Summary: In the Abhidhamma, citta is the act of cognizing an object. The Dhammasaṅgaṇī defines it through a cluster of near-synonyms — citta, mano, mānasa, manindriya, viññāṇa — and treats it as the central event with which the mental factors (cetasika) arise together (Dhs 18, Dhs 75).
Canonical locus
The opening wholesome analysis of the Dhammasaṅgaṇī gives the standard Abhidhamma definition. (Dhs 18)
Dhs 18 (ds2.1.1:18.2–18.3)
Yaṁ tasmiṁ samaye cittaṁ mano mānasaṁ hadayaṁ paṇḍaraṁ mano manāyatanaṁ manindriyaṁ viññāṇaṁ viññāṇakkhandho tajjāmanoviññāṇadhātu— idaṁ tasmiṁ samaye cittaṁ hoti.
The Vibhaṅga frames the same domain from the aggregate side. (Vibh 1)
Vibh 1 (vb1:2.2; vb1:35.1)
Pañcakkhandhā — rūpakkhandho, vedanākkhandho, saññākkhandho, saṅkhārakkhandho, viññāṇakkhandho.
Analysis
The Abhidhamma's analysis of citta turns on how a single consciousness-event is defined, classified, and related to its accompanying factors. (Dhs 14-18, Dhs 75; Vibh 1)
The canonical function of citta
The Abhidhamma does not treat citta as a permanent self or substance. It treats it as the occurring consciousness-event present "in that occasion" (tasmiṁ samaye), defined within a specific arising of wholesome, unwholesome, resultant, or functional dhammas (Dhs 18, Dhs 29, Dhs 76).
Relation to mano and viññāṇa
At Dhs 18 the text deliberately piles up the terms citta, mano, mānasa, manāyatana, manindriya, and viññāṇa inside a single definition. In the Abhidhamma system these are not different substances but different classificatory angles on the same cognizing event. (Dhs 18)
Citta is never isolated
The Dhammasaṅgaṇī immediately analyses the accompanying factors that arise with each conscious event: contact, feeling, perception, volition, and many others. This means the Abhidhamma treats citta as structurally inseparable from associated cetasika even though it remains analytically distinguishable from them. (Dhs 14–17, Dhs 75)
Textual notes
- The broader sutta usage of citta can also mean "heart" or the emotive interior life. This page follows the narrower Abhidhamma register, where citta functions as a technical category.
- The Vibhaṅga most often approaches the same territory under viññāṇakkhandha rather than by reusing the Dhammasaṅgaṇī's exact synonym cluster. (Vibh 1)