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abhidharma
January 2009 
Sense-sphere Consciousness
Posted on Dec 5th, 2007
by 
True Eloquence
True Eloquence
Sense-sphere Consciousness
- Its types, nature and remedy
By
Bhikkhu Assaji
If we worldlings (puthujjanas) are asking for the best imaginary world system, as Prof. David J. Kalupahana puts, it would be one where every demand was granted as soon as made – for instance spending our money, yet growing rich; taking our holiday, yet getting ahead with our work; shooting and fishing, yet doing no hurt to the beasts; gaining no end of experience, yet keeping our youthful freshness of heart. Unfortunately, we live in a world where none of our acts and experiences are compatible with one another above. They are leaking (āsavas) through various shortcomings. Our expectations are shattered apart by limited access to what we think, do and say. Shockingly there is some weakness in our existence. Even if we have got everything we wanted, still life somehow seems not right. In retrospect, this very existential frustration was what prince Siddhartha felt before he became a Buddha. During his time many philosophers speculated about ideal world but, he was not such an idealist. He, being a radical empiricist and pragmatist, was not willing to form such a metaphysical world even for the satisfaction of those who crave it. Taking the bull by the horns, he was prepared to face with the riddle of existence without running away from it. He depended on the empirical reality of the sense that were available to him and that is all he needed. All here means the Six Sense Organs, the Six Sense Objects and the Six Consciousnesses, as stated in Sabbasutta of Samyutta Nikāya. There is nothing beyond that, neither empirically nor metaphysically. In Abhidhamma, these 18 dhammas have been further analyzed into 89 or 121 dhammas systematically. The purpose is to recognize the psychology of each and every dhamma and the weakness of various Spheres they belong, and finally pursuing towards perfect rest (nibbāna).
In this topic, I limit myself only to the discussion of so called Sense Sphere Consciousness (Kāmāvacara citta). So let us first look at the word kāma and then avacara. Kāma literally means desire, but it has a wide sense. It covers both subjective and objective aspects of kāma. Buddhist Commentators expressed these two aspects by Kāmiyatī ti kāmo, and kametī ti kamo as sense-desire and enjoyment plus objects of the same. Commentator Dhammapāla in Vimānavatthu classifies kāma as follows: 1. mānapiyā rūpādi-visayā (pleasant objects), 2. Chandarāga (impulsive desire), 3. sabbasmiŋ lobha (greed for anything), 4. gāmadhamma (sexual lust), 5. hitacchanda (effort to do good), serībhāva (self-determination). In short, kāma occupies the leading position in all enumeration of obstacles to perfection.
The word Avacara is derived from the combination of “ava+car”: ava meaning down or away, and car meaning to move, to turn around, to live, etc, so altogether it means living in or moving in or simply Sphere. So kāmāvacara means sense-sphere, sphere where kāmā is predominant. Kāmāvacaracitta are those cittas that occur mostly to beings in the sensuous planes where beings enjoy through the Five Senses. They are namely the four woeful states (the state of misery, animal world, peta world, and asura world), the Human World, and six heavens of the devas. Among the thirteen planes of existences operating in the Sense-sphere Consciousness, human world is just one of them. The common thing here is the kāma (desire). From the very lowest state as peta to the highest state as lord of gods, we are still under the boundary of sense-desire. That's why we human beings naturally have desires, greediness, lust, effort to do good, self-determination, etc. These are rooted in our existence. Among these thirteen, birth as a human world is considered conducive to enlightenment as we can experience both suffering and happiness. It is in the middle of extreme existences. Because if we have birth in one of the hells we only experience suffering and in heavens we only enjoy, there is no chance of experiencing impermanence. Most Buddhist practitioners normally aim at going to one of the heavens, so that they can escape pain. But once the time has finished in heaven, slowly the gods realized they are no more being handsome, beautiful, radiant, shining and their bodies start to decay. In that moment, they experience some kind of mental frustration, and because of that unwholesome consciousness they are mostly reborn among the lower beings. Going to heaven is like going on a holiday and when we return back we have to pay off the the debts. So as Buddhists we have to keep in mind that heavens are not the best options.
