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Universal Conditioning Functions
When experiencing life, there are various categories for processing these experiences called cetasikas. They
function as storehouses for personal memories, and the fundamental product of these functions are described as
universal cetasikas. Psychologically, there are categories of memory that are foundational for establishing a sense of self
in the world. As such, these categories don’t store procedural memories, such as how to tie a shoe or recognize a
person with a name. Their function is solely existential, that is, the product of their action is to set the stage for the
other cetasikas to operate through memory.
My efforts with these notes are to provide insights into these universal functions in order to cultivate insight into the
impersonal nature of self-organizational processes, the basic goal for liberation from distress and confusion from a
Buddhist perspective.
feeling (vedana), perception (sanna), contact (phassa), volition (cetana),
focusing (ekaggata), vitality (jivitindriya) and attention (manasikara). These seven functions are ethically
There are seven of these functions:
impressionable, that is, when they are accompanied by unwholesome cetasikas, the manifestation is distress and
confusion; when accompanied by wholesome cetasikas, the manifestation is clarity and benevolence.
The first two, feeling and perception, were discussed in previous notes ( The .doc file “FEELINGS BRIDGING
SENSATIONS AND THE MIND”). The rest of these notes will focus on the remaining universal cetasikas:
Contact:
the term phassa literally is translated as impression; its modern translation of contact suggest a material
impression, such as cloth contacting skin. The most useful terms I think of are stimulation or activation. Since phassa
represents a mental rather than physical function, it is helpful to consider how it operates through the 6 sensory
processes: light stimulates the optic nerve, sound the auditory nerve, and so on. As soon as the stimulation begins, a
mental process is activated. The most important function of phassa is the stimulation of the meaning-making processes
described in the .doc file mentioned above, that is, feeling and perception. Phassa is also part of paticca samuppada,
typically translated as dependent origination, a core concept of Buddhist psychology. Another important consideration
regarding phassa is that the stimulation is an ongoing process, that is, not “one thing stimulating another thing”, but
rather the ongoing, dynamically changing simultaneous stimulation of various cetasikas in their functioning (such as the
wholesome or unwholesome cetasikas).
Volition:
Cetana represents a key function of consciousness. The literal translation of cetana is volition or intention.
Here is a quote from Bhikkhu Bodhi’s “Comprehensive Manual of Abhiddhama”, page 80:
Cetana...is the mental factor that is concerned with the actualization of a goal, that is, the conative or volitional
aspect of cognition. Thus it is rendered volition. The Commentaries explain that cetana organizes its associated
mental factors in acting upon the object. Its characteristic is the state of willing, its function is to accumulate
(kamma), and its manifestation is coordination. Its proximate cause is the associated states. Just as a chief pupil
recites his own lesson and also makes the other pupils recite their own lessons, so when volition starts to work on
its object, it sets the associated states to do their tasks as well. Volition is the most significant mental factor in
generating kamma, since it is volition that determines the ethical quality of the action.
Cetana functions in ways synonymous with karma, and represents the urgent “push” away from unpleasant selfstate organizations or “pull” towards pleasant self-state organizations.
Focusing:
This function is synonymous with concentration. I chose focusing as a descriptive because the word
concentration suggests an ongoing process that is stable in focusing intentionally on a particular object. The Pali word
applied here is ekaggata, typically translated as “one-pointed attention”. Here is a quote from Bhikkhu Bodhi’s
“Comprehensive Manual of Abhiddhama”, page 80:
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This is the unification of the mind on its object. Although this factor comes to prominence in the jhānas, where it
functions as a jhāna factor, the Abhidhamma teaches that the germ of that capacity for mental unification is
present in all types of consciousness, even the most rudimentary. It there functions as the factor which fixes the
mind on its object. One-pointedness has non-wandering or non-distraction as its characteristic. Its function is to
conglomerate or unite the associated states.
Another way to understand this term is that it represents the summation or peak organization of the various
cetasikas, as organized by cetana/volition. A Buddhist term that is quite similar is samadhi, the quality of
stability of focus. Samadhi is an important quality of mental processing to cultivate, and is perfected in the
experience of jhana. In the jhanic experience, ekaggata is realized to its full potential, in that the other jhanic
factors are persistently cooperating functionally, without intrusion by any unwholesome cetasikas.
Vitality:
The Pali word here is jivitindriya, and is derived from other terms: Jīvitaṃ means “life”, and indriya
means “controlling faculty”. Here is a quote from Bhikkhu Bodhi’s “Comprehensive Manual of Abhiddhama”,
page 81:
There are two kinds of life faculty, the mental, which vitalizes the associated mental states, and the
physical, which vitalizes material phenomena. The mental life faculty alone is intended as a cetasika. It has
the characteristic of maintaining the associated mental states, the function of making them occur,
manifestation as the establishing of their presence, and its proximate cause is the mental states to be
maintained.
Essentially, vitality is the fundamental energy that flows through every cell of the body. In this context, the
transmission of neural stimulation throughout the brain can be understood as jivitindriya.
