Doors and Physical Bases of Citta - Experience an object without any doorway

In between the different processes of citta there have to be bhavanga- cittas (life-continuum). Bhavanga-cittas are not vithi-cittas.  They are not part of the process of cittas experiencing objects which time and again throughout our life experiencing on the six doors. They experience an object without being dependent on any doorway. The patisandhi-citta, the bhavanga -cittas and the cuti-citta of one life experience the same object as the last javana-cittas which arose before the cuti-citta of the previous life. The patisandhi-citta, the bhavanga-citta and the cuti-citta are vithi-vimutti- cittas (vithi-vimutti means: process-freed), thus, they are different from the cittas arising in sense-door processes and mind-door processes.

 

It is useful to classify citta by way of dvāra (doorway). If one only classifies

citta by way of function (kicca), but not by dvāra, one may not know which

citta is referred to. For example, the pañca-dvārāvajjana-citta (five-sense-

door-adverting-consciousness) has the function of āvajjana (adverting). If

one does not know that this citta performs the function of adverting through

the five sense-doors, one may confuse it with the mano-dvārāvajjana -

citta (mind-door-adverting-consciousness) which also perform the function of

āvajjana. The mano-dvārāvajjana-citta, however, performs the function of

āvajjana only through the mind-door.


Topic 190