In Abhidhamma, 54 types of kāmāvacaracittas are discussed. There are different natures of these consciousnesses, such as accompanied by joy or accompanied by neutral feeling, with wrong views or without wrong views and unprompted or prompted. In another word, to give an example, a boy can steal a mango with joy or neutral feeling, with or without knowing the consequences of the act, prompted by others or unprompted. But still under any circumstance, this act is considered unwholesome, as it is rooted in greed. There are unwholesome consciousnesses that are rooted in hatred. An angry person accompanied by displeasure can get angry because of not liking or hating something or somebody. On account of which, that person is either prompted or unprompted to act violently. There are also unwholesome consciousnesses that are rooted in ignorance. Ignorance here used in the sense of not seeing the reality. They don't have the nature of unprompted or prompted like others, because they are often neutral in a person. It is usually in the form of skeptical doubts or restlessness. Skeptical doubt (vicikiccha) is doubt with regard to those that should not be doubted such as the qualities and achievements of the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Kamma and Vipaka, etc. Restlessness (uddhacca) is the a state of heedlessness of the mind. This is very common in all of us as human beings. Most of the times our mind just wanders about without even knowing where it is wandering.
Another type of consciousness is called rootless, because they are not conditioned by one or more of the six radical conditions hetus viz, greed, hated and ignorance and their opposites non-greed, non-hated and non-ignorance. The first category of the rootless consciousness consists of 7 consciousnesses that result from unwholesome kamma. They are not themselves unwholesome but kammically indeterminate (abyākata). The first five types of resultant consciousness are those that are based on sensitive matter of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. These have arisen as a result of kamma, as in previous births there was the craving to see visual objects, to hear sounds, to smell, to taste and to touch, which are capable of cognizing objects. When these five internal organs come in contact with external objects with the help of light and attention of mind (manasikāra), then consciousness by neutral feelings arises. When an external object hits on one of the five sense organs, say for instance, a visible form on the eye, first there arises a citta adverting to the object. As soon as it adverts, eye-consciousness arises seeing that form. According to the Ābhidhammikas, this act of seeing lasts only for a single mind-moment. Then immediately afterwards, arises a citta that receives the object that had been seen by the eye-consciousness. Another rootless resultant consciouses called investigating-consciousness takes over immediately after the receiving-consciousness. It investigate the object that had just been cognized. Both of these receiving and investigating consciousnesses are as a result of past kamma.
In the case of five-sense-doors adverting consciouses, when no object comes within the gateway of the sense doors, consciouses is still and motionless as in deep sleep. It is called the life continnum (bhavanga). This can be compared to a spider resting motionless and still in the middle of the web. When any objects comes within the gateway of of one of the five sense doors then the life continnum is first stirred. Then later it directs its attention to find out through what door the object entered. This is called Five-sense-doors adverting consciouses accompanied by neutral feeling (upekkha), because it is not as a result of good or bad karma in the previous births, it is simply non-productive. In the case of mind-door consciouses, the life continnum turns to impressions and the thought process occurs at that time. Smile-producing consciousnesses occurs only to the Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas and Arahants. Its function is to make Arahants smile about sense-sphere phenomena. For instance, when a dwelling place or seat conducive to the practice of meditation is seen by the eye, then smile is caused through the eye-door.
