The arising and falling away of the citta and vithi-citta constitutes normal everyday life.  However, since there are dhamma terms for their characteristics and functions, it confuses us because we do not understand the meanings of the technical terms.  Nevertheless, those words only represent the characteristics of realities in daily life.  Therefore, dhamma are not in text books but in real life, each time that we are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, experiencing body sense contact or thinking.  Right now, we are all seeing.  We know now that it is the vithi-citta namely avajjana-citta, cakkhu-vinnana-citta, sampaticchanna-citta, santirana-citta, votthapana-citta and javana-citta arising and falling away in series.  Understanding the dhamma would remind us that the javana-vithi-citta that arises when we see, hear, or smell etc. are kusala or akusala that arise and fall away, accumulating its own continuum and latent tendencies.

 The study of the four jati of citta, arising as kusala, akusala vipaka and kiriya, tells us which citta is the cause for vipaka-citta to arise in the future, and which citta is the vipaka or result of a cause that had been done in the past.  To study a citta to know whether it is a vithi-citta or not, one must also know the jati of that citta.  For example, the patisandhi-citta is a vipaka-citta.  It is the result of one of the kamma that we did in the past, which is the paccaya for the patisandhi-citta to arise in continuation from the cuti-citta from the last lifetime.  The patisandhi-citta is a vipaka-citta that performs patisandhi-kicca only an instant in each lifetime, in any plane.  It cannot do so again in that being, only in the first instant that arises in sequence to the cuti-citta of the previous lifetime.  Then the patisandhi-citta falls away.  It does not last.

 When the patisandhi-citta, which is a vipaka-jati, has fallen away, it is the anantara-paccaya for the next citta to arise in continuation immediately.  The consecutive citta performs bhavanga-kicca.  It is then not a vithi-citta.  Bhavanga-citta is a vipaka-citta.  Therefore, kamma is not only the paccaya for the patisandhi-citta to arise and fall away, but it also causes vipaka-citta to arise and perform the bhavanga-kicca in continuation.  The first bhavanga-citta that arises in sequence to the patisandhi-citta is called pathama-bhavanga.  The following bhavanga up to the cuti-citta is innumerable.

 The sequence of bhavanga that arises and falls away continues until the vithi-citta arises.  First of all is the vithi-citta that performs avajjana-kicca, which is either of the two avajjana-citta, namely the panca-dvaravajjana-citta, which perform avajjana-kicca through the panca-dvara, and the mano-dvaravajjana-citta, which performs avajjana-kicca through the mano-dvara.  These two citta are kiriya-citta.  They are neither kusala, akusala nor vipaka because they can know both ittharammana, or pleasant arammana, and anittharammana, or unpleasant arammana.  As vipaka-citta, the akusala-vipaka would only know anittharammana and kusala-vipaka only ittharammana.

 The Atthasalini manifested the characteristics of kiriya-citta as only action, and has defined their characteristics distinguished by their functions as follows:

 Any kiriya-citta that is not a javana-citta would not bring any results, like a wind flower (vata-pupphan?or, according to the Muladika, mogha-pupphan, meaning fruitless flower).  Some flowers, when they have fallen, do not bear fruits, likewise, the kiriya-citta.  The kiriya-citta that is not a javana-vithi-citta is either of the panca-dvaravajjana-citta or the mano-dvaravajjana-citta.  The panca-dvaravajjana-citta performs the single function of avajjana-kicca through the panca-dvara.  The mano-dvaravajjana-citta performs two functions: the avajjana-kicca of the mano-dvara and the votthapana-kicca of the panca-dvara.  All the other kiriya-citta that are javana-citta are the citta of the arahanta, which is compared by the Atthasalini as follows: Any citta that is javana (or the kiriya-javana-vithi-citta of the arahanta) does not bear fruit like the flower of a rootless tree thereby being only action because it evolves with the power to accomplish the action.

  Those who are not arahanta have only two kinds of kiriya-citta: panca-dvaravajjana-citta and mano-dvaravajjana-citta.

All kiriya-citta other than these two are citta of the arahanta.  Therefore, the arahanta possess the two kiriya-citta which are not javana-citta, panca-dvaravajjana-citta and mano-dvaravajjana-citta; while their javana-vithi are composed uniquely of kiriya-citta, because the arahanta have eradicated all kusala and akusala and thus do not have any javana-vithi-citta that are kusala or akusala.

