Today we come to the real Abhidhamma. The previous two weeks were just the preliminaries or the introduction. Now we enter into the area of Abhidhamm. Today's subjects is consciousness or Citta. There will be two classes or two talks on Citta. Today's talk is the first talk on Citta.

I hope you remember what Citta is. Citta is one of the four ultimate truths. Citta is that which is aware of the object. Citta is always with us. Citta must always have an object. It is never without an object. Citta has the characteristic of being aware of the object. Awareness of the object is the characteristic of Citta.

According to characteristic there is only one Citta. According to humaness for example there is one humanity, but there are millions of human beings divided with regard to countries, races, cultures, and so on. In the same way according to chracteristic there is only one Citta which has the characteristic of being aware of the object. But Citta is divided into 89 or 121 types.

The first thing we will study today is the broad division of Citta. The first division is the classification by spheres. Before we go to the division according to spheres, we must understand what spheres are. According to Abhidhamma there are 31 planes of existence, 31 kinds of life or rebirth. These 31 planes of existence are divided into three main spheres. The first sphere is called 'sense-sphere'. That means it is the sphere where sense-desire predominates. The sense-sphere consists of the animal kingdom, human beings, Devas (Devas are celestial beings.), and also beings in the four woeful states (That means beings in hell, beings like ghosts.). The realms of these beings belong to the sense-sphere. When we say sense-sphere, we mean the world of animals, human beings, Devas and some other beings of lower rebirth.

Above the sense-sphere there is what we call the 'form-sphere'. 'Form-sphere' really means the sphere where the desire for the existence of Brahmas predominates. That means we want to be reborn as Brahmas. We want to be reborn as form-Brahmas or as formless-Brahmas. That desire predominates in those realms. The realm of form-Brahmas is called form-sphere. There are altogether 16 realms or 16 planes of existence in the form sphere.

Above the form-sphere there is the formles sphere. These are the abodes of Brahmas who have no physical form. Just Cittas and Cetasikas exist there. The realm for them is called 'formless-sphere'.

There are these three spheres. Citta is broadly divided according to these three spheres. There are Cittas which arise mainly in the sense-sphere. They are altogether 54. We will come to them later. There are those which mainly arise in the form-sphere. There are those which arise mainly in the formless sphere. 'Which arise mainly' means they usually or generally arise in the sphere they are assigned to. But they may also arise in other spheres. Those which arise in the sense-sphere may also arise in the form-sphere and in the formless-sphere, but not as frequently as they do in the sense-sphere.

So we now have three kinds of Citta. The first kind is called 'Kàmavacara. ('C' is pronounced ch in Pàli.) The second is Rùpavacara. The third is Arùpavacara.

There is another kind of conscioussness that transcends all these three spheres. That means this kind of consciousness goes beyond the range of objects of sense-desire, or form-desire, or formless-desire. In Pàli they are called 'Lokuttara'. 'Uttara' means to go beyond or to transcend. 'Loka' means world. So Lokuttara means transcending the world. 'Transcending the world' means transcending sense-sphere, form spehre and formless sphere. They are called supramundane consciousness in English. According to spheres there are four kinds of Cittas - Kàmavacara, Rùpavacara, Arùpavacara and Lokuttara.

Citta can be divided according to another classification. That is the classification by kammic activity. In Pàli th word is Jàti, which is translated as genus, so according to genus. 'According to genus' is difficult to understand, so I say according to kammic activity. That means there are Cittas which give results. Now when we say 'Kamma', we also understand there is the result of Kamma. So 'Kammic activity' means certain Cittas give results, or certain Cittas are results, or certain Cittas neither give results nor are they results.

According to this Kammic activity Citta is broadly divided into four. There is good Kamma and bad Kamma, or wholesome and unwholesome Kamma. These two kinds of Kamma give two kinds of results. There are types of consciousness which give good or happy results. They are called 'Kusala' in Pàli. That is translated as wholesome, or profitable, or skillful, or some translate it as moral. I like wholesome the best. There are those which give bad results or painful results. They are called 'Akusala'. The 'A' in front of Kusala means not, not Kusala. 'Not Kusala' means the opposite of Kusala. It is translated as unwholesome, or unprofitable, or non-skillful.

Translating Kusala as skillful, I think is a little not quite good, alittle not quite correct. For example you can kill a person skillfully. You can plan a bank robbery skillfully. But that is not Kusala. So I prefer wholesome instead of skillful.

So that which gives good results is called Kusala. That which gives bd or painful results is called 'Akusala', unwholesome.

