Mental Factors Corresponding to the Eight Consciousnesses

The term "mental factors" refers to the dharmas possessed by the mind consciousness, which are the traces of mental activity during the mind's functioning process, assisting the operation of the eight consciousnesses. The mental factors associated with the eight consciousnesses were summarized by the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu into a maximum of fifty-one types, but there are subtler mental factors that were not categorized, such as those related to emotions like panic, fear, joy, happiness, etc. These mental factors are neither wholesome nor unwholesome in nature and do not affect spiritual cultivation. Each consciousness has its own distinct mental factors, which are not identical. Different stages of practice for each sentient being also involve different mental factors, which are determined by and change according to the mind. Therefore, it is difficult to state precisely how many mental factors each consciousness has, nor is it possible to definitively list which mental factors each sentient being possesses. Each case must be analyzed specifically according to its circumstances and cannot be generalized.

Overall, the mental factors of the eight consciousnesses include: the five omnipresent factors: contact, attention, feeling, perception, and volition; the five object-determining factors: aspiration, resolve, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom; the eleven wholesome factors: faith, shame, propriety, non-attachment, non-hatred, non-delusion, diligence, pliancy, heedfulness, equanimity, and non-harming; the six root afflictions: attachment, hatred, delusion, pride, doubt, and wrong view; the ten minor secondary afflictions: anger, resentment, spite, concealment, deceit, flattery, arrogance, malice, envy, and stinginess; the two medium secondary afflictions: shamelessness and disregard; the eight major secondary afflictions: lack of faith, laziness, heedlessness, dullness, agitation, forgetfulness, lack of awareness, and distraction; and the indeterminate mental factors: regret, drowsiness, initial thought, and sustained thought.

Among these, the eleven wholesome mental factors are opposed to the six afflictions among the secondary afflictions. When the mind consciousness possesses wholesome mental factors, it does not possess the major secondary afflictions; when it possesses the major secondary afflictions, it does not possess the eleven wholesome mental factors. A single mind consciousness cannot simultaneously possess both wholesome and unwholesome mental factors. It is either wholesome or unwholesome, not both at the same time. For example, if the mind consciousness possesses the mental factor of faith, it cannot possess the mental factor of lack of faith; if it possesses the mental factors of shame and propriety, it cannot possess the mental factors of shamelessness and disregard; if it possesses the mental factor of non-attachment, it cannot possess the mental factor of attachment; if it possesses the mental factor of non-hatred, it cannot possess the mental factor of hatred; if it possesses the mental factor of non-delusion, it cannot possess the mental factor of delusion; if it possesses the mental factor of diligence, it cannot possess the mental factor of laziness; if it possesses the mental factor of pliancy, it cannot possess the mental factor of dullness; if it possesses the mental factor of heedfulness, it cannot possess the mental factor of heedlessness; if it possesses the mental factor of equanimity, it cannot possess the mental factors of anger, resentment, and spite; if it possesses the mental factor of non-harming, it cannot possess the mental factor of harm.