Cây Giác Ngộ

into those who attend English schools and those who attend

Chinese schools. Given a certain group of factors – in this case,

the individual people who make up a population – there are many

ways to classify them depending on what you want to find out.

340

It is the same way with the Abhidharmic classification of

consciousness: we have a set of types of consciousness, and we

classify them in different ways according to what we want to find

out. If we remember this general rule about why and how we

classify factors of consciousness, and then run the schemes back

and forth in our minds, they will begin to make more sense.

In this chapter we will look at the form-sphere conscious-

ness (rupavachara) and the formless-sphere consciousness (arupa-

vachara; see Chapter 33). Here we are primarily concerned with

the analysis of types of consciousness that arise from medita-

tion, concentration, or absorption (jhana). As in the genesis of

the Abhidharma itself, Sariputta played a vital role in the begin-

nings of Abhidharmic analysis of consciousness. In the Anupada

Sutta it is mentioned that, after achieving the various states of

meditation, Sariputta applied an Abhidharmic type of analysis

by enumerating, classifying, and identifying the types of con-

sciousness he had experienced.

Much emphasis was placed on analysis even in the early

period of Buddhist history, because the experience of extraor-

dinary states of meditation can be easily misinterpreted. In non-

Buddhist traditions, such states are consistently misinterpreted

as evidence of a transcendental, supranatural being or of an eter-

nal soul.

By pointing out that states of meditation, like experience

in general, are characterized by impermanence, transience, and

insubstantiality, analysis wards off the three defilements of:

(a) craving or attachment to the supernatural and extraordinary

states of consciousness achieved through meditation; (b) false

views, that is, the misinterpretation of these states of meditation

341

as evidence of the existence of a transcendental being or eternal

soul; and (c) conceit, which arises from the notion that one has

achieved extraordinary states of meditation.

The cultivation of states of meditation and the attainment

of the absorptions is a very important part of Buddhist practice

because it is the aim of mental development, which is one of the

three major divisions of the Buddhist path (i.e., morality, mental

development, and wisdom). To achieve these states of meditation,

one needs to create the foundation of morality and withdraw

to some extent from involvement in worldly activities. Having

achieved these preliminary conditions, one then proceeds to cul-

tivate the states of meditation through various methods.

Briefly, one proceeds by means of some forty traditional

objects of meditation, which include ten supports (kasina). These

objects are coordinated to the temperament of the meditator. In

other words, particular objects of meditation are prescribed for

certain kinds of temperament. In general, one begins with an

external support, gradually that external support is internalized

and conceptualized, and finally that support is discarded and

one enters the state of meditation proper.

Five factors of absorption (jhananga) are crucial to develop-

ing the states of meditation that result in the type of conscious-

ness belonging to the form and formless spheres: (i) initial appli-

cation (vitakka), (ii) sustained application (vichara), (iii) interest,

enthusiasm, or rapture (piti), (iv) happiness or bliss (sukha), and

(v) one-pointedness (ekaggata). These five factors are also evi-

dent in most types of consciousness, including the sense-sphere

consciousness and even the consciousness of some of the more

developed animals.

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Take, for instance, one-pointedness. Every conscious

moment participates in one-pointedness to some degree. This

one-pointedness enables us to focus on a particular object in

our conscious experience. If it were not for one-pointedness,

we would not be able to pick out an object of consciousness

from the stream of objects of consciousness. The five factors of

absorption play a particular role in the development of medi-

tative consciousness in that they raise our consciousness from

the sense sphere to the form sphere, and thence to the form-

less sphere, through intensification. Intensification implies the

enhancement and development of the power of particular func-

tions of consciousness. Intensification of the first two factors,

initial application and sustained application, leads to the devel-

opment of the intellect, which can then serve to develop insight. Similarly, intensification of the fifth factor, one-pointedness,

leads to the development of fully concentrated or absorbed con-

sciousness. Intensification of all five factors leads progressively

to the attainment of supernormal powers.

The five factors also help elevate one’s consciousness from the

sense sphere to the form and formless spheres by removing the

five hindrances (nivarana): initial application corrects sloth and

torpor; sustained application corrects doubt; enthusiasm cor-

rects ill-will; happiness corrects restlessness and worry; and one-

pointedness corrects sensual desire.

Let us look more closely at the five factors of absorption to

see how they produce concentrated consciousness. To do this, we

need to look in greater detail at their meaning. In the context of

developing meditative consciousness, initial application (vitakka)

is better termed ‘applied thought,’ since it means ‘hitting upon,’

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‘striking,’ or ‘mounting.’ Vitakka mounts the mind, placing it on

the object of meditation; vichara (sustained application) then

keeps the mind firmly on that object, maintaining the placement

of the mind. The third factor of absorption – enthusiasm, interest,

or rapture (piti) – motivates one to pursue the activity of medi-

tation diligently.

It may be helpful to contrast interest (piti) and happiness

(sukha) to understand the relationship between the two. Interest

and happiness belong to two different classes of experience: inter-

est to the volitional class (sankhara), and happiness to the feel-

ing class (vedana). On the one hand, interest is active anticipa-

tion and enthusiasm; on the other hand, happiness is a feeling of

contentment or bliss. The commentaries have given the follow-

ing example to illustrate the relation between the terms. Suppose

a man in a desert is told that there is a pond of fresh water at the

edge of a village nearby. Upon hearing the news, he experiences

a keen sense of interest (piti) and is motivated and encouraged

by the information. But when he actually reaches the pond and

quenches his thirst, he experiences happiness (sukha). Thus it is

interest or enthusiasm that encourages us to proceed toward con-

centrated consciousness, whereas happiness or bliss is the actual

experience of mental happiness that results from concentrated

consciousness.

One-pointedness (ekaggata) is collection, non-distraction of

the mind, focusing the mind without wavering on the object of

meditation. It is like the flame of a lamp which remains stead-

fast in a room free of drafts.

When all five factors of absorption are present, we have the

first form-sphere consciousness, or absorption. As factors of

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absorption are eliminated one by one, we progress step by step

to the fifth form-sphere consciousness. In other words, when we

eliminate initial application, we have the second form-sphere

absorption; when sustained application is removed, we have

the third form-sphere absorption; when interest is removed, we

have the fourth form-sphere absorption; and when happiness is

removed, we have the fifth form-sphere absorption. These five types of consciousness are karmically active,

wholesome types of consciousness. In addition, there are five

reactive, resultant and five inactive or functional types of con-

sciousness. The first five are karmically active and are present in

this life. The second five are the result of the first five; in other

words, cultivation of form-sphere absorption results in rebirth in

the form sphere. The third five are the five form-sphere absorp-

tions as practiced by the liberated ones (Arhats), who have bro-

ken the bonds of action and reaction; hence the five form-sphere

absorptions are regarded as inactive when practiced by them.

Thus there are fifteen types of form-sphere consciousness: five

wholesome-active, five resultant, and five inactive.

When one has attained the fifth form-sphere conscious-

ness, one experiences dissatisfaction with the limited nature of

the form-sphere absorptions. One then progresses to formless-

sphere meditation, again by means of an object of meditation,

commonly one of the ten supports (kasina). One achieves this

transition by extending the support until it covers the infinity of

space, then discarding the support and meditating on the infin-

ity of space, thereby achieving the first of the formless-sphere

absorptions.

When this is achieved, one progresses to the second

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formless-sphere absorption, which dwells on the infinity of

consciousness. At this stage, rather than focusing on the object

of the meditating consciousness (i.e., the infinity of space), one

focuses on the subject of the meditative consciousness (i.e., the

consciousness that pervades infinite space, or infinite con-

sciousness).

The third formless-sphere absorption dwells on the present

nonexistence of the preceding infinite consciousness that per-

vaded infinity. In other words, the third formless-sphere absorp-

tion dwells on nothing at all, nothingness, or voidness.

Finally, the fourth formless-sphere absorption dwells on

the realm of neither perception nor non-perception, a condition

where consciousness is so subtle that it cannot be described as

existent or nonexistent.

As with the form-sphere absorptions, there are three sets

of formless-sphere consciousness (but with four instead of five

types each). Four formless-sphere types of consciousness belong

to the wholesome-active category; four belong to the resultant-

reactive category, that is, rebirth in the formless sphere; and

four belong to the inactive or functional category, the formless-

sphere absorptions as practiced by the Arhats. In sum, there

twelve types of formless-sphere consciousness: four wholesome-

active, four resultant, and four inactive.

If we look at the progression in the formless-sphere absorp-

tions, we see a gradual unification and rarefaction of conscious-

ness – an absorption in the infinity of the object (space), then

an absorption in the infinity of the subject (consciousness), fol-

lowed by an absorption in nothingness, and, finally, an absorp-

tion in neither perception nor non-perception. You will remem-

346

ber that, when we talked about consciousness and its object as

the fundamental, germinal structure of experience, we had in the

sense-sphere consciousness the most fragmented type of experi-

ence, where consciousness and its object are broken down into

many factors. As we progress through the form and formless

spheres, gradually we have a unification of the subject and a uni-

fication of the object, so that when we arrive at the fourth form-

less-sphere absorption, we have reached the summit of mundane

experience.

It is interesting that the form-sphere and formless-sphere

absorptions were known to yogis before the time of the Buddha

and were practiced by the Buddha’s contemporaries. We have

reason to believe that the two teachers with whom Gotama

studied before his enlightenment were practitioners of these

meditations. The formless-sphere absorptions were the highest

level of spiritual development to which man could aspire before

the Buddha, on the night of his enlightenment, demonstrated

that absorption has to be combined with wisdom to become

truly supramundane.

This is why it is said that, although one can achieve the high-

est development possible in meditation and be reborn at the pin-

nacle of the formless sphere, when the power of that meditative

absorption – which is, after all, impermanent – wanes, one will

be reborn in a lower sphere. For this reason, one must go beyond

even these very rarefied and highly developed levels of medita-

tive consciousness. One has to couple the concentrated and uni-

fied consciousness of the absorptions with wisdom; only then

can one progress beyond the mundane to the supramundane

types of consciousness.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Supramundane Consciousness

In this chapter we conclude our review of the analysis of con-

sciousness, which brings us to the end of the first book of the

Abhidharma Pitaka, the Dhammasangani (Classification of Factors).

