Buddha Abhidhamma - Ultimate Science - BuddhaNet

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Lokuttara Cittas
(Supramundane Consciousness)
Lokuttara cittas may be acquired by vipassanà (insight) meditation.
There are two ways of getting to the path-consciousness
(magga-¤àõa). They are:
1 Vipassanà-yànika —
taking insight meditation as the vehicle,
2 Samatha-yànika —
taking tranquility meditation as the vehicle.
A person may first develop the neighbourhood concentration
(upacàra-samàdhi) by tranquility meditation (samatha bhàvanà) and
then proceed to insight meditation (vipassanà bhàvanà). Here the
person is using ‘upacàra-samàdhi’ as the base of his wisdom-eye
for looking into the ultimate nàma and råpa and their common
characteristics of impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha) and
not-self (anatta). This person, if successful to the end, will acquire
the 4 Paths and the 4 Fruitions. So in this route there are only 8
supramundane cittas, namely, the four lokuttara kusala cittas
(supramundane moral consciousness) and the four lokuttara vipàka
cittas (supramundane resultant consciousness).
Now in the second route, a person first develops a jhànasamàdhi
(meditative concentration) by tranquility meditation and
uses this concentration as the base of his wisdom-eye in insight
meditation. If he uses the first jhàna-samàdhi as his base, his first
path-consciousness is also accompanied by the first jhàna-samàdhi;
so it is known as the first jhàna sotàpatti path-consciousness.
Similarly for a person who uses the second jhàna-samàdhi
as his base for insight meditation, his first path-consciousness is
known as the second jhàna sotàpatti path-consciousness. In the