Kammaññatā (Pali) is a
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
term translated as "wieldiness", and it is the basis for the following pair of
mental factors
Mental factors ( sa, चैतसिक, caitasika or ''chitta samskara'' ; pi, cetasika; Tibetan: སེམས་བྱུང ''sems byung''), in Buddhism, are identified within the teachings of the Abhidhamma (Buddhist psychology). They are d ...
within the Theravada Abhidharma teachings:
* ''Kāya-kammaññatā'' - wieldiness of mental body (or "wieldiness of cetisakas")
* ''Citta-kammaññatā'' - wieldiness of consciousness (or "wieldiness of citta")
These two mental factors have the characteristic of the subsiding of unwieldiness (''akammaññabhāva'') in the mental body and consciousness, respectively.
Definition
Bhikkhu Bodhi states:
:The twofold wieldiness has the characteristic of the subsiding of unwieldiness (akammaññabhāva) in the mental body and consciousness, respectively. Its function is to crush unwieldiness. It is manifested as success of the mental body and consciousness in making something an object. Its proximate cause is the mental body and consciousness. It should be regarded as opposed to the remaining hindrances, which create unwieldiness of the mental body and consciousness.
Nina van Gorkom explains:
:Kammaññatā can be translated as wieldiness or workableness. The ''
Atthasālinī
Atthasālinī (Pali) is a Buddhist text composed by Buddhaghosa in the Theravada Abhidharma tradition. The title has been translated as "The Expositor"van Gorkom (2009)Preface or "Providing the Meaning". In the ''Atthasālinī'', Buddhaghosa expla ...
'' (I, Book I, Part IV, Chapter I, 131) explains that they suppress unwieldiness in cetasikas and citta, and that they should be regarded as “bringing faith in objects of faith, and patient application in works of advantage, and are like purity of gold.”
:When there is wieldiness, citta and cetasikas are like gold which has been made workable. The ''Mula-Tīkā'' expresses this as follows:
::Workableness signifies that specific or suitable degree of pliancy or softness which makes the gold, that is, the mind, workable. While the mind is in the flames of passion it is too soft to be workable, as molten gold is. If, on the contrary, the mind is too rigid then it is comparable to untempered gold.
:Wieldiness is the opponent of the “
hindrances”, such as sensuous desire (''kamacchanda'') and anger or hate (''vyapada''), which cause mental unwieldiness.
See also
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Mental factors (Buddhism)
*
Samadhi (Buddhism)
References
Sources
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{{Buddhism topics
Buddhist meditation
Wholesome factors in Buddhism
Pali words and phrases