Here I will talk about the last of the four objective classifications

of consciousness outlined in Chapter 32, namely, the supramun-

dane consciousness (alokiya chitta).

There are two ways of distinguishing the supramundane

types of consciousness from the mundane types (the conscious-

ness of the sense sphere, form sphere, and formless sphere). The

first distinction is in terms of determination and direction. The

mundane consciousness is determined, undirected, and subject

to karma and conditions, whereas the supramundane conscious-

ness is determining, directed toward a goal, and no longer sub-

ject to forces beyond its control. Supramundane consciousness is

determining because of the predominance not of karma but of

wisdom.

The second distinction is that the mundane types of con-

sciousness have as their object conditioned phenomena, whereas

the supramundane types have as their object the uncondi-

tioned – namely, nirvana. The Buddha spoke of nirvana as an

unborn and uncreated state. Such a state is necessary in order

that there be a way out of the conditioned world of suffering. In

this sense the object of the supramundane type of consciousness

is uncreated and unconditioned.

We can generally divide the supramundane types of con-

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sciousness into four active and four passive types of consciousness.

Normally, types of consciousness can be active or passive, and the

passive types can be reactive (resultant) or inactive (functional).

However, there are no functional or inactive types of conscious-

ness in this category because here the types of consciousness are

determining, not determined. These eight basic types of supra-

mundane consciousness, four active and four passive, each corre-

spond to the path and the fruit of the four types of noble ones – the

stream-winner (sotapanna), the once-returner (sakadagami), the

non-returner (anagami), and the Arhat. Here I ought to point out

another distinction between supramundane and mundane con-

sciousness. In the mundane types of consciousness, active and

resultant types of consciousness can be separated by relatively long

periods of time: in other words, an active, conscious factor may not

produce its resultant factor until much later in the present life or

even until a future life. For example, in the case of the conscious-

ness of the form and formless spheres, the resultant consciousness

does not occur until a subsequent life. In the supramundane types

of consciousness, however, the resultant (or fruit) consciousness

follows the active (or path) consciousness immediately.

The eight types of supramundane consciousness can be

expanded to forty by combining each of the eight with each of

the five form-sphere absorptions. The four types of active supra-

mundane consciousness (the path consciousness of the stream-

winner and so forth) combine with the consciousness belong-

ing to the first absorption and so forth, so that there are twenty

types of active supramundane consciousness associated with the

four types of noble persons and five form-sphere absorptions.

Similarly, the four types of resultant supramundane conscious-

349

ness (the fruit consciousness of the stream-winner and so forth)

combine with the consciousness belonging to the first absorption

and so forth, so that there are twenty types of resultant supra-

mundane consciousness, and forty in all.

This occurs in the following way. Based on the first form-

sphere absorption, the path and fruit consciousness of the stream-

winner arise. Similarly, based on the second third, fourth, and

fifth form-sphere absorptions, the path and the fruit conscious-

ness of the once-returner, the non-returner, and the Arhat arise.

The consciousness belonging to the supramundane consciousness

is therefore developed based on the various absorptions.

Let us go on to define the four stages of enlightenment: stream-

winner (sotapanna), once-returner (sakadagami), non-returner

(anagami), and Arhat. The progress of a noble one through the

four stages of enlightenment is marked by his or her ability to

overcome certain fetters at each stage. There is a progressive elim-

ination of the ten fetters (samyojana) that bind us to the condi-

tioned universe until such time as we are able to achieve libera-

tion.

Entry into the stream is marked by the elimination of three

fetters. The first is the belief in the independent and permanent

existence of an individual person (sakkaya ditthi) – namely, taking

the mental and physical factors of the personality (form, feeling,

volition, perception, and consciousness) to be the self. It is there-

fore not coincidental that we say that the mundane types of con-

sciousness are conditioned by the aggregates, whereas the supra-

mundane types of consciousness are undetermined by the aggre-

gates. Overcoming the first fetter marks one’s passage from the

status of an ordinary worldling to the status of a noble person.

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The second fetter overcome by the stream-winner is doubt

(vichikichchha). This is primarily doubt about the Buddha,

Dharma, and Sangha, but also about the rules of discipline and

interdependent origination.

The third fetter is belief in rules and rituals (silabbata-

paramasa). This fetter has often been misunderstood, but refers

to the practices of non-Buddhists who believe that adhering to

codes of moral discipline and ascetic rituals alone can lead them

to liberation.

When these three fetters are overcome, one enters the

stream and will achieve liberation within no more than seven

lifetimes. One will not be reborn in states of woe (the realms of

the hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals), and one is guaran-

teed implicit faith in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

Having achieved this first stage of enlightenment, the noble

person goes on to weaken two additional fetters, sensual desire

and ill-will, thus attaining the status of a once-returner. These

fetters are particularly strong, which is why, even on this stage,

they are only weakened, not removed. Sensual desire and ill-will

may still occasionally arise, although not arise in the gross form

familiar to worldly persons.

When these two fetters are finally eliminated, one attains

the stage of the non-returner. At this third stage one is no lon-

ger reborn in the cycle of birth and death but only in the pure

abodes reserved for non-returners and Arhats.

When the five remaining fetters are eliminated – attachment

to the sphere of form (rupa raga), attachment to the formless sphere

(arupa raga), conceit (mana), agitation (uddhachcha), and ignorance

(avijja) – one achieves the pinnacle of the supramundane types of

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consciousness, the fruit consciousness of the Arhat.

These four stages may be divided into two groups: the first

three, which are called stages of one in training, and the fourth,

the stage of one who is no longer in training. For this reason, it

may be useful to think of progress to Arhatship as a process of

graduation, as in a program of academic studies. On each stage

one overcomes certain barriers of ignorance and thereby gradu-

ates to a higher stage of training.

At this point, a qualitative change occurs, from an undi-

rected and determined condition to a directed and determining

one. How does one make nirvana the object of one’s conscious-

ness, thereby transforming a mundane consciousness whose

object is conditioned into a supramundane consciousness whose

object is unconditioned? How does one realize nirvana? This is

done through developing insight, or wisdom (panna).

To develop insight, we apply the two Abhidharmic meth-

ods of analysis and synthesis (see Chapter 32). We apply the

analytical method in our examination of consciousness and its

object – in other words, mind and matter. Through this analysis

we arrive at the realization that what we previously took to be

a homogeneous, unitary, and substantial phenomenon is in fact

composed of individual elements, all of which are impermanent

and in a constant state of flux. This is true of both mind and

matter.

Similarly, we apply the synthetic method by considering the

causes and the conditions of our personal existence. In relation

to what factors do we exist as a psycho-physical entity? This

examination reveals that the personality exists dependent on five

factors – ignorance, craving, clinging, karma, and the material

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sustenance of life (namely, nourishment).

Insight in general is developed through applying the two

Abhidharmic methods by dissecting internal and external, men-

tal and physical phenomena and examining them in relation to

their causes and conditions. These analytical and relational

investigations reveal three interrelated, universal characteristics

of existence: (1) impermanence, (2) suffering, and (3) not-self.

Whatever is impermanence is suffering, because when we see the

factors of experience disintegrate, their disintegration and their

impermanence are an occasion for suffering. Moreover, whatever

is impermanent and suffering cannot be the self, because self can

neither be transient nor can it be painful.

Penetrating these three characteristics leads to renunciation,

to freedom from the conditioned universe. Through understand-

ing these three, one realizes that the three mundane spheres are

like a banana tree – without essence. This realization leads to

renunciation, to a disengagement from the conditioned sphere,

and enables the consciousness to direct itself toward an uncon-

ditioned object, nirvana.

Any one of the three characteristics can serve as a key to this

new orientation. Any one of the three can be taken as an object

of contemplation to develop one’s insight. We can see this in the

biographical accounts of the foremost disciples of the Buddha.

Khema, for instance, achieved liberation through the contem-

plation of impermanence (see Chapter 22).

Once one has developed insight into one of the three univer-

sal characteristics, one can experience briefly a vision of nirvana.

One’s first acquaintance with nirvana may be likened to a flash

of lightning that illuminates one’s way in the darkness of night.

353

The clarity of that flash remains for a long time impressed upon

one’s mind, and enables one to continue on one’s way knowing

that one is proceeding in the right direction.

The first glimpse of nirvana achieved by the stream-winner

serves as the orientation by which he directs his progress toward

nirvana. One might almost liken this gradual development of

insight to the acquisition of a skill. After first managing to bicy-

cle a few yards without falling, it may be some time before one

becomes an expert cyclist. But having successfully ridden those

first few yards, one never forgets that experience and can confi-

dently progress toward one’s goal.

It is in this sense that contemplation of the three charac-

teristics leads to the three doors of liberation: the door of sign-

lessness, the door of wishlessness, and the door of emptiness.

Contemplating the characteristic of impermanence leads to the

door of signlessness; contemplating suffering leads to the door

of wishlessness, or freedom from desire; and contemplating not-

self leads to the door of emptiness. These three doors of liber-

ation are the culmination of meditation on the three universal

characteristics.

Thus one gradually progresses through the four stages of

enlightenment and eventually achieves Arhatship, that stage

of victory over the afflictions in which the unwholesome roots

of greed, ill-will, and delusion are totally removed. Having

uprooted the afflictions, the Arhat is free from the cycle of birth

and death and is no longer reborn.

Despite some attempts to tarnish it with the charge of self-

ishness, the goal of Arhatship is a beneficial and compassionate

mode of being. One need only look at the Buddha’s instructions

354

to his eminent Arhat disciples, and also at the careers of these

disciples, to see that in the time of the Buddha Arhatship was

not a passive or selfish state of being. Sariputta, Moggallana, and

others were actively engaged in teaching both the laity and other

members of the Buddhist Order. The Buddha himself exhorted

his Arhat disciples to go forth for the benefit of the many. The

goal of Arhatship is a glorious and worthy one that ought not be

depreciated in any way by the fact that the Buddhist tradition

also acknowledges the goal of the private or individual Buddha

(Pachcheka Buddha) and the goal of Buddhahood.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Analysis of Mental States

In the Abhidharma, mental states are defined as ‘those factors

which are associated with consciousness, which arise and per-

ish with consciousness, and which have the same object and bases

as consciousness.’ This immediately indicates the very close rela-

tionship between consciousness (chitta) and mental states (cheta-

sika). One of the best analogies to describe their relationship is

that of the framework of a building and the building materials,

or a skeleton and the flesh that covers it. Here the types of con-

sciousness are the skeleton, while the mental states are the flesh

that goes to build up a body of conscious experience.