The third type of consciousness according to this classification is the result, the result of Kusala or Akusala. Here 'result' means the resultant Cittas. Some Cittas are the results of Kamma and some are not results. There is a kind of Citta which is the result of Kusala or Akusala. We will deal with them a little later.

The last one is that which is neither. That means it is that which neither gives results nor that which is a result. They do not give results and they are not results. This type of consciousness is called in Pàli 'Kiriya' (functional). That means they just arise especially in Buddhas and Arahants, and they disappear. They do not have any Kammic activity. And they ae not the resuts of any Kamma.

So according to this classification we have three or four - giving results , results, and those neither giving results nor being results. Those giving results cn be divided into two, Kusala and Akusala, those giving happy results and those giving painful results. According to this classification there are four kinds of consciousness.

Again consciousness can be divided with regard to concomitants and others. Some typses of consciousness are accompanied by pleasurable feeling. Some are accompanied by displeasurable feeling, and some are accompanied by neutral feeling. According to this classification there can be three kinds of Cittas, those accompanied by pleasurable feeling, those accompanied by displeasurable feeling, and those accompanied by neutral feeling.

Some kinds of consciousness are accompanied by wrong view and some are not. According to this classification there are Cittas accompanied by wrong view and there are others that are not. This does not apply to all types of Cittas. This applies only to the unwholesome Cittas. We will see them later.

Some types of consciousness arise being prompted and some arise spontaneously or without being prompted. By prompting or inducement there are two kinds of Cittas, those that are prompted and those that are unprompted.

Some Cittas are accompanied by understanding or knowledge, or wisdom, and some are not. So according to that classification there are two kinds of Cittas, those accompanied by understanding and those that are not.

Then some of the Cittas can be divided accoring to the number of Jhàna factors. These will all be dealt with later today and then next week. If these are new to you and you don't understand, please be patient with me. You will undestand later.

Then some types of consciousness are divided accoring to the objects that they take. This applies to the Arùpavacara Cittas.

Last there are Lokuttara Cittas which are divided according to Path and Fruition. There are four Path and four Fruition Cittas. So there are eight kinds or eight types of supramundane or Lokuttara Cittas.

Citta can be divided in many or in different ways. When we take all these and apply these to different Cittas, then we get 89 or 121 types of Citta altogether.

We will now study the Cittas themselves. But before going to the list we will have to have some kind of background knowledge to understand the individual Cittas.

The first group of Citts is called 'Akusala'. That is unwholesome consciousness. 'Unwholesome' here means accompanied by attachment, illwill or delusion. Anything which is accompanied by attachment, illwill or delusion is called 'Akusala' or unwholesome here. They give bad results.

We have to understand here that there are six roots, six kinds of roots. They are called 'roots'. The roots are attachment, illwill, delusion, and their opposites, non-attachment, non-illwill, and non-delusion. So there are altogether six kinds of roots.There are types of consciousness which are accompanied by one, two or three of these roots. There are other types of consciousness which are not accompanied by any of these roots.

Actually the roots are Cetasikas. You know Citta and Cetasikas, right? Cetasikas are mental states. So attachment, illwill, delusion and the others are all Cetasikas. We will study Cetasikas in a future lecture. There are 52 Cetasikas. These are among the 52 Cetasikas.

There are three kinds of feelings. There are pleasurable, displeasurable and neutral feelings. When we come across or when we experience an object, a material object or a thought in our mind, we always have one of these feelings. Sometimes we have a good or a pleasurable feeling, sometimes a displeasurable feeling, and sometimes neither a pleasurable nor a displeasurable feeling, a neutral feeling. Sometimes we are happy. Sometimes we are upset or angry or depressed. And sometimes we are neither. So there are three kinds of feelings. Every Citta is accompanied by one of these three feelings. No Citta is without feeling. Feeling is one of the 52 Cetasikas. And as you may have read, feeling is one of the five aggregates. The second aggregate is clled 'Vedanà' (feeling).

Some types of consciousness in the unwholesome group are accompanied by wrong view. So we must understand what 'wrong view' means according to Buddha's teachings because I think 'wrong view' is a relative term. If you ask people who belong to some other religion, then you will get a different answer. So here 'wrong view' is according to Buddha's teachings.

A belief that there is no Kamma is a wrong view in Buddhism. If we are Buddhists, if we accept Buddha's teachings, we also accept that there is Kamma. There are actions, Kamma. We have to accept that Kamma gives results. So if we take it that there is no Kamma whatever, you do, you just do it. There is nothing which we call Kamma and there are no results of Kamma. That kind of belief we call 'wrong view'.

