PrefaceThe Buddha's teaching on the conditions
for the phenomena of our life has been laid down in the last
of the seven books of the Abhidhamma, the "Patthana", or "Conditional
Relations". The Buddha, in the night he attained enlightenment,
penetrated all the different conditions for the phenomena which
arise and he contemplated the "Dependant Origination" (Paticca
Samuppada), the conditions for being in the cycle of birth and death,
and the way leading to the elimination of these causes. We read in
the Introduction of the Atthasalini (The Expositor, the commentary
to the Dhammasangani, the first book of the Abhidhamma) that the Buddha,
during the fourth week after his enlightenment, sat in the "Jewel
House", in the north west direction, and contemplated the Abhidhamma.
The Abhidhamma was laid down later on in seven books. We read:
... And while he contemplated the contents of the "Dhammasangani", his body did not emit rays; and similarly with the contemplation of the next five books. But when, coming to the "Great Book", he began to contemplate the twenty-four universal causal relations of condition, of presentation, and so on, his omniscience certainly found its opportunity therein. For as the great fish Timirati-pingala finds room only in the great ocean eighty-four thousand 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....
The teaching of the conditional
relations is deep and it is not easy to read the "Patthana",
but we could at least begin to study different conditions and verify
them in daily life. Before we knew the Buddha's teachings we used
to think of cause and effect in a speculative way. We may have reflected
on the origin of life, on the origin of the world, we may have thought
about causes and effects with regard to the events of life, but we
did not penetrate the real conditions for the phenomena of life. The
Buddha taught the way to develop understanding of what is true in
the absolute or ultimate sense. We cannot understand the "Patthana"
if we do not know the difference between what is real in conventional
sense and what is real in the ultimate sense. Body and mind are real
in conventional sense, they are not real in the ultimate sense.
What we call body and mind are temporary combinations of different
realities which arise because of conditioning factors and then fall
away immediately. They are succeeded by new realities which fall away
again, and thus the flux of life goes on. Body, mind, person or being
do not exist in the ultimate sense. Mental phenomena, nama, and physical
phenomena, rupa, which constitute what we call a "person" are real in
the ultimate sense, but they are merely passing phenomena. Ultimate truth
is not abstract. Ultimate realities, in Pali: paramattha dhammas, have
each their own characteristic which cannot be changed. We may change the
name, but the characteristic remains the same. Seeing is an ultimate reality,
it experiences visible object which appears through the eyes; it is real
for everyone, it has its own unalterable characteristic. Anger has its own
characteristic, it is real for everyone, no matter how we name it. Ultimate
realities can be directly experienced when they appear through eyes, ears,
nose, tongue, bodysense or mind. They arise because of their appropriate
conditions.
There are twenty-four classes of conditions enumerated in the "Patthana". In order to understand these it is essential to have a precise knowledge of the realities which are involved in these conditional relations. The Dhammasangani, the first book of the Abhidhamma, is an analytical exposition of all classes of consciousness, cittas, and their accompanying mental factors, cetasikas, and all physical phenomena, rupas. The Dhammasangani explains which cetasikas accompany which cittas and it deals with conditions which operate in one moment of consciousness.[1] It explains which rupas arise together in a group and the factors which produce rupas, namely, kamma, citta, nutrition and temperature. However, it does not describe in detail the different types of conditions. The Patthana describes in detail all possible relations between phenomena. Each reality in our life can only occur because of a concurrence of different conditions which operate in a very intricate way. Hearing is conditioned by sound which impinges on the earsense. Both sound and earsense are rupas which also arise because of their own conditions and therefore, they have to fall away. Thus, the reality they condition, hearing, cannot last either, it also has to fall away. Each conditioned reality can exist just for an extremely short moment. When we understand this it will be easier to see that there is no self who can exert control over realities. How could we control what falls away immediately? When we move our hands, when we walk, when we laugh or cry, when we are attached or worried, there are conditions for such moments. The Patthana helps us to understand the deep underlying motives for our behaviour and the conditions for our defilements. It explains, for example, that kusala can be the object of akusala citta. For instance, on account of generosity which is wholesome, attachment, wrong view or conceit, which are unwholesome realities, can arise. The Patthana also explains that akusala can be the object of kusala, for example, when akusala is considered with insight. This is an essential point which is often overlooked. If one thinks that akusala cannot be object of awareness and right understanding, the right Path cannot be developed.
