We think of ourselves as having happy feeling or unhappy feeling. We
take feeling for something lasting and we take it for my feeling. In
reality feeling is a cetasika accompanying each and every citta. It
arises with the citta it accompanies and then it falls away
immediately. Feeling experiences the same object as the citta it
accompanies, but it is different from citta that is the leader in
cognizing an object. Feeling experiences the object in its own way,
it experiences the flavour of the object. There is no moment without
feeling. Feelings are manifold and they can be classified in
different ways. When there is not pleasant feeling or unpleasant
feeling, there is indifferent feeling. When mental feelings and
bodily feelings are taken into account, feelings can be classified as
fivefold:
Feeling is different as it accompanies cittas of the four jaatis
(classes) of kusala, akusala, vipaaka or kiriya.
Somannassa, happy feeling, can arise with cittas of all four jatis,
with kusala citta, akusala citta, vipaakacitta and kiriyacitta. It is
important to know of which jaati feeling is, otherwise we are misled
by our feelings. When we have happy feeling, we may believe that this
is kusala, but most of the time it accompanies akuala citta rooted in
lobha, attachment.
When somanassa accompanies lobha-muula-citta, somanassa is also
akusala. There can be pleasant feeling when one likes a pleasant
visible object, a beautiful sound, a fragrant odour, a delicious
taste, a soft touch or an agreeable thought.
When we enjoy delicious food with pleasant feeling, that feeling is
different from pleasant feeling arising when we appreciate someone
else�s kusala. In the latter case it is more refined and calm. There
are many sobhana cetasikas accompanying kusala citta: calm,
evenmindedness, confidence in kusala, mindfulness. They all condition
the pleasant feeling that is kusala.
Somanassa can accompany kusala citta, but it does not accompany each
kusala citta. When we perform daana (generosity), observe siila
( morality) or apply ourselves to mental development, there can be
somanassa or upekkhaa, indifferent feeling, with the kusala citta.
When we give a present to someone else and there is pleasant
feeling, we may think that there is one kind of feeling which lasts,
but in reality there are different moments of feeling accompanying
different cittas. There can be a moment of pure generosity
accompanied by pleasant feeling, but there are bound to be many
moments of attachment after the kusala cittas have fallen away. We
may be attached to the person we give to or to the thing we give, or
we may expect something in return; we want to be liked by the person
who receives our gift. Such moments of attachment may be accompanied
by somanassa. Somanassa which is kusala and somanassa which
accompanies lobha are different kinds of somanassa arising closely
one after the other, and it is difficult to distinguish one from the
other. It seems that there is one kind of somanassa and that it
lasts. In reality there are many different moments of somanassa.
*******
Nina.
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