Then there are people who do not believe that there is rebirth. There is not this world, there is no other world and os on is their belief. They are all included in wrong view.

Also there is the belief in a permanent self or a permanent soul This is also a wrong view according to Buddhism. Buddha teaches the Anatta Doctrine, no-soul doctrine. So according to his teachings there is no permanent entity, no permanent soul, no everlasting soul inside the beings or utside the beings. If there is a belief in a permanent soul, this is called 'wrong view' according to Buddhism. So there re types of consciousness which may be accompanied by wrong view or they may not.

Then there is prompting. 'Prompting' means encouragement or inducement. Sometimes we encourage ourselves to do something. We have to induce ourselves to do things. Sometimes we are induced by some other person. We are encouraged by some other person and we do it. Sometimes we are forced by circumstances to do it. All these are called 'inducement'.

Sometimes the consciousnesses arise spontaneously. They don't have to be induced by anything. They just arise spontaneously. When a type of consciousness arises by inducement, then we call it 'prompted consciousness'. When it arises spontaneously, we call it 'unprompted consciousness'.

Then we should understand displeasure or illwill because we will come to that in the twelve Akusala consciousnesses. Displeasure is feeling in Abhidhamma. The word in Pàli is 'Domanassa'. Displeasure is feeling. Illwill is not feeling according to Abhidhamma. The word for illwill is 'Patigha'. Another word for Patigha is Dosa. I think you are familiar with the word 'Dosa'. Displeasure or Domanassa is feeling, but illwill, or Dosa, or anger is not feeling. It is a different kind of Cetsika. It is a separate Cetasika. It is a distinct mental state. These two always arise together. They accompany one another. Although they arise together, they are different. They are different mental states. One is feeling and the other is not.

Then we will come to consciousness that is accompanied by doubt. 'Doubt' means doubt about the Buddha, doubt about the Dhamma, doubt about the Sangha, doubt about the practice, doubt about Dependent Origination and so on. Not every indecision is doubt. For example sometimes you may be in doubt about which road to take. You are at acrossroad and don't know which road to take. That kind of doubt is not meant here. The doubt meant here is doubt about the Buddha, for example whether the Buddha really existed or is it just a myth. It is doubt about whether the Dhamma he taught can really help us get rid of mental defilements and so on. Such doubts are called 'doubt' here.

Then there is restlessness. Restlessness here is of the mind, not restlessness of the body. When you say a person is restless, that means he or she may be shaking or moving here and there. But here 'restlessness' means mental restlessness, agitation in the mind. That means the mind's inability to be squarely on the object. It is different from doubt. Doubt takes this or that object. It goes from one object to another. Maybe it is this; maybe it is that. But 'restlessness' means the inability of the mind to really be on the object. In Pàli it is called 'Uddhacca'. The literal meaning is 'lifted above' or 'shaking above'. That means it is not stuck to the object but a little above the object and wavering. It is something like that. That is called 'restlessness' here.

After understanding this we can go to the list of the different types of consciousness. Please look at the handout '89 or 121 types of consciousness'.

There are twelve unwholsome types of consciousness. Among these twelve there are eight which are rooted in attachment. 'Rooted in' really means 'accompanied by'. Please do not take it to mean 'caused by' or 'come from'. 'Rooted in' really means 'accompanied by'. The Pàli word 'Mùla' is used here. 'Mùla' means root, but it does not mean that it comes from or that it is caused by attachment. What it means here is that it arises together with attachment. It is accompanied by attachment. So it is consciousness accompanied by attachment.

There are eight types of consciousness accompanied by attachment. Number one is what? With pleasure, with wrong view, unprompted. 'With pleasure' means accompanied by pleasurable feeling. 'With wrong view' means accompanied by wrong view. 'Unprompted' means spontaneously. Number two is with pleasure, with wrong view and prompted. Number three is with pleasure, without wrong view, and unprompted. Number four is with pleasure, without wrong view, and prompted and so on.

Sometimes these consciousnesses are accompanied by pleasurable feeling and sometimes by indifferent feeling. Examples are given in the manual. A boy may joyfully steal something not encouraged by anyone, just spontaneously. In that case the first type of consciousness arises in him.

Sometimes we are attached to something. We know that it is wrong to be attached to it, but still we are attached to it. In that case our consciousness may be without wrong view, but accompanied by attachment. If we are happy with it, then it will be accompanied by pleasure. So we can see for ourselves what kind of consciousness is arising in us if we understand all these things, if we understand these eight types of consciousness.

