The 8 great wholesome consciousnesses and the beautiful factors

Four meanings of “kusala”

The Aṭṭhasālinī gives four meanings of kusala, which show that it doesn't just mean “making merit”:

• Ārogya — healthy: a wholesome mind is a healthy mind, not sick with defilement.
• Anavajja — blameless: not censured by the wise.
• Kosalla-sambhūta — born of skill: knowing what should and should not be done.
• Sukha-vipāka — having happy results.

The three wholesome roots

Wholesome consciousness has wholesome roots, the opposites of the unwholesome roots: non-greed (alobha), non-hatred (adosa) and non-delusion (amoha, i.e. wisdom). Every great wholesome consciousness has non-greed and non-hatred; non-delusion is present only in the types with wisdom.

The types with wisdom therefore have three roots (tihetuka) and those without have two (duhetuka). According to the texts, wholesome deeds with three roots, done wholeheartedly, are strong enough to lead to rebirth as a person of wisdom who can attain jhāna and the path in that life.

All 8 great wholesome consciousnesses in one table

The structure is the same as greed-rooted consciousness in Lesson 5 — 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 — but the middle variable changes from “with or without wrong view” to “with or without wisdom”. The number in each cell is the maximum number of mental factors that can accompany it.

The beautiful universals: seven key factors in every good deed

Whether a good deed is great or small, these factors always arise with it. The commentaries give these similes:

• Faith (saddhā) — reasoned confidence that makes the mind clear, like a magical gem that instantly clears muddy water, and like a hand that takes hold of good things.
• Mindfulness (sati) — remembering, not floating away, like a gatekeeper who sees who should and should not come in.
• Shame of wrongdoing (hiri) and fear of wrongdoing (ottappa) — like an iron bar smeared with filth at one end and red-hot at the other. One doesn't touch the first end out of disgust (hiri), nor the second out of fear of being burned (ottappa).
• Non-greed (alobha) — not sticking to the object, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf, which rolls off without soaking in.
• Non-hatred (adosa) — gentleness, not fierceness, like an agreeable friend. Loving-kindness (mettā) is this very factor.
• Neutrality of mind (tatramajjhattatā) — even-mindedness that keeps the other factors balanced, like a charioteer looking on calmly at well-trained horses, with no need to urge or restrain them.

Six pairs that make body and mind “ready”

The other twelve beautiful universals come in pairs, each with a “body” side and a “mind” side. “Body” (kāya) here does not mean the physical body; it means the group of mental factors arising together, while “mind” means consciousness itself. The commentaries explain each pair as the opposite of certain defilements:

• Tranquillity (passaddhi) — calm, countering restlessness and remorse.
• Lightness (lahutā) — countering sloth and torpor.
• Malleability (mudutā) — softness, not rigidity, countering wrong view and conceit.
• Wieldiness (kammaññatā) — fitness for work, countering the remaining hindrances, such as sensual desire.
• Proficiency (pāguññatā) — skill and ease, countering lack of faith.
• Rectitude (ujukatā) — uprightness, countering deceit (māyā) and boastfulness (sāṭheyya).

The three abstinences: goodness by “not doing”

Abstinence (virati) means refraining from wrongdoing. There are three: right speech (abstaining from wrong speech), right action (abstaining from wrong bodily action) and right livelihood (abstaining from wrong livelihood). In everyday life an abstinence arises one at a time, and only when there is something to refrain from. The commentaries describe three ways of abstaining:

• Abstaining when the occasion arises (sampatta-virati) — even without having taken precepts, as when one has the chance to cheat but doesn't, knowing it is wrong.
• Abstaining by undertaking (samādāna-virati) — because one has resolved to keep precepts, as when keeping the five precepts one refuses to lie even at a cost.
• Abstaining by eradication (samuccheda-virati) — refraining for good through the noble path, with no possibility of going back. All three abstinences therefore arise together in supramundane consciousness.

The two illimitables: why only compassion and gladness?

There are four divine abidings (brahmavihāra): loving-kindness, compassion, gladness and equanimity. But among the 52 mental factors only two are counted separately: compassion (karuṇā, wishing others free from suffering) and gladness (muditā, rejoicing in others' good fortune).

The reason is that loving-kindness is the factor of non-hatred (adosa), and the equanimity of the divine abidings is the factor of neutrality of mind (tatramajjhattatā), both already counted among the beautiful universals. When loving-kindness or equanimity becomes strong enough to be a divine abiding, it is these existing factors developed to boundless extent.

Wisdom: the light that shows things as they are

The wisdom factor (paññindriya, or non-delusion) has the characteristic of penetrating things as they really are. The commentaries compare it to an arrow shot by a skilled archer, which never misses the target, and to a lamp in a dark room.

At the basic level of wholesome consciousness, wisdom is the understanding that beings own their kamma — good deeds bring good results and bad deeds bad results (kammassakatā-ñāṇa). At a higher level it sees mind and matter arising and ceasing, which is the wisdom of insight. Cleverness at cheating or scheming does not count as wisdom in this sense.

The ten bases of merit: where wholesome consciousness arises in daily life

Great wholesome consciousness can arise through many kinds of action; it doesn't have to be at a temple or involve money.

• Dāna — giving · Sīla — restraint of body and speech · Bhāvanā — mental cultivation
• Apacāyana — respect towards those worthy of it · Veyyāvacca — helping with good work
• Pattidāna — sharing merit with others · Pattānumodanā — rejoicing in others' merit
• Dhammassavana — listening to the Dhamma · Dhammadesanā — teaching the Dhamma
• Diṭṭhujukamma — straightening one's views, which the commentaries regard as what makes all the other bases bear great fruit

Volition at three times: before, during and after

The sutta quoted above describes a giver whose mind is good at all three stages. The commentaries call these pubba-cetanā (volition before), muñcana-cetanā (volition while giving) and apara-cetanā (volition afterwards). Each stage is a series of great wholesome consciousnesses. If regret or resentment slips into any stage, that stage becomes unwholesome.

Common misunderstandings

• “Merit depends on how expensive the gift is.” — No. The strength of wholesome consciousness lies in the mind: is there wisdom, is there gladness, is the mind good at all three times?
• “Doing good because someone invited you doesn't count.” — No. The prompted types (sasaṅkhārika) are still wholesome consciousness, just weaker than the spontaneous ones.
• “Doing good with a neutral mind earns no merit.” — No. Four of the great wholesome consciousnesses come with neutral feeling; good deeds that have become habit often arise with neutral feeling.
• “Giving in hope of a reward is worthless.” — It is still wholesome, but in the Dānamahapphala Sutta the Buddha says giving in hope of a return bears less fruit than giving to refine the mind.