2.2.9. The Cognitive Series

“It is volition, bhikkhus, that I call karma. For having willed, one acts by body, speech, and mind.”
— Aṅguttara Nikāya 6.63

There are moments in meditation when I catch it — the flicker, the decision before the decision. It is so swift I almost miss it. Yet there it is: the very mechanism of karma, turning. This chapter is about that moment — or rather, the rapid sequence of mental events within which it is embedded. When we understand how cognition truly functions — not as a stable awareness, but as a cascading process — we begin to see how karma arises, and more importantly, how it might not.

In this saṃsāric existence, the mind operates in two alternating modes: passive and active. The passive mode is the life continuum (bhavaṅga-citta) — a subtle stream of resultant consciousness flowing between cognitive events. It is neither attention nor thought, but a quieter background pulse. This current is identical in nature to the rebirth-linking consciousness (paṭisandhi-citta), the first moment of awareness in this life, conditioned by karma from the previous death moment.

This bhavaṅga state continues beneath all experience, most noticeable during deep dreamless sleep or the brief pauses between thoughts. When a sensory or mental object arises, however, the passive flow is interrupted. This marks the start of the cognitive series.

I will not map every intricate detail here — Bhikkhu Bodhi’s Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma is the better authority for that. Instead, I wish to illuminate the significance of this process: how awareness, conditioned by past acts, flows toward objects, evaluates them, reacts, and plants new seeds. This is karma in motion.

To summarise: when a sense object arises — a sound, thought, or smell — it must meet a threshold of significance. If strong enough, it interrupts the life continuum, and the mind turns toward the sense door. This initial orientation is called adverting consciousness. Next comes sense consciousness, which simply receives the data. Then the process accelerates.

There follow three stages of evaluation:

• Receiving consciousness — a gentle noting: What is this?
• Investigating consciousness — an evaluation: What does it mean?
• Determining consciousness — a pivotal moment: How do I respond?

If the mind is trained, it can interrupt itself precisely here. This moment is fleeting — astonishingly brief — but it is also where karma can be shaped or restrained.

Next comes javana, from the Pāli meaning “to run over, to flow.” These are the seven rapid moments of volitional response — where karma is created.

For most of us, most of the time, the content of the javana is conditioned: not chosen freshly. If the object was previously met with anger, anger arises again. If it was once met with generosity, warmth returns. Thus each moment is both echo and seed — shaped by past encounters and shaping the future.

Typically, only the first and last of these seven javana moments bear fruit in this lifetime. The others influence longer-term effects, often spanning future lives. If the object is particularly significant, two additional moments arise after javana: registration — the formation of memory. Only vivid encounters are stored this way. Most cognitive series conclude without registration, leaving no trace in recall.

Arahants, the fully liberated, still experience this series. Yet their javana cittas are functional (kiriya), without karmic residue, as there is no clinging. For the rest of us, every act of attention, speech, and movement generates karma, unless guided by deep insight.

The Sequence of a Full Cognitive Series

These fourteen cittas unfold within the brief window that a sense object is available to the mind — never more than seventeen moments. If an object is very great, there is time for full cognition and memory. If merely great, registration may be skipped. For slight or very slight objects, even javana may not occur; the opportunity simply lapses.

We must also mention the final cognitive series — death. In that last moment, only five javana cittas arise. The final one conditions the paṭisandhi of the next life. Immediately thereafter, the flow of bhavaṅga resumes — unless awakening intervenes.

So much of our mental life is unknown to us — not because it is hidden, but because it happens too swiftly to register. With training, however, we begin to sense the outlines: a flash of reaction, a familiar association, an instant of insight before the mind runs on. Here is where freedom begins — not by controlling every thought, but by recognising the landscape.

The cognitive series is not abstract theory. It is the living engine of karma. Each moment of perception and reaction either reinforces old patterns or softens them. Through understanding this process — not just intellectually, but through attentive living — we gradually change its tone. Awareness enters. Volition slows. Karma begins to unravel. And eventually, the stream quiets.

This text is excerpted from the upcoming book Albedo: A Course in Modern Alchemy. The complete volume will include additional study guides, glossaries, and extended teachings. Learn more about the book here.