The mind occurs in both passive and active modes. The passive gives way to the active when a stimulus is received through one of the sense doors. The passive state of mind is called bhava"nga, cuti, or paa.tisandhi, according to the occasion.

Tâm xuất hiện dưới các pháp thức thụ động và chủ động. Pháp thức thụ động nhường chỗ cho pháp thức chủ động khi có một kích thích nhận được qua một trong các cửa căn. Trạng thái thụ động của tâm được gọi là bhava"nga, cuti, hay là paa.tisandhi,tùy theo trường hợp.

These thought moments follow one another in extremely rapid succession; each depends on the previous one and all share the same object. There is no self or soul directing this process. The process occurs so rapidly that mindfulness has to be alert and brisk to recognize at least the determining thought moment — the vottapana — so that one can govern the javana thought moments by wholesome volition.

When the mind-door receives a mind-object, the sequence of events is a little different from that occurring through the physical senses. The mind-door-adverting citta is the same type of citta as the determining moment — the votthapana — that arises in a sensory process. This mind-door-adverting thought moment can cognize an object previously seen, heard, smelt, tasted or touched, thus making memories possible. Since the mind-object here has already been received and investigated, these functions need not be performed again and the mind-door-adverting thought moment gives way immediately to the javanas. These are, again, of great ethical significance. For example, unpleasant words previously heard can suddenly come to mind and, unless proper mindfulness (sammaa sati) is practiced, call up javana cittas rooted in hatred, i.e., unwholesome kamma.

The mind at the time of death

When a person is about to die the bhava"nga is interrupted, vibrates for one moment and passes away. The interruption is caused by an object which presents itself to the mind-door. As a result of this a mind-door-adverting citta arises. This is followed by five javana thought moments which are weak, lack reproductive power, and serve only to determine the nature of rebirth consciousness. The javanas may or may not be followed by two registering thought moments (tadaalambana). After this comes the death consciousness (cuti citta), which is identical in constitution and object to the bhava"nga citta. The cuti citta merely serves the function of signaling the end of life. It is important to appreciate the difference between the cuti citta and the javanas that precede it. The cuti citta is the end of the bhava"nga flow of an existence and does not determine the nature of rebirth. The javanas that occur just before the cuti citta arises form a kammic process and determine the nature of the rebirth consciousness.

Khi một người sắp lâm chung bhava"nga bị gián đọan, rung động trong khỏanh khắc rồi biến mất. Sự gián đọan gây ra do một đối tượng tự hiện ra trước cửa ý. Do kết quả của điều này một tâm nghịch-đảo cửa ý khởi sanh. Tiếp theo là năm chập tâm javana yếu ớt, không có năng lực sản sanh, và chỉ phục vụ quyết định tâm tái sanh. Các javanas có thể có hay không có hai chặp tâm ký theo sau (tadaalambana). Kế đến là tâm tử xuất hiện (cuti citta), cùng thành phần và đối tượng với bhava"nga citta. Cuti citta chỉ làm chức năng báo hiệu mạng chung. Điều quan trọng là hiiểu được sự khác nhau giữa cuti citta và javanas xuất hiện trước nó. Cuti citta là kết cục của dòng bhava"nga của một sự sinh tồn và không quyết định bản chất của tái sanh. Các javana xuất hiện ngay trước khi cuti citta khởi sanh hình thành một tiến trình nghiệp và quyết định bản chất của tâm tái sanh.

The object that presents itself to the mind-door just before death is determined by kamma on a priority basis as follows:

Dependent on one of the above mentioned four types of kamma, the object that presents itself to the mind-door could be one of three kinds:

This brief account of what will happen to us at death should impress on us the urgency of avoiding all evil acts by deed, word or thought and of performing wholesome meritorious acts. If we do not do so now, we cannot do so at the moment of death, which may come quite unexpectedly. As the Dhammapada states in verses 288 and 289:

Rebirth Consciousness

This is called pa.tisandhi citta, literally "relinking consciousness." The pa.tisandhi citta is the act of consciousness which arises at the first moment of life, the moment of conception. It is determined by the last kammic citta of the preceding life.

