The Relationship Between Mental Factors of Consciousness and Mental Factors of the Mental Faculty

Question: "After the seed consciousness gives rise to the seven consciousnesses, mental factors accompany their operation, and only then do the three natures of good, evil, and neutral arise in the conscious mind." These mental factors belong to the mental organ (manas), right? Because the mental organ contains innate and differentiated habits, and when the first six consciousnesses are born from the seed consciousness, they should all be pure. It is only after being influenced by the mental factors of the mental organ that they acquire the three natures. Is this understanding correct? 

Answer: Whichever consciousness operates, its corresponding mental factors accompany it. Because the mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna) is regulated and directed by the mental organ, once the mental consciousness operates, the arising of its own mental factors is inevitably influenced by the mental factors of the mental organ and is regulated by it. If the mental organ intends to perform a good deed, once its wholesome mental factors arise, they inevitably cause the wholesome mental factors of the mental consciousness to arise, in order to fulfill the mental organ’s command. The arising of unwholesome mental factors and neutral mental factors follows the same pattern. 

If the mental organ intends to practice generosity, it must necessarily command the six consciousnesses to carry out the specific actions. Thus, the birth of the six consciousnesses is to cooperate with the mental organ and to execute the wholesome act of generosity. Therefore, the mental factors of the mental consciousness, upon arising, are necessarily wholesome and consistent with the mental factors of the mental organ. If the mental organ does not wish to practice generosity, then regarding this wholesome act of generosity, the mental consciousness and its mental factors will not arise and operate. This means that whenever the mental factors of the conscious mind operate, the three natures will manifest. Therefore, to purify the conscious mind, one only needs to purify the mental factors at the root—the mental organ—and the rest of the conscious minds will follow and become purified. 

If the mental organ intends to kill or commit arson, it will give rise to the six consciousnesses to accomplish this evil deed, because the specific actions of killing and arson require the six consciousnesses to be carried out; the mental organ cannot perform them itself. Therefore, once the six consciousnesses arise, their mental factors are necessarily unwholesome and consistent with those of the mental organ. Thus, the mental organ must possess all wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral mental factors to enable the six consciousnesses to possess all mental factors for operating bodily, verbal, and mental actions. It is not as some say that the mental organ only has a portion of the mental factors. If the mental organ’s mental factors were incomplete, it would be unable to initiate and create many actions. How could the six consciousnesses operate for matters the mental organ does not initiate?

The mental factors of the mental consciousness initially align with those of the mental organ. However, after contemplation, if it deems the matter inappropriate, it can change its mental factors and subsequently influence and condition the mental organ. The mental consciousness can also act contrary to the mental organ. For instance, if the mental organ intends to do something bad, but the mental consciousness hesitates and does not act, changing its mind can eventually alter the mental organ’s intention. This is the conditioning function of the mental consciousness. Changing the mental organ always occurs through the conditioning by the mental consciousness. When experiencing an event, the mental consciousness contemplates the advantages and disadvantages, enabling the mental organ to understand them. Thereafter, when acting, it will make choices. However, the conditioning by the mental consciousness can be fast or slow, depending on the wisdom and skillfulness of the mental consciousness.

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