With this in mind, it is helpful to consider the types of con-

sciousness enumerated in the Abhidharmic analysis of conscious-

ness in terms of the mental states with which they are likely to

be associated. One’s own analysis will not necessarily correspond

exactly to the analysis in the texts. But insofar as certain mental

states naturally appear to follow from particular types of con-

sciousness, we will arrive at an understanding of how certain

mental states and types of consciousness go together. This is far

more important than memorizing the list of mental states.

There are three general categories of mental states: whole-

some, unwholesome, and unspecified. Unspecified mental states

are neither wholesome nor unwholesome, but take on the nature

of the other mental states with which they are associated. These

unspecified mental states play a central role in the construction

of conscious experience, much like the cement without which

356

the building of experience cannot hold together.

There are two groups of unspecified mental states: universal

(or primary), and particular (or secondary). The universal men-

tal states are present in all types of consciousness without excep-

tion, whereas the particular mental states only occur in certain

types of consciousness.

There are seven universal unspecified mental states: (1) con-

tact, (2) feeling, (3) perception, (4) volition, (5) one-pointedness, (6) attention, and (7) vitality.

Contact is the conjunction of consciousness with an object.

It is the coexistence of subject and object which is the founda-

tion of all conscious experience.

Feeling is the emotional quality of an experience – pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent.

Perception implies recognition of the sense-sphere of the

faculty to which a given sense impression pertains, that is, to the

sphere of eye consciousness, ear consciousness, and so on.

Volition, in this context, does not mean free will but an

instinctive volitional response.

One-pointedness occurs not in the sense of a factor of

absorption but in the sense of the limitation of consciousness to a

particular object. As mentioned in Chapter 34, one-pointedness

occurs even in ordinary, non-meditative types of consciousness.

One-pointedness is a necessary mental state in all types of con-

sciousness because it is one-pointedness that isolates a given

object from the undifferentiated stream of objects.

Attention can be seen in relation to one-pointedness. One-

pointedness and attention are the negative and positive aspects

of the same function. One-pointedness limits one’s experience

357

to a particular object whereas attention directs one’s awareness

to a particular object. One-pointedness and attention func-

tion together to isolate and make one conscious of a particular

object.

Vitality refers to the force which binds together the other six

states of consciousness.

There are six particular unspecified mental states: (1) ini-

tial application, (2) sustained application, (3) decision, (4) envy,

(5) interest, and (6) desire. We have already encountered some of

these in the context of the factors of absorption. The third par-

ticular mental state, usually translated as ‘decision’ (adhimokkha),

is a very important one that indicates a particular decisive func-

tion of consciousness. The literal meaning of the original term is

‘liberation,’ in the sense here of ‘liberation from doubt.’ The sixth

particular mental state, ‘desire’ (Chhanda), may be so translated

as long as we remember that desire for sensual pleasure (kama-

chhanda) is negative and destructive, whereas desire for liberation

(dhammachhanda) is positive and constructive. Desire, therefore,

has both a wholesome and an unwholesome function, depend-

ing both on the object of desire and on the other mental states

with which desire is associated.

Let us go on to look at the unwholesome mental states. There

are fourteen of them, and they are associated with the twelve

unwholesome types of consciousness (see Chapter 33) in five

ways, which differentiates them into five groups. The first three

groups take their character from the three unwholesome roots:

delusion (moha), greed (lobha), and ill-will (dosa). The fourth

group consists of sloth and torpor (thina and middha); the fifth

consists of doubt (vichikichchha).

358

Let us look at the group headed by delusion. This group is

universally present in all types of unwholesome consciousness

and it includes four factors: delusion, shamelessness, unscrupu-

lousness, or fearlessness, and restlessness. Both shamelessness

and fearlessness have moral and ethical connotations, which

function internally and externally.

When we speak here of shamelessness, what we mean is

an internal inability to restrain oneself from unwholesome

actions due to the inability to apply one’s personal standards

to one’s actions. And when we speak of fearlessness, or lack of

dread, what we mean is the inability to recognize the applica-

tion of social standards of morality to one’s actions. With these

two terms, we have an indication that standards of morality are

arrived at both inwardly, in relation to oneself, and outwardly, in relation to others.

Particularly in cases of deluded consciousness, we find a

peculiar pattern of behavior. When a person’s consciousness is

dominated by delusion and he is unable to apply internal stan-

dards of morality, he acts in an unwholesome way. Similarly,

when he is unable to apply social standards of morality, he is

careless about his actions. This inability to apply internal and

external standards of morality to one’s actions creates restless-

ness, the fourth factor in this delusion-dominated group.

The second of the five groups of unwholesome mental states

is the greed-dominated group: here greed is accompanied by

mistaken belief and conceit. The personal and practical exten-

sion of a greed-dominated consciousness is a tendency toward

self-aggrandizement, the accumulation and exhibition of know-

ledge, and the occurrence of pride, egoism, and conceit.

359

The third group of unwholesome mental states is that dom-

inated by ill-will. This ill-will is accompanied by envy, avarice, and worry.

The fourth group includes sloth and torpor, which are par-

ticularly relevant in the context of volitionally induced catego-

ries of consciousness.

The fifth group consists of doubt, which applies in all cases

where decision is not present – namely, the decision (or ‘liber-

ation from doubt’) that is one of the six particular unspecified

mental states.

There are nineteen mental states common to all wholesome

types of consciousness. A number of these are factors condu-

cive to enlightenment (bodhipakkhiya dhamma), and thus play an

important role in the cultivation and development of one’s spir-

itual potential. The list begins with faith and includes mind-

fulness, shame, dread, non-greed, non-hatred, balance of mind,

tranquillity, lightness, elasticity, adaptability, and proficiency

and rectitude of psychic elements and of mind. Notice the pres-

ence of shame and dread, the direct opposites of the unwhole-

some mental states of shamelessness and fearlessness.

The nineteen wholesome mental states are occasionally

accompanied by six additional ones: the three abstinences (right

speech, right action, and right livelihood); the two illimitables

or immeasurables (compassion and appreciative joy); and reason

or wisdom. When these six are included, there are twenty-five

wholesome mental states in all.

Wisdom occupies a position within the wholesome men-

tal states similar to the position of desire within the unspec-

ified ones. Just as desire can be unwholesome or wholesome

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depending on its object, so wisdom can be mundane or supra-

mundane depending on whether its object is ordinary know-

ledge or ultimate reality. To reinforce what I have said about

the close relationship between the types of consciousness and

the mental states, I would like briefly to refer to the subjective

classification of consciousness touched on in Chapter 33. There

we spoke of the types of consciousness according to their kar-

mic value – wholesome, unwholesome, resultant, and functional.

Particularly within the sphere of sense desire, we spoke of a fur-

ther classification of consciousness in terms of feeling, know-

ledge, and volition.

Combining these, we have within the sphere of sense desire

a fourfold subjective classification of consciousness according

to its karmic, emotional, intellectual, and volitional value – in

other words, (1) in terms of wholesome, unwholesome, or neu-

tral; (2) in terms of pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent; (3) in

terms of being associated with knowledge, disassociated with

knowledge, or associated with wrong beliefs; and (4) in terms of

being prompted or unprompted.

With this fourfold scheme, we can see how the types of con-

sciousness are determined by the presence of mental states. For

example, within the karmic value category, wholesome types

of consciousness are determined by wholesome mental states.

Within the emotional value category, the types of consciousness

are determined by the presence of states that belong to the feel-

ing group (mental pleasure, mental pain, physical pleasure, phys-

ical pain, and indifference). Within the intellectual value cate-

gory, the presence or absence of delusion determines whether a

particular type of consciousness is associated with knowledge,

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disassociated with knowledge, or associated with wrong belief.

And within the volitional value category, the presence or absence

of doubt and decision determines whether a particular type of

consciousness is prompted or unprompted, non-spontaneous or

spontaneous.

Thus the four subjective classifications of consciousness clar-

ify just how the various types of consciousness are determined by

the presence of appropriate mental states – wholesome, unwhole-

some, associated with knowledge, and so forth.

Finally, I would like to examine how the mental states oper-

ate in counteracting each type of consciousness. This is inter-

esting because the Abhidharmic analysis of consciousness has

sometimes been likened to the Periodic Table’s analysis of ele-

ments by their respective atomic values. One cannot help but be

struck by the almost chemical properties of the mental states:

just as, in chemistry, a base neutralizes an acid, and vice versa,

so in the analysis of consciousness, one mental state counteracts

certain other mental states, and vice versa.

For example, within the factors of absorption (see Chapter 34),

the five mental states counteract the five hindrances (initial appli-

cation counteracts sloth and torpor; sustained application coun-

teracts doubt; interest counteracts ill-will; happiness counteracts

restlessness and worry; and one-pointedness counteracts sen-

sual desire). Where there isn’t a one-to-one relationship, groups

of wholesome factors counteract a single unwholesome factor

or group of unwholesome factors (faith counteracts doubt and

delusion; mental balance and tranquillity counteract doubt

and worry; lightness, elasticity, adaptability, and proficiency of

the mind and the psychic elements counteract sloth and torpor;

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and so forth). Again, when decision is present, doubt is not.

In this way, the various wholesome mental states counter and oppose various unwholesome ones. The presence of certain men-

tal states eliminates states opposed to them and thus makes room for states in accord with them. Through understanding the rela-

tionship between consciousness and mental states, and through cultivating the wholesome mental states, we can gradually change

and improve the character of our conscious experience.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Analysis of Thought-Processes

In this chapter we will begin to see, in a more specific and

direct way, how the analysis of consciousness and the analysis

of mental states can really contribute to the awakening of insight,

and how such analysis can also be interpreted in our daily life to

change our understanding of our situation.

Why analyze the processes of thought or the processes of

perception? To answer this, we need to remind ourselves of the

general purpose of the Abhidharma – namely, to facilitate our

understanding of the ultimate nature of things, which share the

three universal characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and

not-self. In the analysis of thought-processes, we can see imper-

manence and not-self clearly revealed, as two analogies from the

discourses of the Buddha show.

