Ahetuka Cittas which are Unknown in Daily Life - Mano-dvaravajjana citta I

Another type of ahetuka kiriyacitta is the mind-door-adverting-consciousness, in Pāli: mano-dvārāvajjana citta. This type of citta arises both in the sense- door process and in the mind-door process but it performs two different functions according as it arises in each of those two kinds of processes, as we will see.

 

When an object contacts one of the sense-doors, the pañca-dvārāvajjana-citta

(five-sense-door-adverting consciousness) turns towards the object, one of

the dvi-pañca viññānas experiences it, sampaticchana-citta receives the object

and santīrana-citta investigates it. The process of cittas experiencing the

object through that sense-door is, however, not yet over. The santīrana-citta

is succeeded by an ahetuka kiriyācitta which experiences the object through

that sense-door and ''determines'' that object, the determining-consciousness,

in Pāli: votthapana-citta. It is actually the same type of citta as the mano-

dvārāvajjana-citta (mind-door-adverting-consciousness, the first citta of the

mind-door process), but when it arises in a sense-door process it can be

called votthapana-citta, since it performs the function of votthapana,

determining the object, in the sense-door process. The votthapana-citta, after

it has determined the object, is followed by akusala cittas or by kusala cittas.

The votthapana-citta itself is neither akusala citta nor kusala citta; it is

kiriyacitta. This citta which determines the object is anattā, non-self. There is

no self who can determine whether there will be akusala cittas or kusala

cittas. The akusala cittas or kusala cittas which succeed the votthapana-citta

are non-self either; it depends on one's accumulations of akusala and kusala

whether the votthapana-citta will be succeeded by akusala cittas or by kusala

cittas.