All dharmas have marks.

Dharmas include material form (rūpa-dharma) and mental dharmas (citta-dharma); there are true dharmas and false dharmas. Material form has its own specific characteristic (viśeṣa-lakṣaṇa) and common characteristic (sāmānya-lakṣaṇa); mental dharmas have their own specific and common characteristics; false dharmas have their own specific and common characteristics. True dharma has the mark of its own substance, and no common characteristic.

The common characteristic of material form is matter composed of the four great elements, possessing the nature of material obstruction (saprati-ghāta); it is not empty, can be transmitted, can diffuse, has magnetic field effects, can be touched and seen, and is subject to arising, ceasing, and change. The specific characteristic of material form is that forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles each have their own appearance and features that cannot be confused; therefore the faculties and consciousnesses that touch and see them differ. Even among material dharmas of the same kind, each has its own appearance and features, each has different functions—such as flowers, grass, trees, and mountains, or tables, chairs, and benches.

The common characteristic of mental dharmas is that they all possess the nature of recognition and discernment, all have mental factors (caitta), all are formless and without mark, and all are formed from seeds of consciousness; except for the eighth consciousness, they are all subject to arising, ceasing, and change. Each consciousness has its own unique object of recognition, and each has its corresponding dharma that can be perceived. The eighth consciousness has no common characteristic; it is the one and only dharma, the one that transcends the mundane world, the one that neither arises nor ceases, neither changes nor varies, neither increases nor decreases—the very place upon which sentient beings depend.