This is a letter from Bhikkhu Bodhi in reply to DSG posts on this topic
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Dear Jonothan and Sarah,

Here follow a few thoughts on the controversial passage about the
?pabhassaram cittam? (luminous mind), which occupied the attention of your
DSG last year.


First of all, the expression should not be translated as ?pure mind,?
which a number of the participants in that discussion (including, somewhat
surprisingly, Nina) hastily assumed. Pure mind would be ?visuddham
cittam?.Usually the word ?pabhassaram?, in relation to ?cittam?, occurs in
descriptions of the fourth jhaana, as e.g. in the sutta at AN III 100 (in
the PTS?s faulty edition). To my knowledge, the generalized statement
about the ?luminous mind? occurs, in the Nikayas, only at AN I 10, in two
suttas on the same page (of the Pali text): one without qualification, the
other with a brief expansion.


A cautious principle that I follow is to avoid constructing novel
interpretations of the Dhamma on the basis of a few isolated canonical
passages, particularly those in verse (not the case here). It is always
best to build one?s interpretations upon those ideas that are found
repeatedly in the Nikayas, and then to assume that any apparently deviant
statement can somehow be interpreted in a way consistent with these main
?building blocks? of interpretation. Thus I would be reluctant to see in
the statement about a luminous mind the recognition of some kind of
absolute subjective reality hidden within the ordinary citta, a forerunner
of the ?tathagata-garbha? of later Mahayana thought. On the other hand, I
would also be hesitant to utilize concepts from the later, technical
Theravada system (particularly a relatively late Abhidharmic concept like
the bhavanga) to make sense of such an apparently non-technical and
generalized statement found in the suttas.

I can?t give a definitive interpretation of the ?luminous mind?, one that
can be supported beyond doubt by other passages from the Nikayas, but ?
assuming that the statement does not refer to the mind clarified by the
fourth jhana ? I would tentatively interpret it something like this: In
its own nature, on all occasions of experience (even in unwholesome acts
of consciousness), citta possesses a certain luminosity which enables it
to ?illuminate? the objective field. Just as a lamp can illuminate a room,
or as the sun illuminates the world, so the citta illuminates its
objective field. This luminous capacity is always present in any citta,
but in the rcase of akusala cittas, the ?adventitious defilements?
(aagantuka upakkilesa) rdim that luminosity and prevent it from
illuminating objects ?as they really rare? (yathaabhuuta). The noble
disciple has seen the possibility of eradicating rthe defilements right
down to the level of latent tendency, and thus knows rthat the citta is
not intrinsically corrupted by the defilements. Such a rdisciple knows
that with suitable mental development, the defilements can rbe uprooted,
and when this occurs the citta will shine forth in its intrinsic
rluminosity no longer dimmed by the mental defilements. This does not
imply rthat the citta is a metaphysical absolute, an indestructible core
of subjectivity; reach citta too is subject to arise and pass away, but
now the cittas shine rforth brightly on each occasion of their arising.

P.S. There was an inquiry in one letter about where the bhavanga first
appears rin Buddhist texts. I believe it is referred to in the
Pa.t.thaana, but only rin a few passages. Most the names for the cittas
that we are familiar with rcome from the commentaries. In canonical
Abhidhamma, the cittas are usually rdesignated according to the older
system of nomenclature: e.g., a rmanovi~n~naa.nadhaatu rof such and such
qualifications. Long ago I read an article by Lance Cousins r(new
president of PTS) entitled something like ?The Pa.t.thaana and the
rConcept of the Bhavanga? ? it was in a PTS Journal, perhaps 1980 or 1981.
rIf you check the PTS website, they have the contents of the old journals
rlisted, and you should be able to find it there (our web connection is
repeatedly rbreaking after a couple of minutes, hence I won?t search for
it now).

Metta,
Bhikkhu Bodhi




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