bhavanga = life continuum, factor of life
atita-bhavanga = past life-continuum
calana-bhavanga = vibrating life-continuum
paccheda-bhavanga = arresting life-continuum
atimahanta-rammana = object of very great intensity
mahanta-rammana = object of fairly great intensity
paritta-rammana = object of slight intensity
atiparitta-rammana = object of very slight intensity
cittakkhana = one conscious-moment
panca-dvaravajjana = five-door-adverting consciousness
cakkhu-vinnana = eye-consciousness
sampaticchana = receiving consciousness
santirana = investigating consciousness
votthapana = determining consciousness
javana = impulsive consciousness
tadalambana = registering consciousness
Dr. Mehm Tin Mon explains paritta-rammana vithi in his book "The Essence of Buddha Abhidhamma" (1995: pp. 146-148):
"When a visible object of slight intensity strikes the eye-door, paritta-rammana vithi arises.
The cognitive series may be represented as follows:
(1) "Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Na-Da-Pa-Ca-Sam-Na-Vo-Vo-Vo-Bha-Bha-Bha-Bha"-
(2) "Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Na-Da-Pa-Ca-Sam-Na-Vo-Vo-Vo-Bha-Bha-Bha"-
(3) "Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Na-Da-Pa-Ca-Sam-Na-Vo-Vo-Vo-Bha-Bha"-
(4) "Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Na-Da-Pa-Ca-Sam-Na-Vo-Vo-Vo-Bha"-
(5) "Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Na-Da-Pa-Ca-Sam-Na-Vo-Vo-Vo-"Bha-
(6) "Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti-Na-Da-Pa-Ca-Sam-Na-Vo-Vo-"Bha-
Explanations:
"(1) In the first paritta-rammana vithi, the sense-object and the cakkhu-pasada (eye-door) arise (uppada) together at the arising instant of the first atita-bhavanga. The sense-object takes 4 conscious-moments (Ti-Ti-Ti-Ti) for its full development and it becomes distinct at the mind-door at the arising-instant of bhavanga-calana (Na). Then the life-continuum (bhavanga-stream) vibrates for twice (Na-Da) and becomes arrested. Then the cognitive series proceeds in the order of panca-dvaravajjana, cakkhu-vinnana, sampaticchana, santirana and votthapana. At this point, 11 conscious moments have elapsed since the genesis of the sense-object and the object can last for only six more conscious-moments.
"In normal situations, the javana usually occurs for 7 conscious-moments and if there is not enough time, it does not occur at all. In other words, as the object is not distinct and not known precisely, no javana arises to enjoy the taste of the object.
"So two more votthapana cittas arise in place of javana to determine two more times whether the object is good or bad. After that the conscious-stream sinks into life-continuum. The sense-object and the eye-door dissolve at the dissolving instant of the fourth bhavanga, and life-continuum flows on as usual after that.
"(2-6) In the next five successive vithis, atita-bhavanga (Ti) is increased one by one as the object becomes weaker and weaker, and accordingly the cittas in the rear have to be cut off one by one as the total conscious-moments cannot exceed the life-time (i.e., 17 conscious-moments) of the sense-object. Thus at the sixth vithi, the cognitive series terminates after two votthapana cittas.
"The number of vottapana cittas cannot be reduced further as there must be at least two votthapana cittas in functioning in the place of javana. So there are 6 paritta-rammana vithis which all end with votthapana; they are known as votthapana-vara vithis. As there are no javanas in these vithis, there is no enjoyment of the taste of the sense-object. The object is not precisely known – it seems to be known very roughly. These vithis occur in babies whose cakkhu-pasada is weak; so, even when the sense-object is of great intensity, its appearance is not distinct.
What follows is from "Abhidhamma in Daily Life" (Chapter 12) by Nina van Gorkom (Zolag [formerly Triple Gem Press], 3rd Ed. 1996). http://www.geocities.com/~madg/gangessangha/Bhavanga.html, accessed 1 March 2004
The Function of Bhavanga (Life-Continuum)
"There are moments when there are no sense-impressions, when one does not think, when there are no akusala cittas or kusala cittas. Is there at those moments still citta? 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.
