Mundane Immaterial Sphere Cittas

Mun­dane imma­te­r­i­al sphere cit­tas are the cit­tas per­tain­ing to the imma­te­r­i­al plane of exis­tence — four realms where mat­ter is total­ly tran­scend­ed and only cit­tas and cetasikas remain. Rebirth in these realms occurs through the attain­ment of the aru­pa jhanas, the four imma­te­r­i­al absorp­tions, which are achieved by devel­op­ing con­cen­tra­tion beyond the five jhanas of the fine-mate­r­i­al sphere.

Imma­te­r­i­al sphere cit­tas com­prise twelve cit­tas: four whole­some cit­tas that can be expe­ri­enced by those, who devel­op imma­te­r­i­al jhanas in this life; four result­ing cit­tas aris­ing through rebirth in the imma­te­r­i­al realms; and four func­tion­al cit­tas that arise only for arahants.

Base of infi­nite space is the first imma­te­r­i­al jhana to be attained. To reach this state, the med­i­ta­tor must have mas­tered all five jhanas in the fine-mate­r­i­al sphere based on a kasi­na object. The med­i­ta­tor should now be able to expand the men­tal image — the so-called kasi­na coun­ter­part sign — until it becomes infi­nite in scope. When this hap­pens, the med­i­ta­tor removes the men­tal kasi­na by con­sid­er­ing only the space, it filled, and con­sid­er that space infi­nite. Through sus­tained con­cen­tra­tion there even­tu­al­ly aris­es a cit­ta, that has the con­cept of infi­nite space as its object.

Base of infi­nite con­scious­ness takes the cit­ta of first imma­te­r­i­al jhana above as its object. Since that cit­ta, in turn, has base of infi­nite space as object, this implies that it must fill said space, and is there­fore also infi­nite. Med­i­ta­tion on that cit­ta as infi­nite con­scious­ness leads to sec­ond imma­te­r­i­al jhana being attained. 

Base of noth­ing­ness has the non-exis­tence, noth­ing­ness or detached aspect of the cit­ta of the first imma­te­ri­als jhana above as its object. By sus­tained con­cen­tra­tion on the absence of said cit­ta, the third imma­te­r­i­al jhana arises. 

Base of nei­ther per­cep­tion nor non-per­cep­tion takes the cit­ta of base of noth­ing­ness above as its object. The per­cep­tion cetasi­ka has now become so sub­tle that it can no longer per­form the cru­cial func­tion of per­cep­tion. Yet per­cep­tion is not entire­ly absent, but remains in a resid­ual form. Hence this fourth imma­te­r­i­al jhana can nei­ther be said to include per­cep­tion nor to exclude perception.

All oth­er cetasikas per­tain­ing to this cit­ta also exist in a state of such extreme sub­tle­ty that they can nei­ther be described as exis­tent nor as non-existent.