Is the Operation of the Five Particulars Subsequent to the Vedanā Mental Factor within the Five Universals?

The meaning of "universally operating" is that whenever consciousness arises, the five universally operating mental factors necessarily accompany the mental consciousness. Consciousness may exist without other mental factors, but it must always be accompanied by these five universally operating mental factors. Its true implication is like when two people meet; this is called contact. Only after contact can discrimination and sensation occur, leading finally to a decision or judgment. Without meeting, one cannot discriminate the other party nor decide other matters. Before meeting, there is attention (manasikāra), directing towards a certain place, and only then can meeting occur at that place. Discrimination is equivalent to understanding the other party, which is a process of varying duration. Even the eye seeing a form involves a process; one cannot immediately determine what the form is.

The operation of the five universally operating mental factors first follows a sequence. How could they operate without sequence? If there were no sequence, at the moment the three—sense faculty, object, and consciousness—come together in contact, everything would have an immediate result. Yet in reality, major final results, as well as minor results and segmented results, all appear some time after contact; they do not occur immediately upon contact. The result is the decision and the subsequent mental formations and actions.

Without contact, there is no subsequent reception (vedanā); without reception, there is no discrimination (saṃjñā); without discrimination, there are no subsequent sensations; without the final decision (cetanā), there are no subsequent mental formations. The five object-specific mental factors generally appear after the sensation mental factor of consciousness, after the perception mental factor, and after the volition mental factor; they do not necessarily appear at a specific stage. Without attention (manasikāra) and contact (sparśa), there is no desire mental factor (chanda); without the perception mental factor (saṃjñā), there is no resolved conviction mental factor (adhimokṣa); hence, there is no mindfulness mental factor (smṛti) and no wisdom mental factor (prajñā). On the other hand, without the desire mental factor, one might not engage in attention and contact, and thus the five universally operating mental factors would not arise.

The mental factor of concentration (samādhi) arises after the mental factors of attention, contact, and sensation. Then it can become fixed on attention, fixed on contact, fixed on sensation, or fixed on perception. Only after this can wisdom arise, leading to the final appearance of the volition mental factor (cetanā). However, it is also possible that concentration arises first, becoming fixed on one or two dharmas, and then the five universally operating mental factors operate—attention, contact, sensation, perception, and volition. Alternatively, concentration might only appear after the volition mental factor.

Overall, the five object-specific mental factors do not necessarily appear and operate at a specific stage within the operation of the five universally operating mental factors. This is because the five universally operating mental factors operate in a continuous, cyclical manner and do not remain fixed at any single stage. If they remain fixed at a certain stage, that is concentration—the mind has attained concentration.

With insufficient concentration power, insufficient wisdom, and a mind that is not extremely refined, it is indeed difficult to observe the operation of mental factors. Regardless of which consciousness's mental factors they belong to, they all fall within the scope of Vijñapti-mātra and the wisdom of all seeds (sarvabījajñāna).