Sometimes we are attached to things, but we do not feel pleasure or displeasure. We have a neutral feeling. In this case our consciousness will be accompanied by indifferent or neutral feeling.

Student: Inaudible.

Sayadaw: That is why I say 'neutral feeling'. Indifference is a little, not quite - I don't know how to say. Neutral feeling is better I think than indifference. It means that you are neither happy nor unhappy about this thing, but you still have attachment to it.

You may own a house or something. Since it is your house, you have attachment to your house. But let us say tht you have been with this house for many years. So you are neither happy nor unhappy with the house. You just have the house and you just have this attachment without strong emotion. It is something like that.

These are the eight types of consciousness rooted in or accompanied by attachment. When we are attached to something, when we desire something, or when we are attached to people, one of these eight types of consciousness arises in us, in our minds. Sometimes it may even be with wrong view and sometimes maybe not. These are the eight types of consciousness.

The next group is consciousness rooted in illwill. It is consciousness accompanied by illwill, accompanied by Dosa. In Abhidhamma fear is also Dosa. Dosa is translated as anger or maybe hatred. But fear is also a kind of Dosa. Anger we call aggressive and fear we call passive. It is something like pàssive anger. Both anger and fear are called illwill or Dosa in Abhidhamma.

There are two types of consciousness accompanied by illwill. The first one is with displeasure, with illwill and unprompted. Maybe the unprompted consciousness arises very often in us. We don't have to be prompted. We get angry very easily. Even when you drive here, you may be annoyed with something or some other driver. Then you have one of these two kinds of consciousness.

Student: Inaudible.

Sayadaw: Mostly I think these types of consciousness arise unprompted. There may be occasions where we have to be encouraged or induced to get angry. But anger is so difficult to control that it just comes up. It is fortunate that there are only two types of consciousness accompanied by illwill. When we kill some animal or a human being, then we kill with one of these two types of consciousness. In Abhidhamma killing is always done with one of these two types of consciousness. Even though you may be laughing when you kill, but the actual moment of killing is accompanied by illwill or Dosa. Sometimes in the olden days the king may sentence someone to be executed. He may say put him to sleep and even be laughing when he says this. But at the very moment of saying this, there is illwill or something like anger arising in him. Killing is always done with one of these two types of consciousness.

So there can be no mercy killing according to Abhidhamma. You may have mercy at one moment, but at the moment of killing the consciousness is accompanied by Dosa.

Student: In this technological age you may just push a button -

Sayadaw: But you know when you push the button, you know that the person is to be killed. You know someone is going to be killed. You have this understanding that he is going to be killed, that he is going to die. So that action is accompanied by a feeling of illwill, a feeling of Domanassa.

Since the mind wworks very fast and mind moments are so very brief, and come one right after the other, we may not be able to see the difference between these types of consciousness. Still they do arise one after another.

The third group is consciousness rooted in delusion, rooted in Moha (ignorance). There are two. One is accompanied by doubt. The other is accompanied by restlessness, restlessness of mind or agitation of mind. Number twelve or number two of those rooted in delusion we experience when we practice meditation. Sometimes our mind doesn't seem to be able to be on the object. It is always little away from the object. It is something like that.

These two types of consciousness rooted in delusion or accompanied by delusion are always accompanied by indifference because they are by nature weak. So they cannot have strong emotion like pleasure or displeasure. So they are always accompanied by indifference or neutral feeling.

These twelve, eight rooted in attachment, two rooted in illwill, and two rooted in delusion, are called 'Akusala Cittas' (unwholesome types of consciousness). The results that they give are also bad, or undesirable, or displeasurable.

The next group is called 'rootless consciousness'. There are altogether 18 of them. In Pàli they are called 'Ahetuka Cittas'. Why are they called 'rootless'? They are called 'rootless' because they are not accompanied by any of the six roots. The six roots are attachment, illwill, delusion and their opposites. There are six roots. These 18 types of consciousness are not accompanied by any of these roots. Therefore they are called 'rootless'.

However we shouldnot understand them to be without cause. 15 of the 18 are the results of either wholesome or unwholesome Kamma. Most of them are the results of Kamma. So they are caused by Kamma. They are called 'rootless' because they are not accompanied by or they do not arise together with any of the roots (attachment, illwill, delusion and the opposites of these three). That is why these types of consciousness are called 'rootless consciousness'.

Before we study these 18 types of consciousness we should know something about the sequence of the moments of consciousness. Many among thes 18 types of consciousness are different moments of consciousness arising in a given thought process. The sequence of the moments of consciousness is important for the understanding of rootless consciousness.