The Buddha likened the life span of a living being to a sin-

gle point on the wheel of a chariot. He said that, strictly speak-

ing, a living being only endures for the time it takes one thought

to arise and perish, just as the chariot wheel, whether rolling or

at rest, makes contact with the ground at only a single point. In

this context, the past moment existed but it does not exist now,

nor will it exist in the future; the present moment exists now

but did not exist in the past, nor will it exist in the future; and

the future moment, although it will exist in the future, does not

exist now, nor did it exist in the past.

The Buddha also referred to the case of a king who had never

heard the sound of a lute. When he did hear one, the king asked

364

his ministers what it was that was so enchanting and enthrall-

ing. His ministers replied that it was the sound of a lute. The

king asked for the lute; when his ministers brought one, he asked

them where the sound was. When the ministers explained that

the sound was produced by a combination of diverse factors, the

king said that the lute was a poor thing indeed, broke it up with

his own hands, and had the pieces burned and their ashes scat-

tered. What the ministers called the sound of a lute, the king

said, was nowhere to be found. Similarly, nowhere among the

physical and mental factors of experience – among factors of

form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness – is there a

self to be found. Thought-processes are, like the sound of a lute, also devoid of self.

The analysis of thought-processes also has a very specific

application in the area of mental development, in the mas-

tery and control of objects of the senses. You may recall that we

spoke earlier about the sensitivity of the mind to the objects of

the senses, and said that the mind is constantly subject to dis-

tractions that arise because of contact with sights, sounds, smells,

tastes, and tactile sensations. The Buddha himself declared that

one is either conquered by sense objects or conquers them: in

other words, one is either controlled by and subject to sense

stimuli or manages and dominates sense stimuli. This is why

Nagarjuna once said that even an animal can be victorious in

battle, whereas he who is able to conquer the momentary, ever-

changing objects of the senses is the true hero.

When someone subdues, masters, and controls the objects of

the senses, we call him heedful. Heedfulness is akin to mind-

fulness, which the Buddha said is the one way to freedom.

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Heedlessness is the source of death and of bondage in samsara,

while heedfulness is the source of the deathless, or nirvana. Those

who were formerly heedless and later become heedful, like Nanda

and Angulimala, are able to achieve the goal of freedom.

By analyzing and understanding how the objects of the

senses are perceived and assimilated by consciousness, we can

pave the way toward right understanding in terms of imper-

manence and not-self, and toward control over the momentary

objects of the senses. Finally, we can achieve heedfulness, which

is the key to changing our existence from one dominated by the

afflictions to one that is purified and noble.

We can begin our analysis of thought-processes by exam-

ining their place in our experience. Take the comparison of life

to a river, with a source and an outlet. Between birth and death,

between the source of the river and its mouth, there is a contin-

uum but not an identity. In Abhidharmic terms, birth or rebirth

is the ‘uniting’ or ‘connecting’ factor (patisandhi), the life con-

tinuum is the ‘subconscious’ factor (bhavanga), and death is the

‘falling away’ factor (chuti). These three factors have one thing in

common: their object is the last conscious factor of the preced-

ing life. This object determines them as wholesome or unwhole-

some resultant factors of consciousness.

In this context, it is important to remember that bhavanga

runs concurrent with the reproductive karma that gives a partic-

ular life its general characteristics and sustains it until it is either

interrupted or exhausted. Thus the past, present, and future of

an individual life are united not only consciously, by the contin-

uum of patisandhi, bhavanga, and chuti, but also subconsciously,

by bhavanga alone. This subconscious factor of life continuum

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preserves continuity and sustains life even in the absence of con-

scious thought-processes, as in dreamless sleep and moments of

unconsciousness like coma. In between the various conscious

thought-processes, bhavanga reasserts itself and preserves the

continuity of life.

To summarize, our life begins with the uniting or connect-

ing conscious factor (patisandhi) that joins the previous life to

this life. It is sustained throughout the course of this life by the

subconscious factor of life continuum (bhavanga), and it ends

with the falling away (chuti) that again precedes union (in the

form of patisandhi) with the subsequent life.

Consciousness, as opposed to subconsciousness (bhavanga),

arises as a phenomenon of resistance and vibration. In other

words, bhavanga remains subconscious until it is interrupted or

obstructed by an object, as when we place a dam across a river

and find that the course of the river is interrupted, or subject an

electrical current to resistance and find that the phenomenon of

light arises. This contact between bhavanga and an object results

in resistance, and this resistance results in vibration, which in

turn results in a conscious thought-process.

The thought-processes that arise as a result of this interruption

are either (1) physical thought-processes that operate through the

five sense doors (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body), or (2) men-

tal thought-processes that operate through the mind, the sixth

sense organ. Physical thought-processes are determined by the

intensity, or impact, of the object that brings about the inter-

ruption of the stream of life continuum. In this sense, the larg-

est obstruction will cause the longest thought-process, and the

smallest obstruction will cause the shortest thought-process.

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There are four types of physical thought-processes, from one

that runs for seventeen thought-moments to one that fails even

to reach the point of determination or identification of the object.

There are two types of mental thought-processes: (1) one termed

‘clear,’ which runs through to retention, the final stage of thought-

processes, and (2) one termed ‘obscure,’ which ends before the

stage of retention. Depending on the intensity of the obstruction

in the subconscious stream of life continuum, we have a more

intensive and lengthier thought-process or a less intensive and

briefer one.

Let us look at the seventeen thought-moments that make up

the longest of any of the thought-processes, physical or mental.

Remember that each of these thought-moments is said to last

less than one billionth the time it takes to wink an eye. Thus

when the Buddha said that a living being endures only as long

as a single thought-moment, he was talking about an extremely

brief period of time.

The first of these seventeen thought-moments is termed

‘entry’ and refers to an object impinging upon the stream of life

continuum, or the placing of an object of obstruction in the river

of life.

The second moment is termed ‘vibrating’ because the entry of

the object into the stream of life continuum sets up a vibration.

The third is the ‘arresting’ moment because at this point the

obstruction interrupts or arrests, the stream of life continuum.

Here we might ask how is it that the stream of life contin-

uum (bhavanga), which has its own object that forms the basis

of the factor of unification (patisandhi) and the factor of decay

(chuti), comes to have a secondary object in the form of a mate-

368

rial object of the senses. This is explained by means of an analogy.

Buddhaghosa said that, just as tapping one grain of sugar among

many scattered on the surface of a drum causes a vibration that

affects a fly sitting on another grain of sugar on the drum, so

material objects of the five physical senses impinge upon and set

up vibrations that affect bhavanga.

Once these three moments – entry, vibration, and interrup-

tion or arresting – have taken place, the object enters the con-

scious sphere. It does this through the fourth thought-moment,

which is the moment of the ‘adverting consciousness.’ In the case

of the physical thought-processes, the adverting consciousness

can be of five types – eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body.

This is succeeded by the fifth moment, the ‘perceiving con-

sciousness,’ which can be of the five types – eye consciousness, ear consciousness, and so forth.

This is followed by the sixth moment, the ‘receiving con-

sciousness’; the seventh moment, the ‘investigating conscious-

ness’; and the eighth moment, the ‘determining consciousness.’

It is the determining consciousness that identifies and recognizes

the object of perception.

This determining consciousness is followed by seven

moments of ‘impulse consciousness’ (javana), which have the

function of running through the object, thereby assimilating the

object wholly into consciousness.

These ninth through fifteenth thought-moments are fol-

lowed by two moments of resultant, retentive consciousness,

for seventeen thought-moments in all. The seven moments of

impulse consciousness are karmically active and can be whole-

some or unwholesome. The moments of resultant, retentive con-

369

sciousness, too, are either wholesome or unwholesome.

For the purpose of practice of the path, it is important to

know at which point in these seventeen thought-moments one

is able to act freely, for better or for worse. The three moments

of bhavanga are resultant. The adverting consciousness and the

determining consciousness are functional. The perceiving con-

sciousness is resultant. Thus the seven moments of impulse

consciousness (javana) are the first karmically active thought-

moments. The first of these seven moments determines the next

six, so if it is wholesome, the rest are wholesome, and if it is

unwholesome, the rest are unwholesome, too.

It is at the point when determining consciousness is fol-

lowed by the seven impulse moments that resultant or func-

tional states give way to active states. This is the all-important

point in thought-processes, because one cannot alter the char-

acter of resultant or functional states but can alter the character

of active states, which have a wholesome or unwholesome kar-

mic potential. At the moment when the javana moments com-

mence, the presence or absence of wise attention is therefore very

important. If wise attention is present, the probability of whole-

some impulses is greater; if absent, unwholesome impulses are

more likely to predominate.

The actual object of the seventeen thought-moments is of lit-

tle importance here because the object in itself, no matter how

desirable or undesirable, does not determine whether the seven

impulse moments are wholesome or unwholesome. You may

recall the case of the Elder Tissa (see Chapter 23). It happened

that the daughter-in-law of a certain family, having quarreled

with her husband, dressed in her best garments and jewelry and

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set out to return to her father’s house. When she came upon

the Elder Tissa, being of an irreverent nature, she let out a loud

laugh. Seeing her teeth, Tissa reacted in terms of the perception

of the foulness of the body, and by the strength of that percep-

tion won through to Arhatship on the spot. When the woman’s

husband came along and asked whether Tissa had seen a woman

going that way, the Arhat replied that he was not aware whether

it had been a man or woman but knew that he had seen a heap

of bones walking along the road.

This story indicates that no matter what the nature of the

determining consciousness, the seven moments of impulse con-

sciousness can be an occasion for either winning through to the

stage of Arhatship or for the further accumulation of moments

of consciousness that have an unwholesome karmic value. To a

man other than Tissa, the sight of the woman laughing might

have given rise to impulses rooted in lust rather than ones leading

to the realization of Arhatship. Since wise attention or the lack

of it determines the karmic value of the impulse moments that

follow, we need to apply wise attention to decrease the chances

of unwholesome impulses arising and increase the chances of

wholesome moments of impulse consciousness.

