Grammatical Analysis
Citta: [nt.] consciousness; mind; mind-moment; flash of awareness. From root cit (to cognize, think). The commentaries derive it from two meanings: cinteti (that which cognizes an object) and cinoti (that which accumulates its own alternating states).
Orthodox Definition
Citta is one of the four ultimate realities (paramattha) of the Abhidhamma framework. It represents the bare awareness or primary cognizing of an objective field. While linguistically used interchangeably with Mano (mind as an organ) and Viññāṇa (consciousness as a process), in strict technical analysis, Citta emphasizes the individual, discrete moment of consciousness.
A citta never arises in isolation; it is always accompanied by a cluster of mental factors (cetasika) that color it ethically. Citta acts like pure, transparent water, while the cetasikas act like colored dyes (greed, wisdom, anger) added to it.
The Abhidhamma taxonomizes 89 or 121 distinct types of citta, mapped systematically according to their plane of existence (sensual, fine-material, immaterial, or supramundane) and their ethical quality (wholesome, unwholesome, resultant, or purely functional).
Textual References
- Sutta: Citta Sutta (SN 1.62) – “The world is led around by the mind, swept away by the mind…”
- Abhidhamma: Dhammasaṅgaṇī (The entire first division is dedicated to the structural mapping of cittas).
- Commentary: Atthasālinī – Providing the foundational etymological definitions and cognitive parameters of citta.