The enumerations and classifications
in the Patthana may, at first sight, seem dry and cumbersome,
but when they are carefully considered it can be seen that they deal
with realities of daily life. The study of the Abhidhamma can become
very lively and interesting if our knowledge is applied in our own
situation. It can be understood more clearly that kusala citta and
akusala citta arise because of different conditions. One may doubt
whether it is helpful to know details about realities and their conditions.
When we know that there isn't anything we can control, will that change
our life? It is beneficial to have less ignorance about ourselves. Defilements
cannot be eradicated immediately, there will still be sadness, worry
and frustration. However, when it is more clearly understood that realities
arise because of their own conditions there will be less inclination
to try to do what is impossible: to change what has arisen because of
conditions. When there is more understanding one will be less obsessed
by one's experiences, there will be more patience. The Patthana clarifies
how accumulations of good and bad qualities are conditions for the arising
of kusala and akusala in the future. Thus, the study of the Patthana can
encourage us to develop understanding together with all good qualities.
Conditions can be accumulated which lead to direct understanding of realities
and eventually to enlightenment.
The reader will find it complicated
to study the duration of rupa which equals seventeen moments
of citta. We could never count such moments, they pass too quickly.
However, the knowledge about the duration of rupa helps us to see
that rupa lasts longer than citta. Rupa is weak at its arising moment,
but after its arising it can condition citta. One rupa can condition
several cittas since it lasts longer than citta. For instance, the rupa
which is sense object (colour, sound, etc.) can condition a series of cittas
arising in a sense-door process by way of object-condition, that is to
say, by being the object they experience. The rupas which are the sense-organs
(eyesense, earsense, etc.) can condition citta by being its base, the
place of origin. Thus, knowing about the duration of rupa and of citta
clarifies their relationship.
The Abhidhamma, the Suttanta and
the Vinaya all point to the same goal: the eradication of wrong
view and all other defilements. Also when we study the Patthana
we are reminded of this goal. Some people doubt whether the Buddha
himself taught the twenty-four classes of conditions. They wonder
why these have not been enumerated in the suttas. The nucleus of the
teaching on conditions is to be found also in other parts of the teachings.
In the suttas we read, for example, about jhana-factors and Path-factors,
and about the factors which are predominance-condition[2] for the
realities they accompany, and these are among the twenty-four classes
of conditions which are described in the Patthana. The "Dependant
Origination" (Paticcasamuppada), the Buddha's teaching on the factors
which are the conditions for being in the cycle of birth and death
and also those which condition freedom from the cycle, is found in all
parts of the scriptures. The teaching of the "Dependant Origination"
is closely connected with the teaching of the "Patthana", and the "Dependant
Origination" cannot be understood without knowledge of the different
types of conditions as taught in the "Patthana". Doubt will only disappear
if we thoroughly consider the different types of conditions, because
then we can see for ourselves whether the contents of the "Patthana"
conform to the truth or not.
The conditions have also been
explained by the great commentator Buddhaghosa in the Visuddhimagga
(Path of Purification).[3] Buddhaghosa, who lived in the beginning
of the fifth century A.D. in Sri Lanka, edited older commentarial
work he found there.
I have used Pali terms next to
the English translation of these terms for precision. In different
English textbooks one and the same Pali term has been translated
with different English words, and then there may be confusion as
to which reality is represented by such or such English word. Only
part of the "Patthana" has been translated into English by Ven.
U Narada. This work, consisting of two volumes, is, under the title
of "Conditional Relations", available at the Pali Text Society[4].
The "Guide to Conditional Relations", which the translator also wrote,
is a helpful introduction to the reading of the "Patthana"[5]. All the
texts from which I quoted are available at the Pali Text Society. Ms.
Sujin Boriharnwanaket has, in the Bovoranives Temple in Bangkok,
given most inspiring lectures on the conditional relations. She stressed
time and again that conditions pertain to this very moment, in daily
life. I used many of her lively illustrations and her quotations
from the scriptures for this book on conditions.
I have added an appendix where
I explain some notions of the Abhidhamma in order to facilitate
the reading of this study on conditions.