I would like to conclude by referring to a simile popularized

by Buddhaghosa in his Path of Purification (Visuddhi Magga) to

illustrate the seventeen moments of consciousness in a thought-

process. Suppose a man has gone to sleep at the foot of a mango

tree full of ripened fruit. A ripened mango is loosened from a

branch and falls to the ground. The sound of the mango fall-

ing to the ground stimulates the ears of the sleeping man, who

awakes, opens his eyes, and sees the fruit lying not far from

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where he is. He stretches out his arm and takes the mango in his

hand. He squeezes the mango, smells it, and then eats it.

This whole process illustrates the seventeen moments of per-

ceiving a physical object. The sound of the falling mango imping-

ing upon the man’s ears is analogous to the three moments of

bhavanga – entry, vibration, and interruption. When the man

uses his eyes and spots the mango, this is analogous to the

moments of adverting and perception; when he stretches out

his hand to take the fruit, to the moment of receiving; when he

squeezes the mango, to the moment of investigating; when he

smells it, to the moment of determining; when he eats it and

enjoys it, to the seven moments of impulse consciousness; and

(although apparently Buddhaghosa did not do this) one might

add that when he digests it, this is analogous to the two resul-

tant moments of retention.

If we analyze our thought-processes carefully, and if through

heedfulness we master them, this can result in a deepened under-

standing of the ultimate nature of things as impermanent and

not-self. This analysis can also lead to mastery over the objects

of the senses, the result of which is dispassion, joy, and freedom.

We should therefore apply the knowledge we gain about the

momentary, conditioned, and transient nature of the processes of

thought and perception to our daily experience, in order to seek

out that understanding and wise attention which will enable us

to multiply our moments of wholesome karmic potential and

minimize our moments of unwholesome karmic potential. If we

can do this, we will have taken a very important step in extend-

ing our study of the Abhidharma from the merely intellectual

sphere to the practical and experiential sphere.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Analysis of Matter

The Abhidharma is supposed to deal with four ultimate real-

ities – consciousness (chitta), mental states (chetasika), matter

(rupa), and nirvana. Matter shares with consciousness and men-

tal states the character of being a conditioned reality, whereas

nirvana is an unconditioned reality. In considering the three

conditioned realities, we can simultaneously treat the five aggre-

gates of psycho-physical existence.

This harks back to what we said in Chapter 33 about the

relationship between subject and object, mind and matter. Both

these schemes can be reduced to two elements: the subjective or

mental element, and the objective or material element. On the

one hand we have mind and the mental states – consciousness,

volition, perception, and feeling – and on the other hand we have

the object – form, or matter.

In the context of the Abhidharma, it is important to remem-

ber that matter is not something separate from consciousness.

In fact, mind and matter can be simply called the subjective

and objective forms of experience. We will see more precisely

why this is true when we consider the four essentials of matter

(earth, water, fire, and air) as qualities of matter rather than as

the substance of matter. Because Buddhism has a phenomeno-

logical approach to existence, matter is only important insofar as

it is an object of experience that affects our psychological being.

Whereas certain other systems assert a radical and absolute dual-

ism, a dichotomy between mind and body, in Buddhism we sim-

373

ply have subjective and objective forms of experience.

In the classification and enumeration of matter in the Abhi-

dharma, matter is divided into twenty-eight elements. The four

primary elements, or four essentials of matter, are simply called

earth, water, fire, and air. However, earth might better be called

‘the principle of extension or resistance’; water, ‘the principle of

cohesion’; fire, ‘the principle of heat’; and air, ‘the principle

of motion or oscillation.’ These are the four primary building-

blocks of matter. From them are derived the five physical sense

organs and their objects.

In this context, as well as in the context of the five aggre-

gates, matter refers not only to our bodies but also to the physical

objects of experience that belong to the external world. Beyond

organs and their objects, matter is also present in masculin-

ity and femininity, in the heart, or the principle of vitality, and

in nourishment. There are also six further elements of matter,

which are: the principle of limitation or space, the two principles

of communication (bodily communication and verbal commu-

nication), lightness, softness and adaptability. Finally, there are

four elements that are termed ‘characteristics’: production, dura-

tion, destruction, and impermanence.

There are thus twenty-eight components of matter or, to be

more precise, of material experience, in all: the four essentials,

the five sense organs and their corresponding objects, the two

dimensions of sexuality, vitality, nourishment, space, the two

forms of communication, lightness, softness and adaptability

and the four characteristics.

Let us look more closely at the four essentials in terms of

their reality as sensory qualities. It is important to remember

374

that when we speak of the four primary elements of matter, we

are concerned not with earth, water, fire, and air in themselves

but with the sensory qualities of these elements – the qualities

that we can feel and that give rise to the experience of matter.

Thus we are concerned with sensory qualities like hardness and

softness, which belong to the principle of extension, and warmth

and cold, which belong to the principle of heat. We are not deal-

ing with essences. Rather, we are dealing with qualities that are

experienced.

This means, in turn, that we are dealing with a purely phe-

nomenological treatment of matter, in which sensory qualities

function as the definitive characteristics of matter. It is the sen-

sory qualities that constitute ultimate realities. In other words,

it is neither the table nor my body, but the sensory qualities of

hardness and softness that belong to both the table and my body,

that give rise to the experience of matter. In this context, the

objects of my experience (such as the table and my body) are

conventional realities, whereas the sensory qualities of hardness,

softness, and so forth that give rise to the experience of matter

are ultimate realities.

This is what is called in philosophy a ‘modal view,’ a view

that concentrates on the qualities of experience rather than on

the essence of experience. To seek the essence of matter is to

enter the world of speculation, to go beyond our empirical expe-

rience; to deal with the qualities of matter is to confine ourselves

to phenomena, to experience. It is interesting to note that this

modal view of matter is shared by some modern philosophers,

Bertrand Russell perhaps being the best known among them. It

is this modal view of reality which also informs much contem-

375

porary thought about matter. Scientists have come to recognize

matter as a phenomenon, to recognize that it is impossible to

arrive at the essence of matter, and this has been substantiated

by the discovery of the infinite divisibility of the atom.

This modal view of reality has another important implica-

tion: Insofar as we take a purely phenomenological and experi-

ential view of reality, of existence, the question of the external

world – in the sense of a reality existing somewhere ‘out there,’

beyond the limit of our experience – does not arise. Insofar as the

external world gives rise to the experience of matter, it is just the

objective or material dimension of our experience, not an inde-

pendent reality that exists in itself.

On a personal level, we find that our psycho-physical exis-

tence is made up of two components: the mental component, or

the mind, and the physical component, or the body. The mind

and the body differ somewhat in their nature – primarily in that

the mind is more pliant and changeable than the body. The

Buddha once said that we might be more justified in regard-

ing the body as the self than the mind, because the body at least

maintains recognizable features for a longer period of time.

We can verify this through our own experience. Our minds

change much more quickly than our bodies. For example, I can

make a mental resolution to refrain from eating starchy foods

and fats, but it will take a considerable amount of time for that

mental change to reflect itself in the shape of my body. The body

is more resistant to change than the mind, and this is in keeping

with the characteristic of earth, as represented in the principle

of resistance. The body is the product of past karma, past con-

sciousness, and is at the same time the basis of present conscious-

376

ness. This lies at the heart of the uneasiness many intellectuals

have felt about the body. A famous philosopher, Plotinus, once

remarked that he felt like a prisoner in his own body, which he

considered to be like a tomb.

Sometimes we would like to sit longer in meditation were it

not for the physical discomfort we experience as a result of the

body. Sometimes we want to work longer (or to stay awake to

watch a particular television program) but cannot do so because

of the weariness that accompanies the body. There is a tension

between mind and body due to the fact that the body is the

materialized form of past karma, and because of the body’s char-

acteristic of resistance, it responds much more slowly to voli-

tional actions than does the mind. Thus the body is, in a sense, an impediment that hinders mental development.

We can see this clearly in the case of liberated beings. In

The Questions of King Milinda, the king asks Nagasena whether

Arhats can experience pain. Nagasena replies that although Arhats

no longer experience mental pain, they can still experience phys-

ical pain. Arhats no longer experience mental pain because the

bases for mental pain (aversion, ill-will, and hatred) are no lon-

ger present, but they can experience physical pain as long as the

basis for physical pain (the body) remains. Until an Arhat enters

final nirvana – ‘nirvana without residue,’ without the psycho-

physical personality – the possibility of physical pain remains.

This is why, in the accounts of the Buddha’s life and the lives of

his prominent disciples, there are occasions when they experi-

enced physical pain.

The body has a peculiar, intermediate position, in that it is

the product of past consciousness and the basis of present con-

377

sciousness. This intermediate position is also reflected in the fact

that some bodily functions are conscious and can be controlled

by an act of will, while others are unconscious and proceed auto-

matically. I can decide to eat another plate of food, but it is an

unconscious bodily function that digests or fails to digest the

meal; I cannot will my body to digest it.

Breathing, too, is representative of this intermediate posi-

tion of the body, because breathing can be either an uncon-

scious function or it can be raised to a volitional and conscious

function for the purpose of concentrating and calming the body

and mind. In coping with our existence as a composite of mind

and body, we need to remember that the mind represents the

dynamic, fluid, and volitional principle, while the body repre-

sents the principle of resistance. Because of this, it is not possi-

ble for the body to change as quickly as the mind in the process

of development and liberation.

378

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Analysis of Conditionality

The analysis of relations, or conditionality, is as impor-

tant as the analysis of consciousness and the other aspects

of psycho-physical experience we have considered in the last

few chapters. This analysis has often been neglected in stud-

ies of the Abhidharma, which is paradoxical if you remember

that, of the seven books of the Abhidharma Pitaka, the Book of

Causal Relations (Patthana), which deals with conditionality, is

one of the largest. It is only by devoting sufficient attention to

the analysis of conditionality that we can avoid some of the pit-

falls of an overly analytical view of reality. I alluded to this in

Chapter 32, when I devoted some time to examination and com-

parison of the analytical and the relational methods of investi-

gation, which together make up the comprehensive approach of

Abhidharma philosophy.

Perhaps because the analytical approach of the Abhidharma

has received more attention than the relational, we find Abhi-

dharma philosophy categorized as ‘realistic pluralism’ by some

scholars. This kind of categorization awakens all kinds of asso-

ciations with movements of modern western philosophy, such

as positivism and the work of Bertrand Russell. It implies that

the result of Buddhist analysis is a universe in which numerous

individual, separate, and self-existing entities exist in their own

right and ultimately. While this may have been the view of some

early schools of Buddhism in India, it is certainly not the view of

mainstream Buddhism, whether Theravada or Mahayana.

