Abhidhamma Papers |
Such change has reverberations throughout the being, perhaps even eventually on the body. Dependent upon wrong knowing, patterns of behaviour emerge. We form habits of thought, speech and action upon a groundwork of misunderstanding whose presence is taken for granted and thus not seen for what it is. Stooping shoulders or a deeply-furrowed brow are physical reflections of a chain of actions rooted in a distorted view of the world. If a particular unpleasant state such as depression or anger occurs repeatedly, the view of the world from that standpoint will gradually crystallize into a view of how the world actually is. This will have an increasing influence on one's thoughts, feelings and posture or physical development. Work on body mindfulness approaches the problem, as it were, from the grossest level upwards, paying attention to and adjusting posture and thereby bringing about a change in the state of mind. Abhidhamma, on the other hand, works from the highest level downwards by developing understanding. For example, a more skilful attention to these states reveals their arising and passing away as well as their lifespan.
When appropriate, habits of thought and feeling should then be allowed to modify accordingly. Actions will now tend more naturally towards skilfulness, and if the bodily pattern has not become too fixed, a corresponding change will slowly take place on this level also. The body can now develop more naturally rather than in a way which it has been constrained to follow. However, a similar physical imbalance may recur later, prior to letting go once more, to allow a subtler degree of skilfulness to arise.
These different bodily manifestations can be traced back to essentially different roots. The concept of levels may be used to express this difference. If a painter mixes red paint with blue, he will never manage to produce orange. However, it only requires a rearrangement of the materials at his disposal - in this case, coloured paints - for him to find the right answer. He will eventually substitute yellow for blue and produce orange. But if, instead of a new colour, he is trying to produce a completely different material - clay, or plaster of Paris, for instance - the solution lies totally beyond the scope of the materials at his disposal. In this exaggerated example, we may say that for as long as he holds to his misunderstanding, namely, that he may reach his objective via the materials at his disposal, the solution lies in a higher level of understanding of his materials.
The awakening to the existence of levels may result from the study of abhidhamma, and becomes essential as the work continues. In the Abhidhammattha-sangaha, different levels are described both overtly, such as in the lists of consciousnesses pertaining to the worlds of sense-experience, fine-matter (rupa) and the formless (arupa), and more discreetly in the structure of the work as a whole.
Essential realities are stated to be fourfold: consciousness (citta) and its concomitant details of tone or quality (cetasika ), matter (rupa) and nibbana. The first two Sections enumerate the first two realities and state which mental factors may be concomitant with which states of consciousness. The material as it stands at this point, however, is static. We are told what may take place but not how or why it arises and relates to succeeding moments.
Section three has an intermediary function, both expanding on some subjects touched on earlier and introducing new material. All the consciousnesses listed in Section one are described as associated with feeling of some sort. Most are rooted in certain basic tendencies such as ill-will and dullness or generosity and knowledge. The detailed meaning of 'feeling' and 'root' is not given until now. The list of different functions of consciousness opens the door to a whole new realm of potential, but the possibilities of consciousness in action are not elaborated until Section four.
Here at last thought process is explained. This represents a change in level because the static individual consciousnesses are now linked up into series. Strictly speaking we may not talk of movement but only of a series of rapidly-succeeding moments, but for purposes of explanation the progression from a series of static points to a condition of movement may help to suggest the feel of the shift of scale involved. This cannot be achieved within the terms of reference of a point alone: a new dimension must be added.
The description of consciousness and mental activity may be regarded as a spectrum of possibilities for individual beings according to their abilities and limitations. The picture is now widened further to incorporate the different levels of beings and the worlds which they naturally inhabit, each with its own time scale. The scale of reference has now shifted from the processes within an individual lifetime to the different types of individuals and the relationships between their levels, Although the thought processes at the time of death and birth are described, all intervening consciousness is said to be underlaid by the ever-present stream of consciousness which continues to flow from birth to death. A being in this context is simply a complex consisting of three stages: birth, life, summarised by the stream of consciousness, and death.
