Prepared by
John D. Hughes, Anita Hughes and Evelin Halls
The Four Paramattha
Abhidhamma Class No. 11, 3 September 2002
From time to time we need to come from the particular to the general case. The general case is generally well expounded in most introductory texts. The general case deals with the broad terms of ultimate realities, rupa meaning a collection of matter such as we have in a human body, citta (mind) with its consciousness, cetasika, which are mental factors, and nibbana, which is the discovery of Buddha and is the unconditioned which enables us to come to the end of suffering.
For those with supramundane minds (lokuttra citta), nibbana can be perceived.
There is a state of mind which tricks person into believing they are in nibbana. To give this false consciousness a name, we will call it the first peaceful state. When the mind is matured (or fruited) in nibbana practice, fear of this or that stop. What John Stuart in “The Spirit Ascending” describes is
“...the fear of sexuality, the urge to explore,
fearing the unknown, to face not ignore,
the fear of time and mortality,
the fear of awareness, reality,
the fear of loss gain, failure pain,
the fear of losing youth,
the fear of being truth,
the fear of love to accept and be,
the fear of me, the fear of free.”
(John Stuart, p. 19).
Nibbana is the highest peace.
The ultimate analysis in Abhidhamma is not for the pleasure of reading nor for the sake of knowledge alone; it is also to be scrutinised by the samadhi-mind in order to develop insight wisdom leading to the Path and its Fruition (magga and phala).
The Teachings of Lord Buddha in the course of 45 years of Buddhahood have been divided into three collections called Tipitaka in pali, meaning ‘Three Baskets’ literally.
The first collection is known as the ‘Sutta pitaka’. It is the conventional Teaching (vohara desana) in which Buddha used common vocabulary to explain His Teachings. Practical aspects of tranquility- and insight-meditations are included in this collection.
The second collection is known as “Vinaya pitaka’. It is the authoritative Teaching (ana desana) in which Buddha used His authority over the monks to lay down rules and disciplines for them to follow. These disciplines embody the highest code of ethics and can surely purify one’s action, speech and thought, thus making one noble and respectful.
The third collection is ‘Abhidhamma pitaka’. It is the higher Teaching of the Buddha. Here Buddha employed abstract terms to describe the ultimate realities (paramattha) in the Universe and nibbana which is the summum bonum and the highest goal of Buddhism.
So Abhidhamma may be regarded as the ultimate Teaching (paramattha desana) of Lord Buddha.
In Abhidhamma the Buddha analysed mind and matter in minute detail in terms of the ultimate realities known as paramattha.
Abhidhamma describes the mind as a combination of citta (consciousness) and cetasika (mental factors or concomitants of the mind).
There are 52 cetasika – some can defile the mind, some can purify the mind and some are neutral. The total number of possible combinations between citta and cetasika is 121. These combinations account for the various states of the mind.
When the unwholesome mental factors such as lobha (greed), dosa (anger), udhacca (restlessness), kukkucca (remorse), vicikiccha (doubt), thina-middha (sloth and torpor) can be calmed down not to arise in the mind, then the mind is in unperturbed, peaceful and lucid state.
By purifying the mind from all defilements which cause miseries and debase a person, one can become an arahat who is among the noblest persons in the worlds of men and devas and who can enjoy the highest and lasting peace of nibbana for ever.
The attainment of supernormal powers is not the goal of Buddha Dhamma practice. The penetrating power of the mind accompanied by upacara-samadhi or jhana-samadhi is utilised to observe the arising and the vanishing of nama (mind and its concomitants) and rupa (ultimate matter) in the body.
By meditating on the three common characteristics of nama and rupa – namely impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha) and not-self (anatta) and also on the the causal relations between nama and rupa, one is treading along the Noble Eightfold Path and will sooner or later attain the first magga (path) and phala (fruition).
There are two kinds of realities – apparent and ultimate.
Apparent reality is the ordinary conventional truth or the commonly accepted truth (sammuti – sacca). It is called pannatti in Abhidhamma.
Ultimate reality is the ultimate truth (paramattha – sacca). It is called paramattha in Abhidhamma.
It is apparent that ‘names’ are not the ultimate realities because a particular thing has been given different names in different languages.