379

The only way we can avoid this pluralistic, fragmentary view

of reality is by taking due account of the relational approach out-

lined in the Patthana and also developed in the Compendium

of Relations (Abhidhammattha Sangaha). By doing so, we will

achieve a correct and balanced view of Buddhist philosophy, a

view that takes into account the static and analytical aspect of

experience as well as the dynamic and relational aspect.

The importance of understanding relations, or conditional-

ity, is clearly indicated in the Buddha’s own words. On a number

of occasions the Buddha specifically associated the understand-

ing of conditionality, or interdependent origination, with the

attainment of liberation. He said that it is because of the failure

to understand interdependent origination that we have so long

wandered in this round of repeated rebirth.

The Buddha’s enlightenment is frequently described as con-

sisting of his penetrating the knowledge of interdependent orig-

ination. This very close connection between the knowledge of

interdependent origination and enlightenment is further illus-

trated by the fact that ignorance is most frequently defined, both

in the sutras and in the Abhidharma, as either ignorance of the

Four Noble Truths or ignorance of interdependent origination.

Now, the theme underlying both the Four Noble Truths and

interdependent origination is conditionality or causality, the

relation between cause and effect. Thus the knowledge of con-

ditionality is equivalent to the destruction of ignorance and the

attainment of enlightenment.

The analysis of conditionality in the Abhidharma tradition

is treated under two headings: (1) the analysis of interdependent

origination, and (2) the analysis of the twenty-four conditions.

380

We will look at them separately and then together, to see how

they interact, support, and inform each other.

I will not explain each of the twelve components of inter-

dependent origination here, since they are described in Chapter 10.

I would, however, like to briefly mention the three fundamen-

tal schemes of interpretation of the twelve components: (a) the

scheme that divides and distributes the twelve components over

the course of three lifetimes – past, present, and future; (b) the

scheme that divides the components into afflictions, actions, and

sufferings; and (c) the scheme that divides the components into

active (or causal) and reactive (or resultant) categories. In this

third scheme, ignorance, mental formation or volition, craving,

clinging, and becoming belong to the causal category and can

belong to either the past life or the present life, while conscious-

ness, name and form, the six senses, contact, feeling, birth and

old age and death belong to the effect category and can belong to

either the present life or the future life. Thus there is an analysis

of cause and effect, or conditionality, in the formula of inter-

dependent origination.

The twenty-four conditions are not mutually exclusive. Many

of them are partly or entirely identifiable with one another. The

only explanation for several instances of almost (if not com-

pletely) identical factors is the desire of the authors’ to be abso-

lutely comprehensive, so as to avoid the slightest possibility of

neglecting a mode of conditionality.

Let us look at each of the twenty-four conditions in turn:

(1) cause, (2) objective condition, (3) predominance, (4) conti-

guity, (5) immediacy, (6) simultaneous origination, (7) reciproc-

ity, (8) support, (9) decisive support, (10) preexistence, (11) post-

381

existence, (12) repetition, (13) karma, (14) effect, (15) nutriment,

(16) control, (17) absorption, (18) path, (19) association, (20) dis-

association, (21) presence, (22) absence, (23) separation, and

(24) non-separation. A distinction must be made between cause, or root cause,

and condition. We need to look at the Abhidharma literature

if we want to distinguish cause from condition, because in the

Sutra literature the two terms seem to be used interchangeably.

Generally, we can understand the distinction by recourse to an

analogy taken from the physical world: while the seed is the

cause of the sprout, factors like water, earth, and sunlight are the

conditions of the sprout. In the Abhidharmic treatment of condi-

tionality, cause operates in the mental sphere and refers to the six

wholesome or unwholesome roots – non-greed, non-hatred, and

non-delusion and their opposites, greed, hatred, and delusion.

Objective condition refers generally to the object which con-

ditions experience. For example, a visual object is the objec-

tive condition of visual consciousness. Predominance refers to

four categories of mental or volitional activities – wish, thought,

effort, and reason – which have an overriding influence on fac-

tors of experience.

Contiguity and immediacy are virtually synonymous and refer

to the conditioning of a thought-moment by the immediately

preceding thought-moment. Contiguity and immediacy also

refer to the conditioning of a given state of mind or matter by

the immediately preceding state of mind or matter. We can per-

haps understand this better if we think of contiguity and imme-

diacy in the sense of immediate proximity in time and space, respectively.

382

Simultaneous origination can be seen in the case of the men-

tal aggregates of consciousness, volition, perception, and feel-

ing, and also in the case of the four essentials of matter (earth,

water, fire, and air). Reciprocity or mutuality refers to the mutual

dependence and support of factors, as in the case of the legs of a

tripod that depend on and support one another. Support means

the basis of any particular factor, in the way that the earth is the

support of trees or canvas is the support of a painting. But when

simple support becomes decisive support, it should be understood

in the sense of inducement in a particular direction. This will

become clearer when we examine how the twenty-four modes

of conditionality function in relation to the twelve components

of interdependent origination.

Preexistence or antecedence refers to the preexistence of factors

that continue to exist after subsequent factors come into being.

This is illustrated by the preexistence of the sense organs and

objects of the senses, which continue to exist and thereby con-

dition subsequent physical and mental experience. Post-existence

complements preexistence and refers to the existence of subse-

quent factors such as mental and physical experience that condi-

tion preexisting factors like the sense organs and objects.

Repetition is important in the sphere of mental life and leads

to skill or familiarity. This is exemplified in the seven moments

of impulse consciousness (see Chapter 37). Repetition is partic-

ularly important in the sphere of wholesome and unwholesome

action because it increases the force of wholesome or unwhole-

some thought-moments.

Karma is volitional action of a wholesome or unwholesome

variety. Effect or result indicates that the reactive aspect of pre-

383

vious karma has an influence and serves to condition coexist-

ing phenomena. It is interesting to note that even effects do, to

a limited extent, function as conditions or as causes. This will

become clear if we remember that we are considering the func-

tional rather than the essentialistic definitions of such factors.

Nutriment refers to not only physical food, which is one

of the conditions of the physical body, but also to mental food,

such as impressions, which are the mental food of the aggre-

gate of feeling. Control refers to confidence, mindfulness, and so

forth, which master or control their opposites. Absorption refers

not only to meditative absorption but also to absorption in a

more general sense, which encompasses both wholesome and

unwholesome absorptions. You may remember that the factors

of absorption (jhananga) are not necessarily wholesome and per-

tain not only to the states of meditative absorption but also to

a general condition of intensification of consciousness, whether

wholesome or unwholesome (see Chapter 34).

Path refers to the path leading to unhappy states encom-

passing wrong views, wrong effort, and so forth, and also to the

Noble Eightfold Path. Association refers to the conditioning of a

factor by a similar factor, whereas disassociation is the condition-

ing by a dissimilar factor, such as the way sweetness and bitter-

ness, light and darkness condition each other. Thus conditional-

ity is not only positive but also negative. In other words, a par-

ticular factor of experience is conditioned not only by factors that

are similar but also by factors that are dissimilar.

Presence refers to the necessary existence of certain conditions

in order that other phenomena occur. For instance, light must be

present for the experience of a visible form to arise. Absence is,

384

like disassociation, a negative form of conditionality. For exam-

ple, the disappearance of light is a condition for the arising of

darkness. Separation and non-separation are identical to disasso-

ciation and association, respectively.

The twenty-four modes of conditionality operate in conjunc-

tion with the twelve components of interdependent origination.

For example, ignorance, the first of the twelve components, con-

ditions volition, the second component, by way of two modes of

conditionality: objective condition and decisive support.

This can be understood as follows: Volition can be merito-

rious or demeritorious, and ignorance functions as the decisive

support of both. Ignorance functions as the decisive support

conditioning meritorious volition if it is made the object of your

meditation, in that the desire to free yourself from ignorance

induces you to practice meditation and so forth. Conversely, if

an unwholesome state of mind, such as greed (which is born of

ignorance), becomes the object of your absorption, then igno-

rance functions as the decisive support of demeritorious volition. If you then commit an unwholesome action (steal a cookie, say),

it is because ignorance has functioned as a decisive supporting

condition inducing you to create the unwholesome volition on

which the unwholesome action was based. Ignorance can also

condition volition by way of contiguity, repetition, and so forth.

Volition (the second component of interdependent origina-

tion) conditions rebirth consciousness (the third component) by

means of karma and decisive support, while consciousness con-

ditions name and form (the fourth component) through reci-

procity and also by means of support. Thus each of the twelve

components conditions the subsequent component in a particu-

385

lar way identifiable in terms of the twenty-four conditions. We

could cite more examples, but they would only reiterate how

these twenty-four modes of conditionality condition the twelve

components of interdependent origination.

The idea at the heart of the teaching of interdependent orig-

ination and the teaching of conditionality is the avoidance of

the two extremes, the erroneous views of eternalism and nihil-

ism. The Buddha said that seeing the doer of an action and the

one who experiences the fruit of that action as identical is one

extreme, while seeing them as different is another extreme. He

taught the avoidance of these two extremes when he taught the

Middle Way, which emerges from an understanding of interde-

pendent origination and conditionality.

If we examine the twelve factors of interdependent origina-

tion in the light of the twenty-four modes of conditionality, we

find that in all twelve factors there is no self, but only processes

conditioned by other processes – processes that are, in their

actual nature, empty of self and substance. This understanding

of the emptiness of self and substance is achieved through an

understanding of conditionality.

It is in this sense that the consciousness belonging to this

life and the consciousness belonging to the next life are nei-

ther identical nor different. When we understand the relation-

ship between this life and the next – between the doer of an

action and the experiencer of an action – as one that cannot be

described in terms of either identity or difference, we arrive at

an understanding of the Middle Way.

The relationship between this life and the next is one of cause

and effect, and the relation of cause and effect is one of neither

386

identity nor difference. In this way we can successfully avoid

both the extreme of belief in an eternal self and the extreme of

rejection of the law of moral responsibility, or karma.

We can perhaps make this conditioned relationship between

cause and effect clearer by looking at examples from daily life.

