Introducing Abhidhamma by Ven Dhammasami - Lesson 2 - Studying the Mind Through the Cetasikas

Introducing Abhidhamma by Ven Dhammasami - Lesson 2
Online course hosted by The Buddhist Society during lockdown
1st October 2020

The teachings of the Buddha were codified by his followers into three baskets or 'pitakas'. The Abhidhamma Pitaka consists of a minute analysis of mind and matter into their ultimate elements. This gives insight into the teachings of impermanence and no-self (anicca and anatta). By giving an ethical basis to mental states, it shows how suffering (dukkha) arises and how it can be brought to an end.

Lesson 2. 1st October: Studying the Mind Through the Cetasikas (Mental Factors/ Mental Activities)

Often in Buddhism we describe the mind as one, but in the Abhidhamma the mind is examined as many types. The basis of such an analysis is to look at the different functions of the mind itself. The functions, also called mental factors or cetasika in the Abhidhamma, have ethical implication. For example, mindfulness and compassion are seen not only as wholesome qualities of the mind but they are seen to be especially important ethically. They are not optional, but rather essential, if we want our behaviours to be ethical. In the same way, jealousy, for instance, is not just an unwholesome feeling, it indeed leads to improper decisions, speech and behaviour.

This lecture discusses the fifty-two types of cetasika into different categories such an unwholesome, wholesome and universal.

Reading

   Bodhi, Bhikkhu. A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma. Chapter II.
   Van Gorkom, Nina. Cetasikas, London, Zolag, 1999.
   Karunadasa, Y.. The Theravada Abhidhamma: Its Inquiry into the Nature of Conditioned Reality, Centre for Buddhist Studies, Hong Kong University, 2014. Chapters VII, VIII, IX, pp. 103-144.
   Jacobs, Beth. The Original Buddhist Psychology: What the Abhidhamma Tells Us about How We Think, Feel, and Experience Life, California, North Atlantic Books, 2017. Chapter VI.