Tâm này gọi là pa.tisandhi citta, nghĩa đen là "tâm kết nối lại." Pa.tisandhi citta là họat động của tâm khởi sanh vào khỏanh khắc đầu tiên của đời sống, khỏanh khắc thụ thai. Nó được quyết định bởi tâm nghiệp cuối cùng của kiếp liền trước.

This kammic factor for the arising of a being operates through the pa.tisandhi. The accumulated tendencies of past lives are carried on to the pa.tisandhi and so the process of being born, dying and being born again goes on. Each pa.tisandhi citta is a new one, not the continuation of the old one in the previous life. Thus there is no place for a soul concept in rebirth. In the course of one particular life there is only one pa.tisandhi citta. Once the function of linking two existences has been performed by the pa.tisandhi, consciousness in the newly formed embryo immediately goes into the bhava"nga state. This flows along in the new existence with infinite interruptions by various stimuli and ends as the cuti citta of that particular existence.

The practice of chanting Buddhist scriptures in the presence of a dying person is intended to evoke kusala kamma cittas in him so that the last thought process will be a wholesome one and lead to a favorable rebirth.

Regardless of the conditions into which humans are born, be they handicapped or favored in various ways, birth in the human plane is the result of kusala kamma. It is only in the human plane that one can make a start to end all suffering. The Buddha has told us that, having left this human existence, not many will return to it for a long, long time. Therefore, it is up to us to make the most of this opportunity we have as human beings.

The Jhaana cittas

The cittas that occur through the five physical sense doors, and the mind-door cittas taking sense objects, belong to the sensuous plane of consciousness. They are called kaamaavacara cittas. The jhaana cittas are meditative states of consciousness. Their object is not a sense impression but a meditation object experienced through the mind-door. The jhaana citta may depend on subtle materiality (ruupaavacara citta) or, if more refined, may be independent of materiality (aruupaavacara citta).

Các tâm xuất hiện qua năm cửa giác quan, các tâm của cửa ý nhận thức đối tượng cảm quan, thuộc về dục giới. Chúng được gọi là các tâm dục giới (kaamaavacara cittas). Các jhaana citta là các tâm thiền. Đối tượng của chúng không phải là những cảm nhận giác quan mà là đối tượng thiền định được thể nghiệm qua cửa ý. Tâm thiền có thể tùy thuộc vào vật chất tế vi (ruupaavacara citta -tâm thiền sắc giới) hoặc, nếu tinh tế hơn, có thể không tùy thuộc vào vật chất (aruupaavacara citta - tâm thiền vô sắc giới).

There are five stages of ruupa jhaana and four of aruupa jhaana. No attempt will be made to analyze these stages except to state that each is more refined than its predecessor.

It is extremely difficult to attain even the first stage of jhaana. To do so one has to be well established in virtue (siila) and eliminate the five mental hindrances, at least temporarily. These five hindrances are: sense desire (kaamacchanda), ill-will (vyaapaada), sloth and torpor (thiina and middha), restlessness and worry (uddhacca and kukkucca), and doubt (vicikicchaa).

Though difficult, it is well worth attempting to attain jhaana by regular and ardent practice of samatha bhaavanaa, i.e., concentration-meditation. Even if we do not reach the first stage of jhaana, even a brief elimination of the five mental hindrances will give us a taste of a happiness which far surpasses that derived from the senses. When restlessness, anxiety and worry try to overwhelm us in our daily lives we will benefit by sitting for a period and developing concentration. We will realize that nothing is more satisfying than the ability to keep a check on the frivolous, fickle mind.

Lokuttara cittas

The word lokuttara is derived from loka and uttara. In this context loka refers to the five aggregates; uttara means beyond. Thus lokuttara applies to those states of consciousness that transcend the world of mind and body, i.e., they are supra-mundane.

Từ lokuttara có gốc từ từ loka và uttara. Trong văn cảnh này loka chỉ ngũ uẩn; uttara có nghĩa vượt lên trên. Do đó lokuttara chỉ cho các trạng thái tâm vượt lên trên thế giới cũa tâm và thân, tức là siêu thế gian.

