Hi Lal,
I am trying to understand the whole picture. Please kindly advise if my understanding is correct.
“We get sense inputs (seeing, hearing, etc) due to kamma vipaka. These are analyzed by the first part of the citta vithi (see #15) labelled “kamma vipaka”.”
Since coming into contact with sense inputs at this stage is a neutral event, does it imply only Vipaka Vinnana is aroused at this stage?
“Then, based on our gati, a decision is made by the mind on how to react to that sense input at the vottapana (labelled “V”) citta in the middle of the citta vithi”.
This stage triggers our Kamma Vinnana to arise. If abhisankhara is performed, it is equivalent to saying samphassa ja vedana has been executed. If samphassa ja vedana has been executed, either somanassa or domanassa is present. Consequently, our strong actions cause kamma beeja to arise and gets deposited in the mano loka (contained inside kamma bhava) and awaits for the right conditions to be unleashed in the form of dhamma or kamma vipaka again for the person to ‘bear’. Abhisankhara, if performed frequently enough and becomes habitual, might even build up into a nimitta and gets manifested at the forefront of a dying person during his last moments of death.
“Now, javana citta run based on that decision. Those initial javana citta are therefore mano sankhara. They get started without our conscious thinking, just based on our gati.”
Citta activities are way too fast for us to discern, and I would think knowing the criticality of the vottapana stage is good enough from an academic perspective. From a Paticca Samuppāda standpoint, which I think is more practical for us to react to sense inputs, can we say to get rid of a bad habit, the most critical link to tackle is samphassa-paccaya-vedana & vedana-paccaya-tanha. i.e. we must place strong emphasis to watch over our feelings since it is impossible to cut off all forms of contacts. Afterall, vedananupassana is one of the Satipatthana we should constantly practise.