In the books a simie is given to understand the sequence of these consciousnesses in a given thought process. Please look at the sheet on the mango simile.

'A certain man with his head covered went to sleep at the foot of a fruiting mango tree. Then a ripe mango loosened from the stock fell to the ground grazing his ear. Awakened by that sound, he opened his eyes and looked. Then stretching out his hand, he took the fruit. He squeezed it. He smelled it. He ate it, enjoying it. He swallowed it together with the saliva and went to sleep again.'

Broadly speaking there are two kinds of consciousness - nonconscious consciousness and conscious consciousness. One is something like inactive consciousness and the other is active consciousness. Moments of inactive consciousness arise in us almost every moment. There is this flow of moments of inactive consciousness. Then when an object comes into the avenue of our senses, that flow of inactive consciousness is disturbed or interrupted. First it is disturbed. After three moments that flow of inactive consciousness stops and then active consciousness takes over. These are explained in different moments. These moments arise one after the other. One moment arises and disappears, and then another moment arises. In order to understand the sequence of thought moments we have to look at it as one series of thought moments. We have to see it as a line. Actually there is no line at all.

Mostly a thought process consists of 17 moments. When we see something, when we hear something, when we smell something, when we taste something, when we touch something, then a thought process arises in our minds. That thought process consists of 17 moments. Before the 17 there are zeros on the chart. The 'zeros' mean the inactive thought moments. They are technically called 'life continuum', in Pàli 'Bhavanga'.

Numbers one, two and three are still inactive thought moments, but from number one on they are disturbed. The mango fell to the ground. So the sleep is disturbed. One moment is past. After shaking for two moments, the flow of inactive moments of Citta stops. Then active moments of consciousness take over.

The first active moment of Citta, number four, is called sense-door-adverting, actually five-sense-door-adverting. That means from inactive moments the flow of consciousness turns to active moments. It turns to one of the sense doors - eye door, ear door, nose door, tongue door, body door.

For example, Citta may arise through the eye door, through the eye. After turning to the object, after turning to the active moment, there is seeing consciousness. You see something. After the seeing moment, the consciousness receives the object. First there is just seeing it and then there is receiving it. After receiving it there is investigation of the object, whether it is a desirable object or an undesirable object. After investigation of the object there is determination - this is a desirable object or this is an undesirable object. After determining it Citta experiences the object thoroughly. This experience of the object lasts for seven thought moments. These seven thought moments are the most important moments in one given thought process. They are called 'aperception'. I don't know what 'aperception' means actually. In Pàli they are called 'Javanas'.

Student: Inaudible.

Sayadaw: Actually it is the full experience of the object. That is what is meant here. Some translate Javana as impulsion. Both words are not met with very often. So I prefer to call it 'Javana'.

It is during these seven moments that you acquire Kamma. Kamma is acquired during these seven thought moments. It may be wholesome (Kusala) or unwholesome (Akusala) Kamma. Until you reach these moments, there is no Kamma. There is no Kusala or Akusala yet. But when you reach the ninth thought moment, nine through fifteen, you acquire or you do good Kamma or bad Kamma. So if you are looking at an object and are attached to it, then there will be Akusala thought moments. If you are not attached to the object, for example when you are practicing meditation, just making notes of the object saying 'seeing, seeing, seeing', then the Kamma will be Kusala or wholesome kamma. The quality of the Javana depends upon how we react to the object. It may be Kusala or Akusala depending upon how we react, how we look at it, and how much we are informed about things and so on. These are the most important moments in a given thought process.

After these seven thought moments there come two moments which in English are called 'registering consciousness'. Actually they re the after-taste. You eat something and then you swallow the remaining small particles. This is compared to these two thought moments. These two thought moments follow the seven Javana moments. They re called in Pàli 'Tadàrammana'. It is translated into English as registering. I don't know whether 'registering' is relly correct or really right. 'Registering' here just means going after or following the Javana moments and taking the same object as the Javanas.

It is compared to water following the boat. When you row a boat upstream, then water follows the boat a little. In the same way these two thought moments follow the Javana moments. They are called 'Tadàrammana' in Pàli and that is translated as registering consciousness.

After these two moments the process comes to an end. There is a lapse into inactive consciousness again or into life-continuum again. The life-continuum or inactive consciousness and active consciousness always alternate. There are inactive moments, then there are active moments, then inactive moments and so on. Inactive moments are like buffers between the active thought processes. This is only one of the many kinds of thought processes.

