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Revised November 4, 2017; October 22, 2021; October 27, 2021

Twelve Types of Akusala Citta

All ten akusala kamma are done with these 12 akusala citta. There are 8 greed-rooted, 2 hatred-rooted, and 2 delusion-rooted citta. Of course, citta (pronounced “chiththā”) are thoughts; any speech or bodily action starts with a thought.

▪See, “Conditions for the Four Stages of Nibbāna” for a list of 12 akusala citta.

Both greed-rooted and hatred-rooted also have delusion as a root.

1. The first citta is described as, “a thought rooted in greed (and delusion), associated with wrong views, accompanied by pleasure.” The others can be stated the same way.

▪Those cittā that are associated with wrong views are the worst, even though wrong views are listed as #10 on the ten immoral actions, see, “Ten Immoral Actions (Dasa Akusala).”

▪Citta generated with pleasure means one is enthusiastic about it because of one’s habits (gati) or one starts liking it. For example, one who likes to go fishing has a bad habit; he gets pleasure by just thinking about it; thus it is stronger than one done with equanimity.

▪A hateful citta is always arises with displeasure, but that displeasure can arise with ignorance. For example, someone who has wrong views may generate displeasure towards a moral person merely because of one’s wrong views. I have encountered some people who got upset with me when I pointed out that rebirth has evidence for it.

▪Sasaṅkhārika means with less javana power.

▪See, the notes at the end of the post “Conditions for the Four Stages of Nibbāna” for details.

2. Since vicikicchā is also due to wrong views, those five cittā marked in red are the strongest akusala citta done with “wrong views” or “diṭṭhi.” Those five cittā stop arising in the mind of a Sotāpanna.

They can condition one’s mind to a “gati” suitable for birth in the apāyā; see, “What is in a Thought? Why Gati are so Important?.”

▪The vyāpāda or the strong hate — that makes one eligible for birth in the apāyā –actually arises from the first four types of lobha citta. It is also called “dvesa” or “dvesha” which means “second manifestation” or (“dvi” + “vesa”) of lobha. When one is burdened with extreme greed, it can turn to the second manifestation of extreme hate for anyone in the way.

▪Upon attaining the Sotāpanna stage, such habits or “gati” are removed, and thus no adverse kamma vipāka comes to mind at the dying moment, as we point out below. The “pati+ichcha sama+uppada” or what is born is similar to what is grasped, is at play at the dying moment. One automatically grasps things one has a habit of liking; they automatically come to the forefront of the mind at the dying moment.

3. The other 7 akusala citta are stopped from arising in stages as a Sotāpanna cultivates the Path further.

▪The two dislike (paṭigha)-rooted cittā (together with some potency of the remaining 4 greed-based citta, i.e., kāma rāga) are reduced at the Sakadāgāmī stage.

▪Those two dislike-rooted cittā are stopped from arising at the Anāgāmī stage. Also, the potency of the remaining 4 greed-based citta, i.e., kāma rāga is reduced to just kāma level.

▪Finally, the remaining 4 greed-based citta and the uddhacca citta are removed at the Arahant stage. Thus an Arahant will never experience an akusala citta.

Seven Types of Akusala Vipāka Citta

4. These 12 types of citta lead to 7 types of vipāka (resultant) citta.

▪None of the vipāka citta has any unwholesome roots (greed, hate, delusion); of course, they also do not have the wholesome roots. Thus they are called rootless (ahetuka) citta.

5. Five of these akusala vipāka cittā are the ones that lead to (undesirable) sense events through the five physical senses. Thus they are responsible for eye consciousness (cakkhu viññāṇa), ear consciousness (sota viññāṇa), nose consciousness (ghāṇa viññāṇa), taste consciousness (jivhā viññāṇa), and body consciousness (kāya viññāṇa).

▪Except for the body consciousness which is accompanied by pain, the other four are accompanied by equanimity; see,”Avyākata Paṭicca Samuppāda for Vipāka Viññāṇa” and “How Are Paṭicca Samuppāda Cycles Initiated?“

▪Thus any feelings of displeasure etc due to what is seen, heard, smelled, or tasted, are in the thoughts that follow this “event” experienced through one of the physical senses. We will discuss this in detail in the Abhidhamma section.

6. The sixth akusala vipāka citta is called receiving consciousness accompanied by equanimity (upekkhā-sahagata sampaṭicchana citta). This is a citta that accepts the sense impression to the mind (we will discuss it in the Abhidhamma section).

7. The seventh akusala vipāka citta is called the investigating consciousness accompanied by equanimity (upekkhā-sahagata santīraṇa citta). This is the citta that is responsible for the birth in the apāyā (lowest four realms), i.e, it acts as the paṭisandhi citta for the birth in the apāyā.

8. One may wonder how a Sotāpanna avoids the apāyā, because he/she is still capable of generating the 7 cittā that are not associated with diṭṭhi (see the Table above), and thus it is possible to generate this apāyagāmī-paṭisandhi citta.

▪The point is that after becoming a Sotāpanna, such vipāka thoughts do not come to the mind at the last thought processes; only the good kamma vipāka come to the forefront of the mind close to the dying moment because he/she no longer has the “gati” suitable for a birth in the apāyā.

9. It is hard to give up one’s bad habits (“gati”), mainly because one does not fully comprehend the true nature of the world, i.e., anicca, dukkha, anatta, and thus has wrong views about this world with 31 realms. One needs to comprehend that one’s actions have consequences not only in this life, but (mainly) in the future lives; also, whatever one gains by such harmful actions is just temporary, AND do not leave one with a peaceful mind.