The fifth characteristics of citta is that it is called “citta” because it renders (things) intricate.

 A passage in the Atthasalini Atthakatha says, “Called ‘citta’ because it renders (things) intricate, in what way?  True, normally nothing in this world is more intricate than paintings.  Among his paintings, the painter's masterpiece is more artistic than the rest.  An artistic design (citta-sanna) occurs to the painter while painting masterpieces that such pictures should be done in such fashion.  All the intricate work that is done, such as drawing, coloring,  highlighting and contrasting colors etc. would result from intricate sanna.  In the masterpiece a certain intricate rupa would issue from these intricate actions or designs.  The rest of the intricate painting would also be finished the way the artist had thought out: this rupa is to be above, this below, this on the sides, then the creation proceeds accordingly.  All the intricate arts in the world [result from the fact] that the citta thinks thus.  Similarly, the citta that renders intricate is called citta because of its intricate nature and actions, as described above.

  In addition, citta is said to be even more intricate than designs in paintings because it creates all art according to the citta's desire.

 This is only a minor detail or the intricacies of paintings.  But the intricacy of each person's kamma, done every day, physically, verbally and mentally, as kusala-kamma: dana, sila, or developing bhavana; or as akusala-kamma: panatipata (killing), adinnadana (stealing) etc. would vary greatly, which shows the characteristics of the intricacy of citta.  Complex external rupa-dhatu that are intricate by being diverse plants and grains, flowers, leaves of different varieties, by being objects, mountains, rivers are all things resulting from different compositions of earth, water, fire and wind, with the characteristics of softness, hardness, tension and motion, flowing or adhesion of different levels, so that they appear as distinct intricate objects.  But what is more intricate than external rupa-dhatu is the citta because citta is the reality that renders things intricate.

 Intricate akusala-kamma is the paccaya that results in animals with greatly diverse intricate forms.  Some are bipeds, some are quadrupeds, some are multipeds, while others are apods; some aquatic, some terrestrial.  Intricate kusala-kamma renders humans different in complexity with sexes, forms and features, which gives rise to different expressions (...).  There are a great number of words, languages used to describe things that show the numerous variety of  intricacies existing, resulting in as many expressions to call things that appear in such complexity.  And words are endless and infinite because more things made intricate by citta continually occur.  Therefore, ever more words must be coined to call them.

 One should learn that each day wherever one is, whatever one sees or says, is the evidence of the intricacy of citta, that rendered the distinct object intricate.  The Buddha told us to be mindful of the characteristics of the citta of the moment, when one sees the diverse complexities that citta renders intricate.  The citta of this instant, right now, is rendering things intricate further into the future.  One should not think uniquely of the intricacy of external things rendered intricate by citta.  The Buddha told us to be mindful of the characteristics of the citta that is evolving in the present moment as cittanupassana-satipatthana.  The knowledge of the characteristics of citta must be known at the instant of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, thinking, which must be based on one of the six dvara.

 Everyone thinks.  Whenever citta thinks thoughts, those thoughts exist only in the instant one is thinking.  Citta is a thinking reality.  When can one know the characteristics of citta if not in the present instant of seeing, hearing, smelling,  tasting, knowing bodysense contact and thinking right now?

 In the Samyuttanikaya Khandhavaravagga 2nd Gaddulasutta, 259, the Buddha said, Behold Bhikkhu, entities are impure because of impure citta.  Entities are purer because of bright and clear citta.  Behold Bhikkhu, have you seen the citta which is called carana (wandering)?  The Bhikkhu answered, Yes, Sire.

 How does citta wander?  Through the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the nose smell, the tongue taste, bodysense to know contact and mind to think.  It seems that everyone likes to travel.  No one likes to stay in the same old place because one wants to see sights, hear sounds, smell, taste, have diverse bodysense contact.  Therefore, citta would arise and wander through different arammana, through distinct dvara, the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind, never to be still.  Can the citta of anyone keep still?  If one knows the characteristics of realities as they truly are, one must realize that citta arises to know one arammana or another and then falls away.  That is knowing characteristics of realities as they truly are.

