Appendix to Chapter 2

The Feelings which accompany the different cittas

Pleasant bodily feeling (sukha) arises with only one type of citta: the body-consciousness (kāya-viññāṇa) which is kusala vipāka. This kind of kāya-viññāṇa experiences a pleasant tangible object.

Painful bodily feeling (dukkha) arises with only one type of citta: the kāya-viññāṇa which is akusala vipāka. This kind of kāya-viññāṇa experiences an unpleasant tangible object.

Happy feeling (somanassa) arises with cittas of the four jātis but not with every citta. As regards akusala cittas accompanied by somanassa, four of the eight types of lobha-mūla-citta are accompanied by somanassa. The other types of akusala citta are not accompanied by somanassa.

As regards ahetuka cittas (cittas without roots, hetus) , accompanied by somanassa, one type of santīraṇa-citta (investigating consciousness) which is ahetuka kusala vipākacitta, and which investigates an extraordinarily pleasant object, is accompanied by somanassa. One type of santīraṇa-citta which is ahetuka kusala vipākacitta and which investigates a pleasant but not extraordinarily pleasant object, is accompanied by upekkhā. The santīraṇa-citta which is akusala vipākacitta is also accompanied by upekkhā. Thus, only one of the three types of santīraṇa-citta is accompanied by somanassa(212).

The ahetuka kiriyacitta which is the hasituppāda-citta producing the smile of an arahat(213) is accompanied by somanassa.

Of the kāmāvacara sobhana cittas(214) (beautiful cittas of the sense-sphere) four types of mahā-kusala cittas, four types of mahā-vipākacittas and four types of mahā-kiriyacittas are accompanied by somanassa.

The functions of paṭisandhi (rebirth), bhavanga (life-continuum) and cuti (dying) can be performed by mahā-vipākacittas(215). In that case they are the result of kamma performed by mahā-kusala cittas. Mahā-vipākacittas can be accompanied by somanassa depending on the kamma which produces them. Those who are born with somanassa have bhavanga-cittas accompanied by somanassa throughout life.(216)

As regards rūpāvacara cittas (rūpa-jhānacittas)(217), those of the first, second, third and fourth stages of jhāna (of the fivefold system) are accompanied by somanassa. Thus, four rūpāvacara kusala cittas, four rūpāvacara vipākacittas and four rūpāvacara kiriyacittas are accompanied by somanassa. The rūpāvacara cittas of the fifth stage of jhāna are not accompanied by somanassa but by upekkhā.

As regards arūpāvacara cittas (arūpa-jhānacittas), these are of the same type of citta as the rūpāvacara cittas of the fifth stage of jhāna, thus, they are not accompanied by somanassa but by upekkhā.

Lokuttara cittas can be accompanied by somanassa or by upekkhā, depending on conditions. Lokuttara cittas can be classified as eight, since there are for each of the four stages of enlightenment the magga-citta (path-consciousness) and its result, the phala-citta (fruition-consciousness).

People who have accumulated great skill in jhāna and who have also developed insight, can attain enlightenment with lokuttara jhāna-cittas. The lokuttara jhānacittas, which experience nibbāna, are accompanied by jhāna-factors of different the stages of jhāna. When lokuttara jhānacittas are taken into account, there are, instead of eight lokuttara cittas, forty lokuttara cittas (five times eight, since there are five stages of jhāna)(218). In the case of the lokuttara jhānacittas, the accompanying feeling is in accordance with the accompanying jhāna-factors. In the fifth stage of jhāna there is upekkhā instead of somanassa, and therefore eight lokuttara jhānacittas, accompanied by the jhāna-factors of the fifth stage, are not accompanied by somanassa but by upekkhā. Thus, of the forty lokuttara jhānacittas thirty-two types are accompanied by somanassa. The feeling which accompanies the phala-citta (fruition-consciousness, the result of the magga-citta) is in each case the same type as the feeling which accompanies the magga-citta.

