The True Meaning of the Five Universal Mental Factors

All sentient beings have eight consciousnesses, but the consciousness-mind itself is invisible; what is visible are the mental factors (caittas) of the eight consciousnesses. Only through the manifestation and operation of the mental factors can the consciousness-mind be known and observed. Thus the mental factors represent the mind of sentient beings; a change in the state of the mind is a change in the mental factors. Mental factors can be roughly divided into a few dozen, and in finer subdivisions far more than a few dozen. So many mental factors cannot all appear and operate simultaneously; rather, they appear selectively according to the specific mental state and intention. Even the five universal mental factors, which pervade each of the consciousness-minds, do not appear simultaneously, but appear sequentially, or appear selectively in a skipping manner, or may temporarily not appear at all.

Some people believe that because the five universal mental factors pervade the consciousness-minds, they must appear and operate at all times and places, and all five must appear simultaneously. This is due to being unable to actually observe the operation of the mental factors; if one observes one's own mind, one will know what the actual situation is; if one cannot observe, one will just take things for granted. The five mental factors absolutely cannot appear simultaneously, nor must all of them appear. If one cannot observe, one can figure this out through analysis; if one cannot even analyze it, then one should not voice an opinion. Modern people cannot understand the meaning of words; they often remain at the surface and the superficial. Their understanding of the meaning of classical Chinese is even more one-sided, unable to probe deeply. Their meditative concentration is very poor, so of course their comprehension is very poor as well.

What does "universal" (遍) mean? It means pervasive. What does pervasive mean? It means widespread and common, emphasizing scope and extent, not individuality. The true meaning of the five universal mental factors is that there are five mental factors that exist pervasively within the eight consciousnesses; all eight consciousnesses possess these five mental factors. But possessing them is one thing—when they are used, how much they are used, and where they pause is not fixed. That is to say, how the consciousness-mind uses these five mental factors is not fixed. In short, as long as there are these five mental factors and all eight consciousnesses can use them, that is sufficient. It is like the wealthy, who universally possess large amounts of money, but how they use it and how much they use is not fixed. Some people are very frugal and simple, not extravagant, not particular about enjoyment, spending little. Some people, though they have mansions and villas, do not live in them themselves, but spend money to hire people to guard them and let others enjoy them. You cannot say such people are not wealthy.

Another example: leaders universally have power and status, but they do not necessarily use their power and status to seek personal gain or engage in illegal transactions; they only selectively use them in their work, to serve the general public. You cannot say that selectively using power and status means one is not a leader, or that a leader has no power. Another example: in today's society almost everyone universally has information tools such as mobile phones and computers, including the elderly and children. But having information tools does not mean one must use them at every moment, nor must one use several tools at once. You cannot say that because someone uses them occasionally or individually, these people do not have mobile phones and computers.

Another example: human beings universally have the five aggregates, a physical body, a brain, and limbs, but they do not necessarily use them at every moment, nor use them all together at every moment. Sometimes they use one aggregate, sometimes two, three, or four aggregates. When fatigued, the five aggregates also need rest and need to conserve energy. You cannot say that because humans do not use the five aggregates and the physical body at every moment, but use them selectively, humans therefore have no five aggregates or physical body, no brain or limbs. The five universal mental factors are the same: they do not have to appear at every moment, and certainly not all appear simultaneously—there is no such principle. The consciousness-mind has these five functions; how exactly they are used depends on the time and place, on the mind's intention, and on conditions. When conditions change, the use of the mental factors must change accordingly.

Specifically speaking, the mental factor of mental engagement (manaskāra) is the beginning of attention directed toward an encountered object. A person encounters too many objects; no matter how much energy one has, it is impossible to apply mental engagement to all objects—one must make choices. Sometimes one is too exhausted to attend to anything. A practitioner who wants to cultivate meditative concentration and wisdom must screen out the vast multitude of worldly dharmas and focus only on the problems currently being studied and needing to be solved, such as investigating Chan (canhua) and recollection of the Buddha. When cultivating meditative concentration, one must not apply mental engagement even to the Buddha-dharma; otherwise concentration will not arise. If one attends to everything, the mind becomes chaotic, one cannot cultivate the Path, and even worldly work cannot be done well—one cannot think through even a small problem. The mental factor of contact (sparśa) is the same: it contacts objects selectively, and when fatigued it stops contacting, letting the six consciousnesses cease, or be half-asleep and half-awake, or become drowsy. When energy is further insufficient, one becomes a vegetative person. A vegetative person still has the five universal mental factors, but uses them very little.

The mental factors of feeling, perception, and volition are the same. If one feels, perceives, and deliberates toward every object, without selecting dharmas or times, one's energy will soon be exhausted, leading to mental disorder, mania and restlessness, mental abnormality, and the danger of sudden death. True practitioners feel, perceive, and deliberate selectively—toward the dharmas they are cultivating and need to understand clearly; what is unnecessary they screen out. When cultivating meditative concentration, they not only do not feel or perceive, they even cut off part of volition. In the various levels of meditative absorption, the five universal mental factors operate very weakly; feeling and perception may even be temporarily cut off. In the concentration without perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) there is never perception; in the cessation of perception and feeling (nirodha-samāpatti) there is no feeling or perception, volition is very slight, the six consciousnesses do not appear at all, and the mental factors appear even less. For a person with a pure mind, the five universal mental factors operate very little; feeling becomes only neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) without painful or pleasant feeling, greatly different from a person laden with afflictions.

Observe the specific circumstances and think about it, and you will know. Many people have chaotic thoughts and extremely narrow, obstinate lines of thinking, believing that these five mental factors should operate in the consciousness-minds at all times without pause, and that if at any moment they are not operating, they are not "universal." To understand it this way is to misunderstand the meaning of "universal." Others believe that all five mental factors should operate in the consciousness-minds simultaneously, with not a single one missing. This misunderstanding is also very great. Many people are naive in their thinking; even with a brain they do not know how to use it; their thinking is often in a short-circuit state, blocked everywhere, yet they are still obstinate and very self-confident, difficult to communicate with.

There is also a great misunderstanding regarding the manas's nature of continual scrutiny and deliberation. Some think that "continual" (恒) means deliberating every second and every instant, and that if there is an interruption in between, it is not continual. Think about it a little: if the manas deliberated without pause every second and every instant, a person would be exhausted to death in a short time—could one live for decades? Even if one could deliberate for a year or half a year without dying of exhaustion, one would be tormented by oneself into madness and derangement. In fact, "continual" means forever, long-lasting, unchanging. The manas's functions of deliberation and examination will continue to exist, the functions unchanging, but not intensively used every second and every instant, not deliberating at every moment. The manas also becomes fatigued and needs rest; it also distinguishes the priority and urgency of matters. For unimportant matters, trivial matters, matters unrelated to itself, He will not bother to deliberate. His energy does not allow it either; when energy is completely exhausted, the person collapses.