In Abhidhamma there are four paramattha or ultimate realities. They are:
rupa
citta
cetasika
nibbana
In the analysis of rupa, it is found to comprise the principles of matter and energy.
Citta is consciousness.
Cetasika is mental factors or mental concomitants.
As citta and cetasika can pick up the senses and are aware of the senses, they are collectively known as nama (mind).
A person is made up of rupa, citta and cetasika, or in other words just rupa and nama. These are the ultimate realities whereas the person is just an apparent reality.
Nibbana – the principle of cessation of suffering and of lasting peace – always exists in nature. It can be realised only by magga-nana and phala-nana, i.e. the wisdom – eye accompanied by the Path and its Fruition.
The principles of citta, cetasika and nibbana are yet to be discovered by science. They are exactly specified and characterised in Abhidhamma. It should be emphasised here that whatever Buddha had taught us out of His omniscience and own experience can be tested and verified by any one with his or her own experience.
The Four Paramattha
citta = consciousness of the senses or awareness of an object
citta, ceta, cittuppada, mana, mano, vinnana are used as synonymous terms in Abhidhamma.
cetasika = mental factors or mental concomitants
Cetasika arise and perish together with citta. They depend on citta for their arising and they have influence on citta.
What we usually call ‘mind’ is actually a combination of citta and cetasika. Neither citta nor cetasika can arise independently.
rupa = corporeality or material quality
There are 28 kinds of rupa.
nibbana = extinction of defilements and suffering; absolute lasting peace.
The defilements of citta are greed, hatred, delusion etc.; they are the root cause of suffering and of the continuity of life.
“Extinction of greed, extinction of hatred, extinction of delusion; this is called Nibbana”. (Samyutta Nikaya 38.1).
Science may dispute the existence of the mind because it cannot detect it. But the existence of citta which is consciousness of the senses in man and animals cannot be disputed by anyone.
The existence of cetasika such as lobha (greed), dosa (anger), mana (conceit), issa (jealousy), alobha (non-attachment), adosa (goodwill), and so on, in men and animals is also apparent. The unwholesome cetasika can be completely eliminated from the mind by means of insight meditation.
The existence of rupa as matter and energy is easily seen.
But nibbana, being supramundane, cannot be perceived by the ordinary mind, but it can be observed by lokuttara (supramundane) citta.
All the paramattha, in their ultimate sense, are formless and shapeless just as bundles of energy are formless and shapeless. They are invisible under the best microscope, but citta, cetasika and rupa can be seen by the samadhi – eye.
Nibbana can be realised by the wisdom of the Four Paths.
A man or women is made up of nama and rupa. Of the two, nama is aware of the senses and rupa is not. So nama is the leader and rupa, the follower.
But in the sense sphere and the fine-material sphere, nama needs the support of rupa for its arising.
Nama is similar to a man with good eye-sight but no legs whereas rupa is like a blind man with good legs. If the man with good eye-sight sits on the shoulders of the blind man, and the latter walks along the road as directed by the former, they will soon arrive at the desired place.
Nama and rupa work hand in hand like the two men above.
One basic wrong view which has plagued men for aeons of time is sakkaya-ditthi. It is person-ality-belief, interpreting the aggregates of rupa and nama as an individual or ‘I’ or ‘atta’. Because of this sakkayaditthi, everyone wants to be a very important person (VIP), wants to pile up possessions for the benefit of ‘I’ and behaves in a selfish way. All sorts of troubles and miseries spring up from this wrong view.
Seeing others as a person, a man, a woman, and individual, etc., is also sakkaya-ditthi, which gives rise to other wrong views which are uncountable in the world today.
According to Buddha’s Teachings, to get rid of sakkaya-ditthi is most important and most urgent. The study of Abhidhamma furnishes one with the right view that ‘I’ or ‘atta’ does not exist and what really exist in man are citta, cetasika and rupa.
References
Dr. Mehm Tin Mon, “The Essence of Buddha Abhidhamma”, publisher Mehm Tay Zar Mon, Yangon, 1995, pp. 1 to 19.
Stuart, John, “The Spirit Ascending”, Norsearch Reprographics, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, 2002, p. 19.