Rupa Kalāpa (Grouping of Matter)

Revised September 15, 2020; September 6, 2022; December 3, 2022 (#7)

1. There are 28 rupa types discussed in Abhidhamma: “Rupa (Material Form) – Table.” They are not found separately in nature. The four causes produce them through tiny material groups called rupa kalāpā or “elementary groups of matter.”

• All rupā have origins in the four great elements of pathavī, āpo, tejo, and vāyo. However, they all arise together in the smallest unit of matter, a suddhāṭṭhaka. See “The Origin of Matter – Suddhāṭṭhaka.” Four more rupā (vaṇṇa, gandha, rasa, oja) derived from the great elements are in a suddhāṭṭhaka, making it an octad (composed of eight or an aṭṭaka.)
• There are 15 other elementary units (rupa kalāpā) that derive from suddhāṭṭhaka. All 16 types of rupa kalāpā are not further divisible. They are avinibbhoga rupa.
• Let us briefly discuss them.

2. There are three rupa kalāpā that have nine units: A suddhāṭṭhaka “energized” by kammic energy becomes a jivita navaka (vital nonad) of nine units.  That added unit is an “energy unit” called a jivita rupa. That jivita rupa keeps a physical body alive. Another element of nine units, a sadda navaka (sound nonad), is responsible for the sound created by utu, i.e., an utuja rupa. Another is kāyaviññatti navaka, created by cittā responsible for bodily intimation.

• Eight types of rupa kalāpā have ten units (dasaka or decad) created by kammic energy: Here, a suddhāṭṭhaka combines with a jivita rupa and another unit created by kammic energy to become a dasaka. Those eight types of dasaka are vital parts of a living being. For example, a cakkhu pasada rupa (together with the other nine units) creates a cakkhu dasaka responsible for seeing. In the same way sota dasaka, ghana dasaka, jivha dasaka, kāya dasaka arise. itthibhāva rupa and purisabhāva rupa give rise to itthibhāva dasaka and purisabhāva dasaka. The seat of the mind, vatthu dasaka, arises with the hadaya vatthu.
• The following are created only by citta (thoughts): One is vaciviññatti-sadda-dasaka (vocal intimation decade), responsible for speech. Kāyaviññatti-lahutādi-dvādasaka (dodecad of bodily intimation) of 12 units with kāyaviññatti and three lahutādi rupa. Another is vaciviññatti-sadda-lahutādi-terāsaka (tricad of sound) of 13 units with vaciviññatti, three lahutādi rupa, and sadda.
• Then there is lahutādi-ekadasaka (suddhāṭṭhaka + lahuta + muduta + kammaññata) with 11 units created by citta.  There is also sadda–lahutādi-dvādasaka (suddhāṭṭhaka + lahuta + muduta + kammaññata + sadda) with 12 units created by utu.

3. All rupa kalāpā have the following characteristics.

1. All the rupā in a rupa kalāpa arise together, i.e., they have a common genesis.
2. They also cease or dissolve together, i.e., they have a common cessation.
3. They all depend on the four great essentials present in the kalāpa for their arising, i.e., they have a common dependence.
4. They are so thoroughly mixed that they cannot be distinguished, i.e., they co-exist.

4. It should be noted that kalāpā are so small that they are indistinguishable from pure energy. The origin of rupa is a javana citta, which is formless and mass-less. Science has shown that the smallest “particle” detected, the Higgs boson, is indistinguishable from energy. See “The Origin of Matter – Suddhāṭṭhaka.”

5. There are 17 types of kalāpā produced in 21 ways:

9 kammaja kalāpā, 6 cittaja kalāpā, 4 utuja kalāpā, 2 āhāraja kalāpā as shown below:

6. Internal and External Kalāpā

All the 21 rupa kalāpā mentioned above occur internally in living beings. itthibhāva-dasaka does not occur in males. Similarly, pumbhava-dasaka (or purisabhāva-dasaka) does not occur in females. For those who are born blind or deaf, cakkhu-dasaka or sota-dasaka are not present.