It has been said in commentaries
that Buddhism will decline and that the Buddhist scriptures will
disappear. The Abhidhamma, and in particular the "Patthana", will
be the first to be in oblivion. The "Patthana" is deep and difficult
to understand. I hope I can contribute with this book to the arousing
of interest in the "Patthana". May the Abhidhamma survive for an
additional length of time. This will also insure the survival of the
other parts of the scriptures, the Vinaya and the Suttanta. The "Patthana"
helps us to have more understanding of the truth of non-self. It thereby
encourages us to develop the eightfold Path, to develop direct understanding
of all realities which appear through the five sense-doors and through
the mind-door. Theoretical knowledge of conditions is not the purpose
of the "Patthana". Through mere intellectual understanding conditions
cannot be thoroughly grasped. When understanding of nama, mental
phenomena, and rupa, physical phenomena, has been developed to the
degree of the second stage of insight,[6] there will be direct understanding
of the conditionality of realities. When conditions are understood more
clearly, there will be less clinging to a self who could control awareness
of nama and rupa. Thus, the "Patthana" can help us to follow the right
practice. It is above all the right practice of the eightfold Path that
can promote the survival of the Buddha's teachings.
Introduction It is not by mere chance that we
are born in planes of existence where we can experience objects through the
senses and that we are equipped with sense-organs through which we can experience
such objects. During previous lives as well we experienced colours, sounds
and other sense objects. We were clinging to these objects in the past and
we are clinging to them at present again and again, so that attachment has
become a deep-rooted tendency. Attachment does not arise with each moment
of consciousness, citta, but the tendency to attachment is "carried
on" from one moment to the next moment, from life to life. Each citta
which arises falls away completely, but it is succeeded by the next
citta. In the uninterrupted series of cittas which flow on continuously,
inclinations to both good and evil are carried on. When there are
the right conditions wholesome moments of consciousness, kusala cittas,
and unwholesome moments of consciousness, akusala cittas, arise, and
thus there can be new accumulations of wholesome and unwholesome qualities
which will bear again on the future.
We all have accumulated attachment.
For instance, as soon as a morsel of delicious food is on our tongue,
attachment to flavour has an opportunity to arise. In the human
plane of existence there are many opportunities for attachment to
sense objects. There were wise people, also before the Buddha's time,
who saw the disadvantage of the experience of sense objects. They cultivated
tranquil meditation to the stage of absorption, jhana, in order to
temporarily suppress the clinging to sense objects. Jhanacittas of the
different stages of jhana can produce results in the form of rebirth
in higher planes of existence where there are fewer kinds of sense impressions
or none at all. In these planes one does not have to take food in order
to stay alive, there are no conditions for the enjoyment of flavours.
Through the cultivation of jhana, however, clinging is not eradicated.
So long as clinging has not been eradicated there will be rebirth. When
the lifespan in a higher plane is terminated there may be rebirth in a
plane where one will cling again to sense objects and accumulate more
clinging unless one develops the wisdom which can eradicate clinging.
The fact that we are born in the
human plane where we can enjoy flavours and all the other sense
objects and also the fact that we have clinging to them is conditioned.
When we use the word "condition" we should realize that there is not
just one kind of condition which brings about one kind of effect. There
are many types of conditions for the phenomena which arise and it is
important to study these different types. We may be inclined to put
off the study of this subject because we think it too difficult. However,
we should remember that conditions are real in daily life and that
they are not merely textbook terms.
We may have learnt that there are
different types of mental phenomena, namas, and different types of physical
phenomena, rupas, and that these are only conditioned phenomena,
not self. By being aware of nama and rupa when they appear they can
be gradually known as they are.[7] In spite of our study of nama and
rupa we may still find that awareness, sati, arises very seldom. One
of the causes of lack of sati may be the fact that we did not yet
sufficiently study in detail nama and rupa and their different conditions.
If we study the conditions for nama and rupa we will have more understanding
of the meaning of "no self". Intellectual understanding of the truth
is a condition for the arising of awareness and this is the way to eradicate
the wrong view of self.
What we consider as our life is
actually conditioned phenomena (sankhara dhammas), that is, citta
(consciousness), cetasikas (mental factors accompanying citta),
and rupa (physical phenomena). What arises because of conditions
does not last, it has to fall away again. Thus, citta, cetasika and
rupa are impermanent. Nibbana is the unconditioned dhamma, it does
not arise and it does not fall away.
