Process of Consciousness and Matter - Abhidhamma.com

I. CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS FACTORS
(Etena cintetīti cittaṁ). Finally, citta as activity is simply “thinking”
(Cintanamattaṁ cittaṁ). A question arises: how is it that the
commentators came to define citta in these three ways The answer is
that the idea of a soul or atta (ātman) is deeply rooted in the human
mind. For this reason, the ancient religious thinkers have supported
the idea of a soul, ātman or atta. In their opinion, it is the atta or ātman
that is the thinker of thoughts, the feeler of feelings and the doer of
deeds. In the view of the Abhidhamma, however, the existence of
ātman is false. In the Abhidhamma it is the citta (consciousness) itself
that cognises objects and all other mental states arise together with
citta. Citta itself is equated with thought.
The first and second definitions prove that no ātman or “self” exists. It
is citta itself that thinks. It can therefore be said that there is no
thinker, only thinking.
The characteristic of citta is the knowing of an object. The
function of citta is to be forerunner of the mental factors, in that it
presides over them and is accompanied by them. It manifests in the
meditator’s mind as a continuity of processes. However,
consciousness cannot arise on its own. Rather it depends on mental
factors and material phenomena. Citta has a single characteristic as the
cognising of an object, a characteristic that remains the same in all its
diverse manifestations. What we ordinarily think of as consciousness
is really a series of cittas, momentary acts of consciousness, occurring
in such rapid succession that we cannot detect the discrete moments,
which are of diverse types. The Abhidhamma not only distinguishes
between the types of consciousness but, more importantly, it also
classifies them as a unified and closely interwoven whole.
Classification of Consciousness
Classification by way of Plane
The Abhidhamma classified consciousness according to several
principles. Classifications by way of planes of existence, and by
nature or kind, play very important roles in the Abhidhamma. There
12