Take the case of the seed and the sprout. The sprout originates

dependent on the seed, but the sprout and the seed are neither

identical nor different. They are obviously not identical, but by

the same token, neither are they altogether different. Similarly,

when a sound produces an echo, the two are not identical but

neither are they altogether different. In the same way, this life

and the next life are neither identical nor different; rather, the

next life arises dependent on this life, volition, and ignorance. In this process of conditioned arising, there is no persistent,

permanent, and identical self, but neither is there an annihila-

tion of the continuity of the process of cause and effect. If we

can understand the relation between cause (or condition) and

effect (or result) as a relation that cannot be described in terms

of identity and difference, permanence and annihilation, we will

understand emptiness, the Middle Way, and how not-self and

insubstantiality are compatible with moral responsibility and

rebirth.

387

CHAPTER FORTY

The Thirty-Seven Factors of Enlightenment

The thirty-seven factors conducive to enlightenment (bodhi-

pakkhiya dhamma)are important for two reasons. First, according to tradition, they were recommended by the Buddha,

shortly before his entry into final nirvana, as primary means

of gaining enlightenment. Second, these factors form a funda-

mental part of the foundation of the Abhidharma, in that they

belong to that category of teaching, like the teaching on the

five aggregates, that comprises the Abhidharmic contents of the

Sutra Pitaka.

In Chapter 30, we talked about the characteristics of the

Abhidharma and the relation between Abhidharmic material

and the contents of the discourses, or sutras. The factors condu-

cive to enlightenment belong to this category of material, which

is Abhidharmic in nature and yet found in the discourses. Thus

they belong to the early period of Abhidharmic philosophy.

The thirty-seven factors of enlightenment are without doubt

Abhidharmic in nature. All five characteristics of Abhidharmic

material apply to them: (1) definition of factors, (2) relation of factors

to other factors, (3) analysis of factors, (4) classification of factors, and (5) arrangement in numerical order (see Chapter 30).

The thirty-seven factors are classified under seven groups:

(a) the four stations of mindfulness (satipatthana), (b) the four

right efforts (sammappadana), (c) the four roads to power (iddhi-

pada), (d) the five controlling faculties (indriya), (e) the five

powers (bala), (f) the seven limbs of enlightenment (bojjhanga),

388

and (g) the Noble Eightfold Path (atthangika magga). Since we

considered the four right efforts and the Noble Eightfold Path

in Chapter 5, Chapter 6, and Chapter 7, I will omit these two

groups here and concentrate instead on the other five.

The Buddha called mindfulness the one way to the elimina-

tion of the afflictions. The Buddha has also said that the mind

is the root of all virtues. The most important practice, therefore,

is to discipline the mind. One can also understand the impor-

tance of mindfulness from the fact that mindfulness occurs in

five of the seven groups that make up the thirty-seven factors

conducive to enlightenment, and that the first of these groups is

devoted exclusively to the four stations of mindfulness (satipat-

thana). Mindfulness is also taught in the Satipatthana Sutta ( The

Discourse on the Stations of Mindfulness), which occurs twice in

the Buddhist canon. All this indicates the importance of mind-

fulness.

In recent years there has been a great resurgence of interest

in the four stations of mindfulness both within the Theravada

tradition, particularly in Burma, and also in the Mahayana tra-

dition, where the importance of the four stations of mindful-

ness as a part of the practice of meditation has now come to be

appreciated. One of the reasons these four stations have occu-

pied such an important place in Buddhist meditation is that

they lead to the realization of the three universal characteris-

tics (impermanence, suffering, and not-self). Exactly how this

works will become clearer once we enumerate the four stations:

(i) mindfulness with regard to the body, (ii) mindfulness with

regard to feeling, (iii) mindfulness with regard to consciousness, and (iv) mindfulness with regard to mental objects.

389

Mindfulness with regard to the body is more inclusive

here than it is in the context of the forty traditional supports of

meditation, where it occurs as one of the ten recollections but is

restricted only to the body. Here it applies not only to mindful-

ness with regard to the body but also to mindfulness regarding

the process of inhalation and exhalation, the elements of matter, the decomposing body, and so forth.

Mindfulness with regard to feeling refers to the emotional

contents of personal experience, to feelings that are pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent.

Mindfulness with regard to consciousness – or, to be more

precise, mindfulness with regard to thought – implies observa-

tion of the arising and perishing of thoughts.

Mindfulness with regard to mental objects refers to the con-

tents of consciousness, particularly concepts such as imperma-

nence and the like.

With the first station of mindfulness, we exhaust the mate-

rial dimension of personal experience, and with the three sub-

sequent stations we exhaust the mental dimension of personal

experience (i.e., the aggregates of consciousness, volition, per-

ception, and feeling). The thorough application of mindfulness

results in abandoning the three erroneous views (permanence,

happiness, and self) and attaining insight into the three uni-

versal characteristics (impermanence, suffering, and not-self).

Interpretations of the objects of the four stations of mindfulness

vary according to the various traditions of Buddhist meditation.

In general, however, the explanation here should be acceptable

to most of the traditions.

Let us look at the four roads to power (iddhipada): (i) wish

390

or desire, (ii) energy, (iii) mind or thought, and (iv) reasoning.

These four factors are also found in the twenty-four modes of

conditionality (see Chapter 39), where they are termed ‘predom-

inant conditions’ (adhipati). Both the ‘roads to power’ and ‘pre-

dominant conditions’ clearly suggest the power of the mind to

influence experience.

A simple example is the power to control, up to a certain

point, the movements of our bodies and the exercise of our

speech. This is a case of the undeveloped power of the mind,

desire, energy, and reason to control physical phenomena. When

these predominant factors are intensified by cultivation of the

five factors of absorption (initial application, sustained applica-

tion, interest, happiness, and one-pointedness) – particularly the

intensification of one-pointedness, which occurs upon attain-

ing the fifth stage of the form-sphere absorptions – they become

roads to power.

Through intensification, the predominant factors lead to what

are called mundane types of super knowledge and the supramun-

dane knowledge. There are five types of mundane super know-

ledge: the ability to fly through the sky cross-legged, to walk on

water, to move through the earth, to read the thoughts of oth-

ers, and to recollect one’s former lives. The supramundane know-

ledge is knowledge of the destruction of the defilements (asava),

ignorance, and so forth. This is perhaps why it is sometimes

said that the four predominant conditions may be either mun-

dane or supramundane. If they are directed toward the mundane

sphere, they result in the five types of mundane super know-

ledge, whereas if they are directed toward the supramundane

sphere, or nirvana, they result in penetration of the Four Noble

391

Truths and in the destruction of the defilements.

Like the four roads to power, the five controlling faculties

(indriya) – (i) faith, (ii) energy, (iii) mindfulness, (iv) concentra-

tion, and (v) wisdom – are also found in the twenty-four modes

of conditionality. In the Book of Causal Relations (patthana), the

five controlling faculties are defined as dominating factors. There

is a very close connection between the five controlling faculties

and the four roads to power, as indicated by their mutual pres-

ence in the modes of conditionality and their similarity in the

sense of controlling, dominating, or mastering.

The five faculties are called ‘controlling’ because they are said

to control or master their opposites: faith (or confidence) con-

trols lack of faith (or doubt); energy controls laziness; mindful-

ness controls heedlessness; concentration controls distraction; and wisdom controls ignorance. Like the four roads to power,

the five controlling faculties can only really control their oppo-

sites when they are intensified by the factors of absorption. For

instance, faith can only function as a controlling faculty when

it is strengthened by the presence of the three factors of absorp-

tion of interest, happiness, and one-pointedness; and wisdom

can only function effectively when it is strengthened by initial

application, sustained application, and one-pointedness. These

five factors of absorption strengthen and intensify the five con-

trolling faculties so that the latter can function effectively to

propel one toward enlightenment. Similarly, the five controlling

faculties strengthen the five factors of absorption. For instance,

concentration strengthens interest and happiness. Thus the rela-

tionship between the two sets of factors is one of reciprocal sup-

port and intensification.

392

Although the five controlling faculties are indispensable in

bringing about the transformation from a doubtful, lethargic,

heedless, distracted, and ignorant mode of being to an enlight-

ened mode of being, they must be cultivated in a balanced way.

What this means is that within the five controlling faculties

there are factors that balance each other. For instance, faith and

wisdom are a reciprocal pair: if faith is allowed to dominate wis-

dom, this results in a weakening of one’s critical faculties, one’s

intellectual powers of analysis and investigation; and if wisdom

is allowed to dominate faith, this diminishes confidence to the

point of uncertainty and a lack of initial commitment to prac-

tice. Similarly, if energy is allowed to dominate concentration,

this leads to agitation, and if concentration is allowed to domi-

nate energy, this leads to sloth and torpor.

Thus faith, energy, concentration, and wisdom must be

developed and maintained in a balanced manner, and the fac-

ulty that enables one to do this is mindfulness. Mindfulness is

the watchdog that ensures the proper reciprocal, balanced rela-

tionship between faith and wisdom, and between energy and

concentration.

The next group of factors of enlightenment, the five powers

(bala) – (i) faith, (ii) energy, (iii) mindfulness, (iv) concentration,

and (v) wisdom – are numerically and terminologically identical

to the five controlling faculties. These five factors are called pow-

ers because on this stage faith, energy, mindfulness, concentra-

tion, and wisdom become firm, steady, and powerful.

The Buddha indicated that the five controlling faculties and

five powers are two aspects of the same thing, just as an island

in the middle of a river can lead people to call one side of the

393

river the eastern part and the other side the western part, even

though the two parts of the river are one and the same. Similarly,

the five controlling faculties and the five powers are one and the

same. The five controlling faculties are potentialities that must

be intensified and developed through their combination with the

five factors of absorption. When they become firm and steady

through this intensification, they can then be termed powers.

We might add that the five powers become absolutely

unshakable only in the case of the noble ones (see Chapter 35).

On becoming a stream-winner, for example, faith becomes an

unshakable power because the fetter of doubt is removed.

Although only the five controlling faculties and five pow-

ers are listed in the thirty-seven factors, in the expanded

Abhidharmic classification of the controlling faculties and pow-

ers, there are three more faculties added to the five already men-

tioned (mind, joy, and vitality), and two more powers (moral

shame and moral dread, known collectively as ‘the guardians of

the world’). Moral shame and moral dread are explained as one’s

own sense of moral uprightness and fear of censure or blame.

