How the Five Universally Active Mental Factors of the Six Consciousnesses Operate (III)

In the sequential operation of the five universal mental factors, the mental factor of contact must be present. This means that the sense organ, sense object, and consciousness must converge and cannot be separated. If consciousness departs from the sense object, contact ceases to exist and function. Similarly, the sense object cannot depart from the sense organ, or else consciousness cannot arise. Furthermore, only when the six consciousnesses contact the six sense objects can they receive and discern the environment; contact is the prerequisite. If we wish to cease discerning, cease feeling, and cease bodily, verbal, and mental volitions, then consciousness must stop contacting sense objects. Shift the attention of the six consciousnesses away and cease volitional attention; then subsequent mental formations cease. This is the optimal method for cultivating concentration and training the mind. Through this practice, one can achieve forgetting the sense objects, ceasing thoughts or having few thoughts arise. This is how the Arhats practice. Therefore, generally speaking, they have no emotional fluctuations, few feelings, and remain unmoved by objects.

When ordinary beings contact objects, due to craving and ignorance, once they contact an object they are unwilling to depart. They engage in prolonged discernment and feeling, prolonged deliberation, leaving the mind no peace, with thoughts in disarray. Some people, lacking wisdom, cannot discern clearly or think through matters thoroughly, and thus cannot make decisions. Consequently, they must continuously contact objects, turning thoughts over and over, tossing and turning, with unsettled minds. Because they cannot comprehend or deliberate clearly, they cannot decide, and so they must repeatedly engage in volitional attention and contact.

Some people require a long time to contact an object, and take a long time to think through a matter. One reason is mental craving; another is the complexity of the matter and poor discernment; another is the importance of the matter, necessitating thorough discernment and contemplation before making a decision. If discernment is unclear, feeling becomes unclear, and thinking and deliberation follow suit in being unclear. This necessitates continuous volitional attention, continuous contact, and continuous discernment. Regarding volitional attention and contact, as they operate, which comes first and which follows is not fixed. Similarly, whether feeling or perception operates first or last is also not fixed. The sequential order of these mental factors is not necessarily fixed.