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Tipitaka >> Abhidhamma Pitaka >> Patthana Dhamma
By Htoo Naing


Chapter 10 - Sahajāta Paccayo

Or Conascence Condition

Sahajata paccayo ti - cattāro khandhā arūpino annamannam sahajata paccayena paccayo.

Saha means together, in parallel with, at the same time, coming together. Jati or jata means arising or coming up. Sahajata means coming together up. Paccaya means support, condition, supported condition , cause, the cause. So sahajata paccaya means the condition that come together with the result. ti or iti means like this, as such . So sahajata paccayo are cattāro khan paccyo.

Cattāro means these 4 dhammas. Khandhā means aggregates. Arūpino means non material. So cattāro khandhā arūpino means these four non material aggregates are. Annamannam is made up of anna and annam. This means each other. That is one is to another and that another is to the former one and this is each other. It can be said they are acting one aonther. These 4 khandhas serves as annamanna sahajata paccaya.

This means that one serves as paccaya dhamma to other three khandhas. Again each of other 3 khandhas also serves as paccaya dhamma to the other three khandhas. To understand this it is essential to understand 5 khandhas or 5 aggregates, without knowledge of these 5 khandhas sahajata paccaya especially annamanna sahajata paccaya will not be understood.

Five khandhas or panca kkhandhas are

  1. rupa kkhandha or material aggregates
  2. vedana kkhandha or feeling aggregates
  3. sanna kkhandha or perception aggregates
  4. sankhara kkhandha or formation aggregates
  5. vinnana kkhandha or consciousness aggregates

It is easy to write in simple English. But they will need further explanations. Material aggregates will not mean anything to non Buddhists if it is left unexplained. In the realm of nama rupa interaction rupa also have a clear role. Without rupa, cittas and cetasikas cannot arise with a few exception when in arupa brahma realms.

In the setting of nama rupa interaction, we need to take an example. Let us take an example of an event of seeing. You see something or someone sees something. There happen arising and falling away of dhammas. They are vanna or colour of different shapes and different forms serving as rupārammana or the object for eye consciousness or seeing consciousness or cakkhu vinnana citta. That vanna is a rupa and it is rupa kkhandha or material aggregate. In the same process there has to arise cakkhu pasada or cakkhuppasada or eye sense base. It is another rupa or material and it is also material aggregate or rupakkhandha.

While vanno or colour is serving as ārammana or object, cakkhu pasada rupa is serving as dvara or door for the whole series of cittas. Cakkhu pasada rupa also serves as a vatthu or ground for related cittas and cetasikas. Through out the process there are 14 vithi cittas.

1. pancadvaravajjana citta has upekkha vedana or indifferent feeling. 2. pancavinnana citta or cakkhuvinnana citta here has upekkha vedana or indifferent feeling. 3. sampaticchana citta or receiving consciousness also has upekkha vedana or indifferent feeling. 4. santirana citta or investigating consciousness may have upekkha vedana or indifferent feeling or may have somanassa vedana or mental joy. There are 3 santirana cittas or 3 investigating consciousness. One is upekkha santirana of akusala vipaka and another is upekkha santirana of kusala vipaka and still there is a third santirana and it is kusala vipaka and it has somanassa vedana or mental pleasure.

5. votthapana citta or determining consciousness which is manodvara vajjana citta or mind door adverting consciousness. It has upekkha vedana or indifferent feeling. This 5th vithi citta is followed by 7 successive javana cittas.

6 to 12. javana cittas or mental impulsive consciousness. As this example is pancadvara vithi vara javana cittas will be those of pancadvara vithi vara. There are 29 javana cittas at 5 sense doors. These 29 javana cittas are 12 akusala cittas, 1 hasituppada citta, 8 mahakusala cittas, and 8 mahakiriya cittas.

Among them 4 lobha cittas are somanassa cittas or consciousness with mental pleasure, 1 hasituppada citta is a somanassa citta, 4 mahakusala cittas are somanassa cittas and 4 mahakiriya cittas are somanassa citta. So there will be 13 somanassa kama javana cittas. 2 dosa cittas are domanassa cittas and they have mental displeasure. All other remaining cittas in 29 cittas are upekkha cittas and they are 4 upekkha lobha cittas, 2 upekkha moha cittas, 4 upekkha mahakusala cittas and 4 upekkha mahakiriya cittas.