 The passage continues: the Buddha said citta is thus called carana.  You have thought with the citta.  The citta (is that which thinks) is more intricate even than it is carana.  Therefore you should examine your citta constantly to see if the citta is unclean with raga, dosa or moha, through eternity.  Entities would be unclean because of impure citta.  Entities would be pure because of right and clean citta.  Behold Bhikkhu, we would not consider any kind of reality as intricate as the distinct kinds of animals.  Behold Bhikkhu, these animals think with the citta.  The citta is even more variegated than these animals.  Because of this you should examine your own citta constantly to see whether the citta is impure with raga, dosa or moha, through eternity.  Behold Bhikkhu, entities would be unclean because of impure citta.  Entities would be pure because of right and clean citta.  Behold Bhikkhu, the dyer or the painter that possesses dying equipment, lac, tumeric, green and red colors could draw pictures of women or men, complete with every organ, great and small, on a clean board or wall or cloth.  Behold Bhikkhu, so could the ordinary person who has not heard [the dhamma] cause rupa to arise when he wishes; cause vedana to arise when he wishes; cause sanna to arise when he wishes; cause sankhara to arise when he wishes; cause vinnana to arise when he wishes.  Behold Bhikkhu, what do you think of this?  Is the rupa permanent or not?

Bhikkhu: No, Sire.
Buddha: Are vedana, sanna, sankhara, vinnana permanent or not?
Bhikkhu: No, Sire.
Buddha: Because of this (...) the ariya-savaka who have heard [the dhamma] so seeing (...) fully realize that other causes for being thus do not exit.

 The painter uses colors to depict different rupa rendering intricate distinct pictures.  The instant of citta each person is like an artist painting rupa-khandha, vedana-khandha, sanna-khandha, sangkhara-khandha, vinnana-khandha to arise in the future.

 Everyone is distinct according to intricacies done in the distant past in the same way that citta which is rendering things intricate this instant would result in distinctly birth, gender, form and figure, fame and fortune, happiness and unhappiness, blame and praise in the future.  Therefore one should examine the characteristics of the citta appearing which is designing future realities.  If one is not mindful of the characteristics of the citta at this instant, one would not know how truly intricate it is.  Though one is sitting here, citta would arise in continuation so rapidly.  We are sitting here but sometimes not only do citta see through the eyes, hear through the ears, but there is also citta that think far beyond depending on where the thought would travel, or perhaps thinking of creating something intricate.

  In the passage in the first Gaddulasutta, 256, the Buddha said, Behold Bhikkhu, a dog tied with a rope or chained to a sturdy tether or post would run round the tether or post.  When it stands, it would stand near the tether or post.  Such are people who have not heard.

 The artist would take the painting he created as an object the way that the citta of the ordinary person takes rupa for entities, persons, the selves and continues to be attached to them in every birth, every lifetime, like a painter who is attached to his paintings.  As long as the ordinary person does not know the characteristics of rupa, vedana, sanna, sangkhara, vinnana, which are realities that truly arise and fall away, filled with the self, he would stand near rupa, vedana, sanna, sangkhara, vinnana.

 A passage  in the Saratthappakasini Atthakatha Samyuttanikaya Sagathavagga Marasamyutta Dutiyavagga the sixth Pattasutta helps us understand the words of the Buddha when he manifested the dhamma so that the Bhikkhu would realize, embrace [the teachings], take heart and be of good cheer as follows.

 Here is the analysis in the sixth Pattasutta.  Then the Buddha made the Bhikkhu realize, embrace [the teachings], take heart and be of good cheer with the dhamma about the five upadana-khandha.  The Bhikkhu willingly bent their  minds to achievement, listening attentively.

 The word “embrace” means to accept, to understand, to examine correctly.  This is the manifestation of the dhamma by the Buddha for the benefit of right understanding, that is, once one has heard, to embrace, to understand, to examine correctly that kusala-dhamma is kusala-dhamma, akusala-dhamma is akusala-dhamma.  If the Buddha had not manifested in detail, many might take akusala-dhamma for kusala-dhamma.  Because the characteristics of kusala-dhamma are not those of akusala-dhamma, and vice-versa, the Buddha always manifested the dhamma minutely about the five upadana-khandha, namely citta, cetasika and rupa categorized into rupa-khandha, vedana-khandha, sanna-khandha, sangkhara-khandha and vinnana-khandha.  No matter where one is, one would never be beyond the five khandha.  So one should study them and consider them logically and thoroughly, take them correctly and not misunderstand them.

 The expression “to take heart” is to have diligence in accepting.

 To be able to understand realities as they truly are is neither easy nor fast.  But the dhamma that the Buddha manifested is to make us accept, take heart and have diligence in examining until understanding arise, until sati arises and is mindful of the characteristics of the realities till there is full realization of the characteristics of realities that are appearing normally as they truly are.  The Buddha did not manifest an unverifiable theory, or something that is not appearing before us, but about cakkhu-vinnana, seeing, sight that appears through the eyes; he manifested sota-vinnana, the reality that hears sound and the sound that comes into contact with the ears; he manifested the dhamma that exist, appear for us to prove.  Therefore those who have heard the dhamma can be heartened or diligent in its study and examining to know the characteristics of realities that appear until there is realization of the distinct dhamma according to the realities that the Buddha had manifested.