Sobhana Cittas (Beautiful Consciousnesses) are best described in the following verse: “Pāpāhetukamuttāni sobhanānī ti vuccare” (Excluding those that are evil and the rootless, they are called “beautiful”. It is called beautiful because it is accompanied by beautiful mental factors (cetasikas), such as faith, mindfulness, shame (self-conscious), fear of doing wrong, and non-greed, non-hatred, neutrality of mind (loving kindness), tranquility of mental body, etc. It is very important to notice that in the kāmāvacara, that is where we inhabit as human beings (sense-sphere), there are beautiful consciousnesses available to us. The beautiful consciousnesses have three fold natures: wholesome, resultant and functional. The eight consciousnesses connected with sense-sphere wholesome consciousness have the natures of joy or neutral feelings, with knowledge or without knowledge, unprompted or prompted. Joy to arise, there should be the presence of nice factors namely: 1. possession of suitable articles for offering, 2. presence of a suitable person fit to receive offerings, 3. presence of a suitable period, 4. presence of a suitable place where Buddhism prevails, 5. presence of good associates, 6. possession of right views, 7. a knowledge of the virtues of the person who is to receive the offering, 8. a belief in the good resultant effects and 9. rebirth consciousness. If one or more of these are not met, classes of consciousness accompanied by neutral feeling arise. For the arising of knowledge, five factors are necessary to be present, namely: 1. teaching of the Dhamma, Vinaya, arts and sciences in a previous birth, 2. the offering of oil lamps and other articles, 3. the study of mathematics, science, art, so on, 4. reaching the decade in which the faculty of reason is at its peak and 5. at the moment of giving charity the moral consciouses should be free from greed, hated and ignorance. If all these five factors are present, then the greatest moral consciousness arises and capable of developing the mahāgatacittas (jhānas). If one or more of the above are absent, then the classes of consciousness that arises is disassociated with knowledge. According to the commentary, one does a good deed without prompting as a result of physical and mental well-being, good food and environment, etc and as a result of doing such good deeds in the previous lives. In the case of prompting, it is mainly because someone or some circumstance compels us to do or by our personal effort.
In the case of 8 kriya cittas, Buddhas and Arahants, merely perform their functions without leaving any kammic deposit. It is on account of the eradication of all traces of ignorance and craving, which are considered the root causes of rebirth, there is no any possibility of generating future rebirths. They merely accomplish some function and leave no any active residue of kamma.
The aim of Abhidhamma is not only to analyze and enumerate the various consciousnesses, but also to provide concrete remedies for all the unwholesome mental states, whether they are rooted in greed, hatred or ignorance. The first step of purification is to recognize where we are. Are we in the sphere of kusala (wholesome), akusala (unwholesome), or rūpa (form) or arūpa (formless). If we recognize that we are in the akusala sphere, then we immediately have to choose any one of the 40 meditational objects (kammattanas). We can select the most suitable one according to our temperaments. Buddhist psychology explains 6 kinds of characters: 1. rāga-purisa (greedy person), 2. dosa-purisa (angry person), 3. moha-purisa (ignorant/stupid person), 4. saddha-purisa (faithful person), 5. buddhi-purisa (intellectual person) and 6. vitakka-purisa (logical person). So, if, for instance, a person is a greedy type, has lots of desire, then he or she can take up the practice of asubha bhāvana or kāyagathasati bhāvana for removing sensual desires (kāmacchandha). In the practice of kāyagathasati, one analyzes the 32 components of the body. First one has to speak loudly, all the bodily parts, such as hairs, nails, teeth, skin, etc. Then see the location, see the colors, see the flesh, blood, skin and then internalize. There is no conception of beauty or ugly. We slowly become free from perpetual judgment and sensual desire. For those who are angry type, easily gets angry and hates oneself and others, then one should take up the practice of Four Brahma Vihāras (4 Boundless Abodes) or the Metta Bhāvana, the practice of loving kindness. In this practice, one generates loving kindness to oneself first, to a beloved person, to a neutral person, to an enemy (enemy means someone we cannot get along with), then to all beings seen or unseen, far or near. In this way our love becomes boundless, there is no distinction between oneself and others. We become all one, thus bringing an end to all conflicts. If we recognize that we are not very intelligent, stupid and ignorant, then we should take the practice of ānāpānasati bhāvana for concentrating our restless mind. This will help to channel all our scattered energies in one direction and then sharpen our brain and intelligence. Buddha said that when the mind is concentrated (samāhita), it can lead to see things as they are (yathābhūtamam nānadassanam).
Understanding of the types of sense-sphere consciousness, their nature and remedies is itself understanding of ourselves, our existence, our mind, our position as beings. From here we can make our decisions to take up the higher practices of attaining lokuttara consciousnesses that are transcendental. The ideal world, according to Abhidhamma, would be one where one has completely eradicated the defilements, once for all, no rūpa-rāga (desire to be reborn in Fine material plane), no arūpa-rāga (desire to be reborn in Immaterial planes), no conceit, no restlessness and finally no ignorance.