Now we can go to the eighteen rootless consciousnesses. There are eighteen rootless consciusnesses and they are subdivided into three groups. The first group is unwholesome resultant consciousness. That means types of consciousness that are the result of unwholesome Kamma. Can I say the plural 'consciousnesses'?

Student: If you want.

Sayadaw: OK. There are seven of them in this group. The first one is eye consciousness. 'Eye consciousness' really means seeing consciousness. When we see something, that consciousness arises in our mind. The second is ear consciousness. That is hearing consciousness. Then the third is nose consciousness. That is why you smell something. The fourth is tongue consciousness. When you eat something, when you taste something, you have this consciousness. And the fifth is body consciousness. That is when you have touch, touch with anything. The sixth is receiving consciousness. The seventh is investigating consciousness.

Body consciousness in this group is accompanied by pain. You hit yourself. There is pain there and you experience it. The experience in your mind is what is meant here. What we call 'pain' is material, some kind of material in your body. You have the exerience of that pain. That experience is what is called 'pain' here. 'Pain' here should be understood as arising in the mind. It is one of the feelings.

There are three kinds of feelings or five kinds of feelings. This feeling is connected with bodily sensation. It is called 'Dukkha'.

The sixth is receiving consciousness. The seventh is investigating consciousness. These are the results of Akusala. When you see something you don't want to see or undesirable objects, then it is the result of your Kamma in the past. You have to blame yourself and not the other persons or the thing itself. Since you did Akusala in the past, now you get the result of that Akusala in seeing what you don't want to see and in seeing ugly things.

Student: Then you are saying that is the result of past bad actions?

Sayadaw: Yes, especially in past lives.

The second group is wholesome resultant consciousness. They are the result of wholesome or Kusala Kamma. When you see something desirable, beautiful, good, or when you hear something which you like, then you will have the types of consciousness in this group. There is eye consciousness or seeing consciousness, ear consciousness or hearing consciousness and so on. The fifth one is body consciousness with happiness. That is when you have good touch. For example when you put on clothes that are soft to the touch, that feeling is body consciousness with happiness. In Pàli it is Sukha. It is the opposite of Dukkha. Then we have receiving consciousness. Here we have two kinds of investigating consciousness, depending upon whether the object is average desirable or very desirable. When the object is very desirable, investigating consciousness will be accompanied by pleasure, by pleasurable feeling. When the object is just average desirable, investigating consciousness will be accompanied by indifferent feeling. Sometimes the object is very desirable, like for Buddhists the Buddha is a very desirable object. For young people those of the opposite sex may be a very desirable object. There are altogether eight types of consciousness which are the result of good Kamma or wholesome Kamma in the past.

The third group consists of three types of consciousness. They are rootless functional consciousness. They are functional. They are not the result of anything. And they do not give results. They just arise and disappear. They do not leave anything behind and they are not the result of anything in the past. Therefore they are called 'functional'.

There are three types of rootless functional consciousness. The first one is five-sense-door-adverting consciousness. It is number four in the thought process, sens-door-adverting. That means adverting or turning the mind to the sense object through the sense-door. When we experience something through the five senses, this type of conscioousness is the beginning of that thought process.

Student: Where is that in the simile?

Sayadaw: It is number four in the mango simile.

The next one is mind-door-adverting consciousness. This is similar to the five-sense-door-adverting consciousness. It arises in the thought process which arises through the mind-door. That means we thinik of something. We do not see or we do not hear something, but we think of something in our mind. That is this thought proces. In that kind of thought process, there is no five-sense-door-adverting consciousness simply because the object is not accepted through the five senses. It is accepted through the mind. Mind in Abhidhamma is the sixth sense. In Abhidhamma there are six senses and mind is the sixth. When we think of something without the help of the five senses, there is another kind of thought process. In that kind of thought process this mind-door-adverting consciousness acts just as the five-sense-door-adverting consciousness acts in the other kinds of thought process.

For your information this mind-door-adverting consciousness arises also in the thought process given in the mango simile, but it has a different function in this thought process. The types of consciousness have different functions. We will study functions in coming lectures. What is stated in the mango simile as determining consciousness is in fact this mind-door-advrting consciousness. It has two functions. Sometimes it has the function of adverting through the mind-door. When it arises through the five sense-doors, it has the function of determining. So it has two functions.

The last one is smile-producing consciouusness. But unfortunately it is only for Buddhas and Arahants, and not for us. We smile with some other types of consciousness, but not with this type of consciousness. It is said in the books that it only arises in Buddhas and Arahants. Buddhas and Arahants smile with this type of consciousness.