Summarizing the cittas accompanied by somanassa, they are:

  • 4 lobha-mūla-cittas

  • 1 santīraṇa-citta

  • 1 hasituppāda-citta

  • 12 kāmāvacara sobhana cittas

  • 12 rūpāvacara cittas

  • 32 lokuttara jhānacittas

—altogether: 62

Domanassa, unhappy feeling, arises with the two types of dosa-mūla-citta: one type is asaṅkhārika (unprompted) and one type is sasaṅkhārika (prompted)(219). Domanassa cannot arise with other types of citta except these two.

Upekkhā, indifferent feeling, can arise with cittas of the four jātis but it does not arise with every citta. Thus, upekkhā can be kusala, akusala, vipāka and kiriya. Upekkhā can arise with kāmāvacara cittas (cittas of the sense-sphere), rūpāvacara cittas, arūpāvacara cittas and lokuttara cittas.

As regards upekkhā which accompanies akusala cittas, four of the eight types of lobha-mūla-citta are accompanied by upekkhā. Upekkhā also accompanies the two types of moha-mūla-citta which are: moha-mūla-citta accompanied by vicikicchā (doubt) and moha-mūla-citta accompanied by uddhacca (restlessness)(220).

As regards ahetuka cittas, fourteen among the eighteen types are accompanied by upekkhā, namely: twelve ahetuka vipākacittas which are: four pairs of dvi-pañcaviññāṇas (the pair which is body-consciousness is excepted), two types of sampaṭicchana-citta (receiving-consciousness), and two among the three types of santīraṇa (investigating-consciousness). Only santīraṇa-citta which investigates an extraordinarily pleasant object is, as we have seen, accompanied by somanassa. The other two types, one of which is kusala vipāka and one of which is akusala vipāka, are accompanied by upekkhā(221).

The are two types of ahetuka kiriyacittas which are accompanied by upekkhā, namely: the pañcadvārāvajjana-citta (the five-sense-door-adverting-consciousness) and the mano-dvārāvajjana-citta (the mind-door-adverting-consciousness) which performs, in the sense-door process, the function of determining the object (votthapana)(222) and in the mind-door process the function of adverting to the object through the mind-door. Thus, there are fourteen types of ahetuka citta in all which are accompanied by upekkhā.

As regards kāmāvacara sobhana cittas, four of the eight mahā-kusala cittas, four of the eight mahā-vipākacittas and four of the eight mahā-kiriyacittas are accompanied by upekkhā. Thus, twelve kāmāvacara sobhana cittas are accompanied by upekkhā.

As regards rūpāvacara cittas, only the rūpāvacara kusala citta, the rūpāvacara vipāka-citta and the rūpāvacara kiriyacitta of the fifth stage of jhāna are accompanied by upekkhā; thus, there are three rūpāvacara cittas accompanied by upekkhā.

The arūpāvacara cittas are the same types of citta as the rūpāvacara cittas of the fifth stage of jhāna; they all are accompanied by upekkhā. There are twelve arūpāvacara cittas, namely the arūpāvacara kusala citta, the arūpāvacara vipākacitta and the arūpāvacara kiriyacitta of each of the four stages of arūpa-jhāna. At the fourth stage of arūpa-jhāna, the ’Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception’, there is ’neither feeling nor non-feeling’, feeling is present ’in a subtle state as a residual formation’ (Vis. X, 50)(223).

As regards lokuttara cittas, they can, depending on conditions, be accompanied by upekkhā. When lokuttara jhāna-cittas are taken into account, the lokuttara cittas accompanied by the jhāna-factors of the fifth stage of jhāna are accompanied by upekkhā, thus, there are eight types accompanied by upekkhā.

Summarizing, the cittas accompanied by upekkhā are the following :

  • 4 lobha-mūla-cittas

  • 2 moha-mūla-cittas

  • 1 pañca-dvārāvajjana-citta

  • 8 dvi-pañca-viññāṇas

  • 2 sampaṭicchana-cittas

  • 2 santīraṇa cittas

  • 1 mano-dvārāvajjana-citta

  • 12 kāmāvacara sobhana cittas

  • 3 rūpāvacara cittas

  • 12 arūpāvacara cittas

  • 8 lokuttara cittas

—altogether: 55 types accompanied by upekkhā.

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