Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

The Viiiiiiinakkhandha 113
citta reflects one's cognitive as well as one's more strictly moral progress. In
this sense it has a broader meaning than when the term citta is used in the
sense of mind in general or thinking.
The bhikkhu having power over his citta, we also frequently read that it is
to be 'tamed' (dantam), controlled (guttam) and 'guarded' (raWchitam).'66 The
guarding and taming of citta is the subject of the Cittavaggo chapter in the
Dhamma~ada.'~~ Such injunctions are meant metaphorically: because the
state of one's mind is an indicator of one's spiritual progress, one should
ensure that it does not indicate unwholesome states. In effect, the
'guarding' is done by the process referred to above: one consciously wills to
concentrate on the dhamma.
In similar vein, we read that a bhikkhu 'purifies' his citta (cittam
pani0dhet2),'~~ and that it becomes 'radiant' (sappabhfiam cittam bhavetz). 169 The
radiance (pabhmsara) of citta is likened to the radiance of pure gold, and, like
gold, it can be defiled.170 We saw the term pabhassara used to describe
uifiiiana, and I there suggested that it meant that as one progresses from
ignorance to insight, so one's awareness is progressively less restricted by
the objectivity of samsaric perception and can be said to 'radiate'. It
functions as it were as the 'light' of knowing. As those stages are reached, so
one's state of mind will reflect the fact that one's volitional activity is ceasing.
Eventually, this is a state of visankhZragatam cittam,171 and corresponds to the
transparent and radiant state of the unmuddied pool of water. 17* In the
Anguttara Nihya we read: "This state of mind is luminous, but it is defiled by
defilements from outside".173 Though this passage might be construed as
suggesting that citta has 'original' purity, in the context of the Buddha's
teachings as a whole it is no more likely that this passage about citta is
intended to suggest original purity than that vifiiiina should be thought of in
such a way, as discussed earlier in this chapter. But because one's state of
mind is in fact an abstraction, there is an abstract sense in which citta might
in principle be thought of as pure: just as a pool of water might be thought
in principle to have a calm surface which reflects all ripples and muddiness,
so one's state of mind might be thought in principle to be luminous but to
reflect all mental activity.
The attaining of a 'purified' citta corresponds to the attaining of liberating
insight. And just as viiiiiina is described as being 'free', so citta is also
described as being 'completely liberated'. 174 At liberation, it is citta which is
stated to be 'free' of all the a~auas."~ By extension from this, one who has
attained liberating insight is frequently referred to as cetovimutta. This has a
technical meaning with which we need not be concerned here.176 What it
indicates in general terms, however, is that at liberation one's state of mind
reflects no defilements, no ignorance. And as defilements and ignorance
represent bondage, so their absence is described in terms of being free.
It is perhaps because citta is a general qualitative indicator that the
Abhidhamma and commentarial traditions developed its association with the