So there are 13 somanassa cittas ( 4 lobha, 1 hasituppada, 4 mahakusala, 4 mahakiriya ), 2 domanassa cittas ( 2 dosa mula cittas, and 14 upekkha cittas ( 4 lobha, 2 moha, 4 mahakusala, 4 mahakiriya). The vedana cetasika in these cittas are vedana kkhandha or feeling aggregates.

After 7th javana citta there follow 2 successive tadarammana citta or 2 retention consciousness. These 2 cittas just retain the existing arammana until the 2nd tadarammana citta passes away. These tadarammana cittas are 11 cittas ( 3 santirana cittas and 8 mahavipaka cittas ). Again they do have vedana or feeling. One santirana is somanassa citta and another 2 santirana cittas are upekkha cittas. 4 of mahavipaka cittas are somanassa cittas and other 4 are upekkha cittas. So there are 5 somanassa cittas and 6 upekkha cittas in 11 tadarammana cittas. The vedana in each of these 11 cittas are vedana kkhandha or feeling aggregates.

Again each citta in above example has sanna or perception and they are called sanna kkhandha or perception aggregate. There are 52 cetasikas in total in terms of character. One is vedana and another is sanna each of which has separate khandha and there left 50 cetasikas. In the above example vithi vara there are 14 vithi cittas. After exclusion of vedana and sanna what left is sankhara kkhandha or formation aggregates. Formations are like viriya or effort, manasikara or attention, dosa or aversion etc etc and they are forming their specific roles and so they are called formation or sankhara kkhandha. All 14 vithi cittas here in this example are vinnana or consciousness and they all are known as vinnana kkhandha or consciousness aggregates.

After exclusion of rupa kkhandha all other 4 khandhas known as nama kkhandhas serve as annamanna sahajata paccaya to each other.

After exclusion of rupa kkhandha or material aggregates all other four nama kkhandhas or non material aggregates serve as annamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conascence condition to each other.

That is vinnana kkhandha or consciousness aggregates serve as annamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conascence condition for vedana kkhandha or feeling aggregates. Vinnana kkhandha here means 14 vithi cittas in ati mahanta arammana or very clear object vithi vara cittas. They each also have sanna or perception and they are sanna kkhandha or perception aggregate and vinnana kkhandha again serve as mutuality conascence condition to sanna kkhandha in addition to vedana kkhandha.

There are cetasikas in each of these 14 vithi cittas and they are known as sankhara kkhandha or formation aggregates. Sankhara or formations here in 14 vithi cittas are cetana or volition, viriya or effort, manasikara or attention etc etc and all these are forming their specific roles and except vedana and sanna who are separate khandhas or aggregates other cetasikas are collectively known as sankhara kkhandha. As to other vedana kkhandha and sanna kkhandha, vinnana kkhandha also serve as mutuality conascence condition to sankhara kkhandha or formation aggregates.

Vinnana kkhandha does to other 3 nama kkhandhas by serving as causal condition which is mutuality conascence condition. By the same token, sanna kkhandha or perception aggregates does to other 3 nama kkhandha or non material aggregates of vinnana kkhandha or consciousness aggregates, vedana kkhandha or feeling aggregates, and sankhara kkhandha or formation aggregates by serving as annamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conascence condition.

In the same way, vedana kkhandha or feeling aggregates serves as mutuality conascence condition for vinnana kkhandha or consciousness aggregates, sanna kkhandha or perception aggregates, and sankhara kkhandha or formation aggregates. Sankhara kkhandha or formation aggregates also serve as mutuality conascence condition for vinnana kkhandha or consciousness aggregates, sanna kkhandha or perception aggregates and vedana kkhandha or feeling aggregates.

These four nama kkhandhas serve as nannamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conascence condition for each other. At a given moment they arise together and at the same time they serve as annamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conascence condition to each other. Annamanna is made up of anna + anna. Anna means know perceive cognize. Annamanna means one knows the other. Here annamanna means one support others and vice versa and when one is absent there is no way to exist the whole.