Much more attention is given to action (kamma). Particular types of action are shown to be characteristic of, or conducive to existence in, certain worlds, or levels of existence; they are also impossible in other worlds. Skilful action cannot arise directly from wrong understanding. During the course of a single action many consciousnesses will occur, but Section four is not concerned with enumerating them. Mental action is sometimes classified according to the consciousnesses involved, such as twelve-fold unskilful action, or five-fold action in meditation according to the five factors of absorption (jhana ), but this only assumes a detailed knowledge of the earlier Sections. If this is present, the preceding subject-matter will become integrated in the wider picture which has been opened up.
Instead of progressing to a successively larger scale, the cycle now appears to return to the lowest level of all: matter. Being the grossest of the four realities, matter could also be placed at the head of the list. This sudden reversal of direction suggests a circular or spiralling relationship between the different levels. The end of one cycle may also be the beginning of the next. To complete the Section there is nibbana, supramundane, not subject to arising nor to passing away.
The four essential realities have now been covered. Perhaps in the process one has accumulated much information, learnt copious lists, drawn beautiful diagrams, or benefited in some other way. But what has been the effect of this? Where before there were only vague notions about the workings of the mind, there may now be a very clear but rigidly-fixed picture of how things are. The initial life and significance of something seen for the first time can be very uplifting, but if when one adverts to it on succeeding occasions it appears to lack vitality, one is trying to hold onto it or fix it in the mind. A more relaxed attention will allow deeper understanding to arise once it has ripened. Section seven, 'Abhidhamma Categories', may help in this regard: all the material described so precisely in previous Sections is rearranged according to a new set of categories. This should at least serve to irritate those views that have gone to fixity!
With the exception of nibbana, all things are conditioned. They arise, expend their life, and pass away. The next Section introduces the laws by which things are created and decay, and depend upon each other for this process. They form a structure within which everything exists. They operate everywhere, throughout all times and conditions; the extension of scale has now reached its fullest extent.
The total condition and environment of all beings have now been described. Given that these are the conditions of existence, what use may be made of life? The final Section on mental development enumerates the different subjects for meditation and describes the seven stages of the path of purification, culminating in realization. It describes a way to penetrate all the levels which have been illuminated, to experience them, be free from them and understand their nature. Although as usual no preference is expressed for this course of action over others, perhaps we may understand it to describe the highest or most complete use of existence.
Charles
The subject matter of the Abhidhammattha-sangaha is organized in nine Sections, which cover the following:
After the Section on 'Abhidhamma categories', the book proceeds to the Patthana and the largest scale of all. Nothing exists wholly outside the influence of causal relations, so their inclusion completes the picture of how things are. Also included in this Section is an account of concepts (pannatti), which again seems anomalous. It might be possible to see concepts as dhamma-made-manifest . The term pannatti is derived from panna, which literally means 'that which causes wisdom'. So, if wisdom arises from seeing dhamma, ordinary knowledge may arise from seeing some concrete form of dhamma. It is interesting that originally the abhidhamma does not mention concepts: all objects of the mind are dhamma and the description of what would be concepts is 'that which is not to be classified as matter or mind'. The term pannatti itself is probably a later introduction.
The Section including the patthana and pannatti completes the picture of how things are. The last Section of the book then shows what to do with this reality, describing the highest path that can be followed within the picture that has been built up.
Discussion then turned to rupa and its positioning in the book, since this seemed to be of some importance. We remembered from previous discussions (following essays three and nine) that rupa need not be seen as 'matter' in the obvious sense; at any given level, it is gross only in relation to the subtlety of mind. The rupa of one level may be the mind (nama) of the one below. In this context, the whole of the first part of the Abhidhammattha-sangaha until the treatment of rupa may be seen as arousing an understanding which will give the mind a basis, or a new kind of rupa, for the understanding required for the rest of the book. Each section of the book may be likened to a photograph, and the first part of the book thus provides a series of photographs. The second part of the book attempts to stimulate the person into integrating these different photographs. Only if he does this for himself will there be a real change in level.
While the structure of abhidhamma provides a stimulus for this, the change is by no means automatic and the person studying it has to allow the change to happen.