of consciousness

                  37. Lightness of mental body

                  38. Lightness of consciousness

                  39. Malleability of mental body

                  40. Malleability of consciousness

                  41. Wieldiness of mental body

                  42. Wieldiness of consciousness

                  43. Proficiency of mental body

                  44. Proficiency of consciousness

                  45. Rectitude of mental body

                  46. Rectitude of consciousness

                      Abstinences—3

                  47. Right speech

                  48. Right action

                  49. Right livelihood

                      Illimitables—2

                  50. Compassion

                  51. Appreciative joy

                      Non-Delusion—1

                  52. Wisdom faculty

                  80 II. CETASIKASAṄGAHA

               2. Feeling (vedaná): Feeling is the mental factor that feels the object:
                  it is the affective mode in which the object is experienced. The Pali word
                  vedaná does not signify emotion (which appears to be a complex
                  phenomenon involving a variety of concomitant mental factors), but the
                  bare affective quality of an experience, which may be either pleasant,
                  painful or neutral. Feeling is said to have the characteristic of being felt
                  (vedayita). Its function is experiencing, or its function is to enjoy the
                  desirable aspect of the object. Its manifestation is the relishing of the
                  associated mental factors. Its proximate cause is tranquillity.6 Whereas
                  the other mental factors experience the object only derivatively, feeling
                  experiences it directly and fully. In this respect, the other factors are
                  compared to a cook who prepares a dish for a king and only samples the
                  food while preparing it, while feeling is compared to the king who enjoys
                  the meal as much as he likes.

               3. Perception (saññá): The characteristic of perception is the perceiv-
                  ing of the qualities of the object. Its function is to make a sign as a
                  condition for perceiving again that “this is the same,” or its function is
                  recognizing what has been previously perceived. It becomes manifest as
                  the interpreting of the object (abhinivesa) by way of the features that had
                  been apprehended. Its proximate cause is the object as it appears. Its
                  procedure is compared to a carpenter’s recognition of certain kinds of
                  wood by the mark he has made on each.

               4. Volition (cetaná): Cetaná, from the same root as citta, is the mental
                  factor that is concerned with the actualization of a goal, that is, the
                  conative or volitional aspect of cognition. Thus it is rendered volition.
                  The Commentaries explain that cetaná organizes its associated mental
                  factors in acting upon the object. Its characteristic is the state of willing,
                  its function is to accumulate (kamma), and its manifestation is coordina-
                  tion. Its proximate cause is the associated states. Just as a chief pupil
                  recites his own lesson and also makes the other pupils recite their lessons,
                  so when volition starts to work on its object, it sets the associated states
                  to do their own tasks as well. Volition is the most significant mental factor
                  in generating kamma, since it is volition that determines the ethical
                  quality of the action.

               5. One-pointedness (ekaggatá): This is the unification of the mind on
                  its object. Although this factor comes to prominence in the jhánas, where
                  it functions as a jhána factor, the Abhidhamma teaches that the germ of
                  that capacity for mental unification is present in all types of conscious-
                  ness, even the most rudimentary. It there functions as the factor which
                  fixes the mind on its object. One-pointedness has non-wandering or non-
                  distraction as its characteristic. Its function is to conglomerate or unite the
                  associated states. It is manifested as peace, and its proximate cause is
                  happiness.7

                  II. COMPENDIUM OF MENTAL FACTORS 81

               6. Mental life faculty (jìvitindriya): There are two kinds of life faculty,
                  the mental, which vitalizes the associated mental states, and the physical,
                  which vitalizes material phenomena. The mental life faculty alone is
                  intended as a cetasika. It has the characteristic of maintaining the
                  associated mental states, the function of making them occur, manifesta-
                  tion as the establishing of their presence, and its proximate cause is the
                  mental states to be maintained.

               7. Attention (manasikára): The Pali word literally means “making in
                  the mind.” Attention is the mental factor responsible for the mind’s
                  advertence to the object, by virtue of which the object is made present to
                  consciousness. Its characteristic is the conducting (sáraṇa) of the asso-
                  ciated mental states towards the object. Its function is to yoke the
                  associated states to the object. It is manifested as confrontation with an
                  object, and its proximate cause is the object. Attention is like the rudder
                  of a ship, which directs it to its destination, or like a charioteer who sends
                  the well-trained horses (i.e., the associated states) towards their destina-
                  tion (the object). Manasikára should be distinguished from vitakka:
                  while the former turns its concomitants towards the object, the latter
                  applies them onto the object. Manasikára is an indispensable cognitive
                  factor present in all states of consciousness; vitakka is a specialized factor
                  which is not indispensable to cognition.

