The Mental Factors of Different Sentient Beings Are Different

Among the mental factors (caittas), apart from the five universal mental factors, all other mental factors do not appear constantly; they only arise and operate on individual occasions. The five particular mental factors appear only on individual occasions; the higher a person's wisdom, the more frequently they manifest. The wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, as well as the neutral mental factors, also appear only on individual occasions, not manifesting at all times. The more wholesome a person is, the more frequently their wholesome mental factors manifest; the more unwholesome a person is, the more frequently their unwholesome mental factors manifest. At the stage of buddhahood, the wholesome mental factors may manifest at all times. For example, the mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi): the Buddha's mind is constantly in samādhi, never emerging from it. For example, the mental factor of wisdom: the Buddha's mind constantly possesses great wisdom, with no moment lacking wisdom. For example, the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa): the Buddha's mind can at all times determine and comprehend all dharmas. For example, among the wholesome mental factors, non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion: the Buddha's mind is forever and at all times without greed, without hatred, without delusion. For example, the mental factors of non-negligence, tranquility, equanimity, and non-harmfulness: the Buddha's mind is like this at all times.

Each person has their own character, temperament, and disposition; everyone's mental factors are different. As complex as sentient beings' minds are, so complex is the world; hence it is said that the world is conjured forth by the minds of sentient beings. If all sentient beings' minds were like the Buddha's mind, the world would be far simpler and more sublime—light clouds and gentle breezes, or even without even light clouds and gentle breezes—quiet and still, serene and tranquil; no language could accurately describe that kind of beauty.

In the end, the world will all be like that; sentient beings, after cultivating to the end, will all be wise and simple, not the least bit complicated. Character and individuality will be extinguished, temperaments and dispositions eliminated, and the mental factors will all be wholesome with nothing unwholesome—only twenty-one, no more, no fewer. But to cultivate the mind to this degree requires three immeasurable kalpas; one can see how difficult it is to cultivate the mind, how hard it is to change the mind. If the mind does not change, one must endure torment—tormenting oneself and tormenting others, tormenting one another. Not knowing that sentient beings share the same root, they can only scorch one another and then stew in their own suffering.

The process of cultivation is precisely the process of turning around and transforming the mental factors, ultimately bringing the eight consciousnesses to perfect possession of the twenty-one mental factors, whereupon one becomes beyond training (aśaikṣa) in both the Great and Small Vehicles. Bodhisattvas at and above the first bhūmi, having eradicated the fundamental afflictions, the universal secondary afflictions, and the intermediate secondary afflictions, have transformed the sixth and seventh consciousnesses into wisdom and attained the wisdom of the tolerance of non-arising (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti); their mental factors all correspond to the twenty-one mental factors. Only the five particular mental factors are not yet ultimate and complete, still needing to be strengthened; the eleven wholesome mental factors also need to be strengthened and enhanced; and the minor secondary afflictions still need to be eliminated. Bhūmi-level bodhisattvas have not exhausted the affliction of delusion within the Mahāyāna dharma, so the wholesome mental factor of non-delusion is not yet complete; in some bodhisattvas, the manas still has the mental factor of pride not fully eradicated, and the twenty-one mental factors still require continuous refinement and strengthening. Only at the stage of buddhahood are the twenty-one mental factors of the eight consciousnesses perfect and ultimate, requiring no further enhancement.

Because bodhisattvas from the first to the eighth bhūmi still have the obscuration of afflictive habits, their mental factors are not yet pure enough, not purely wholesome. When one cultivates to the eighth bhūmi, the minor secondary afflictions are extinguished, the afflictive habits are severed, and part of the defiled seeds is eliminated; the twenty-one mental factors become more complete and powerful. Thus cultivation has a great deal to do with eradicating afflictions and habits; the purpose of cultivation is to sever afflictions, afflictive habits, and all ignorance, thereby attaining liberation. When ignorance is completely severed, the buddha path is accomplished—ultimate liberation.

The functions of the five particular mental factors will grow ever stronger as afflictions and habits are continuously eliminated. All superknowledges and spiritual powers are related to the five particular mental factors and are accomplished by means of them, though of course they are not separate from the assistance of the five universal mental factors. As cultivation steadily advances, the conscious mind will inevitably undergo change; the change of the conscious mind is the transformation of the mental factors, and the transformation of the mental factors is the result of cultivation. The five universal mental factors must also be continuously improved and strengthened: the mental factor of feeling comes closer to neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā); the mental factor of perception discerns and discriminates more accurately and thoroughly; the mental factor of volition gains greater, faster, more accurate, more skillful, and more selfless power of deliberation (manasikāra); and it is also possible that the mental factors of feeling, perception, and volitional formations appear less and less, with fewer and fewer mental actions and fabrications.

The mental factors of ordinary beings also differ from one another; the greater the difference between one's mental factors before and after studying Buddhism, the better one has cultivated. If someone has studied Buddhism for ten or twenty years and their mind-ground, mental actions, and mental factors remain the same as before, what has that person been doing for all those decades? If one has studied for many years with no change in mental actions or mental factors, with afflictions not subdued to a certain degree, and one's mental factors and mental actions still differ greatly from those of a person of the first fruit (srotāpanna), how could one turn toward the direction of the first fruit and then realize and enter the first fruit? As long as cultivation gives rise to the seven factors of enlightenment (satta-bojjhaṅgā), the mental factors will necessarily change; if they do not change, the seven factors of enlightenment are incomplete, and if the seven factors of enlightenment are incomplete, one can by no means realize the fruit. How many people do not even come close to the edge of the seven factors of enlightenment, yet claim to have attained a great noble fruit and gone home to enjoy it—this is the chaos of the Dharma-ending age.