Citta experiences something, it
cognizes an object. The five senses and the mind are the doorways
through which citta can cognize the different objects which present
themselves. Citta does not arise singly, it is always accompanied
by cetasikas. Cetasikas have each their own function and assist citta
in cognizing an object. There are many ways of classifying cittas and
one of these is by way of four "jatis" or classes (jati literally means
birth or nature). There are four jatis by which the different nature
of cittas is shown and they are:
- kusala (wholesome) akusala (unwholesome)
- vipaka (result which may be pleasant or unpleasant)
- kiriya (neither cause nor result, inoperative)
Cetasikas are of the same jati
as the citta they accompany. There are seven cetasikas, the "universals"
(sabba-citta-sadharana) which accompany every citta.[8] There are
six cetasikas, the "particulars" (pakinnaka) which arise with cittas
of the four jatis but not with every citta.[9] Furthermore, there are
akusala cetasikas which arise only with akusala cittas and there are
sobhana (beautiful) cetasikas which arise only with sobhana cittas. Citta
and the accompaying cetasikas have, in the planes of existence where
there are nama and rupa, the same physical base (vatthu),[10] they experience
the same object and they fall away together. Citta and cetasikas are
of the same plane of consciousness:[11] they can be of the sense-sphere,
they can be jhanacitta which is rupavacara or arupavacara, or they can
be lokuttara (supramundane), experiencing nibbana. Citta and cetasikas
condition one another in several ways, as we shall see.
Rupas, physical phenomena, do not
arise singly, but in groups, which can be produced by kamma, by citta, by
heat or by nutrition.[12] Thus we see that there is no reality which arises
singly. Realities do not arise by their own power, they are dependant on
other phenomena which make them arise. Moreover, there is not any reality
which arises from a single cause, there is a concurrence of several conditions
through which realities arise. When we, for example, taste delicious cheese,
there are several conditions for tasting-consciousness. Tasting-consciousness
is vipakacitta, result, produced by kamma. It is also conditioned by the
rupa which is tasting-sense and which is also produced by kamma. Tasting-sense
is the physical place of origin or base (vatthu) for tasting-consciousness
as well as the doorway (dvara) through which tasting-consciousness experiences
the flavour. The rupa which is flavour is a condition for tasting-consciousness
by being its object. Contact, phassa, which is a cetasika accompanying
every citta, "contacts" the flavour so that tasting-consciousness can experience
it. If phassa would not contact the object citta could not experience it.
If we understand that there is
a multiplicity of conditions we will be less inclined to think that
pain and pleasure can be controlled by a self. Or do we still think
so? When we have unpleasant experiences, for example, when someone hits
us, we are inclined to think that we can create pleasant feeling again
when we go out in order to eat in a nice restaurant. It depends on conditions
whether we have money to go to a restaurant and while we are going out
there are many moments of pleasure and pain, each brought about by their
own conditions. It may not be the right time for the experience of
pleasant flavours, the food may be spoilt or the service may be inadequate.
The more we learn in detail about conditions, the more will we understand
that whatever we experience is beyond control.
Nama conditions rupa and rupa conditions
nama. We read in the Visuddhimagga (XVIII, 32) about the interdependence of
nama and rupa:
... For just as when two sheaves of reeds are propped up one against the other, each one gives the other consolidating support, and when one falls the other falls, so too, in the five-constituent (five khandhas)[13] becoming, mentality-materiality occurs as an interdependent state, each of its components giving the other consolidating support, and when one falls owing to death, the other falls too. Hence the Ancients said:
The mental and material
Are twins and each supports the other;
When one breaks up they both break up
Through interconditionality.
And just as when sound occurs having as its support a drum that is beaten by the stick, then the drum is one and the sound is another, the drum and the sound are not mixed up together, the drum is void of the sound and the sound is void of the drum, so too, when mentality occurs having as its support the materiality called the physical base, the door and the object, then the materiality is one and the mentality is another, the mentality and the materiality are not mixed up together, the mentality is void of the materiality and the materiality is void of the mentality; yet the mentality occurs due to the materiality as the sound occurs due to the drum....In being mindful of nama and rupa we will learn to distinguish their different characteristics, thus, we will not confuse nama and rupa, and we will also know them as conditioned realities, not self. The Visuddhimagga (XVII, 68) defines condition, paccaya, as follows:
... When a state is indispensable to another state's presence or arising, the former is a condition for the latter. But as to characteristic, a condition has the characteristic of assisting; for any given state that assists the presence or arising of a given state is called the latter's condition. The words, condition, cause, reason, source, originator, producer, etc., are one in meaning though different in letter....
Thus, there are conditioning
phenomena, paccaya-dhammas, and conditioned phenomena, paccayupanna-dhammas.
In the "Patthana" there is a tripartite division of realities, which
can also be found elsewhere in the Abhidhamma. Realities can be: kusala
(here translated as faultless), akusala (faulty) and avyakata (indeterminate).