These states of supra-mundane consciousness are possessed by those who have developed insight into the three aspects of existence — impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and no-self. As a result of this insight, such a person passes beyond the level of a worldling (puthujjana) and becomes a Noble One (ariya puggala). With this transformation there is a radical change in the person's life and nature because a determinate number of defilements are totally eradicated, never to arise again. These defilements go to form the ten fetters (sa.myojanaa) that bind a person down to the wheel of existence. They are eradicated in stages as one becomes, in succession, a stream-winner (sotaapanna), once-returner (sakadaagaamii), non-returner (anaagaami) and arahant. We shall refer to these states of supra-mundane consciousness again when we discuss nibbaana.

The second reality or paramattha dhamma is the cetasikas. The cetasikas are the mental factors or concomitants that arise and perish together with consciousness (citta), sharing its object and basis.

The Abhidhamma lists 52 kinds of cetasikas. One is feeling (vedanaa), another is perception (saññaa). The remaining 50 are grouped together under the term sa"nkhaaraa.

Feeling(vedanaa)

In the Abhidhamma context the word "feeling" signifies the affective experience of an object; it does not imply emotion, which comes under a different heading. Feeling is associated with every type of consciousness. Like the citta itself it is of momentary duration, arising and perishing in an instant. This arising and perishing occur in rapid succession, so much so that they create an illusion of compactness and stability obscuring the momentariness. But the momentariness can be experienced through the practice of mindfulness. It will then be realized that there is no self or agent that experiences the feeling. There is only the arising and disappearing of an impersonal process. As long as we do not see how this impersonal process occurs we will be led to believe that feeling is the self, or the self possesses feeling, or feeling is in the self, or the self is in feeling. These beliefs keep us bound to suffering — to sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair.

Trong văn cảnh của Vi Diệu Pháp từ "thọ" chỉ sự nhận biết cảm xúc một đối tượng; nó không chỉ cảm xúc, thuộc một tiêu đề khác. Thọ kết hợp cùng với mọi lọai tâm. Cũng như chính bản thân tâm nó có tính chất phù du, khởi sanh và biến mất ngay. Sự sanh và diệt này diễn ra tiếp nối nhanh chóng, nhiều cho đến nỗi chúng tạo ra ảo giác dồn nén và bền vững xóa nhòa bản chất phù du của chúng. Nhưng sự phù du của nó có thể được thấu hiểu thông qua thực hành chánh niệm. Lúc ấy nó sẽ được nhận ra rằng không có ngã, hay người biết cảm thọ. Chỉ có sự sanh và diệt của một tiến trình vô ngã. Chừng nào mà chúng ta không thấy được cách mà tiến trình này diễn ra chúng ta sẽ bị hướng đến chỗ tin rằng cảm thọ là ngã, hoặc ngã sở hữu cảm thọ hoặc cảm thọ ở trong ngã hoặc ngã ở trong cảm thọ. Những tin tưởng như vậy làm cho chúng ta bị ràng buộc vào khổ — vào buồn rầu, than khóc, đớn đau, sầu khổ và tuyệt vọng.

Feelings are commonly classified into three types: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. Pleasant feeling, in the absence of wise consideration (yoniso manasikaara), leads to attachment, unpleasant feeling to repugnance, and neutral feeling to ignorance. A pleasant feeling is pleasant while it lasts but when it changes, as it must, it yields to displeasure — i.e., an unpleasant feeling. An unpleasant feeling is unpleasant while it lasts, but when it passes a shallow satisfaction arises which misleads the average person into thinking: "Now, I am all right." A neutral feeling, in the absence of wise attention, can foster ignorance and a callous indifference to one's own and others' welfare. If, however, one has developed wholesome awareness based on insight, when a neutral feeling arises the mind remains in equanimity, undisturbed in all circumstances. This balanced state of mind is one of the highest forms of happiness.

Relevant to the Abhidhamma, two other classifications of vedanaa must be mentioned.