 In the process of the vithi-citta that knows arammana through the eyes, when the panca-dvaravajjana-citta has fallen away, the seeing consciousness, or the cakkhu-vinnana-citta, is a vipaka-citta resulting from a past kamma.  Kusala kamma is the condition for the cakkhu-vinnana-kusala-vipaka to see pretty, pleasant rupa that appear through the eyes as ittharammana.  Akusala kamma is the condition for the cakkhu-vinnana-akusala-vipaka to see ugly, unpleasant rupa that appear through the eyes as anittharammana.  The vithi-citta that hears sound through the ears is a sota-vinnana, also a vipaka-citta.  No one knows what the sota-vinnana would hear at any given moment.  All this according to causes, or the kamma done in the past.  While one smells through the nose, the ghana-vinnana-citta that knows smell is a vipaka-citta.  When one tastes through the tongue, the jivha-vinnana-citta is a vipaka-citta.  While experiencing body sense contact, the kaya-vinnana-citta that knows cold, heat, softness, hardness, tension, motion are vipaka-citta.  They result from past kamma and are now paccaya for vipaka-citta to arise and experience arammana passed on from panca-dvaravajjana-citta.  Then when the panca-vinnana-citta that sees, hears, smells, tastes or experiences body sense contact has fallen away, it becomes the anantara-paccaya for the sampaticchanna-citta to arise and know the arammana in turn.  Sampaticchanna-citta is also a vipaka-citta because it is the result of the same kamma that conditioned the cakkhu-vinnana-citta to arise.  When the sampaticchanna-citta has fallen away, the same kamma would make the santirana-citta, which is a vipaka-citta, to arise and perform santirana-kicca subsequently.

 Therefore, the vithi-citta which are vipaka-citta, arising through panca-dvara, namely the cakkhu-, sota-, ghana-, jivha- and kaya-vinnana, the sampaticchanna and santirana, do not accumulate continuance (of latent tendencies).  They are only the result of kamma that arise to perform their individual function then fall away.  Then the votthapana-citta, namely the mano-dvaravajjana-citta, performs the function of votthapana-kicca through the panca-dvara.  The votthapana-citta is a kiriya-citta which performs the function of votthapana-kicca, then falls away, without accumulating tendencies.  After the votthapana-citta has fallen away, the next citta to arise is the javana-vithi-citta, which performs the function of running through the arammana as kusala-citta or akusala-citta in those who are not the arahanta.  For the arahanta, there are kiriya-citta.  The javana-vithi-citta arise and fall away seven instants, they, therefore, are the moment that one accumulates tendencies, which are actually the present moment.

 The Atthasalini, the commentary of Dhammasangani-pakarana, presents an analogy of the arising and experiencing an arammana of the vithi-citta through the panca-dvara as follows: "A king sleeps on a royal bed with an attendant massaging his feet, a deaf doorman standing at the door, and three guards standing in a row.  Then a peasant, bearing tribute, comes to knock upon the door.  The deaf doorman does not hear, so the attendant massaging the king's feet signals, upon which the deaf doorman opens the door.  The first guard receives the tribute and hands it to the second, who passes it on to the third.  The third guard presents it to the king who partakes of the tribute."  This analogy demonstrates the process of vithi-citta that arises to experience the arammana: the instant the arammana comes into contact with the cakkhuppasada is comparable to the peasant bearing tribute to the door.  The attendant massaging the king's feet is like the panca-dvaravajjana-citta that knows there is a visitor knocking.  So he signals or [the avajjana-citta] perceives the arammana coming into contact and falls away.  The cakkhu-vinnana-citta then arises in sequence to see through the cakkhuppasada.  After that the first guard, or the sampaticchanna-citta, receives the tribute and passes it on to the second, or the santirana-citta, who then passes it on to the third or votthapana-citta.  The third presents it to the king, or javana-citta, and the king absorbs the tribute, or that arammana.

 This personification clarifies that the kicca or function of arammana is only to come into contact with the dvara.  The peasant does not enter into the presence of the king but the tribute is passed from the first to the second then the third guard until it reaches the monarch.

 Only the cakkhu-vinnana-citta performs the function of seeing the arammana in contact with the dvara.  The arammana can only impinge upon the pasada-rupa.  The citta arises in sequence to know the arammana while the arammana cannot penetrate beyond pasada.

