The Classification of Mundane Phenomena

The term "mental factors" (cetasika) refers, as the name implies, to dharmas that belong to the mind. Emotions, attitudes, opinions, suggestions, anxiety, agitation, jealousy, sadness, and so forth, are all dharmas that arise upon the mind, belonging to the mind; hence, they are all called mental factors. Dharmas that arise upon the body, belonging to the body, are, as the name implies, called bodily factors. All dharmas belonging to the material body (rūpakāya), such as falling ill, changes in weight, various alterations occurring, the arising of certain things, or the reduction of certain things, etc. — all arising, ceasing, and changes pertaining to the body are bodily factors. The material body is divided into the internal body and the external body. The internal body is the physical body, while the external body consists of the six dusts (objects of the senses): forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects, and mental objects (dharmas). Together, they constitute the five-aggregate body. The body is material dharmas (rūpa-dharma), and the dharmas arising upon the body are also material dharmas; therefore, all that belongs to material dharmas are also material dharmas. All dharmas belonging to the body are also dharmas belonging to the mind. But to which mind does this "mind" refer?

All worldly dharmas are divided into material dharmas (rūpa-dharma), mental dharmas (citta-dharma), and dharmas that are neither material nor mental. Their belongingness is categorized into mind-possessed factors, body-possessed factors, and factors possessed by neither body nor mind. All these dharmas are subsumed under the possession of the Tathagatagarbha. Once all dharmas are returned to the Tathagatagarbha, there is nothing left at all. So what are we still grasping at now? Everything is empty; all are mere appearances. Yet, alas, the habit of grasping is too deeply ingrained, too difficult to change. The root cause is still that the true reality of the Dharma Realm has not been fully understood, not clearly seen. This matter requires three asamkhyeya kalpas (incalculably long eons) to be thoroughly clarified, at which point the practice will also come to an end.