So we have altogether three rootless functional consciousness. When we add seven, eight and three, we get eighteen typs of rootless consciousness. The numbers at the end of the lines in parentheses are the consecutive numbers. It will go up to 121. We can refer to the types of consciousness by these numbers. We can say number thirteen, number fifteen, something like that.

Student: Is there such a thing as neutral Kamma? You said that rootless functional consciousness is not accompanied by any of the six roots, but I think you said earlier it was the result of Kamma.

Sayadaw: Rootless functional are not results and they do not give results.

Student: So there is no Kamma involved?

Sayadaw: No. No Kamma is here. There is no Kamma in all these eighteen types of consciousness. In the twelve Akusala (unwholesome) consciousness we have Kamma, Akusala Kamma. You know Kamma is really a mental factor, a Cetasika. What we call Kamma is a Cetasika. We will come to kamma later, but let me get into something here.

When we talk about Kamma, when people talk about Kamma and when we explain it, we say good actions and bad actions. Technically speaking however, according to Abhidhamma Kamma is not the action itself but the volition, a state of mind, a Cetasika accompanying that action. So Kamma is not physical. It is mental. It is one kind of Cetasika. Volition or in Pàli Cetanà is with every type of consciousness. Only Cetanà accompanying the wholesome and unwholesome Cittas is called Kamma. Cetanà accompanies every one of the 89 types of consciousness but not all consciousnesses constitute Kamma. Kamma is Cetanà which accompanies unwholesome and wholesome types of consciousness. Here with all these 18 types of consciousness Cetanà arises, but it is not called Kamma. It hs no potential as Kamma here. It is just a mental factor arising together with the Citta. So Cetanà here is not called Kamma.

In Dependent Origination the second link or the second factor is Sankhàra. What is Sankhàra there? Actually it is Kamma. Kamma is called Sankhàra there. There Sankhàra is volition accompanying Akusala Cittas, Kàmavacara Kusala Cittas, Rùpavacara Cittas, Arùpavacara Cittas. Cetanà or volition accompanying Kusala or Akusala Cittas is Kamma.

Here since these types of consciousness are not Kusala or Akusala, there is no Kamma in these types of consciousness.

Student: How is this system of classifying consciousness used in the meditation practice or is it used?

Sayadaw: Actually we do not use this system in meditation, but we come to be awar of or we come to see at least some of these Cittas when we practice meditation. Meditation is developing the mind or controlling the mind. First we try to make the mind still and calm, stil so it can penetrate into the nature of things. So during meditation, especially Vipassanà meditation because when you practice Vipassanà meditation you have to be aware of everything at the present moment, you have to be mindful of your thoughts too. When you pay attention to these thoughts, different thoughts coming and going, you can be aware of many of these types of consciousness. You may not be able to name them although you really experience them and you really see them (not with your eyes). You really see them. They are the ones that can be experienced by oneself especially through meditation.

Student: So you might not think during the meditation that this is Citta or whatever but later after the meditation you might be able to reflect on this?

Sayadaw: Yes, if you have this type of knowledge before you practice meditation. Then you may say to yourself, 'This is it. This is Akusala Citta. This is Kusala Citta. This is the mental factor 'feeling'. This is the mental factor 'volition' and so on.

Student: Was this system put together by the Buddha or others later on?

Sayadaw: The traditional belief is that it was propagted by the Buddha. In Theravàda tradition it is stated that the Buddha taught Abhidhamma in his seventh year of enlightenment to the celestial beings, not human beings. Then he taught again to his disciple, the Venerable Sàriputta. And Venerable Sàriputta taught Abhidhamma to his 500 disciples. That version of Abhidhamma taught by Venerable Sàriputta is the one that was accepted and recorded at the First Buddhist Council and it is the one that has come down to us until the present day.

Student: There are six roots - attachment, illwill, delusion and their opposites?

Sayadaw: Yes.

Student: They are under unwholesome consciousness?

Sayadaw: No. The first three are unwholesome. Their opposites, some are wholesome nd some are neutral. This is so because these three wil accompany both wholesome consciousness and resultant consciousness. Resultant consciousnesses are neither wholesome nor unwholesome. These roots will ccompany functional consciousness also. So three roots are unwholesome. The other three roots are wholesome or neutral. Actually to use the technical word they are the roots of wholesome (Kusala) consciousness and the roots of Abyàkata consciousness.

