Bhavaṅga (bhavanga) and Cetasika

Abhidhamma
1

Is the Bhavaṅga unique in being the only citta without cetasikas?

2

Bhavanga citta has cetasikas associated with it actually.
The seven universal cetasikas (Sabbacitta-sādhāraṇa) arise with every citta.

The bhavanga may have additional ones as well.
Abhidhamma in Daily Life

The bhavaṅga-citta is the same type of citta as the paṭisandhi-citta. There are nineteen types of paṭisandhi-citta, and thus there are nineteen types of bhavaṅga-citta.

  • If the paṭisandhi-citta is akusala vipāka (which is the case when there is birth in a woeful plane), all bhavaṅga-cittas of that life are akusala vipāka as well.
  • If the paṭisandhi-citta is ahetuka kusala vipāka (in which case one is handicapped from the first moment of life), all bhavaṅga-cittas of that life are ahetuka kusala vipāka as well.
  • If the paṭisandhi-citta is sahetuka (arising with sobhana hetus, or beautiful roots), the bhavaṅga-citta is sahetuka as well.

All bhavaṅga-cittas during a lifespan are of the same type as the paṭisandhi-citta of that life.
They arise with the same hetus and are accompanied by the same cetasikas (mental factors).

For example:

  • If one is born with two hetus—alobha (non-attachment) and adosa (non-aversion), but without wisdom—then all bhavaṅga-cittas have only two hetus. Such a person can cultivate wisdom, but he cannot become enlightened during that life.
  • If one is born with three hetus—alobha, adosa, and paññā (wisdom)—then all bhavaṅga-cittas are accompanied by these three sobhana hetus as well.
    Thus, that person is more inclined to cultivate wisdom, and if he develops the Eightfold Path, he can attain enlightenment during that life.

Likewise, if one is born with somanassa (happy feeling), all bhavaṅga-cittas of that life are accompanied by somanassa.

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3

How do we know who was born with two hetus and who was born with three hetus?

4

We don’t actually. And I think if we find ourselves wondering about this these are moments that should be understood.
I remember when I was young wanting to confirm that I was one of those who had triple hetu. What conditioned this? in my case I wanted to feel I could quickly understand Dhamma and get the results of satipatthana, so it revolved around desire and clinging to my important ‘self’.
This sort of desire can actually push one to try to prove they have the hetus - so we might try to get jhana or lokuttara - but this sort of desire is not the path. If this clinging is strong one can persuade oneself (and even others) that they have jhana and more. (On the other hand desire can be understood, and even be an object for satipatthana).

If we are double rooted then that is the way things are. We can redouble efforts to understand the nature of the present moment. The right causes bring the right results sometime in the future.

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5

Thanks. So is it accompanied by universal mental factors like contact etc?

6

Yes and others.

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7

I think this is where having faith is really important. We have to have faith in ourselves and try our best. Even Bodhisattas, future Paccekabuddhas, and future chief disciples have to put in 100% of their effort to become enlightened.

It’s hard to attain jhana and enlightenment in the household life even for one with great parami.

Even the wheel-turning monarch needed to practice Brahmacariya as a layman to attain jhana.

8

@RobertK answered this correctly. I would like to add an answer for perhaps why you ask this question. It is probably because people often fall into bhavaṅga mind and claim there is “nothing” . It is often confused with the false attainment of jhāna and the false attainment of Nibbāna. Now what do you think is easier to attain, Jhāna, Nibbāna or Bhavaṅga?

Bhavaṅga is also the only non super human citta that can occur more than 7 times in a row. That is probably why it is confused for Jhāna or Nibbāna.

Because they know “nothing” (aka blank out), this is where you get the impression that it is void of cetasikas (and a citta too). However, as Robert explained, it is a citta with very “normal” cetasikas. The Bhavaṅga is the reason why you need triple root to attain jhāna or Nibbāna because it is a citta that dominates our total percentage of consciousness moments. It happens just after every mental process. You could also say, just before, or between every mental process. All that said, it is extremely subtle. It is associate with deep sleep, but it happens billions of times while you are awake and reading this message.

I write about this relating it to the Operating system’s sleep or idles processes in my book Abhidhamma Lessons.

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9

I was reading the introduction to Ven. Asaṅga’s Mahāyānasaṃgraha where it talks about how Yogācārins held different views on if the ālayavijñāna had associated mental factors or not. It’s sometimes framed as having them, sometimes not. Of course if it does then this somewhat undermines the need for it when in Nirodha Samāpatti. This got me thinking if the Theravādin Bhavaṅga had mental factors or not, as it’s not something I’ve thought about before.

10

“views” is the keyword. I’d stay away.

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11

I like reading about all the different schools of Buddhism, past and present. I like to understand how they reached their conclusions, even if I don’t agree. Its something of a hobby. Plus you learn things along the way. For example, I didn’t know if the Bhavaṅga had mental factors or not. Now I do.

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