Five Kinds:

1. bodily agreeable feeling — kaayikaa sukhaa vedanaa (sukha)
2. bodily disagreeable feeling — kaayikaa dukkhaa vedanaa (dukkha)
3. mentally agreeable feeling — cetasikaa sukhaa vedanaa (somanassa)
4. mentally disagreeable feeling — cetasikaa dukkhaa vedanaa (domanassa)
5. indifferent or neutral feeling — adukkha-m-asukhaa vedanaa (upekkhaa)

Perception (saññaa)

Perception is awareness of an object's distinctive features. It becomes six-fold in relation to the five physical sense objects (color, sound, smell, taste, touch), and mental objects. It is sañña that enables us to recognize an object previously perceived.

Tưởng là sự nhận biết các đặc điểm phân biệt của một đối tượng. Có sáu tưởng trong mối quan hệ với các đối tượng hữu hình của ngũ căn (sắc, thanh, hương, vị, xúc), và các đối tượng tinh thần. Nó là sañña làm cho ta có thể nhận biết một đối tượng trước khi nó được nhận thức.

As in the case of feeling, perception is an impersonal process which arises and perishes in a moment. If the momentariness and impersonal nature of perception are not appreciated by insight, here again, wrong conceptions will result that perception is the self, or the self possesses perception, or perception is in the self, or the self is in perception.

There are four perversions (vipallaasa) that distort perception — the perversions of regarding:

1. What is impermanent (anicca) as permanent (nicca)
2. What is unsatisfactory (dukkha) as pleasant or happiness-yielding (sukha)
3. What is without self (anattaa) as self (attaa)
4. What is impure (asubha) as pure (subha)

These distortions, born of ignorance, increase craving, grasping, and suffering. Only by the practice of mindfulness can one see through these perversions and avoid them.

Perception and memory. Memory occurs not through a single factor but through a complex process in which perception plays the most important role. When the mind first cognizes an object through the senses, perception "picks out" the object's distinctive mark. When the same object is met with on a subsequent occasion, perception again notices that its distinctive mark is identical with the previous one. It "grasps" the identity of the distinctive marks. This "grasping" is a complex series of thought processes, one of which connects the present object with the previous one and another attaches to the present object the previous one's name. Memory will be good if this "grasping" functions well, and "grasping" will function well if the initial "picking out" of the object's distinctive marks was clear, not obscured by irrelevant thoughts. Clear perception comes through attention. As the Buddha says: "In what is seen there must be just the seen, in what is heard there must be just the heard, in what is sensed there must be just the sensed, in what is thought there must be just the thought."

Sa"nkhaaraa

Sa"nkhaaraa is a collective term for the other fifty cetasikas. These fall into four groups:

Sa"nkhaaraa là một danh từ tập hợp chỉ 50 tâm sở còn lại. Những tâm sở này chia làm bốn nhóm:

1. Universal mental factors (sabba citta saadhaaranaa)
2. Particular mental factors (paki.n.nakaa)
3. Unwholesome mental factors (akusalaa)
4. Beautiful mental factors (sobhanaa)

The universal mental factors. There are seven mental factors which are called universals because they are common to every state of consciousness. Two are feeling and perception mentioned above. The order in which the other five are given has no sequential significance as they all co-exist in any state of consciousness. They are:

1. Contact (phassa), the coming together of the sense organ, object, and appropriate consciousness.

The particular mental factors. Six mental factors are called particulars for, unlike the universals, they need not exist in every citta. The six are:

1. Initial application (vitakka), which applies the other mental factors to the object when attention has brought it into range.

The universals and particulars are, in themselves, ethically indeterminate but become wholesome, unwholesome, or neither, depending on the state of consciousness in which they occur.

The unwholesome mental factors. There are fourteen unwholesome mental factors. The first four listed below are present in all unwholesome states of consciousness. The others are variable.

1. Delusion (moha) is synonymous with ignorance regarding the Four Noble Truths.

1. the view of a truly existent self (sakkaaya di.t.thi);
2. eternalism (sassata di.t.thi) or nihilism (uccheda di.t.thi);
3. the view denying the efficacy or fruits of kamma (natthi di.t.thi), causality (ahetuka di.t.thi), and the moral law (ahiriya di.t.thi).

14. Doubt (vicikicchaa) is the undecided frame of mind.

The beautiful mental factors. There are twenty-five beautiful factors. Nineteen are common to all beautiful thoughts, six are variable. The latter are the three "abstinence factors," two "illimitables," and the wisdom factor.