"The bhavanga-citta succeeds the first citta in life, the patisandhi-citta, rebirth-consciousness. When the rebirth-consciousness falls away it conditions the arising of the next citta, the second citta in that life and this is the first bhavanga-citta in life.
"The bhavanga-citta is vipakacitta; it is the result of the same kamma which produced the patisandhi-citta. There is only one patisandhi-citta in a life, but there are countless bhavanga-cittas. Not only the first bhavanga-citta, but all bhavanga-cittas arising during a lifespan are the result of the kamma which produced the patisandhi-citta.
"The bhavanga-citta is the same type of citta as the patisandhi-citta. There are nineteen types of patisandhi-citta and thus there are nineteen types of bhavanga-citta. If the patisandhi-citta is akusala vipaka, which is the case when there is birth in a woeful plane, all bhavanga-cittas of that life are akusala vipaka as well. If the patisandhi-citta is ahetuka kusala vipaka, in which case one is handicapped from the first moment of life, all bhavanga-cittas of that life are ahetuka kusala vipaka as well.
"If the patisandhi-citta is sahetuka (arising with sobhana hetus, beautiful roots), the bhavanga-citta is sahetuka as well. All bhavanga-cittas during a lifespan are of the same type as the patisandhi-citta of that life, they arise with the same hetus, they are accompanied by the same cetasikas, mental factors.
"If one is born with two hetus, with alobha (non-attachment) and adosa (non-aversion), but without wisdom, then all bhavanga-cittas have only two hetus. Such a person can cultivate wisdom, but he cannot become enlightened during that life.
"If one is born with three hetus, which means that one is born with alobha, adosa and panna (wisdom), all bhavanga-cittas are accompanied by these three sobhana hetus as well. Thus that person is more inclined to cultivate wisdom and, if he or she develops the eightfold Path, he or she can attain enlightenment during that life. If one is born with somanassa, happy feeling, all bhavanga-cittas of that life are accompanied by somanassa.
"The duration of one material unit, a rupa, has been determined by the commentaries as seventeen moments of citta. The number seventeen should not be taken as a definite time measure, it is a comparative notion which is expressed here (1). The cittas in a complete sense-door process of cittas, including three bhavanga-cittas which arise before the impinging rupa is experienced, are seventeen in number. Within this process each citta performs its own function while they experience a rupa which has not fallen away yet. Therefore, the duration of a rupa has been counted as seventeen moments of citta which succeed one another in a process (2). We cannot count these moments, we cannot imagine the shortness of time of a process of cittas; one citta lasts shorter than a flash of lightning.
"A process of cittas does not always run its full course. When a rupa impinges on one of the senses, it may happen that more than one moment of bhavanga-citta passes before the bhavanga-calana, which precedes the bhavangupaccheda; in that case the rupa which has impinged on one of the senses does not survive until the process is completed since it cannot last longer than seventeen moments of citta. A process can, after it has started, be interrupted, for example, after the votthapana-citta (determining-consciousness), and then there are no kusala cittas or akusala cittas in that process (3).
"It may also happen that the atita-bhavanga is succeeded by the bhavanga-calana which is "disturbed" by the object, but that the rupa then falls away. In that case there is no bhavangupaccheda (arrest-bhavanga); the stream of bhavanga-cittas is not interrupted and the sense-door process cannot start.
"Sound may, for example, impinge on the earsense and then the atita-bhavanga is succeeded by the bhavanga-calana. However, the bhavangupaccheda does not arise and thus the current of bhavanga-cittas is not interrupted and the ear-door process cannot start. In that case the sound cannot be heard.
What is the mind-door? It is different from the sense-doors. A "doorway" is the means through which citta experiences an object. The sense-doors are the following rupas: eyesense, earsense, smellingsense, tastingsense and bodysense. Bodysense is all over the body. These rupas are the means through which a sense object is experienced.
