How Do the Five Universal Mental Factors of the Six Consciousnesses Operate? (1)

The five universal mental factors (caittas) of the six consciousnesses operate first with mental engagement (manaskāra). Mental engagement means directing attention onto an object. Whatever dharma the manas, the seventh consciousness, wants to discriminate, that is what the six consciousnesses direct their attention to; therefore the mental engagement of the six consciousnesses is decided and determined by the manas. After the six consciousnesses have engaged mentally, the seeds of consciousness are brought forth and the six consciousnesses manifest. Then the faculties, sense-objects, and consciousnesses make contact with one another, and after contact, the first thing that occurs is reception (vedanā in the sense of receiving). What is reception? Reception here does not refer to the feeling of suffering or the feeling of happiness; at the very beginning there is not yet any emotional feeling—first the object is received. The six consciousnesses receive the realms of the six sense-objects; that is, they first accept them. After acceptance, the mental factor of perception (saṃjñā) begins to discriminate: first there is contact, and then discrimination.

For example, if someone gives you an object, you first turn your attention toward it, then touch it with your hand, and afterward accept it. Once you have taken it into your hands, you then carefully discriminate and examine it. After examination, you take its mark, and a decisive mind regarding the object arises; then feeling arises. As for the subsequent mental factors of feeling (vedanā) and perception (saṃjñā), it is hard to say which comes first and which comes after—they are two that appear alternately, and thus the sequence of the five mental factors becomes disordered. When many people discriminate the same object at the same time, the sequence of their mental factors is not the same; this is related to each person's power of wisdom (prajñā-bala), power of meditative concentration, karma, and afflictive habits.

Generally speaking, perception arises only after the object has been received; only after there is the functional nature of discrimination and grasping of marks can feeling arise. If the feeling is not clear, then contact and perception continue, followed by further knowing; after knowing, a mind of determination arises, and there are then various feelings. The longer contact, perception, and volition (cetanā) occupy, the more feelings arise in the mind, and the greater the changes in the mental state. This shows that there is continual perceiving and continual feeling; continual feeling, and then continual perceiving. The emotions in the mind are fluctuating, and the mind is constantly grasping at the marks of objects. The five universal mental factors run back and forth repeatedly, and their sequence is often disordered. For example, in the operation of the mental factor of volition: when the mental factor of perception has not discriminated the object clearly, volition is unclear, the decisiveness of the volition mental factor cannot arise, and there is no power of determination. At that point, one must turn back and let the mental factors of contact and perception operate again; only after discrimination has become clear does the volition mental factor gain the power of determination and can make the final determination. Then the operation of the five universal mental factors upon that object comes to an end.