The Cognitive Series
In the Abhidhamma analysis of mind, the process by which perception and cognition occur is described in remarkable detail through what is known as the Cognitive Series (citta-vīthi). This series explains how consciousness arises in a sequence of discrete, rapid mind-moments whenever an object impinges upon one of the sense doors or the mind itself.
The cognitive series typically includes several stages:
- Life-continuum (bhavaṅga): The resting flow of background consciousness prior to the arising of a new object.
- Vibrating bhavaṅga: The initial disturbance as the object begins to enter awareness.
- Arrest bhavaṅga: The final moment of the resting state before active consciousness arises.
- Adverting consciousness: Turning toward the object that has appeared.
- Sensing consciousness: The bare registration of the object through the appropriate sense base.
- Receiving consciousness: Receiving the object into awareness.
- Investigating consciousness: Evaluating the nature of the object.
- Determining consciousness: Making a final assessment, preparing for a full cognitive response.
- Javana (impulsion): The active engagement, where volitional and karmic responses are generated.
- Registration: The final retention of the object impression before returning to the life-continuum.
This entire sequence unfolds in a fraction of a second, far too rapidly for ordinary awareness to observe directly. Yet through deep meditation, practitioners may glimpse the arising and passing away of these momentary processes, revealing the insubstantial and conditioned nature of cognition itself.
The cognitive series underscores one of the most radical insights of Buddhist psychology: that perception is not a passive recording of reality but an intricate, dynamic construction arising through countless dependent factors — none of which constitute a permanent self.
“When one sees with wisdom that all formations arise and pass away, one turns away from suffering; this is the path to purification.”
— Dhammapada 278