Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This article aims to evaluate the abhidhamma terminology ‘bhavaṅga’ which is found in the abhidhamma treatise Paṭṭhāna (Vol.2). Throughout this series of articles, I shall scrutinize the history and identity of the Theravāda tradition in Southeast Asia. The first written mention of the term bhavaṅga is in the Nettipakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa. These two texts convey the earliest usage of the term which defines it as a factor (aṅga) of existence (bhava) or the twelve links of the Dependent Origination. The Milindapañha shows us the next step for the doctrinal development of the term. The term bhavaṅga in this text is described as a non-active state of mind, rather like a dreamless deep sleep. The Paṭṭhāna is the first text that describes bhavaṅga as a sophisticated abhidhamma terminology for the cognitive process. The occurrences of bhavaṅga in the Paṭṭhāna Vol.1 and 2 reveal that it is the resultant indeterminate (vipāka- avyākata) as well as conditioning for the adverting (āvajjana), the death consciousness (cuti-citta), or rebirth consciousness (upapatti-citta) as the proximate condition (anantara-paccaya). Furthermore, the bhavaṅga possibly arises with four kinds of the mental factors (cetasikā) which are called the sustained application (vicāra), the zest (pīti), the pleasant (sukha) and the equanimity (upekkhā). Given that these mental factors are the constituents of meditation (jhāna), the bhavaṅga arises throughout the spheres, namely, from the sense-sphere to the supramundane.