We should remember that avyakata comprises citta and cetasikas which
are vipaka, accompanied or unaccompanied by hetus (roots)[14], kiriyacittas,
accompanied or unaccompanied by hetus, rupa and nibbana.
The "Patthana" deals with
twenty-four classes of conditions and it teaches in detail about the
phenomena which condition other phenomena by way of these different
conditions. One may wonder whether so many details are necessary. We
read in "The Guide"[15] (Netti-Ppakaranan, Part III, 16 Modes of Conveying,
VII, Knowledge of the Disposition of Creatures' Faculties, §587):
Herein, the Blessed One advises one of keen faculties with advice in brief; the Blessed One advises one of medium faculties with advice in brief and detail; the Blessed One advises one of blunt faculties with advice in detail.
The Buddha taught Dhamma
in detail to those who could not grasp the truth quickly. People
today are different from people at the Buddha's time who could attain
enlightenment quickly, even during a discourse. The "Patthana" does
not consist of empty formulas, we have to verify the truth of conditions
in our own life. If we merely learn the theory about the different conditions
we will have the wrong grasp of the Abhidhamma and this leads to mental
derangement, to madness. We read in the "Expositor" (I, Introductory
Discourse, 24):
...The bhikkhu, who is ill trained in the Abhidhamma, makes his mind run to excess in metaphysical abstractions and thinks of the unthinkable. Consequently he gets mental distraction...
We read in the Visuddhimagga
(XX, 19) that the five khandhas (conditioned namas and rupas) are "as
a disease, because of having to be maintained by conditions, and because
of being the root of disease". The khandhas arise because of conditions
and what arises because of a concurrence of conditions is not eternal,
it has to fall away. Therefore, the khandhas cannot be a real refuge,
they are dukkha, unsatisfactory. Further on we read that they are a calamity,
an affliction, a plague, no protection, no shelter, as murderous, because
of breaking faith like an enemy posing as a friend.
We cling to the khandhas,
we want their arising again; we wish life to continue. So long as we
have not eradicated defilements there will be the arising of the khandhas
at birth. We perform kamma which produces rebirth. We still run the
risk of an unhappy rebirth produced by akusala kamma.[16] Kamma is accumulated
and thus it is capable of producing result later on. Not only kamma, but
also defilements are accumulated. Since there are many more akusala cittas
arising than kusala cittas, we accumulate defilements again and again,
and these cause sorrow. Akusala cittas which arose in the past condition
the arising of akusala cittas later on, at present and in the future. The
latent tendencies of akusala are like microbes infesting the body and they
can become active at any time when the conditions are favourable. So long
as the khandhas have not been fully understood by insight defilements have
soil to grow in; they are not abandoned and thus the cycle of birth and death
continues. In order eventually fully to understand the khandhas we should
learn what the conditions are for the phenomena which arise. Therefore,
it is beneficial to study the twenty-four conditions which are treated in
the "Patthana".
Footnotes
[1] There is only one citta at a time but it is accompanied by several cetasikas which each perform their own function.
[2] Later on I shall deal with these kinds of conditions.
[3] I have used the translation by Ven. Nyanamoli, Colombo, 1964.
[4] 73 Lime Walk, Headington, Oxford OX 37, 7AD, England.
[5] See also "Guide to the Abhidhamma Pitaka", Ch VII, by Ven. Nyanatiloka, B.P.S. Kandy, and "The Buddhist Philosophy of Relations", by Ven. Ledi Sayadaw, Department of Religious Affairs, Rangoon, Myanmar.
[6] Insight, direct understanding of nama and rupa, is developed in several stages, until realities are seen as they are at the attainment of enlightenment. The second stage cannot be realised before the first stage: knowing the difference between the characteristic of nama and of rupa.
[7] Awareness or mindfulness, sati, is a sobhana cetasika, beautiful mental factor, which arises with each sobhana citta. Sati is non-forgetful of what is wholesome, and there are many levels of sati. Sati in the development of insight, vipassana, is directly aware of the nama or rupa which appears. The study of the teachings and consideration of what one has learnt are important conditions for the arising of sati.
[8] They are contact, feeling, remembrance or perception (sanna), volition, concentration, life faculty and attention.
[9] They are: initial thinking, sustained thinking, decision, effort, rapture and wish-to-do.
[10] In the planes of existence where there are nama and rupa, cittas do not arise independently of the body, they have a physical base or place of origin, vatthu, which is rupa. For example, the rupa which is eyesense is the base for seeing-consciousness, and the other senses are the bases for the relevant sense-cognitions.