They are called guardians of the world because, when developed

to the level of powers, they become guardians of wholesome

actions.

The last group we will consider here are the seven limbs of

enlightenment (bojjhanga): (i) mindfulness, (ii) investigation,

(iii) energy, (iv) interest, (v) tranquillity, (vi) concentration, and

(vii) equanimity. Mindfulness again appears as one of the fac-

tors, and again it leads the group, because it is with mindfulness

that the way to enlightenment begins.

Thus it is through awareness of one’s situation that progress

394

on the path begins. This progress is sustained through investi-

gation – in this case, the investigation of factors.

Energy occurs here, as it did in the four roads to power, the

five controlling faculties, and the five powers. Energy is essen-

tial to sustain the progress one makes along one’s spiritual path.

All too often, our efforts are sporadic; we make a great effort for

a short period of time and then relapse for a much longer time.

If progress is to be sustained it must be steady, and energy con-

tributes to steady, consistent progress along the path.

The fourth factor, interest, which is also one of the five fac-

tors of absorption, is suffused with happiness, although it can

best be understood more as interest than as joy or rapture per se

(see Chapter 34).

Tranquillity in this context is the tranquillity of mind that

results from eliminating the afflictions of ignorance, ill-will, and

attachment.

Concentration is synonymous with one-pointedness, which

is one of the five factors of absorption.

Equanimity is the elimination of the mind’s tendency to wan-

der. Like so many Abhidharmic terms, equanimity functions on

a number of levels. At the level of feeling, it can be indifference.

At the level of the cultivation of the Four Immeasurable medi-

tations (brahmavihara), equanimity is even-mindedness toward

sentient beings – the absence of attachment to near and dear ones,

and the absence of aversion to enemies. In the analysis of per-

sonal experience in the teaching on the five aggregates, equa-

nimity is the neutralization of the eight worldly conditions (hap-

piness and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame, and fame and

infamy). Here, in the context of the seven limbs of enlighten-

395

ment, equanimity is that integrated and unshakable state of mind

which is totally free of mind’s habitual tendency to wander.

These thirty-seven factors were codified, preserved, and

taught by generations of masters for one reason only: they were

found to be useful and beneficial in developing one’s mind, and

particularly in aiding progress toward enlightenment. Whether

we choose to concentrate on the four stations of mindfulness,

the four efforts, the four roads to power, the five controlling fac-

ulties, the five powers, the seven limbs of enlightenment, or the

Noble Eightfold Path, familiarity with these factors of enlight-

enment can manifestly and immediately aid our progress toward

that goal.

396

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Abhidharma in Daily Life

In this last chapter I would like to focus on some of the ideas

considered in Chapters 30 through 40, relating them to daily

life and to our practice of the Buddha’s teaching. I have dis-

cussed the Abhidharma extensively, and some of the material is

rather technical. Although it may not be possible to make com-

plete use of what we have learned, I hope it will remain in the

corner of your mind, and that you will be able to return to it and

use it as time goes by.

I would like to begin by drawing your attention to the fun-

damental orientation of the Buddha and Buddhism toward the

whole question of spiritual progress. You will recall that the

majority of the thirty-seven factors conducive to enlightenment

(see Chapter 40) relate to effort and to the mind. The emphasis

in Buddhism has always been on these two aspects, in marked

contrast to other religious traditions, where the most frequent

answers to the question of spiritual progress refer to fate or

grace – in other words, to some power outside us (whether an

impersonal, unseen power, like fate, or a personal power, like

God) that determines our progress and destiny. Fate and grace

were typical answers given by other traditions in the Buddha’s

time, and they remain so today. Such approaches have one thing

in common: they rely on something outside us, over which we

have little or no control.

The Buddha, however, taught that it is one’s own mind and

effort that determine one’s progress and destiny. Mind and effort

397

are the keys to self-development, as is clearly reflected in the

thirty-seven factors of enlightenment. This is why it has often

been said that the mind is the most valuable thing we have. The

mind has sometimes been likened to a wish-fulfilling gem, in

that it can grant rebirth in fortunate or unfortunate states. It

is on the basis of mind that one crosses the threshold of con-

ditioned existence and enters the supramundane states of the

noble ones. It is the mind which determines this, and it does so

through intentional action, or karma – the expressed will of the

mind, which results in the particular conditions in which we

find ourselves.

We can also see the importance of the mind reflected in

the four roads to power (see Chapter 40), which are mental fac-

tors that can affect and control matter. What we need to do is

intensify, cultivate, and elevate the mind. We can see this clearly

when we look at the five factors of absorption or intensification

(jhananga) and the five hindrances (nivarana), two aspects of our

ordinary, mundane consciousness (see Chapter 34). The five hin-

drances are typical of very low levels of conscious development,

such as the consciousness of animals, which is saturated with

these factors. The presence of these hindrances means that one’s

mind is totally conditioned and manipulated by various stimuli.

In opposition to these five hindrances are the five factors of

absorption, which are also present even in the consciousness

of animals. The five absorptions counter and eventually elim-

inate the five hindrances. Thus we can reduce the controlling

power of the hindrances to whatever extent we can cultivate the

absorptions.

In a sense, we are standing at a crossroads. All ten factors,

398

hindrances and absorptions, are present in our minds, and it is

a question of whether we allow the hindrances to dominate or

develop the factors of intensification so that they begin to domi-

nate our minds. This is a very important battle because as long as

the hindrances predominate we are very likely to see the results

in this life and in the next life, in the form of rebirth in unfa-

vorable or miserable states. But if our minds are raised by culti-

vating the five factors of absorption, we reach a higher level of

development in both this life and the next.

Once we have intensified and elevated the power of our

minds by developing the five factors of absorption, we can moti-

vate and direct our minds in a particular direction. This is done

through the five controlling faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness,

concentration, and wisdom (see Chapter 40). It has been said

that, to practice the Dharma, two things are essential: (1) faith

and (2) wisdom. Wisdom is the main thing, while faith is the

prerequisite. In some non-Buddhist traditions, faith means blind

adherence, but in the Buddhist tradition, faith means confidence

in the possibility of success. In other words, if we do not believe

we can succeed, there will be no chance of achieving success no

matter what we try to do. In this sense spiritual practice without

faith is like a burned seed that will never put forth the seedling

of spiritual progress, no matter how rich the soil or how care-

fully we tend it.

Faith and wisdom are the first and last of the five controlling

faculties. Together with the remaining three faculties of energy,

mindfulness, and concentration, they are present in the Noble

Eightfold Path (see Chapter 5, Chapter 6 and Chapter 7). Energy,

mindfulness, and concentration correspond to the three factors

399

of right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration of the

mental development group of the Eightfold Path.

Faith is related to the morality group of the Eightfold Path

because it is faith, after all, which compels us to observe the rules

of good conduct and believe in the law of karma at the beginning

of our practice. Unless and until we have achieved supernormal

levels of consciousness (like the Buddha and his foremost disci-

ples, who were able to directly perceive the effects of wholesome

and unwholesome actions), we must rely on faith to create the

foundation of our practice of morality.

Wisdom corresponds exactly to the wisdom group of the

Eightfold Path. In the five controlling faculties, therefore, we

have in germinal form the eight steps of the Noble Eightfold

Path.

To summarize, to progress toward our goal of enlighten-

ment, we need to intensify, elevate, and motivate our minds. The

way we can do this is (1) to cultivate the five factors of absorp-

tion to reduce the influence of the five hindrances, and then

(2) to develop the five controlling faculties and connect them to

our practice of the Noble Eightfold Path. When the five con-

trolling faculties become unshakable, they develop into the five

powers (see Chapter 40), which bring with them the supramun-

dane states of the noble ones.

Wisdom, which is the last group of practice in the Noble

Eightfold Path, is particularly relevant to the Abhidharmic studies

we have undertaken because wisdom is the understanding of ulti-

mate reality, and the Abhidharma is concerned with the presenta-

tion of ultimate reality. When we speak of wisdom, we have two

components principally in mind: (1) not-self and (2) emptiness.

400

We have discussed the analytical and relational approaches

to the analysis of personal experience in the teaching of not-

self and in the teaching of dependent origination, respectively.

When we consider not-self, we need to think of the self in rela-

tion to the five aggregates. Just as the erroneous idea of a snake

exists dependent on and in relation to the rope and darkness, so

when we look for the self in relation to the aggregates, we find

that it does not exist in any way. The self cannot be found in any

of the aggregates of consciousness, feeling, perception, volition,

and form. The self cannot possess the aggregates in the way we

might own a car. The self does not control the aggregates. It does

not control the mind, nor does it control the body. The self is not

in any way ascertainable within or without the aggregates.

Having arrived at this understanding of not-self, we might

look for a moment at the aggregates. At this point, we move from

an analysis of personal experience in terms of the five aggregates

to an analysis of the five aggregates in terms of dependent orig-

ination. The five aggregates do not originate by chance, nor do

they originate without any cause. They originate dependent-

ly – dependent on the afflictions (ignorance, craving, and cling-

ing) and on karma, volition, and becoming.

It has been said that interdependent origination is the great-

est treasure of the Buddha’s teaching. Understanding interde-

pendent origination is the key to undoing the knot that has kept

us bound for so long in samsara. The Buddha himself said that

he who sees interdependent origination sees the Dharma, and

that he who sees the Dharma sees the Buddha. This is a very

encouraging remark, for if we can begin to see our daily expe-

rience in terms of interdependent origination – in terms of the

401

conditioned, relative, and empty nature of the factors of expe-

rience – then we will see the Dharma, and through seeing the

Dharma, we will see the Buddha. It will then no longer be true

to say that we cannot see the Buddha, that the Buddha is not

present here and now.

I hope that this study of the Abhidharma will not remain an

intellectual exercise but will be applied to our daily lives, how-

ever slightly. Although it may be difficult to apply everything

covered in the course of these last twelve chapters, I think all of

us who have studied the Abhidharma will no longer make the

mistake of thinking of reality in terms of a unitary, independent,

and permanent self and the essential, substantial objects around

us. Insofar as we have moved toward a new way of understand-

ing reality in terms of factors and functions that are interdepen-

dent and relative, we have moved some way toward seeing the

Dharma and the Buddha.

402