Tidanta or three foot table cannot stand on one foot or two feet but one all three feet. In the same was 4 nama kkhandhas cannot exist without other 3 khandhas. This is mutuality. Again they arise at the very same time. So this conditional relationship is known as annamanna sahajata paccaya.

When a candle is lighted there is light as well as heat in it. They cannot be separated and they arise together. When heat arises light also arises and this happen at the very same time. So the condition that conditions other thing arises at the same time of arising of its result. This is called sahajata paccaya.

The causal dhamma or the conditioning dhamma or paccaya dhamma is vedana kkhandha or sanna kkhandha or sankhara kkhandha or vinnana kkhandha and the resultant dhamma or conditioned dhamma or paccayuppanna dhamma is again one of 4 khandhas excluding conditioning khandha. The relationship between the causal dhamma and the resultant dhamma is known as sahajata paccaya and in this example it is annamanna sahajata paccaya.

Cattāro mahā bhūtā annamannam sahajata paccayena paccayo.

Cattaro mahā bhūtā means 4 maha bhuta rupas or 4 great element. Regarding material there are only these 4 rupas as material. They are 1.pathavi or solidity or mass, 2. tejo or temperature, 3. vayo or supportiveness or pressure or movement, and 4. apo or cohesion or stickiness or flowness. All other rupas have to depend on these 4 maha bhuta rupas. They are called maha bhuta rupa because they are the place where all other rupas have to dwell on or depend on and they are the bhumi for all rupas.

Example there is a mass. That mass has molecules and atoms and etc etc. It has a solid component. This does not mean it is a solid or liquid or a gas. That solidness can be sensed through kaya dvara called kaya pasada rupa and kaya vinnana knows that solidness or solidity and it is the characterisitc of pathavi rupa. That mass does have an exact temperature. Again this can be sensed through kaya dvara called kaya pasada rupa and known by kaya vinnana or consciousness at body know that temperature.

In that mass subatomic particles are moving and in a molecule atoms are moving and in a compound molecules are moving and they bear an exact temperature. In a mass these particles are attracted each other and support each other and this supportiveness can be sensed through kaya dvara called kaya pasada rupa and this supportiveness or vayo is sensed by kaya vinnana citta. Again there is cohesion in that mass. But this cohesion can only be understand by reasoning and it is not a physical sense but it is an object of mind. But as a rupa it does exist and it is apo or cohesion.

If there is a mass then there are all 4 maha bhuta rupas in that mass. There is no way to arise just only one or two or three of these four maha bhuta rupa. They are like tidanta or tripod. Tripod cannot stand with 2 feet or one foot but with all three feet. This is annamanna or mutuality conditioning. And as they arise at the same time they are also supported by conasence condition. So 4 maha bhuta rupas conditione each other by mutuality conascence condition.

Okkantikkhane nāma rūpam annamannam sahajata paccayena paccayo.

Okkantika means coming into existence birth rebirth patisandhi. Khana means a moment. Okkantikkhana means at the exact moment of coming into existence or at the exact time of rebirth or at the very first moment in a life.

Okkantikkhana nāma and rūpa are 4 nama kkhandhas and 1 rupa kkhandha at the moment of the rebirth. Regarding rūpa there are rupa kalapa or aggregate of many rupas. Rupa does not arise singly but in kalapa or in aggregate. For human being or manussa there are 3 rupa kalapas at the moment of patisandhi.

These 3 rupa kalapas or material aggregates are

1. kaya dasaka rupa kalapa 2. bhava dasaka rupa kalapa 3. vatthu dasaka rupa kalapa

Kaya here means kaya ppasada rupa. Dasaka means comprising of 10 rupas. So in this rupa kalapa there are 10 rupas. They are 8 avinibbhoga rupas or 8 inseparable materials, 1 kaya ppasada rupa and 1 jivita rupa altogether 10 rupas are called dasaka rupa kalapa. In bhava dasaka rupa kalapa kaya ppasada rupa is replaced by one or another of 2 bhava rupas called itthatta bhava rupa [femaleness] and purisatta bhava rupa [maleness] and other rupas are the same as in case of kaya dasaka rupa kalapa. By the same token in vatthu dasaka rupa kalapa kaya ppasada rupa is replaced by hadaya vatthu or hadaya rupa.

