The Correspondence Between the Five Aggregates and the Eighteen Realms Reveals the Importance of the Mental Factors of the Mind Faculty

The conceptual scope and functional role of the form aggregate (rūpa-skandha), the conceptual scope and functional role of the feeling aggregate (vedanā-skandha), the conceptual scope and functional role of the perception aggregate (saṃjñā-skandha), the conceptual scope and functional role of the formation aggregate (saṃskāra-skandha), the conceptual scope and functional role of the consciousness aggregate (vijñāna-skandha), as well as the conceptual scope and functional roles of the six faculties (the eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, body faculty, and mind faculty), the conceptual scope and functional roles of the six sense objects, and the conceptual scope and functional roles of the six consciousnesses—what are each of these? What are their corresponding relationships? Which aggregate among the five aggregates do the eighteen elements (dhātus) specifically correspond to?

The five faculties, the five sense objects, and the mental object (dharma-āyatana) correspond to the form aggregate. The six consciousnesses and the mind faculty correspond to the consciousness aggregate, the feeling aggregate, the perception aggregate, and the formation aggregate. The feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness aggregates are intimately connected with the seven consciousnesses; form is also related to consciousness, for without consciousness, there would be no form aggregate of the five faculties. However, ordinary people cannot perceive the feeling aggregate, perception aggregate, formation aggregate, and consciousness aggregate of the mind faculty; even the functional roles of the feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness of the five consciousnesses are unclear to most. Therefore, in the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle (Hīnayāna), the functions of the feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness aggregates of the mind faculty are generally not mentioned.

The form aggregate is accumulated and formed by the seeds of the four great elements (mahābhūta), while the feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness aggregates are accumulated and formed by the seeds of consciousness. Consciousness seeds alone cannot function; they must operate in conjunction with mental factors (caitta-dharma). Thus, the feeling aggregate, perception aggregate, formation aggregate, and consciousness aggregate are precisely the functional roles of the mental factors, corresponding to the feeling mental factor, the perception mental factor, and the volition mental factor among the five omnipresent mental factors (sarvatraga-caitta), also including the attention and contact mental factors. The mental factors of the six consciousnesses cannot be separated from the mental factors of the mind faculty; if the mental factors of the mind faculty do not operate, there would be no six consciousnesses or their mental factors at all. Therefore, the five aggregates and the eighteen elements should correspond to one another in a one-to-one relationship: the first five faculties and five sense objects correspond to the form aggregate; the mind faculty, the mental consciousness, and the five consciousnesses correspond to the feeling aggregate, perception aggregate, formation aggregate, and consciousness aggregate. The overall commander that sets all these dharmas in motion is the mind faculty, and the supreme commander is the tathāgatagarbha.