citta
Pali / Sanskrit · चित्त · tʃɪt̪t̪ɐ
citta (चित्त)
Citta is heart-mind: the mind that can be colored, trained, and, in some analyses, is not a self.
- cit
- to perceive, to notice, to think
Morphology
Sanskrit/Pali citta, from cit, to notice. In Abhidhamma it is a moment of mind, classified with cetasikas (mental factors). It is not Descartes’s thinking thing.
Semantic range
Mind, heart, a moment of cognition, the mind-stream.
History of the word
Pali Nikāyas speak of citta to be guarded and purified. Yogācāra makes mind the appearing of worlds. English “mind” flattens this. “Heart-mind” is a common salvage, still a salvage.
A key source
Dhammapada
Opening verses on mind as forerunner of dhammas.
Associated traditions
Parallels, not equivalents. Different attempts to notice something about knowing.
Chinese
xīn 心
Heart-mind; a different language’s similar refusal to split.
English
mind
A poor but inevitable gloss.
A distant linguistic echo
xīn 心
Chinese · Heart-mind; parallel pressure on English splitness.
How the word shifts
In popular Buddhist English, citta is often “mind.” The heart in the word goes missing.
mind
The heart, the coloring, the momentary character in Abhidhamma.
A story where the word matters
Nearby words
Neighbors, not translations of one concept.
From this word
If citta can be trained, who is the trainer, and is that question already a mistake?
One question remains
What does this word let us notice that English “consciousness” does not?
It lets us notice a mind that is also a heart, and that may not be someone.