In the above Pali sentence Okkantikkhana nāma rūpam means

  1. patisandhi citta and its associated cetasikas [nama]
  2. hadaya vatthu [rupa]

As soon as patisandhi citta arises there arise associated cetasikas. So these cetasikas and that patisandhi citta serve conditions for each other and one another as mutuality conascence condition. Patisandhi citta cannot arise without patisandhi cetasikas and vice versa. This reveals mutuality. And again they arise together and arise at the same time. This reveals co arising or coascence condition and so it is annamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conasence condition

The causal dhamma is citta and the resultant dhammas are cetasikas. The relationship between them is annamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conascence condition.

Patisandhi kammaja rupa here is hadaya vatthu. Hadaya vatthu has to arise because of kamma. This patisandhi hadaya vatthu also arise depending on patisandhi citta and patisandhi citta also has to depend on hadaya vatthu and they act to each other as mutuality condition. Again they arise together and they arise at the same time. As they co arise they serve as conascence condition for each other. So patisandhi citta and patisandhi kammaja rupa hadaya vatthu serve condition of annamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conascence condition. This is the same to hadaya vatthu and patisandhi cetasikas. So patisandhi citta, patisandhi cetasikas, patisandhi kammaja rupa hadaya vatthu all serve annamanna sahajata paccaya or mutuality conascence condition to each other.

Citta cetasikā dhammā citta samutthānānam rūpānam sahajata paccayena paccayo.

Citta and cetasikas serve as conasence condition for rupas. Which rupa? It is the rupas that derived from citta. These rupas are called cittaja rupas or consciousness derived materials. Samutthana means caused by. So rupa caused by consciousness are also called citta samutthāna rupa or cittaja rupa.

There are 15 rupas that are caused by consciousness or they are cittaja rupas. These 15 rupas are

  1. kaya vinatti rupa (gesture)
  2. vaci vinatti rupa (speech )
  3. sadda rupa (sound, voice )
  4. rupalahuta rupa (lightness of rupa)
  5. rupamuduta rupa (flexibility of rupa)
  6. rupakammannata rupa ( workableness of rupa )
  7. pathavi (solidity)
  8. tejo (temperature)
  9. vayo (supportiveness)
  10. apo (cohesion)
  11. vanna (colour)
  12. gandha (smell)
  13. rasa (taste)
  14. oja or ahara rupa (nutriment)
  15. akāsa rupa or pariccheda rupa (space)

There are 89 cittas or 89 state of consciousness or 89 mental states. They are

  1. 12 akusala cittas
  2. 10 panca vinnana cittas
  3. 5 ahetuka vipaka cittas of (2 sampaticchana and 3 santirana cittas )
  4. 3 ahetuka kiriya cittas
  5. 8 mahakusala cittas
  6. 8 mahavipaka cittas
  7. 8 mahakiriya cittas
  8. 5 rupakusala cittas
  9. 5 rupavipaka cittas
  10. 5 rupakiriya cittas
  11. 4 arupakusala cittas
  12. 4 arupavipaka cittas
  13. 4 arupakiriya cittas
  14. 4 lokuttara kusala cittas
  15. 4 lokuttara vipaka cittas

89 total cittas

Among these 89 cittas 10 panca vinnana citta cannot produce any cittaja rupa. 4 arupavipaka cittas are patisandhi cittas, bhavanga cittas and cuti cittas or arupa brahmas and they also do not cause or produce any kind of rupa. So among 89 cittas ( 89 - 10 - 4 = 75 ) 75 cittas cause arising of cittaja rupas or consciousness derived materials. Among these 75 cittas there are vipaka cittas that can serve as cuti citta of arahats and when it is cuti citta or arahats that arahat cuti citta does not produce anything.

