Glossary
hetu = mula = root
avyakata = intermediate
contiguity = contact; close proximity. The proximity of ideas or impressions in place or time, as a principle of association.
nascent = in the act of being born; in the act or condition of coming into existence; beginning to form, grow, develop, etc.
nutriment = that which nourishes; food, nourishment; a nourishing food; spiritual, intellectual, artistic, etc., nourishment or stimulus.
According to Dr. Mehm Tin Mon's book "The Essence of Buddha Abhidhamma" (1995: p. 115, 116) the six types of hetu or roots are:
1.akusala hetu (3) = lobha, dosa, moha
2.kusala hetu (3) = alobha, adosa, amoha
3.avyakata hetu (3) = alobha, adosa, amoha
Akusala hetu are the roots that associate with akusala citta.
Kusala hetu are the roots that associate with kusala citta.
Avyakata hetu are the roots that associate with vipaka citta and kiriya citta. The avyakata roots are the same as the kusala roots.
Avyakata means 'intermediate' i.e. neither determined as kammically 'wholesome' nor as 'unwholesome'. Vipaka citta and kiriya citta together with their concomitants are termed as avyakata, because they are kammically neutral.
Classification of citta according to roots (Mon 1995: p. 116, 117)
1.ahetuka citta (18) = 18 citta without roots. They are 7 akusala-vipaka citta, 8 ahetuka-kusala-vipaka citta and 3 ahetuka-kiriya citta.
2.sahetuka citta (71) = 71 citta with roots. These citta are further divided as follows
(a)ekahetuka citta (2) = 2 citta with one root. They are the 2 mona-mula citta which have only moha as root.
(b)dvihetuka citta (22) = 22 citta with two roots. They are 8 lobha- mula citta containing lobha and moha as roots, 2 dosa- mula citta containing dosa and moha as roots and 12 kama-sobhana nana-vipayutta citta containing alobha and adosa as roots.
(c)tihetuka citta (47) = 47 citta with three roots. They are 12 kama-sobhana nana-sampayutta citta, 27 mahaggata citta and 8 lokuttara citta. These citta have alobha, adosa and amoha as roots.
Note: The cetasika associated with the respective citta will belong to the same class as the citta. You may refer to the Chart on Hetuka (Chart No. 4.1) attached at the back of Dr. Mon's book ("The Essence of Buddha Abhidhamma") for a quick review of the classification based on hetu.
Root-cause condition is one of the 24 conditions for formations.
So formations exist only when ignorance exists, not when it does not; and that is how it can be known that these formations have ignorance as their condition (Visuddhi Magga XVII, 64).
This is said too 'Not knowing, bhikkhus, in ignorance, he forms the formation of merit, forms the formation of demerit, forms the formation of the imperturbable. As soon as a bhikkhu's ignorance is abandoned and clear vision arisen, bhikkhus, with the fading away of ignorance and the arising of clear vision he does not form even formations of merit.
Here it might be said: Let us then firstly agree that ignorance is a condition for formations. But it must now be stated for which formations, and in which way it is a condition (Visuddhi Magga XVII, 65).
Here is the reply: Twenty-four conditions have been stated by the Blessed One as follows:
(1) root-cause condition
(2) object condition
(3) predominance condition
(4) proximity condition
(5) contiguity condition
(6) conascence condition
(7) mutuality condition
(8) support condition
(9) decisive-support condition
(10) prenascence condition
(11) postnascence condition
(12) repetition condition
(13) kamma condition
(14) kamma-result condition
(15) nutriment condition
(16) faculty condition
(17) jhana condition
(18) path condition
(19) association condition
(20) dissociation condition
(21) presence condition
(22) absence condition
(23) disappearance condition
(24) non-disappearance condition
(Patthana, Tika Patthana)
Herein it is a root-cause and a condition, thus it is a root-cause condition. It is by its being a root-cause that it is a condition; what is meant is that it is a condition owing to its status as root-cause. The same method applies in the case of object condition and the rest.
Herein, 'cause (=hetu= middle term)', etc., in the world it is a member of a syllogism that is called a 'cause'. But in the Dispensation, in such passages as 'Those states that are 'produced from cause' (Vinaya Pitaka i. - Mah\uavagga, 40) it is a reason (karana); and in such passages as "Three profitable [root-]causes, three 'unprofitable [root-]causes' (Dhammasangani 1053) it is a root (mula) that is called a 'cause'. The last is intended here Visuddhi Magga XVII, 66).
We use repetition condition to rote-learn Buddha Abhidhamma.
A mere state that has got its conditions
Ushers in the ensuing existence;
While it does not migrate from the past,
With no cause in the past it is not.
(Visuddhi Magga XVII, 161).
Bibliography
Brown, Lesley (editor), (1993), "The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary", Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Buddhaghosa, Bhadantacariya, (no date), “The Visuddhi Magga”, translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, Singapore Buddhist Meditation Centre, Singapore
Mon, Dr. Mehm Tin (1995), “The Essence of Buddha Abhidhamma”, Publisher Mehm Tay Zar Mon, Yangon.
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