Mental Factors of the Seventh Consciousness

The seeds of consciousness within the Tathāgatagarbha give rise to the seven consciousnesses. Once these seven consciousnesses manifest and begin to operate, they function in the form of mental factors (caittas). First are the five universal mental factors, followed by the five particular mental factors, which operate irregularly. Wholesome and unwholesome mental factors also follow and operate accordingly. The seven consciousnesses are sometimes wholesome, sometimes unwholesome, and sometimes neither manifests. However, the five universal mental factors invariably accompany the seven consciousnesses, manifesting and operating at every moment. Yet, these mental factors themselves have no seeds; the seven great seeds do not contain the seeds of the five universal mental factors, nor do the karmic seeds contain the seeds of mental factors. Nevertheless, as soon as the seven consciousnesses manifest, the five universal mental factors, the five particular mental factors, and the wholesome/unwholesome mental factors follow and emerge to operate. Consequently, the karmic actions of body, speech, and mind are produced.

The seeds of consciousness are like water droplets; continuous droplets form a water flow, which corresponds to the stream of consciousness of the seven consciousnesses. However, the seven consciousnesses themselves depend on mental factors to function; only with the auxiliary operation of mental factors do the functions of the seven consciousnesses arise. Once born, the seven consciousnesses direct attention (manaskāra), make contact (sparśa), experience sensation (vedanā), form perception (saṃjñā), and engage in volition (cetanā) towards their corresponding objects. This is the operational process of the seven consciousnesses, intermingled with other mental factors. The seeds of consciousness themselves are pure, and the resulting stream of consciousness is also pure. However, when mental factors participate in the operation, the seven consciousnesses are not necessarily pure, because some mental factors are impure and defiled. Consequently, the karmic seeds formed by the mental activities (caitasika) carried by the seven consciousnesses are not necessarily pure. The type of karmic seeds stored within the Tathāgatagarbha determines the manifestation of the mental faculty (manas); therefore, the mental faculty necessarily corresponds to the karmic seeds.

The Tathāgatagarbha causes the seven consciousnesses to manifest based on the karmic seeds. If the karmic seeds are defiled, the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses are defiled; if the karmic seeds are pure, the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses are pure. When defiled seeds mature, the mental faculty must manifest defiled actions. These defiled actions are then stored as seeds back into the Tathāgatagarbha, while the seeds of consciousness return to the Tathāgatagarbha, still remaining pure. When the unwholesome karmic seeds created by the seven consciousnesses ripen and manifest retribution (vipāka), unwholesome mental activities arise during this retribution. Based on these unwholesome mental activities, they again create unwholesome karma. Using this as the cause, unwholesome fruits are produced. Karmic results revolve in this cyclical manner, causing sentient beings to revolve endlessly in saṃsāra. When the wholesome and unwholesome karmic seeds created by the seven consciousnesses encounter conditions, manifest, and are exhausted, the karmic seeds disappear. However, all phenomena and all mental activities are like archives, never disappearing. The more experiences sentient beings accumulate through beginningless eons, the more the Tathāgatagarbha stores. Every single thing from the long river of lives throughout the eons, drop by drop, is archived by the Tathāgatagarbha. The Tathāgatagarbha is formless and shapeless; if it were not formless and shapeless, it could not store so many archives. Thus, the archives are also formless and shapeless.