The Mental Factors (caittas) of the Six Consciousnesses

After the six consciousnesses arise, whether the mental factor of attention (manaskāra) or the mental factor of contact (sparśa) comes first or later is not necessarily fixed. In the initial stage, when the six consciousnesses are still in the seed state, attention definitely comes first; after it directs the mind consciousness toward the object that needs to be faced, attention is complete. Once the mind consciousness is produced, it has contact with the sense object, and only then can the six consciousnesses contact the object; only after contacting the object can they discern it. This is the initial case where attention comes first and contact comes after. After contact, there is feeling, perception, and volition; after volition, the mind consciousness then continues to contact again, and after contact, attention may arise again, then feeling again, then discerning again, then volition again, then feeling again. In this way, the sequence of these several mental factors may be reversed—it is possible that contact comes first, and after contacting the object, attention is directed onto the object; this is attention.

Regarding the manifestation of the five universally present mental factors, sometimes attention comes first at the beginning, and only after all five universally present mental factors are running; sometimes contact comes first—contacting first and then attending. After the six consciousnesses contact an object and feeling arises, they can receive and accept the object, and then grasp the object; in this way there are designations (names), and there is perception. After there are designations and perception, the mental factor of volition begins to act, and thus there is thinking, deliberation (manana), and consideration. After deliberation, one of the three kinds of feeling—suffering, happiness, or neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā)—may arise; at this point a preliminary choice must be made, and bodily, verbal, and mental actions begin to be carried out.

After bodily, verbal, and mental actions have been carried out, there may be contact again; because one cannot fully decide about the object, one must contact and receive again, discern and volition again, repeatedly, until one can fully understand and is completely clear; only after making the final choice does it come to an end. The procedures involved here are quite complex; what is too subtle cannot be reached by contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā). The five mental factors do not necessarily all operate according to a fixed order, nor is it necessary for all five procedures to take turns in sequence; it is possible that at the point of feeling, one must start over from contact again; it is possible that at the point of perception, one continues with contact again; it is possible that after volition is completed, one still cannot decide for the time being, and so must go contact again, and after contact, attend again; or attend first and then contact—the order is not fixed. The number of times the five mental factors manifest and their durations are all different.