The common beautiful factors (sobhanaa saadhaaranaa) are as follows:

1. Confidence (saddhaa), also called faith, which for a Buddhist means trust in the Three Jewels — the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, and in the principles of the Buddha's teachings.

5. Non-attachment (alobha) restrains attachment and fosters generosity.

The abstinence factors (virati) restrain a person from committing evil acts. These are three in number:

20. Right speech (sammaa vacaa) is abstinence from lying, slandering, abusive language, and idle talk.

The illimitable factors (appamaññaa) are compassion and sympathetic joy; they are called illimitable because they are boundless and extend to all living beings.

23. Compassion (karu.naa) has the nature of being moved by the suffering of others. The sadness we might experience over the suffering or loss of a loved one is not true compassion. Such sadness is sentimental, a manifestation of grief. Real compassion arises when the mind, detached from self-referential concerns, is stirred by the suffering of others, feeling the suffering as its own.

Compassion and sympathetic joy, together with goodwill and equanimity, form the Four Sublime Abodes (brahma vihaara). Goodwill and equanimity were mentioned under the common beautiful factors.

25. The wisdom factor (paññaa) enables one to see things as they truly are, that is, in the light of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness.

It is important to know the unwholesome and wholesome mental factors that operate in our minds. If we do not know them for what they are we will not be able to recognize them when they arise. But when our insight develops, we can understand that it is not a "self" that commits unwholesome and wholesome acts but just these mental factors.

In Dhamma practice our aim should be to get rid of the unwholesome factors and cultivate the wholesome ones. This has been outlined by the Buddha under Right Effort (sammaa vaayaama), the fifth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, in terms of four practices. The disciple rouses his will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts the mind, and strives to:

1. prevent the arising of unarisen evil, unwholesome thoughts;
2. abandon evil, unwholesome thoughts that have arisen;
3. produce wholesome thoughts that have not yet arisen;
4. maintain the wholesome factors that have arisen and not let them disappear, but bring them to growth, maturity and full perfection of development.

Regarding the unwholesome thoughts, to prevent them from arising or to abandon them as soon as they have arisen, we have to be mindful of the state of the mind, i.e., whether the mind is with greed, hate and delusion or not. By the constant practice of mindfulness we can learn to catch the unwholesome mental factors as soon as they arise. This mere recognition is often enough to prevent them from gaining ground, from leading to action by deed, word or thought. If this is done on a regular basis, these unwholesome thoughts can become attenuated and eventually cease.

Sometimes, however, unwholesome thoughts keep recurring and mere observation of the state of the mind may not be enough to deal with them. In such situations there are five methods proposed by the Buddha, described in the 20^th Middle Length Discourse (Majjhima Nikaaya), MN 20. These are, briefly, as follows:

1. to give one's attention to a different object of a wholesome nature;
2. to reflect on the danger in those unwholesome thoughts;
3. to try not to give any attention to them;
4. to give attention to the removal of the source of those thoughts;
5. to clench the teeth, press the tongue against the palate and restrain, subdue, and suppress the mind with the mind.

Meditation is an important aspect of Buddhist practice. There are forty subjects of samaadhi meditation to suit different individual temperaments and also many types of insight meditation. To select a suitable subject of meditation it is best to seek the help of a competent teacher. If such a teacher is not available, then one has to make a sincere and honest search of one's temperament and character and find guidance in a standard book on meditation. A few examples are given below:

1. The four sublime abodes — loving kindness for those with ill will; compassion for those with a streak of cruelty; sympathetic joy for those with envy, jealousy, aversion, and boredom; equanimity for those with lust and greed.
2. For the conceited: meditation on the absence of an abiding self in all bodily and mental phenomena of existence.
3. For those with sexual obsession: meditation on the unattractive nature of the body.
4. For those with wavering confidence:meditation on the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha.

The ultimate aim should be to develop wisdom (pañña). This is achieved by insight meditation (vipassanaa bhaavanaa), which leads to fully comprehending by direct experience the three characteristics of existence — impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selflessness.