Otherwise at each moment whenever a citta arise there also arise its associated cetasikas and its cittaja rupas at the same time. They arise at the very same time and they arise together. So they are serving conascence condition for each other and one another. Cittaja rupas arise at the very same time of arising of that citta. But these rupas do not serve as mutuality condition as in case of patisandhi kamaja rupa hadaya vatthu. So in this condition it is just sahajata paccaya or conascence condition.

The paccaya dhamma or causal dhamma or supporting dhamma is one of these three dhammas

  1. citta
  2. cetasikas
  3. cittaja rupas

and the paccayuppanna dhamma or the resultant dhamma or conditioned dhamma is also one of these three dhammas. The result arises at the same time of the arising of the cause and this is called sahajata paccaya. It is like lighting to a candle where light arises at the same time of arising of heat and they cannot be separated.

Mahābhūtā upādā rūpānam sahajata paccayena paccayo.

There are 4 maha bhuta rupas. They are pathavi rupa, tejo rupa, vayo rupa and apo rupa. Pathavi is state of solidity and it may be soft or farm or hard. It may be as soft as when we strike the environmental air with our palm or it may be as hard as iron wall. Tejo is a state of warmthness coldness or temperature. Every physical matters around us has a temperature and it may be just warm or hot or cold. Vayo is state of supportiveness by pressing pulling or movement. We can detect this vayo in the water.

It can be said that water contains wind and wind contains water. Here water is conventional water and wind is conventional air or wind (if it moves). But elementwise the air or atmospheric air contains all 4 maha bhuta rupa. By the same token water also contains all 4 maha bhuta rupas. Apo is a state of cohesiveness and it has the character of stickiness, flowing, cohesion. It presence is hard to know. We cannot detect apo even the conventional water. Apo is so subtle that 5 physical senses cannot detect it. So it becomes the object of mind.

4 maha bhuta rupas are the base for all other rupas. Without maha bhuta rupas other derived rupas can never arise. There are 24 derived rupas and they all derive from 4 maha bhuta rupas. Along with 4 maha bhuta rupa, there 24 derived rupas constitute 28 paramattha rupas as paramattha dhamma. There are no other rupas apart from these 28 rupas and they are ultimate realities. They do arise and they do fall away. They are conditioned dhamma and they are changing all the time because of conditions.

These 24 derived rupas are

  1. cakkhu pasada rupa (eye sensitivity)
  2. sota pasada rupa (ear sensitivity)
  3. ghana pasada rupa (nose sensitivity)
  4. jivha pasada rupa (tongue sensitivity)
  5. kaya pasada rupa (body sensitivity)

All these 5 pasada rupas have to depend on 4 maha bhuta rupa. Without maha bhuta rupas they cannot arise. But when there are 4 maha bhuta rupas they may or may not arise.

  1. rupa (visual object) which is vanno or colours of different brightness, different forms and shapes
  2. sadda or sound
  3. gandha or smell
  4. rasa or taste ( 9.a) photthabba or body sense of pathavi or tejo or vayo )
  5. itthatta bhava rupa (femaleness) [Itthi means female, atta means body, bhava means existence]
  6. purisatta bhava rupa (maleness) [Purisa means male, atta means body, bhava means existence]
  7. hadaya rupa or hadaya vatthu or heart. This is not anatomical heart. It is the seat of mind.
  8. jivita rupa or life faculty
  9. ahara rupa or oja or nutriment
  10. pariccheda rupa or ākāsa or space
  11. kaya vinatti rupa or gesture (specific body movement and position showing thoughts)
  12. vaci vinatti rupa or speech (specific voice indicating specific thoughts)
  13. rupalahuta rupa or lightness of material
  14. rupamuduta rupa or flexibility of material
  15. rupakammannata rupa or workableness of material
  16. upacaya rupa or initial formation of material
  17. santati rupa or sustained formation of material
  18. jaratā rupa or wearing away of material or getting old
  19. aniccatā rupa or vanishing of material or disappearance of material

When any of these 24 rupa arises they have to arise because there also arise 4 maha bhuta rupa. They arise at the very same time. In this condition the dhammas arise at the same time and arise together. The causal dhammas or paccaya dhamma or conditioning dhammas arise along with the resultant dhammas or paccayuppanna dhamma or conditioned dhamma.

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