Let me explain that word because that word is not correctly explained in the manual (Venerable Narada's edition). In order to understand the word 'Abyàkata' we must understand the sequence taught in the first book of Abhidhamma. When the Buddha explained all Dhammas in different ways (in dyads, in triads, and so on), Buddha said:'1. There are those that are Kusala. 2. There are those that are Akusala. 3. There are those that are Abyàkata.' The literal translation of the word 'Abyàkata' is 'not said', 'not declared'. That means 'not declared as either Kusala or Akusala'. In fact it means those which are neither Kusala nor Akusala are called 'Abyàkata'. They are translated as indeterminate, but actually 'Abyàkata' means 'not declared as Kusala or Akusala'. That is why Abyàkata covers not only Cittas and Cetsikas but also matter (Rùpa) and Nibbàna. They are all called 'Abyàkata' because they are not termed Kusala or Akusala. Anything that is not called 'Kusala' or 'Akusala' is 'Abyàkata'.

These three roots (non-attachment, non-illwill, non-delusion) are clled Kusala roots and Abyàkata roots. They are Kusala roots when they accompany Kusala consciousness. They are Abyàkata roots when they accompany Abyàkata consciousness. Abyàkata consciousness includes the group that we are studying today, the resultant consciousness and the functional consciousness. There will be some more next week.

Student: If the results are from Kamma, how can there be unwholesome results with indifference?

Sayadaw: There is an example and there is an explanation, but sometimes it is difficult to give the explanations because in the explanation itself there is something that hs to be explained further. But I will try to explain it to you.

First you must understand that there are different kinds of matter or let us say material properties. They are broadly ivided into two, the ones on which the others depend and the dependent ones. Let us call them primary properties and depending properties. There are four primary properties - earth, water, fire and air. They are called the four primary properties, the four great elements. Then there are other material properties that are said to be dependent upon these four great elements. These four great elements are like the basis, something more solid than the other ones which depend upon them.

When we see something, we really see the color of it. We do not see the thing, but the color. That color is what we see. That color is one of the depending material properties. When we see something, that color or that visible object strikes against the eye. The eye sensitivity ('Eye' means eye sensitivity. In modern terms it may be the retina.) is also included in the depending material properties. They are soft ones. When one soft one strikes another soft one, there is not a strong impact. Only when there is a strong impact can there be pleasurable or displeasurable feeling. When the impact is like the impact between two cotton balls, there is no strong feeling. That is why seeing consciousness and others are accompanied by indifferent or neutral feeling.

However it is only at that very moment that it is accompanied by neutral feeling. When we reach the Javana moments, then you can have any kind of feeling there. You see something and you are happy or you see something and you are angry, but at the very first moment of seeing, that consciousness is accompanied by indifference.

This chart is very helpful if you want to study the different kinds of consciousness indetail. It is good to identify these dots, for example with pleasure, with wrong view, unprompted. That is the first dot. The second dot is with pleasure, with wrong view, prompted.

You will see zeros on the sheets. These are for you to put in color. You can use any color. It is arbitrary that I use red and blue. The red color represents pleasurable feeling. Blue represents indifferent or neutral feeling. Green represents displeasurable feeling. The green cross is Dukkha, pain. The red cross is not an ambulance. The red cross is Sukha, happiness.

Student: What are the blue circles?

Sayadaw: The blue circles represent consciousnesses accompanied by neutral feeling. The red circles are consciousnesses accompanied by pleasurable feeling.

The first column represents the twelve unwholesome Cittas. The next three columns represent the eighteen rootless Cittas. The first of the three columns represents unwholesome resultant Cittas. The second column represents wholesome resultant Cittas. The third column which has only three dots represents functional Cittas that are rootless. You will see that the last dot is in red color. Smile-producing consciousness is accompanied by pleasurable feeling. The other two are accompanied by indifferent feeling.

If you study this, little by little, in about two or three weekss, you will have the whole chart in your mind. Do not be afraid of this chart because you cannot learn it in a day or two. If you study it, little by little it becomes easy.

Student: Inaudible.

Sayadaw: Yes. Yes, because we have to divide things to help people learn. We teach Abhidhamma to very young novices about twelve or thirteen years of age. We have to use some balls or something like shells. I can give you some charts next week, but they do not have colors. You have to put in the colors yourselves. It will be good to color so that you will remember more. You need concentration. If you make a mistake, you have to do it all over again.

Please do not worry if you cannot study all these in detail because this course is just an introduction and not the detaileed study of the manual. If I have to teach as I taught before, it needs about sixty hours or sixty talks. It took more than a year for me to finish the course. That is teaching once a week. OK. Thank you.

Sàdhu! Sàdhu! Sàdhu!