 When we consider this analogy, we could understand the comparison of each vithi-citta that arises to perform distinct functions: the cakkhu-vinnana-citta performs the function of seeing at the cakkhuppasada-rupa, which is a cakkhu-dvara, like a doorman opening the door to look out.  The sampaticchanna is the first guard that receives the tribute and hands it to the second because after the cakkhu-vinnana-citta has performed its function of seeing, it falls away.  The cakkhu-vinnana-citta cannot receive the arammana the way the sampaticchanna-citta does since it can only perform its function of seeing, or [the doorman] only sees at the door, or the pasada-rupa.  The sampaticchanna-citta is like the first guard to perform the function of receiving arammana and passing it on to the second or santirana, which examines the arammana and passes it on to the votthapana-citta to judge.  Then the latter presents it to the king, or the javana vithi-citta, to absorb or partake of the tribute.

 The word "absorb" or "partake of" are used to truly clarify the characteristics of kusala- or akusala-citta that performs javana-kicca through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body sense or mind.  The javana-citta is one that absorbs the arammana with lobha, dosa, moha or kusala, or again with the kiriya-citta of the arahanta.  The javana-citta performs the function of running through the arammana not by seeing, receiving, examining or judging it because the preceding citta have already done so.  Thus they become the paccaya for kusala-citta, akusala-citta or kiriya-citta to arise and absorb or run through the arammana for seven consecutive instants.  The javana-vithi-citta is, therefore, the vithi-citta that actually partakes of the arammana.  When the process is mogha-vara, even with the contact of sound on the sotappasada, there would be no hearing.  Or when it is the votthapana-vara, the kusala-citta, akusala-citta or kiriya-citta would not arise, so how can there be absorption of the arammana since the javana-citta did not arise?  When the javana-vithi-citta arises, it absorbs the arammana because it arises in a series of seven of the same kind of citta, whether kusala-javana-vithi-citta, akusala-javana-vithi-citta or kiriya-javana-vithi-citta.

 That the javana-vithi-citta arises and falls away absorbing arammana for seven instants in a series is because of paccaya, respectively: the first javana-citta is the asevana-paccaya for the second javana-vithi-citta to arise and absorb the arammana once more.  The second javana-vithi-citta is then the asevana-paccaya for the third javana-vithi-citta to absorb the arammana still again.  And so on until the seventh javana-vithi-citta, which is not an asevana-
 paccaya.  The asevana-paccaya is akusala-javana-vithi-citta, kusala-javana-vithi-citta or kiriya-javana-vithi-citta that causes the citta of the same jati to arise and repeat the javana-kicca.  Therefore the former is powerful enough to cause akusala-citta and kusala-citta to become kamma-paccaya resulting in vipaka-citta in the future as well as become the upanissaya-paccaya for future akusala-javana-vithi, kusala-javana-vithi or kiriya-javana-vithi to arise.  The accumulation of diverse akusala to ever greater, denser proportions causes us to become obsessed the moment we open our eyes.  When there is bhavanga-citta, we do not know arammana through either eye, ear, nose, tongue, body sense or mind because thinking or dreaming is through the mano-dvara and not bhavanga-citta.  Therefore, while there is the bhavanga-citta, we do not know any arammana of this world.  Although this world does not appear at all, there is still anusaya-kilesa.  Not knowing any arammana of this world does not mean there is no kilesa, because there are three levels of kilesa:

Anusaya-kilesa is the minutely fine kilesa that accumulates like sediment in the citta.

Pariyutthana-kilesa is the medium kilesa that arises with the javana-vithi-citta.

Vitikkakama-kilesa is the coarse kilesa that arises with the javana-vithi-citta.

Thus even the citta that is not the javana-vithi-citta also has anusaya-kilesa except for that of the arahanta that does not have any kilesa at all.

We should know that whenever javana-vithi-citta arises to see that which appears through the eyes, hear which appears through the ears, smell through the nose, taste through the tongue, experience body sense contact through the body or think through the mind, the javana-vithi-citta then accumulates the latent tendencies both of akusala and kamavacara-kusala and kamavacara-kiriya-javana-vithi.

Each vara that we see, the 7 vithi-citta  are cakkhu-dvara-vithi.
Each vara that we hear, the 7 vithi-citta  are sota-dvara-vithi.
Each vara that we smell, the 7 vithi-citta  are ghana-dvara-vithi.
Each vara that we taste, the 7 vithi-citta  are jivha-dvara-vithi.
Each vara that we know body sense contact, the 7 vithi-citta are kaya-dvara-vithi.
Each vara that we think, the 3 vithi-citta  are mano-dvara-vithi.

1. Which vithi-citta of the panca-dvara and mano-dvara are vipaka-citta?
2. How many kiriya-citta do those who are not arahanta have?
3. How many kiriya-citta that are not javana-vithi-citta do the arahanta have?
4. What is asevana-paccaya?
Which citta are asevana-paccaya?

Dec. 19, 1999
Revised May 7, 2001