References:
J. Kalupahana, David: A History of Buddhist Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi, 1994.
C.L.A. De Silva: A Treatise of Buddhist Philosophy Abhidhamma, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1937.
Bodhi, Bhikkhu: A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 2006.
In this topic, I limit myself only to the discussion of so called Sense Sphere Consciousness (Kāmāvacara citta). So let us first look at the word kāma and then avacara. Kāma literally means desire, but it has a wide sense. It covers both subjective and objective aspects of kāma. Buddhist Commentators expressed these two aspects by Kāmiyatī ti kāmo, and kametī ti kamo as sense-desire and enjoyment plus objects of the same. Commentator Dhammapāla in Vimānavatthu classifies kāma as follows: 1. mānapiyā rūpādi-visayā (pleasant objects), 2. Chandarāga (impulsive desire), 3. sabbasmiŋ lobha (greed for anything), 4. gāmadhamma (sexual lust), 5. hitacchanda (effort to do good), serībhāva (self-determination). In short, kāma occupies the leading position in all enumeration of obstacles to perfection.
The word Avacara is derived from the combination of “ava+car”: ava meaning down or away, and car meaning to move, to turn around, to live, etc, so altogether it means living in or moving in or simply Sphere. So kāmāvacara means sense-sphere, sphere where kāmā is predominant. Kāmāvacaracitta are those cittas that occur mostly to beings in the sensuous planes where beings enjoy through the Five Senses. They are namely the four woeful states (the state of misery, animal world, peta world, and asura world), the Human World, and six heavens of the devas. Among the thirteen planes of existences operating in the Sense-sphere Consciousness, human world is just one of them. The common thing here is the kāma (desire). From the very lowest state as peta to the highest state as lord of gods, we are still under the boundary of sense-desire. That's why we human beings naturally have desires, greediness, lust, effort to do good, self-determination, etc. These are rooted in our existence. Among these thirteen, birth as a human world is considered conducive to enlightenment as we can experience both suffering and happiness. It is in the middle of extreme existences. Because if we have birth in one of the hells we only experience suffering and in heavens we only enjoy, there is no chance of experiencing impermanence. Most Buddhist practitioners normally aim at going to one of the heavens, so that they can escape pain. But once the time has finished in heaven, slowly the gods realized they are no more being handsome, beautiful, radiant, shining and their bodies start to decay. In that moment, they experience some kind of mental frustration, and because of that unwholesome consciousness they are mostly reborn among the lower beings. Going to heaven is like going on a holiday and when we return back we have to pay off the the debts. So as Buddhists we have to keep in mind that heavens are not the best options.
In Abhidhamma, 54 types of kāmāvacaracittas are discussed. There are different natures of these consciousnesses, such as accompanied by joy or accompanied by neutral feeling, with wrong views or without wrong views and unprompted or prompted. In another word, to give an example, a boy can steal a mango with joy or neutral feeling, with or without knowing the consequences of the act, prompted by others or unprompted. But still under any circumstance, this act is considered unwholesome, as it is rooted in greed. There are unwholesome consciousnesses that are rooted in hatred. An angry person accompanied by displeasure can get angry because of not liking or hating something or somebody. On account of which, that person is either prompted or unprompted to act violently. There are also unwholesome consciousnesses that are rooted in ignorance. Ignorance here used in the sense of not seeing the reality. They don't have the nature of unprompted or prompted like others, because they are often neutral in a person. It is usually in the form of skeptical doubts or restlessness. Skeptical doubt (vicikiccha) is doubt with regard to those that should not be doubted such as the qualities and achievements of the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Kamma and Vipaka, etc. Restlessness (uddhacca) is the a state of heedlessness of the mind. This is very common in all of us as human beings. Most of the times our mind just wanders about without even knowing where it is wandering.
