Identity and continuity of 'personality' of selfless being : a study of the concept of bhavaṅga-citta in Theravāda Buddhism

Abstract

This study explores the concept of bhavaṅga in Theravāda Buddhism. Three interpretations of bhavaṅga have been taken up for discussion. One is as found in the Netti that bhavaṅga designates each link of twelve factors of dependent co-arising in the context of āsava, which together produce bhava. Psychological and cosmological interpretations of bhava have been studied. From the psychological point of view, bhava is ‘becoming’ in the sense of continuity of saṃsāric life due to the clinging to “self-view”. Saṃsāric life is descried as the effectiveness of factors of dependent co-arising operating together in a manner of arising, disappearing and continuing which is endowed with suffering. So, when bhava and the other factors of dependent co-arising cease, saṃsāra ceases, which implies that “nibbāna is the cessation of bhava” (SN SN II 117).

From the cosmological point of view, bhava is discussed in the context of rebirth in the three localities of sensuality, form and formlessness. While in the suttas, the factor bhava is threefold – sensuality, form and formlessness, in the abhidhamma and other subsequent Pāli texts, it is twofold – kamma-bhava (action-becoming) and upapatti-bhava (rebirth-becoming). Kamma-bhava is further explained with saṅkhārā (conditioning forces) and upapatti-bhava with viññāṇa (consciousness) which is identified with paṭisandhi-viññāṇa (rebirth-consciousness). When rebirth-consciousness ceases upon birth, bhavaṅga-consciousness takes place and continues with its object kamma. In this regard, bhavaṅga-consciousness is discussed in the contexts of rebirth, deep sleep, deep meditative trance and the cognitive process. With all these references, the second interpretation of bhavaṅga is shown.

The third interpretation occurs in the commentaries that bhavaṅga-consciousness is luminous and pure, it is a natural consciousness and all beings pass away with this state of consciousness. Kalupahana (1995) and Reat (1977) think that the commentarial understanding of bhavaṅga is comparable with the upaniṣadic “self” because this “self” is pure by nature. However, in Buddhist teachings any consciousness whatsoever is impermanent, subject to suffering and not-self. In his regard, natural consciousness is interpreted as an enlightened person’s consciousness which is naturally pure in the sense of being unconditioned by defilement. And, the luminosity of consciousness is described with mano (mind) in the context of jhāna states, which is luminous due to the absence of minor defilements (upakkilesa). This mano is the door relating to mental activity that is the intermediary moment between the activity of bhavaṅga-consciousness and mano. So, bhavaṅga-consciousness is not luminous because it is itself affected by āsava. In this regard, different functions of mano, citta and viññāṇa have been studied.

When bhavaṅga-consciousness is present in the mother’s womb, the life faculty takes place together with the heart of a being. This heart-base has the characteristic of being the support for the mind-element and mind-consciousness-element. Therefore, it is said that though consciousness has a single characteristic, it has two aspects: six sensory consciousness, and resultant consciousness (bhavaṅga). This study argues that bhavaṅga-consciousness ceases or is arrested at the moment of enlightenment. So, the object of a living Arahat’s bhavaṅga-consciousness is not kamma, but nibbāna.