 The expression “to be of good cheer” is to be bright and cheery, flourishing with the qualities that one had thoroughly penetrated.

 Have you accepted, taken heart and been of good cheer?  One can be bright and cheery while kusala-citta arises.  Some are unhappy because they worry that they are already aged but sati-patthana has arisen very little.  That instant is akusala.  The Buddha did not manifest the dhamma for the people to have more akusala or lots of worries but for people to accept, take heart and be of good cheer.  All akusala arise because of causes and conditions.  They cannot be stopped.  Each time there is akusala of one kind or another arising, that akusala has already occurred.  But one can be cheery when sati is mindful of the
 characteristics of the akusala that appears.  One can study and examine the characteristics of the akusala appearing to find out that even the akusala-dhamma is not an entity, person or the self.  When sati arises to be mindful of the characteristics of the akusala that is appearing, one could clearly see the instant that the sati is being mindful is not all impure because there is no clinging to the akusala appearing at that moment as the self, as us, so we would not worry or be bothered.

 The only way to attenuate and abandon akusala-dhamma that arise and not to increase worry is by sati being mindful, take note and examine to find that distinct akusala-kamma realities are not us, not the self, entity or person.

 The word “achievement” means examine to know that this aim we can achieve.  Thus it is the benefit of that teaching.

 To develop sati-patthana is not something to be discouraged about.  Realities that are appearing can be penetrated as realities that arise and fall away, not the self, entity or person.  In that instant when we examine to find out that the benefit can be attained one would not be hopeless since we know that one day we can attain it, even if not today.  Do not worry that one could never clearly know realities today.  Sati can start to be mindful today but to clearly realize and penetrate the characteristics of realities would happen one day since today sati is able to arise and be mindful.

 When one sees that the dhamma manifested by the Buddha as beneficent or 'attainable to us', one would not be discouraged, and would listen, study realities that the Buddha manifested about in more and  more detail so as not to forget to be mindful.  A passage in the Atthakatha Kathavatthu Sasanakathavannana asks, Can the Buddha's doctrine be recomposed or altered?

 All ariya-dhamma, such as sati or teachings about kusala-dhamma, are called doctrine.  In such doctrine, other than the dhamma such as sati-patthana manifested by the Buddha, is there any doctrine composed by others that present alternate dhamma as the sati-patthana, or akusala-dhamma as kusala-dhamma?  Has such doctrine ever existed or can it exist in the future?

 This means whether the dhamma manifested by the Buddha can be manifested by others who can recreate, alter or change realities that the Buddha had manifested as sati-patthana etc., or whether anyone can take akusala- dhamma as kusala-dhamma and teach others about it, make a new religion by making other kinds of dhamma into sati-patthana etc.

 When we have considered and understood the reason, we could know that the teachings, that the Buddha had become omnisciently enlightened with and manifested, can never be changed.  None can changed the distinct dhamma that he was enlightened with and manifested into other things.  Some might misunderstand them but they could never change the true characteristics of the dhamma.

 In essence, the five meanings of citta, which in the Abhidammatthavibhavini manifested as six, the extra one saying that citta is intricate because of the intricacy of arammana.  This is because citta is able to know every kind of arammana.  No matter how intricate the reality is, it could be still the arammana of citta.  Even if the arammana is not paramattha-dhamma, for example words or conventional terms in different languages, they can be known by citta; citta can have names, words, stories as arammana.  Therefore, citta is intricate because of arammana.

 The two characteristics of citta are 1) samannalakkhana (common characteristics) and 2) sabhavalakkhana (special characteristics).

 Citta's samannalakkhana is anicca, dukkha and anatta.

 Citta's sabhavalakkhana is the special characteristics of citta, namely:

  Arammanavijanana lakkhanam, clearly knowing arammana.

  Pubbangama rasam, arriving first or being chief or eminent in knowing arammana as rasa or function.

  Sandhana paccupatthanam, continuing or sequential arising and falling away as paccupatthana or apparent signs.

  Nama-rupa padatthanam, having nama-dhamma and rupa-dhamma as padatthana or immediate cause.

 Citta is a sankhara-dhamma.  It is a reality that must be based on causes and conditions to arise.  No dhamma can arise by itself.  In the bhumi of the five khandha, citta is based on nama-dhamma and rupa-dhamma as padatthana or immediate cause.

 In the bhumi with only nama-dhamma or the arupa-brahma-bhumi, there is no rupa.  There, citta is based only on nama-dhamma or cetasika as padatthana or immediate cause.

1.  What renders rupa-dhamma such as various plants and grains, objects, mountains, rivers, different utensils, of distinct complexities different one from another?
2.  Other than paramattha-dhamma do citta have anything else as arammana?