Q1 M1:
What is the citta? Is it not attention?
A:
In the four iddhipãda (paths of accomplishment), citta is attention. When it is combined with recollecting, it becomes mindfulness (sati). The citta likes to go wherever it pleases; and in whatever the citta does, it is not afraid of doing wrong, nor is it afraid of
danger. If mindfulness does not restrain it, it may stray and go for unchecked pleasure seeking. To make an analogy, the citta is like an animal and mindfulness is like the person who trains and controls the animal. If the citta which is possessed by kilesas is trained and
controlled by mindfulness, it will slowly become disciplined and the kilesas can then be eradicated. When it is also accompanied by wisdom (paññã) to investigate and extract the kilesas, the citta will become clearer and brighter. When the citta becomes brighter and
brighter, you will discover that the citta is becoming more and more subtle and that it has more strength and power. The citta can become pure through the practice of meditation, but you cannot understand the citta merely by reading books, for you can only come to
know the real citta by practising the way. Then you will gradually come to see the true nature of the citta a little more each time until you see it clearly and all doubts vanish. Practice is therefore extremely important if you want to know the citta, because you can
come to know the real citta absolutely clearly and eliminate all doubts only by means of practice. There is no other way in which you can know it.
Q2 W1:
People in England study Buddhism from books. They do not know that there is a citta, because Buddhism is not taught here according to the Satipaååhãna Sutta. The result is that people are led to understand that the citta is mindfulness and wisdom. I therefore
think it necessary for Ven. Paññãvaððho to have Acharn Mahã Boowa give us some understanding of the citta.
Ven Paññãvaððho to Acharn Mahã Boowa (in Thai): People in this country understand citta to mean ‘thinking’. They understand that the citta is divided into the forms of the citta which come from seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling
and touching; in other words “consciousness” (viññãõa).
A:
That aspect of the citta which arises when something comes into contact with eyes, ears, nose, etc., and which knows and receives that contact is called “consciousness” (viññãõa). It arises and ceases together with that contact. As for the citta that knows these
things, it does not cease together with the consciousness when it ceases; it does not cease even though the body ceases, for it will go on and take rebirth in the future. There is no end to it as long as the “sap of the heart”, which is the kilesas and avijjã (ignorance),
remains in the heart. But when this “sap” of the kilesas has been removed from the heart, there is an end to continual becoming and birth, as happened with the Buddha and his Arahant disciples.
Q3 M1:
This ‘one who knows’ which we call our ‘self’, is this not attã ? Or is it anattã (not-self)?
A:
If we compare the ‘one who knows’ with stairs, such as the ones used to reach this room, then we will have to take hold of them as ‘self’ and let go of each step one after the other until we reach this room, which is our goal. If at the beginning we do not cling to
the self, we can go widely off course because we have no basis to hold on to. We have to make use of the self as the way which will lead us to the state of not clinging to self. Therefore, at this stage, we should not go thinking about self and not-self (attã and
anattã). We must at first make use of self before we can reach our goal. The question of attã, anattã and the citta will be dropped by itself, just as happened when we climbed the staircase until we reached this room, when the problem of us and the staircase vanished of
its own accord.
Q4 M2:
When we compare the citta to the stairs, must we let go of the citta in the same way we let go of the stairs when we reached the last step?
A:
When we have trained the citta, we gain different levels and we let go of each level until we reach the last step. It then stops by itself and we do not have to force it. If one is going to do this, one must reach the level of “super-mindfulness” (mahã-sati) and “superwisdom”
(mahã-paññã) because this is the level which is suitable for letting go of the conventional world (sammuti) in all its aspects. From that point on there is no more attachment or clinging in the citta.
Q1 M1:
What you explained yesterday, about the citta being something that does not die, leads me to understand that the citta is the same as the soul. Please would you elaborate on this point a bit more.
A:
What is the soul?
M1:
The soul is the one that must associate with God. Each person has one soul. When a person dies, the soul waits for God to judge it, and is then sent to either heaven or hell.
A:
Citta, or mano-viññãõa, is the “one who knows”. It is also referred to as the heart. As for viññãõa, the consciousness which comes from the impact of sensation through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, it arises in association with these things and then ceases. This is what is called viññãõa in the five khandhas, and is different from the citta. But paåisandhi viññãõa (which comes under the first heading above) is the citta that goes to take birth each time in any one of various possible realms and characteristic forms of
existence. The citta has “seeds” attached to it — in other words, kamma which has been done that can send it off to be born in various different states. In Buddhism it is explained that beings are born in various different circumstances and
states because of paåisandhi viññãõa, the citta that has the nature of anicca, dukkha and anattã. Kamma is the “force” which drives the citta on. But when the citta has been “washed clean” until it is made pure (parisuddhi), free from kilesas and kamma which would otherwise attach themselves to it, the pure citta knows within itself that it will not be born again. It knows without a doubt that it is free, that it is finally and absolutely beyond the rule of anicca, dukkha and anattã. As long as the citta, or paåisandhi viññãõa, is still not pure in every way, it must live under the rule of anicca, dukkha, and anattã. But this citta is very subtle, so how can it be
anattã? It may be illustrated by the following simile, which gives a comparison with
emptiness. Suppose that a man is told to go into a room and say whether the room is empty or not.
When he sees that here is nothing in the room, he says: “This room is empty”. But the person who sent him in counters: “How can the room be empty when you are standing there in the middle of it?” He then becomes aware of himself and leaves the room. Only
then is the room truly empty. The citta which gets rid of attãnudiååhi (belief in self) entirely has nothing mundane or
relative left in it at all. Therefore it is said to be an “empty citta”, or a citta that is pure throughout. Since attã and anattã no longer exist in the citta, the citta is absolutely free from conditions of both attã and anatta