Are there any suttas that mentions subdivisions in mind consciousness?
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One example that comes to mind
You should truly see any kind of consciousness at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; coarse or fine; inferior or superior; far or near: all consciousness—with right understanding: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’
Yaṁ kiñci viññāṇaṁ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṁ ajjhattaṁ vā bahiddhā vā oḷārikaṁ vā sukhumaṁ vā hīnaṁ vā paṇītaṁ vā yaṁ dūre santike vā, sabbaṁ viññāṇaṁ: ‘netaṁ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti evametaṁ yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabba
with the divisions being according to time, direction, coarseness, location etc since the sutta offers a way to analyse any kind of consciousness.
PS. Another one that comes to mind was discussed in Ven Sunyo’s book here : https://bswa.org/teaching/seeds-paintings-beam-light-similes-dependent-arising-ebook/
where he discusses the dual nature of consciousness. For ex from CH 9 :
“I hope to have shown that in this context ‘consciousness’ refers to the general existence of the whole aspect of existence of consciousness. The arising of consciousness as a result of willful actions means rebirth in a certain place, and its cessation happens when the enlightened one passes away. But the suttas also speak of the arising and ceasing of instances of consciousness within this aspect of existence. This so-called momentary arising of consciousness forms the subject of this chapter.”
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Hi sood,
Thank you for your reply.
I asked this question, because I came across a text and the contents of this text went over my head.i didn’t understand it properly.
For eg:
I thought kusala meant skillful-ness but here it says “moral”…etc…
Could you please go through this and share your thoughts on this.
In your recollections ,is it inline with the suttas?
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Hi sim,
This seems like an abhidhamma-type analysis, from the theravada school based on the pali terminology. Unfortunately, my understanding about the various Abhidhamma categories is minimal, so I can’t really compare with the suttas with any detail or precision. Hopefully someone who is well read in both types of literature can chip in. From what I know, it is important to keep in mind that things might be defined differently in the sutta and the abhidhamma texts, and tracing this evolution over time can be an interesting problem.
Regarding the image that you shared, here are some ideas from the suttas that come to mind :
kāma-rūpa-arūpa are types of bhava in the suttas about which you can read here - Bhava doesn't mean 'becoming'
and Ven Vaddha’s posts here - The difference between Sankara, Kamma, and bhawa.
It refers to a life or a state of existence that starts with some initial arising in one of these three general categories of existence fuelled by craving and delusion. For example, the conception of a human being would be an example of the first type. So the stream of consciousness gets established in one of these realms. The later literature calls this initial pulse of consciousness associated with arising in a realm the rebirth-linking consciousness. To me, it looks like the literature then generalise this idea and applies it to all momentary distinct arisings of mind consciousness, which is a topic of study for the abhidhamma. So a mind consciousness can be of the kāma variety when it is aware of something related to sensory stimulus from the five senses (from some past sensory experience for example), while rūpa and arūpa consciousness refer to certain specific meditative experiences - those of the rūpa jhānas and the arūpa states. Lokuttara consciousness would then pertain to the stages of awakening - when the mind gains deep insight into the four noble truths, in opposition to lokiya which are the first three types of consciousness.
For kusala, I’ve usually seen the translations wholesome or skillful. For example, wholesome deeds refers to 10 wholesome courses of action in the suttas as in AN 10.176 or MN 9. Then, a moral or wholesome mind consciousness could be one which causes a moral or wholesome deed to take place since it is accompanied by one of the wholesome roots - contentment, love and understanding. I would read the unwholesome case in a similar way using the unwholesome courses of action and unwholesome roots. The wholesome and unwholesome instances lead to karma which produces results experienced by the Resultant consciousness. The Ineffective case would be some basic functional instances of consciousness or those pertaining to deeds done by enlightened people that produce no results for them and are also not resultant themselves.
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