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The Eight Maha-Vipaka Cittas
Abhidhamma Class No. 7, 6 August 2002
Created 5 August 2002.
Prepared by: John D. Hughes, Anita Hughes, Rilla Pargeter, Julian Bamford.
Glossary:
Eight maha-vipaka cittas = eight great resultant consciousnesses.
Causal – of or relating to a cause or causes; of the nature of, or acting as a cause; of the nature of cause and effect
Soteriological – of or pertaining to salvation, the doctrine of salvation.
Temporal – lasting or existing only for a time; passing, temporary; of or pertaining to time as the sphere of human life; terrestrial as opposed to heavenly; of man’s present life; worldly, earthly
Vamsas – Sri Lankan Pali chronicles
somanassa – mentally pleasant feeling, joyful
sahagatam – together with, accompanied by
vippayuttam – disconnected with
asankharikam – spontaneous, unprompted, automatic
sasankharikam – prompted by oneself or others
upekkha – indifferent or neutral feeling
ekam – one
Because of virtuous kamma-vipaka available to Members who attend our Centre consistently, our known timeframe for practice here demands present attendance policies to be kept under review by each Member. He or she may not recall their former attendance here in fine detail. Writing things down helps recall.
There are eight maha-vipaka cittas = eight great resultant consciousnesses. The wholesome resultant kamma (maha-vipaka citta) arising in the present are the kamma results of maha-kusula cittas of past times.
They are kammically neutral in themselves – they produce no kammic result as they arise.
So the next citta moment must come prompted to make wholesome causes if you desire to continue the production of maha-vipaka cittas.
The time scale of events spreads like ripples in a pond from past times to present time.
Jonathan S. Walters in his essay “Buddhist History: The Sri Lankan Pali Vamsas and Their Commentary” challenges the “common-sense” understanding of history in the Vamsas as mere chronicle of events.
He regards them as being written within a temporal and causal framework different from that which we know in the modern west.
The framework is not given in the chronicle Vamsas, but by the Buddhavamsa.
The Buddhavamsa is a “biography” of Gotama and 24 previous Buddhas.
Six of them of the present world age and the others belonging to pre-primordial incalculable (asarikheya) periods, it introduces an unfathomable (acintya) dimension of time space that cannot be conceived in terms of calculable time and causal connections alone.
Yet this incalculable time overlaps with the calculable since Gotama as Bodhisatta meets all the previous Buddhas.
The overlap extends into the future as another Bodhisatta is nearing its mission as the future Buddha Metteyya/Maitreya, which has immense soteriological relevance for those who do not achieve cessation during the present Buddha era.
The intervention of incalculable history into the chronicle Vamsas occurs when Mahinda Thera, on converting King Tissa to Buddha Dhamma, tells him that this is the fourth time that the practices of Buddha have been instituted on the island.
It is the same at our Temple location at Upwey. On at least four occasions our Buddha Dhamma Centre has been built on this site in past times.
Our Teacher has practiced the teachings of Buddha here several times and because of this practice few bad kammic effects appear here. Because of the accumulated wholesome resultant kamma (maha-vipaka citta) makes our Centre a suitable location for our purposes. It ought to last 500 years at least on the present kamma result.
Have you practiced with us in earlier times?
The authors of the Vamsas saw the events of their time in terms of the incalculable past and that influenced the chronological system they employed.
There are ten bad karmas which appeared to the Buddha.
(1)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his slandering an innocent Pratyekabuddha in a former life that the Buddha suffered the slanderous accusation of Sundari.
(2)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his slandering a Bhiksu of six psychic powers in a previous life out of jealousy that the Buddha suffered the slander of Cincamanavika.
(3)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his wrong accusation of the sage Isigama of unchastity as a Braham teacher together with his five hundred pupils in a previous life that they all suffered slander when Sundari was murdered.
(4)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of the Buddha murdering his brother for wealth in a former birth that Devadatta threw a boulder at him and a splinter wounded his foot.
(5)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his feeling of joyfulness upon seeing fish being killed in a previous life that the Buddha suffered headache when Vidudabha killed his kinsmen.
(6)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his cursing the disciples of the Buddha Vipasyin saying, “These bald headed Sramanas should be offered coarse barley” that the Buddha ate horse barley for three months.
(7)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his killing a visiting wrestler in a match as a wrestler of a king in a former life that the Buddha suffered back ache.
(8)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his administering a wrong purge to the son of a respectable man as a physician in a former life that the Buddha suffered diarrhoea or stomach troubles.
(9)It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his reviling the Buddha Kasyapa saying, “Bald headed Sramana, enlightenment is difficult to obtain” as Jotipala in a former life that the Buddha performed six years of severe austerities.
(10) It is the remaining effect of the bad karma of his knocking over the bowl of a Pratyekabuddha in a previous life that the Buddha returned with an empty bowl from a Brahmin village.
We go to study the eight maha-vipaka cittas.
The eight maha-vipaka cittas are named in the same way as the eight maha-kusala cittas.
When one wishes to differentiate between the two classes of cittas one may say like this:
(1)somanassa-sahagatam nana-sampayuttam asankharika maha-kusala citta.
(2)somanassa-sahagatam nana-sampayuttam asankharika maha-vipaka citta.
Generally it may be said that the first maha-kusala gives rise to the first maha-vipaka citta.
And the second maha-kusala citta gives rise to the second maha-vipaka citta and so on.
References
Buddhist Studies Review Vol. 19, No. 1 (2002), U.K Association for Buddhist Studies, Sponsored by the Institut de recherche bouddhique Linh-So’n, London, pp. 20-21, 74-75.
Dr. Mehm Tin Mon, The Essence of Buddha Abhidhamma, Publisher: Mehm Tay Zar Mon, Yadanar Min Literature (3455), 15/19 U Wisara Qr., Dagon, Yangon, April 1995.
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