• In the external (bahiddha) world, only the two utuja-kalāpā are found. All inanimate things, such as trees, stones, earth, water, fire, corpses, etc., are made up of utuja-suddhāṭṭhaka kalāpā. The sounds produced by beating two sticks together, rubbing branches in the wind, or by instruments such as violin, piano, radio, cassettes, etc., are utuja-sadda-navaka kalāpā.
• From the internal rupā, kāya-pasāda, bhava-rupa (femininity and masculinity), cittaja-rupa, utuja-rupa, and āhāraja-rupa spread all over the body. So they will be present in the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, and in every part of the body.

7. Rupa in Kamaloka

If circumstances permit, all 28 material qualities occur undiminished in an individual during a lifetime in kāmaloka (sense-sphere).

• In womb-born creatures, only three kammaja-kalāpā comprising body-decad, sex-decad, and heart-decad are manifested at the moment of conception (at paṭisandhi).

Here again, the sex-decad may not be manifested in some particular individuals. After conception, during life, the eye-decad and the rest are manifested slowly in due order. Of the groups of material qualities produced in four ways, kammaja-rupa starts to form at the moment of conception and forms incessantly at every minor instant. Cittaja-rupa begins to form from the second moment of consciousness, i.e., from the arising instant of the first bhavaṅga, which follows the rebirth-consciousness. Cittaja-rupa continues to be formed for a lifetime.

• Utuja-rupa starts to form from the existing instant of rebirth consciousness. The reason is that the tejo-dhātu (utu) present in the first kammaja-kalāpā comes to the static stage (tithi) at that instant. From that time onward, the tejo- dhātu produces utuja-rupa every moment. Since tejo-dhàtu is present in every kalāpa, every kalāpa, from the time it reaches the static stage, produces new utuja-kalāpā at every minor instant. And the new utuja- kalāpā, from the time they reach the static stage, again produce new utuja-kalāpā at every minor instant. So this process goes on forever.

Every kalāpa also contains the nutritional essence of oja. But āhāraja-rupa forms when internal oja meets external oja at the diffusion of nutritional essence, and the combination of internal and external oja comes to the static stage. From that instant, āhāraja-rupa is also formed at every minor instant. Old groups dissolve and disappear as new material qualities are incessantly produced.  Thus, the material phenomena go on uninterruptedly in the sense-sphere till the end of life, like the flame of a lamp or river stream.

Material Phenomena at Death:  At the time of death, psychic life and physical life must cease together. This means that all kammaja-rupa that contains physical life must cease at the time of death. So at the beginning of the seventeenth citta, reckoned backward from the death-consciousness (cuti citta), the last kammaja rupa is formed. This last kammaja rupa will cease at the dissolving instant of the death consciousness. Cittaja rupa is formed till the arising instant of the cuti citta. This last cittaja rupa will have lasted for a conscious- moment at the dissolution of cuti citta and thus will perish in another sixteen conscious moments, which happens almost instantly. āhāraja rupa is formed till the dissolving instant of the cuti citta because the support required for the formation of āhāraja rupa can be furnished by citta up to that time. So at death, that last-formed āhāraja rupa lasted only one minor instant. However, in another fifty minor instants (rupa lifespan – 51 minor instants or 17 conscious moments), that āhāraja rupa also ceases. Thus at the time of death, kammaja rupa, cittaja rupa, and ahàraja rupa cease almost instantly.

• But utuja rupās form and dissolve until the corpse is converted into dust. A corpse consists of only utuja rupa.
• So when a person dies and is reborn in another life, material phenomena similarly arise from the instant of conception and go on arising till the time of death.

Arising of Material Phenomena in Rupa planes In the rupa-plane, nose-decad, tongue-decad, and āhāraja kalāpā do not arise. At the opapatika rebirth, five kammaja dasakās (vatthu, bhāva, kāya, cakkhu, sota) arise. During life, however, cittaja kalāpā and utuja kalāpā also arise. For the Asañña Brahmā, hadaya vatthu is there, but it is shielded by the “physical body,” which has no mana indriya. Thus, it cannot interact with dhammā (or viññāṇa dhātu,) and cittās cannot arise. Therefore, cittaja kalāpās do not arise. 

• Thus in kāma loka and rupa loka, the process of the arising of material phenomena should be understood in two ways, that is (1) at rebirth and (2) during life.
• For details, see “Body Types in 31 Realms – Importance of Manomaya Kaya,” and “Bhūta and Yathābhūta – What Do They Really Mean.”