Another type of consciousness is called rootless, because they are not conditioned by one or more of the six radical conditions hetus viz, greed, hated and ignorance and their opposites non-greed, non-hated and non-ignorance. The first category of the rootless consciousness consists of 7 consciousnesses that result from unwholesome kamma. They are not themselves unwholesome but kammically indeterminate (abyākata). The first five types of resultant consciousness are those that are based on sensitive matter of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. These have arisen as a result of kamma, as in previous births there was the craving to see visual objects, to hear sounds, to smell, to taste and to touch, which are capable of cognizing objects. When these five internal organs come in contact with external objects with the help of light and attention of mind (manasikāra), then consciousness by neutral feelings arises. When an external object hits on one of the five sense organs, say for instance, a visible form on the eye, first there arises a citta adverting to the object. As soon as it adverts, eye-consciousness arises seeing that form. According to the Ābhidhammikas, this act of seeing lasts only for a single mind-moment. Then immediately afterwards, arises a citta that receives the object that had been seen by the eye-consciousness. Another rootless resultant consciouses called investigating-consciousness takes over immediately after the receiving-consciousness. It investigate the object that had just been cognized. Both of these receiving and investigating consciousnesses are as a result of past kamma.
In the case of five-sense-doors adverting consciouses, when no object comes within the gateway of the sense doors, consciouses is still and motionless as in deep sleep. It is called the life continnum (bhavanga). This can be compared to a spider resting motionless and still in the middle of the web. When any objects comes within the gateway of of one of the five sense doors then the life continnum is first stirred. Then later it directs its attention to find out through what door the object entered. This is called Five-sense-doors adverting consciouses accompanied by neutral feeling (upekkha), because it is not as a result of good or bad karma in the previous births, it is simply non-productive. In the case of mind-door consciouses, the life continnum turns to impressions and the thought process occurs at that time. Smile-producing consciousnesses occurs only to the Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas and Arahants. Its function is to make Arahants smile about sense-sphere phenomena. For instance, when a dwelling place or seat conducive to the practice of meditation is seen by the eye, then smile is caused through the eye-door.
Sobhana Cittas (Beautiful Consciousnesses) are best described in the following verse: “Pāpāhetukamuttāni sobhanānī ti vuccare” (Excluding those that are evil and the rootless, they are called “beautiful”. It is called beautiful because it is accompanied by beautiful mental factors (cetasikas), such as faith, mindfulness, shame (self-conscious), fear of doing wrong, and non-greed, non-hatred, neutrality of mind (loving kindness), tranquility of mental body, etc. It is very important to notice that in the kāmāvacara, that is where we inhabit as human beings (sense-sphere), there are beautiful consciousnesses available to us. The beautiful consciousnesses have three fold natures: wholesome, resultant and functional. The eight consciousnesses connected with sense-sphere wholesome consciousness have the natures of joy or neutral feelings, with knowledge or without knowledge, unprompted or prompted. Joy to arise, there should be the presence of nice factors namely: 1. possession of suitable articles for offering, 2. presence of a suitable person fit to receive offerings, 3. presence of a suitable period, 4. presence of a suitable place where Buddhism prevails, 5. presence of good associates, 6. possession of right views, 7. a knowledge of the virtues of the person who is to receive the offering, 8. a belief in the good resultant effects and 9. rebirth consciousness. If one or more of these are not met, classes of consciousness accompanied by neutral feeling arise. For the arising of knowledge, five factors are necessary to be present, namely: 1. teaching of the Dhamma, Vinaya, arts and sciences in a previous birth, 2. the offering of oil lamps and other articles, 3. the study of mathematics, science, art, so on, 4. reaching the decade in which the faculty of reason is at its peak and 5. at the moment of giving charity the moral consciouses should be free from greed, hated and ignorance. If all these five factors are present, then the greatest moral consciousness arises and capable of developing the mahāgatacittas (jhānas). If one or more of the above are absent, then the classes of consciousness that arises is disassociated with knowledge. According to the commentary, one does a good deed without prompting as a result of physical and mental well-being, good food and environment, etc and as a result of doing such good deeds in the previous lives. In the case of prompting, it is mainly because someone or some circumstance compels us to do or by our personal effort.