               
               

               §3 The Occasionals (pakiṇṇaka)—6

         2. (1) Vitakko, (2) vicáro, (3) adhimokkho, (4) viriyaṃ, (5) pìti,

            (6) chando cá ti cha ime cetasiká pakiṇṇaká náma.
            Evam ete terasa cetasiká aññasamáná ti veditabbá.

            1. (1) Initial application, (2) sustained application, (3) decision,

               (4) energy, (5) zest, and (6) desire: these six mental factors are
               termed occasionals.

               Thus these thirteen mental factors should be understood as
               ethically variable.

               
               

               Guide to § 3

               The occasionals (pakiụụaka): The six cetasikas in this group are
               similar to the universals in being ethically variable factors, which take on
               the moral quality of the citta as determined by other concomitants. They
               differ from the universals in that they are found only in particular types
               of consciousness, not in all.

               1. Initial application (vitakka): Vitakka was already introduced in
                  the discussion of the jhánas, where it appears as the first of the five jhána

                  82 II. CETASIKASAṄGAHA

                  factors.8 Vitakka is the application of the mind to the object. Its charac-
                  teristic is the directing of the mind onto the object.9 Its function is to strike
                  at and thresh the object. It is manifested as the leading of the mind onto
                  an object. Though no proximate cause is mentioned in the Commentaries,
                  the object may be understood as its proximate cause.

                  Ordinary vitakka simply applies the mind to the object. But when
                  vitakka is cultivated through concentration it becomes a factor of jhána.
                  It is then termed appaná, the absorption of the mind in the object. Vitakkais also called saṅkappa, intention, and as such is distinguished as
                  micchásaṅkappa or wrong intention and sammásaṅkappa or right inten-
                  tion. The latter is the second factor of the Noble Eightfold Path.

               2. Sustained application (vicára): Vicára, also a jhána factor, has the
                  characteristic of continued pressure on the object,10 in the sense of
                  examining it. Its function is sustained application of the associated
                  mental phenomena to the object. It is manifested as the anchoring of those
                  phenomena in the object. The object may be understood to be its
                  proximate cause. The difference between vitakka and vicára has been
                  discussed above (p. 56).

               3. Decision (adhimokkha): The word adhimokkha means literally the
                  releasing of the mind onto the object. Hence it has been rendered decision
                  or resolution. It has the characteristic of conviction, the function of not
                  groping, and manifestation as decisiveness. Its proximate cause is a thing
                  to be convinced about. It is compared to a stone pillar owing to its
                  unshakable resolve regarding the object.

               4. Energy (viriya): Viriya is the state or action of one who is vigorous.
                  Its characteristic is supporting, exertion, and marshalling. Its function is
                  to support its associated states. Its manifestation is non-collapse. Its
                  proximate cause is a sense of urgency (saṃvega) or a ground for arousing
                  energy, that is, anything that stirs one to vigorous action. Just as new
                  timbers added to an old house prevent it from collapsing, or just as a strong
                  reinforcement enables the king’s army to defeat the enemy, so energy
                  upholds and supports all the associated states and does not allow them to
                  recede.

               5. Zest (pìti): Already introduced among the jhána factors, pìti has the
                  characteristic of endearing (sampiyáyana). Its function is to refresh mind
                  and body, or its function is to pervade (to thrill with rapture). It is
                  manifested as elation. Mind-and-body (námarúpa) is its proximate cause.

               6. Desire (chanda): Chanda here means esire to act (kattu-kámatá),
                  that is, to perform an action or achieve some result. This kind of desire must
                  be distinguished from desire in the reprehensible sense, that is, from
                  lobha, greed, and rága, lust.11 Whereas the latter terms are invariably
                  unwholesome, chanda is an ethically variable factor which, when

                  II. COMPENDIUM OF MENTAL FACTORS 83

                  conjoined with wholesome concomitants, can function as the virtuous
                  desire to achieve a worthy goal. The characteristic of chanda is desire to
                  act, its function is searching for an object, its manifestation is need for an
                  object, and that same object is its proximate cause. It should be regarded
                  as the stretching forth of the mind’s hand towards the object.

                  
                  

                  §4 The Unwholesome Factors—14
                  (akusalacetasika)

         3. (1) Moho, (2) ahirikaṃ, (3) anottappaṃ, (4) uddhaccaṃ,

            (5) lobho, (6) diṭṭhi, (7) máno, (8) doso, (9) issá, (10) macchariyaṃ,

2. kukkuccaṃ, (12) thìnaṃ, (13) middhaṃ, (14) vicikicchá cá ti
   cuddas’ ime cetasiká akusalá náma.