[11] Plane of existence refers to the place where one is born, such as the human plane, a hell plane or a heavenly plane. Plane of consciousness refers to the nature of citta, namely cittas of the sense sphere which experience sense objects, jhanacittas which experience with absorption meditation subjects or lokuttara cittas which experience nibbana, the unconditioned dhamma.
[12] Different groups of rupas of the body are produced by one these four factors, and rupas which are not of the body are produced only by temperature.
[13] The conditioned phenomena of our life can be classified as five khandhas or aggregates: rupa-kkhandha, vedana-kkhandha (feeling), sanna-kkhandha (perception or remembrance), sankhara-kkhandha (formations, all cetasikas except feeling and perception), and vinnana-kkhandha (consciousness).
[14] There are three cetasikas which are unwholesome roots, akusala hetus, and these are: lobha, attachment, dosa, aversion, and moha, ignorance. They arise only with akusala cittas. There are three cetasikas which are sobhana, beautiful, hetus, and these are: alobha, non-attachment, adosa, non-aversion, and amoha, non-delusion or wisdom. These can arise with kusala cittas as well as with vipakacittas and kiriyacittas.
[15] An ancient guide for commentators, from which also Buddhaghosa quoted. It is assumed that it came from India to Sri Lanka, between the 3rd century B.C. and the 5th century A.C.
[16] Those who have attained one of the stages of enlightenment, the ariyans, have no conditions for an unhappy rebirth.
Footnotes
[1] There is only one citta at a time but it is accompanied by several cetasikas which each perform their own function.
[2] Later on I shall deal with these kinds of conditions.
[3] I have used the translation by Ven. Nyanamoli, Colombo, 1964.
[4] 73 Lime Walk, Headington, Oxford OX 37, 7AD, England.
[5] See also "Guide to the Abhidhamma Pitaka", Ch VII, by Ven. Nyanatiloka, B.P.S. Kandy, and "The Buddhist Philosophy of Relations", by Ven. Ledi Sayadaw, Department of Religious Affairs, Rangoon, Myanmar.
[6] Insight, direct understanding of nama and rupa, is developed in several stages, until realities are seen as they are at the attainment of enlightenment. The second stage cannot be realised before the first stage: knowing the difference between the characteristic of nama and of rupa.
[7] Awareness or mindfulness, sati, is a sobhana cetasika, beautiful mental factor, which arises with each sobhana citta. Sati is non-forgetful of what is wholesome, and there are many levels of sati. Sati in the development of insight, vipassana, is directly aware of the nama or rupa which appears. The study of the teachings and consideration of what one has learnt are important conditions for the arising of sati.
[8] They are contact, feeling, remembrance or perception (sanna), volition, concentration, life faculty and attention.
[9] They are: initial thinking, sustained thinking, decision, effort, rapture and wish-to-do.
[10] In the planes of existence where there are nama and rupa, cittas do not arise independently of the body, they have a physical base or place of origin, vatthu, which is rupa. For example, the rupa which is eyesense is the base for seeing-consciousness, and the other senses are the bases for the relevant sense-cognitions.
[11] Plane of existence refers to the place where one is born, such as the human plane, a hell plane or a heavenly plane. Plane of consciousness refers to the nature of citta, namely cittas of the sense sphere which experience sense objects, jhanacittas which experience with absorption meditation subjects or lokuttara cittas which experience nibbana, the unconditioned dhamma.
[12] Different groups of rupas of the body are produced by one these four factors, and rupas which are not of the body are produced only by temperature.
[13] The conditioned phenomena of our life can be classified as five khandhas or aggregates: rupa-kkhandha, vedana-kkhandha (feeling), sanna-kkhandha (perception or remembrance), sankhara-kkhandha (formations, all cetasikas except feeling and perception), and vinnana-kkhandha (consciousness).
[14] There are three cetasikas which are unwholesome roots, akusala hetus, and these are: lobha, attachment, dosa, aversion, and moha, ignorance. They arise only with akusala cittas. There are three cetasikas which are sobhana, beautiful, hetus, and these are: alobha, non-attachment, adosa, non-aversion, and amoha, non-delusion or wisdom. These can arise with kusala cittas as well as with vipakacittas and kiriyacittas.
[15] An ancient guide for commentators, from which also Buddhaghosa quoted. It is assumed that it came from India to Sri Lanka, between the 3rd century B.C. and the 5th century A.C.
[16] Those who have attained one of the stages of enlightenment, the ariyans, have no conditions for an unhappy rebirth.