Its function is quite similar to viriya, which is found in the Particular Cetasikas category, and represented in
the Noble Eightfold Path as “Right Effort”. Other terms such as “vigor”, “persistent effort”, “diligence” can also
help to understand the nature of viriya. Viriya also represents one of the Seven Factors for Awakening. I like to
describe the human experience as transforming energy into information and action (following on the work of
Dan Siegel). In this way, meditation practice can be understood as channeling energy onto the path for
awakening. In the context of the cetasikas, it is important to keep in mind that viriya operates in every
conscious moment, whether the accompanying cetasikas are wholesome or unwholesome.
Attention:
The Pali term here is manasikara, and its function is to foster awareness of a mental object. There
are two key applications of this function: yoniso manasikara (wise attention), and ayoniso manasikara (unwise
attention). Wise attention includes investigation of the arisen aggregation of cetasikas to determine whether
the manifestion of that accumulation is wholesome or unwholesome. This is the goal of vipassana or insight
practices. Unwise attention doesn’t involve mindful investigation of the arisen aggregation of cetasikas and
fosters ignorance, confusion and distress. Yoniso manasikara is synonymous in its function with the process of
awakening; we cultivate vipassana insights to maximize the inclusion of yoniso manasikara in every possible
moment of conscious awareness.
HOW THE UNIVERSAL CETASIKAS FUNCTION COOPERATIVELY
How are these functions coordinated around wholesome aggregations of cetasikas? Again, it is important to
realize that, although the cetasikas are listed separately, they function as an aggregation. Each cetasika
category provides a different perspective on the dynamically changing unifying quality of that self-state
organization. Referring back to a previous talk on August 24 entitled “Contingent Provisional Emergence”, the
mutually interactive operation of selfing is described:
Most Buddhist systems consider provisional emergence to be a chain of associations with 12 links: Ignorance
clouds or distorts the incoming sense data as various karmic formations are activated. Karmic formations are
reflected in consciousness, which, in turn supports the interaction providing the mind-and-form process. Mind-andform acts through one or more of the six sense bases. Prompted by stimulation of one or more of the six sense
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bases, contact arises, and contact provides feeling/sensation. Feeling/sensation provides the opportunity for
craving to arise; in combination with craving, clinging develops, and clinging produces the aggregation of conditions
that shape becoming. Becoming leads to birth, then decay, and, finally, death, (of a momentary transitional ego
state which, due to ignorance, craving and clinging, we call the self).
Subjectively, all we are aware of is the emergence of feeling, craving and clinging, completing the cycle, which
repeats multiple times a second. The repeated cycling of these factors can be considered in two ways--as describing
physical birth, death and rebirth, (the human life cycle), but more immediately important as the existential
emergence and passing away of subjective life events. There has been ongoing debate among Buddhists regarding
the issue of rebirth. Some insist that the progression describes the course of a lifetime, while others insist that it
only pertains to the moment-by-moment arising and passing away of interdependent self-states. I’m inclined toward
the latter, as it seems to me that, regardless of the view of rebirth from one lifetime to another, the karmic
consequences emerging from the moment-by-moment choices one makes is what will determine how the next life
will be, whether limited to this body, or moving from body to body over the course of millennia.
It is very important to realize that the system described here seems linear, that is, a sequential series of
stages, or links. This is a significant conceptual mistake. Buddhist teachings and modern scientific research
emphasize the fundamentally contingent, nonlinear nature of reality. The Buddhist concept of interdependence or
interbeing relies on nonlinear dynamics.
In describing how the Universal Cetasikas fit into contingent provisional emergence, all the cetasikas fit into the
karmic formations function. When any one of the six sense bases (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and
thinking) is stimulated, this represents contact. Each of the sense bases operates simultaneously, in different parts of the
brain; there is a feeling and perception process for each of the sense bases. This stimulation is further processed through
feeling and perception, which bridge between physical stimulation and the mental processing of physical stimulation
(mind-and-form). The functions just described are further affected by whatever sankharas are contained in the
remaining cetasikas (Remember, there are 52 cetasikas in total—the Universal Cetasikas total 7). Sankharas are basically
memories stored in the cetasika categories “Unwholesome Cetasikas” (14 in number) and “Wholesome Cetasikas” (25 in
number). These sankharas are more or less emotionally charged; those cetasikas will be discussed in future talks.
The Universal Cetasika of volition provide an organizing function, coordinating the organization of the various
cetasikas. Focusing is the momentary summation of the coordinated activities, and the formation channels vitality,
which emerges into consciousness via attention. Attention illuminates these aggregations; when dominated by
unwholesome cetasikas, distress and confusion manifests, and when the aggregations are dominated by wholesome
cetasikas, liberation from distress and confusion manifests.
Next week’s discussion will focus on what are called the Particular or Occasional Cetasikas: MOVING ATTENTION TO
AN OBJECT, SUSTAINING ATTENTION, DETERMINATION, ENERGY, ENTHUSIASM and WILL TO DO. They are called
particular or occasional because they are not universally present in every moment of consciousness.
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