Profitable consciousness in the immaterial sphere (Buddhism)

A total of four kinds of consciousness may arise here. These are associated with the four immaterial states or jhanas. The first is based on the jhana of boundless or unlimited space; the second with the jhana of boundless or unlimited consciousness; the third with the jhana of the sphere of nothingness and the fourth with the jhana of the sphere of neither perception not non-perception.

All four give rise to materiality and to postures but not to intimation.

In Hinayana Buddhism, 89 consciousnesses are enumerated in aggregate (khanda). Of these, 21 are profitable or moral, 12 are unprofitable or immoral and 56 are indeterminate (resultant or functional). The unprofitable all arise in the sphere of sense and desire, whereas profitable and indeterminate arise in sense, fine-material, immaterial and supramundane spheres.