Perception
By Sujin Boriharnwanaket
| The Atthasalini, the commentary
of Dhammasangani-pakarana, compares the arising to experience an arammana
of the vithi-citta through the panca-dvara [to the process in which a king
receives a tribute] by saying, "A king sleeps on a royal bed with an attendant
massaging his feet, a deaf doorman standing at the door, and three guards
standing in a row. Then a peasant, bearing tribute, comes to knock
upon the door. The deaf doorman does not hear, so the attendant massaging
the feet signals, upon which the deaf doorman opens the door. The
first guard receives the tribute and hands it to the second, who passes
it on to the third. The third guard presents it to the king who partakes
of the tribute." This analogy demonstrates the process of vithi-citta
that arises to experience the arammana that, the instant the arammana comes
into contact with the cakkhuppasada is similar to the peasant bearing tribute
to the door. The attendant massaging the king's feet is like the
panca-dvaravajjana-citta that knows there is a visitor knocking.
So he signals or [the citta] perceives the arammana coming into contact
and falls away. The cakkhu-vinna-citta then arises in sequence to
see through the cakkhuppasada. After that the first guard, or the
sampaticchanna-citta, receives the tribute and passes it on to the second,
or the santirana-citta, who then passes it on to the third or votthabbana-citta.
The third presents it to the king, or javana-citta, and the king absorbs
the tribute, or that arammana.
This personification clarifies that the kicca or function of arammana is only to come into contact with the pasada. The peasant does not enter into the presence of the king but the tribute is passed from the first to the second then the third guard until it reaches the monarch. Only the cakkhu-vinna-citta performs the function of seeing the arammana in contact with the dvara. The arammana can only impinge upon the pasada-rupa. The citta arises in sequence to know the arammana while the arammana cannot penetrate beyond pasada. When we consider this analogy,
we could understand the comparison of each vithi-citta that arises to perform
distinct functions: the cakkhu-vinna-citta performs the function of seeing
at the cakkhuppasada-rupa, which is a cakkhu-dvara, like a doorman opening
the door to look out. The sampaticchanna is the first guard that
receives the tribute and hands it to the second because when the cakkhu-vinna-citta
has performed its function of seeing, it falls away. The cakkhu-vinna-citta
cannot receive the arammana the way the sampaticchanna-citta does since
it can only perform its function of seeing or only sees at the door, or
the pasada-rupa. The sampaticchanna-citta is like the first guard
to perform the function of receiving arammana and passing it on to the
second or santirana, which examines the arammana and passes it on to the
votthabbana-citta to judge. Then the latter presents it to the king,
or the javana vithi-citta, to absorb or partake of the tribute.
July 24, 2000 |
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