There are moments when there are no sense-impressions, when one does
not think, when there are no akusala cittas or kusala cittas. Even
when there are no sense-impressions and no thinking there must be
citta; otherwise there would be no life. The type of citta which
arises and falls away at those moments is called bhavanga-citta.
Bhavanga literally means ``factor of life''; bhavanga is usually
translated into English as ``life-continuum''. The bhavanga-citta
keeps the continuity in a lifespan, so that what we call a ``being''
goes on to live from moment to moment. That is the function of the
bhavanga-citta.
There are countless bhavanga-cittas arising at those moments when
there are no sense-impressions, no thinking, no akusala cittas or
kusala cittas. When we are asleep and dreaming akusala cittas and
kusala cittas arise, but even when we are in a dreamless sleep there
still has to be citta. There are bhavanga-cittas at such moments.
Also when we are awake countless bhavanga-cittas arise; they arise in
between the different processes of citta. It seems that hearing, for
example, can arise very shortly after seeing, but in reality there
are different processes of citta and in between these processes
bhavanga-cittas arise.
When an object contacts one of the five senses the stream of bhavanga-
cittas is interrupted and there is a sense-cognition. However, there
cannot be a sense-cognition immediately. When sound, for example,
impinges on the earsense, there is not immediately hearing. There are
still some bhavanga-cittas arising and falling away before the pa~nca-
dvaaraavajjana-citta (five-door-adverting consciousness) adverts to
the sound through the ear-door and hearing arises. The bhavanga-
cittas do not perform the function of adverting to the sound which
contacts the earsense, they do not experience the sound. They have
their own function which is keeping the continuity in a lifespan.
In the �Atthasaalinii�, the commentary to the first book of the
Abhidhamma, the Dhammasangani, the parable of the Mango is given,
explaining a process of cittas after the stream of bhavanga has been
arrested. We read (Expositor II, 271, part X, no 2, Discourse on the
moral result of the sensuous realm) that a man went to sleep under a
mango-tree. A ripe mango fell down, grazing his ear. Awakened by the
sound he looked, stretched out his hand, took the fruit, squeezed it,
smelt it and ate it. We read: �What does this simile signify? The
function of the object striking the sentient organism. When this
happens there is the function of adverting by the five doors just
agitating the life-continuum, the function of just seeing by visual
cognition, of just receiving the object by the resultant mind-element
[N: receiving-consciousness], of just the examining of the object by
the resultant element of mind-cognition [N: investigating-
consciousness], the determining of the object by the inoperative
element of mind-cognition (the kiriyacitta which is determining-
consciousness). But verily only the apperception [N: the series of
javanacittas] enjoys the taste of the object.
Processes of cittas occur at this moment: seeing, attachment to what
is seen, thinking about it and taking it for a person or thing. It
seems that when there is seeing we think at the same time of a person
or thing, but each citta cognizes only one object at a time. It is
beneficial to learn about the different processes of cittas that
succeed one another extremely rapidly. When one has not studied the
Dhamma one confuses the different doorways and the different objects,
one �joins� them together. One is inclined to believe that there is a
self who coordinates all the different expriences. In reality there
are only different cittas arising because of their appropriate
conditions that experience different objects one at a time.
When we look at people they seem to last, and this is because we
think for a long time of shape and form of people and of things.
There are many different moments of thinking and these fall away.
Thinking is a paramattha dhamma, but the concepts that are the
objects of thinking are not paramattha dhammas. We can learn to
discern when we are in the world of concepts and when in the world of
paramattha dhammas.
*******
Nina.
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