In the case of 8 kriya cittas, Buddhas and Arahants, merely perform their functions without leaving any kammic deposit. It is on account of the eradication of all traces of ignorance and craving, which are considered the root causes of rebirth, there is no any possibility of generating future rebirths. They merely accomplish some function and leave no any active residue of kamma.
The aim of Abhidhamma is not only to analyze and enumerate the various consciousnesses, but also to provide concrete remedies for all the unwholesome mental states, whether they are rooted in greed, hatred or ignorance. The first step of purification is to recognize where we are. Are we in the sphere of kusala (wholesome), akusala (unwholesome), or rūpa (form) or arūpa (formless). If we recognize that we are in the akusala sphere, then we immediately have to choose any one of the 40 meditational objects (kammattanas). We can select the most suitable one according to our temperaments. Buddhist psychology explains 6 kinds of characters: 1. rāga-purisa (greedy person), 2. dosa-purisa (angry person), 3. moha-purisa (ignorant/stupid person), 4. saddha-purisa (faithful person), 5. buddhi-purisa (intellectual person) and 6. vitakka-purisa (logical person). So, if, for instance, a person is a greedy type, has lots of desire, then he or she can take up the practice of asubha bhāvana or kāyagathasati bhāvana for removing sensual desires (kāmacchandha). In the practice of kāyagathasati, one analyzes the 32 components of the body. First one has to speak loudly, all the bodily parts, such as hairs, nails, teeth, skin, etc. Then see the location, see the colors, see the flesh, blood, skin and then internalize. There is no conception of beauty or ugly. We slowly become free from perpetual judgment and sensual desire. For those who are angry type, easily gets angry and hates oneself and others, then one should take up the practice of Four Brahma Vihāras (4 Boundless Abodes) or the Metta Bhāvana, the practice of loving kindness. In this practice, one generates loving kindness to oneself first, to a beloved person, to a neutral person, to an enemy (enemy means someone we cannot get along with), then to all beings seen or unseen, far or near. In this way our love becomes boundless, there is no distinction between oneself and others. We become all one, thus bringing an end to all conflicts. If we recognize that we are not very intelligent, stupid and ignorant, then we should take the practice of ānāpānasati bhāvana for concentrating our restless mind. This will help to channel all our scattered energies in one direction and then sharpen our brain and intelligence. Buddha said that when the mind is concentrated (samāhita), it can lead to see things as they are (yathābhūtamam nānadassanam).
Understanding of the types of sense-sphere consciousness, their nature and remedies is itself understanding of ourselves, our existence, our mind, our position as beings. From here we can make our decisions to take up the higher practices of attaining lokuttara consciousnesses that are transcendental. The ideal world, according to Abhidhamma, would be one where one has completely eradicated the defilements, once for all, no rūpa-rāga (desire to be reborn in Fine material plane), no arūpa-rāga (desire to be reborn in Immaterial planes), no conceit, no restlessness and finally no ignorance.
References:
J. Kalupahana, David: A History of Buddhist Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi, 1994.
C.L.A. De Silva: A Treatise of Buddhist Philosophy Abhidhamma, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1937.
Bodhi, Bhikkhu: A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 2006.
Access: Public
thank you, precious Assaji, for sharing these teachings
You are most welcome HummingBird, the graceful one! I am very glad that you have read this article - inspite of the fact that it is very lenghty and rather technical. Thank you.
I wish I could give a thorough explanations of all the Consciounsness (cittas) related to the Three Sphere of Existences (avacara) as explained in Abhidhamma, but it requires some background knowledge and familiarity with all the technical terms appearing in this field. Many people find it rather hard to understand Abhidharma and often scare away, but as we go along the stream, it gets easier and interesting!
Last year I remember I gave a few lessions to a Korean student here and she didn't have any background knowledge whatsoever, but as I tried to make her familiar with all the technical terms and giving doctrinal explanations, she was able to slowly catch up and also appreciate it. Finally she told me “well, this is nothing but psychology (learning about our own mind)” and I said “true yes”.
I hope this is helpful!
Kind Regards,
Assaji
thank you Bhikku Assaji, most eloquent
you are a good teacher and I hope to slowly gain enough back ground knowledge
that I may learn further