"The mind-door is not one of these rupas. In order to understand what the mind-door is we should consider what the first citta of the mind-door process is. This citta which performs the function of adverting to the object is the mano-dvaravajjana-citta, the mind-door-adverting-consciousness. It does not advert to the object through one of the five senses but through the mind-door.
"The mind-door must be nama, it is a citta. The citta which precedes the mano-dvaravajjana-citta is the mind-door, it is the means through which the cittas of the mind-door process, beginning with the mano-dvaravajjana-citta, receive the object. The citta which precedes the mano-dvaravajjana-citta is the bhavangupaccheda and this citta is the mind-door. It is the mind-door through which the mano-dvaravajjana-citta adverts to the object and it is also the doorway for the succeeding cittas of that process.
"The study of the different sense-door processes and mind-door processes which take their course according to conditions will help us to see realities as elements which are devoid of self, beyond control. We may, for example, be infatuated with a beautiful sound we hear. What we take for a long time of hearing are many different moments of citta which do not last. Even when we do not know yet the origin of the sound, what kind of sound it is, sound has already been experienced through the mind-door since cittas succeed one another extremely rapidly, arising and falling way. Sound does not stay either, it falls away.
We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Salayatana-vagga, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Fourth Fifty, chapter V, §205, The Lute) that he Buddha said to the monks:
... Suppose, monks, the sound of a lute has never been heard by a rajah or royal minister. Then he hears the sound of a lute and says:
"Good men, pray, what is that sound so entrancing, so delightful, so intoxicating, so ravishing, of such power to bind?"
Then they say to him: "That, lord, is the sound of what is called a lute, that sound so entrancing, so delightful, so intoxicating, so ravishing, of such power to bind. "
Then he says: "Go, my men. Fetch me that lute."
So they fetch him that lute and say to him: "This, lord, is that lute, the sound of which is so entrancing... of such power to bind."
Then he says: "Enough of this lute, my men. Fetch me that sound.
They say to him: "This lute so called, lord, consists of divers parts, a great number of parts. It speaks because it is compounded of divers parts, to wit, owing to the belly, owing to the parchment, the handle, the frame, the strings, owing to the bridge and proper effort of a player. Thus, lord, this lute, so called consists of divers parts, of a great number of parts. It speaks because it is compounded of divers Parts."
Then that rajah breaks up that lute into ten or a hundred pieces. Having done so, he splinters and splinters it again. Having done so, he burns it in fire, then makes it a heap of ashes and winnows the heap of ashes in a strong wind or lets them be borne down by the swift stream of a river.
Then he says: "A poor thing is what you call a lute, my men, whatever a lute may be. Herein the world is exceeding careless and led astray."
Even so, monks, a monk investigating body as far as there is scope for body, investigating feeling, perception, the activities (sankharakkhandha), investigating consciousness, so far as there is scope for consciousness -- in all of these investigations, whatever there be of "I" or "I am" or "Mine" there is none of that for him.
(1) See Venerable Nyanaponika, "Abhidhamma Studies", The Problem of Time'
(2) The commentaries count the duration of rupa as sixteen or seventeen moments of citta. Although the scriptures do not expressively mention these numbers, they refer to the different cittas in processes which each perform their own function while they experience an object, as I explained in my preface.
(3) According to the Atthasalini II, Book I , Part X, Ch 2, 269, the object is in that case weak.
In our next Abhidhamma classe we will study atiparitta-rammana vithi.
Bibliography
Dr. Mehm Tin Mon, "The Essence of Buddha Abhidhamma", publisher Mehm Tay Zar Mon, Yangon, 1995
Nina van Gorkom, "Abhidhamma in Daily Life" (Chapter 12), published by Zolag [formerly Triple Gem Press], 3rd Edition 1996,
http://www.geocities.com/~madg/gangessangha/Bhavanga.html, accessed 1 March 2004
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