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sense-door.htm
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Each time we perceive an object through the senses, a series of thought-moments occurs which constitute a process. These thought moments, or cittas, are according to abhidhamma, different 'minds' or states of mind. One follows another in rapid succession (usually too quickly to be perceived individually) and in a certain order. Normally for the perception of an object through one of the senses, seventeen thought-moments occur. These are:
1. Bhavanga: Bhavanga or stream of being or subconscious state of mind is that which is below the threshold of consciousness. It may be compared to a state of deep, dreamless sleep. The nature of this 'mind' or 'citta' will depend on the individual and his past kamma, but in the case of human beings this will be skilful, since without a skilful state existing at the moment of re-linking of a past life with a present life, there would be no conditions for a human birth.
2. Vibrating bhavanga: Before an object can impinge on any of the senses, it first enters the stream of bhavanga causing it to vibrate slightly, in the same way as a sound might cause one to turn in one's sleep without waking up.
3. Cutting off the stream of bhavanga: The third thought-moment is the point at which the stream of bhavanga is interrupted or cut off, and may be compared to being woken up from sleep. The object (here, sound) is in no way known at this stage.
4. Turning to sense door: There is now a turning to the sense door concerned. That is to say, concerning an audible object there will be a turning to the ear door without there yet being any hearing.
5. Five-fold sense consciousness: Now there is, in the case of audible object, hearing; in the case of visible object, sight; odorous object, smell; sapid object, taste; and tangible object, touch.
6. Receiving: Here the object is passively received and may be distinguished as being agreeable or disagreeable, although as yet there is no reaction to this discernment. The feeling is neutral in either case. For example, if the sound is a harsh voice, it is not yet known as such so no judgement or dislike may yet arise. It is simply received passively.
7. Investigating: The object or sound is now examined and investigated, but decision as to the nature of the object has still not been made.
8. Determining: It is at the determining stage that discrimination is applied and the object is recognized. Thus the sound will be known as a harsh voice and consequent upon this determining will be the nature of the next and crucial stage of
9-15. Javana: This, in contrast to all the preceding states, is an active state, capable of creating further results or kamma. It is the dynamic reaction to what has been perceived. It is at this stage that a skilful or unskilful citta will occur. Thus after hearing harsh speech, a state of anger, dislike or rejection may arise. The citta that occurs here normally lasts for seven thought-moments.
16-17. Retention: These two final thought-moments do not always occur at the end of a thought process, but depend for their arising on the strength of the preceding javanas. Retention is performed by the investigating cittas, and its function is essentially to register what has been perceived in the 'memory'.
Having described a thought process in its complete form, it is now necessary to explain that not all processes reach the retention stage. There are four different courses that may occur.
The cittas occurring in the above processes are of three main types:
The resultant cittas (see list of thought-moments in process) are passive in the sense that they occur automatically as a result of past action. They cannot create further javanas as they have no volition. Their weakness is reflected in the small number of associated mental factors. (They do, however, grow in strength further up the process, the receiving and investigating cittas containing the three additional mental factors of applying the mind to the object, examining and commitment to the object.)
Kiriya cittas serve a rather special function. They seem to be neither active nor passive. It is this apartness or otherness that seems to give them their unusual quality. There are two kiriya cittas that occur in the thought process. The first is the turning to the sense door consciousness, and the second is the turning to the mind door consciousness, which acts as the determining citta. It is at this crucial point in the thought process that the nature of the next stage of javana is determined. The consciousness that performs this function is strengthened by the additional mental factor of effort, and so if mindfulness or appropriate attention can be exerted at this point, intervention can occur, and a chain of mechanical reactions may be broken. Thus it is possible to turn a potentially unskilful javana, rooted in aversion experienced in response to an undesirable object, such as a harsh voice, to a skilful one rooted in wisdom.
The difficulty is being able to locate and become aware of these points within a thought process. If we begin to try and conceive of the number of thought processes which occur in a given space of time, it very soon becomes obvious that they are innumerable. Consider that the process described above is a grossly simplified description and that hundreds of actual thought processes may be required before full perception, cognition and action are reached. That is to say that any one apparent thought process is in fact made up of many thought processes.
Let us take an eye door process as an example - seeing flowers in a shop window. After the initial eye door process, culminating in retention, the stream subsides into bhavanga, followed by a mind door process which perceives the flower mentally. This consists of a further 'turning to mind door consciousness', then seven further moments of javana. Again the stream subsides into bhavanga, and two more thought processes of this type occur before the object is actually known. Then consider the possible thoughts stemming from this perception: contemplation and subsequent greed for the attractive colour, shape and smell of each individual flower; possibilities of adorning one's house with them; cost of buying them; consideration of making someone a present of them; the raising of oneself in the estimation of that person; how many to buy; what colour; and so on. All these thoughts seem to flash through the mind in a few seconds. Further consider all the other objects impinging on all the other senses apparently at the same time: the sound of traffic; the smell of fumes; seeing people move through the streets; the after-taste of lunch lingering on in the mouth; the feel of the wind blowing against the face. Some of these are possibly involving thought processes culminating in javana, others are being seen and heard but not discriminated, and certainly not remembered. All these things seem to be happening in the same moment as the seeing of the flowers. Yet according to abhidhamma, only one consciousness can be present at; any one moment, and each of these thought-moments in each process is separate from, although conditioned by, the previous one.
The speed with which one citta succeeds another is so great that it appears to us that our minds are made up of one continuous stream from which often apparently random thoughts come to the fore, and over which we have no control. If we can slow down these thought processes and observe, either through the practice of meditation, or by developing and increasing mindfulness during the day, we have a better chance of catching those fleeting moments, of applying appropriate attention and of developing skilful consciousness.
Isy
The term javana also stimulated discussion, as it is very difficult to find an English word which conveys the meaning of the word. The usual translation of 'impulsion' does not do justice to the literal meaning of 'running' as opposed to 'walking'. This indicates something of the strength of javana in relation to the other functions, as it is only in this consciousness that kammic results are produced.
The essay describes some of the different qualities of each stage of the thought process. It is also possible to relate five of these stages to the 'pentad of sense experience', a group of five mental factors concerned with basic processes of perception.
In the five-fold sense consciousness, the mental factor of phassa (contact) is strong.
In the receiving consciousness, vedana (feeling) is strong.The different stages thus emphasise different aspects of the process of perception. Sanna, for example, recognizes and differentiates the object but no more than that. It is different in quality from the stage of determining, when cetana initiates some kind of decision or response to the object. There is more discussion of the pentad of sense experience in essay nine (where it is referred to as the five factors of experiencing objects) and essay thirteen.
In the investigating consciousness, sanna (recognition) is strong.
In the determining consciousness, cetana (will-to-do) is strong.
In the javana consciousness, citta is strong.
The essay also points out that the thought process may not last for the full seventeen thought-moments but may subside before that. Thus, besides the full-length thought process, there are also three other types of thought process of shorter duration. One of these, for example, only reaches the determining consciousness, and there are no javana or retention consciousnesses. Normally, it is very difficult to notice the distinction between this and the full thought process, and one is usually only fully conscious of those thought processes which repeatedly reach the javana stage on perceiving an object. If, however, the mind is stilled in meditation practice, it may be possible to be aware of a difference in quality between the mind which goes to javana and one which does not. When the mind is stilled, there may be fewer sense door thought processes which reach the javana stage, and this is experienced as less scattering of the mind. If, for example, a sound is heard, it is registered and recognized, but the mind is not disturbed.
The essay is also concerned with the way in which abhidhamma describes our ordinary experience as an extremely rapid succession of thought processes. One may not be aware either of the rapidity of this succession or of many of the thought processes themselves. Thus, according to abhidhamma, one can be aware only by means of one sense at a time. If, for example, music is playing while we are drinking coffee, awareness may be either of the music, or of the taste of the coffee, or of the touch of the cup against the lips. One thinks that tastes, sounds, sights, etc., are experienced simultaneously, but abhidhamma states that our awareness is really building up a composite picture from rapidly-changing thought processes.
There is also in abhidhamma no concept of the unconscious. We may think that we perceive things unconsciously, like background noises quickly forgotten, but these are first of all consciously registered. The difference lies in the clarity of the awareness. Some objects are perceived so dimly that we hardly know that we are conscious of them.
This sort of analysis is obviously very different from the way we normally consider our ordinary experience. It seems difficult to be aware of the vast number of different thought processes which take place in one moment. There are many other points, too, in which abhidhamma does not tally with our everyday thinking. We felt, however, that it would be misleading to suggest that abhidhamma tells us what things are 'really like', beyond our own understanding. Abhidhamma seems to be concerned with principles which apply at quite gross levels as well as very subtle levels. Its purpose would then be to stimulate finer and finer degrees of attention in order to see how these principles actually do work in our own experience.
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