Mental Factors of the Mind base\: A Practical Compass (Second Edition) (with over 30,000 additional words, reorganized)
Chapter One: The Transformation of Mental Factors Is the Mark of Genuine Practice
Section One: Mental Factors Change with Practice
I. The Mental Factors of the Manas Are the Guiding Principle of Genuine Practice, and Also Its Operating System
"Guiding" (指) means that the mental factors can point toward the goal of one's own practice—eradicating ignorance, subduing and eliminating afflictions, transforming mental activities, and transforming karmic seeds. "Convergence" (归) means letting the mind return to wisdom, return to purity, and return to liberation. "Operating system" means following the mental factors, continuously correcting the mental factors, and transforming the mental factors. Genuine practice is precisely the process of operating the mental factors and the process of the mental factors being operated—it is the process of one's own mind transforming itself.
The reason mental factors can change is the mind consciousness's successful perfuming of the manas, whereby the manas turns away from evil and toward goodness, transforming its own mental activities. The fundamental cause of this transformation is the tathāgatagarbha: it is the tathāgatagarbha that transforms the manas's mental factors. However, the tathāgatagarbha is not the master consciousness; He does not take charge and has no subjective initiative. He passively transforms the seeds in accordance with the manas's mental activities. When the seeds transform, the fruits also transform. Although the arising of all things is produced by the tathāgatagarbha, the driving force behind it is the manas's mental factors. If the manas does not wish to act, the tathāgatagarbha does nothing, and no dharmas arise at all.
The manas has subjective initiative; when its mental disposition transforms, it will prompt changes in the karmic seeds. The transformation of mental factors is the cause; the change of karmic seeds is the effect. The manas's recognition and realization of truth is the cause; the transformation of mental factors is the effect. The manas's diligent practice of the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment is the cause; realization is the effect. The mind consciousness's proper perfuming and guidance is the cause; the manas's being perfumed is the effect. Of course, every step of actual genuine practice will cause changes in the manas's mental factors, and the change of mental factors is the effect; the cause is still the manas's mental factors prompting corresponding changes in its own mental factors, with the prerequisite that the mind consciousness's mental factors are there to drive the manas's mental factors.
II. Mental Factors Necessarily Appear Simultaneously with the Conscious Mind
Mental factors are the aids and companions of the conscious mind; they must operate in conjunction with the conscious mind, otherwise the conscious mind would be incapable of doing anything. Whenever the conscious mind appears, mental factors necessarily appear simultaneously; without mental factors, the conscious mind cannot operate, and then no dharmas in the world could arise or exist. Even the operation of the eighth consciousness requires the cooperation of its own mental factors, and the very existence of the eighth consciousness likewise cannot be apart from the accompaniment of mental factors.
The arising and operation of the four kinds of nutriment are all functions of the conscious mind. Since the conscious mind cannot be apart from the aid of mental factors, the four kinds of nutriment cannot be apart from mental factors. Ordinary beings cannot be apart from the four kinds of nutriment, and sages in the human world of the desire realm also cannot be apart from them. Beings with relatively high levels of meditative concentration can be apart from solid food and volitional nutriment, and sometimes can also be apart from contact nutriment, but they cannot be apart from consciousness nutriment; the most basic need of sentient beings' lives must include the consciousness nutriment of the eighth and seventh consciousnesses.
III. The Mental Factors of the Seven Consciousnesses Transform with Practice
Mental factors are the mental activities of the conscious mind. Through continuous study and practice, and continuous subduing of one's own mind, the mental activities of the seven consciousnesses will continuously transform: deep and heavy afflictions transform into mild afflictions, and mild afflictions gradually disappear. Wholesome mental factors will become more numerous and stronger, the mental activities will become increasingly pure, the power of meditative concentration will become increasingly stable and strong, and wisdom will become increasingly deep and penetrating. Therefore, through continuous practice, the mental factors will continuously transform. If one has practiced for a period of time but the mental factors have not changed at all, the afflictions have not become milder, the power of meditative concentration has not arisen, and wisdom has not advanced, then the practice is not effective.
The mark of whether a Buddhist practitioner's practice succeeds lies in the mental factors. When practice truly succeeds, the afflictive mental factors of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses will decrease and be eliminated, the wholesome mental factors will increase and become complete, and the functions of the five particular mental factors will also increase and become complete. When practice reaches the stage of buddhahood, the eight consciousnesses will fully possess twenty-one mental factors, with their functions brought to the utmost. A true Buddhist practitioner should, at regular intervals, observe his own mental factors—that is, introspect his own mind-ground. If he finds that his mind-ground has not changed much, it shows that his practice is not effective, and perhaps he has not yet gotten on the right track. Each person's level and progress of practice differ, so their mental factors differ, which shows that people's minds are all different. If someone claims that his mind consciousness has as many as fifty-one mental factors, while the manas's afflictive mental factors are still as many and as heavy as before, then such a person is still a beginner in Buddhism, with extremely heavy afflictions and extremely poor character.
Generally, the mental factors discussed in the treatises on consciousness refer to the mental factors of the eight consciousnesses of ordinary beings and of bodhisattvas who have not yet transformed the basis, not to the mental factors of the eight consciousnesses of bodhisattvas on the bhūmis who have already transformed the basis. These mental factors must all undergo transformation through continuous practice in order to represent achievement in practice; only then can consciousness be transformed into wisdom, and only then can the path to buddhahood gradually approach perfection. The transformation of mental factors is the mark of achievement in practice.
In fact, before reaching the stage of transformation of the basis and attaining the bhūmis, after some progress has been made in practicing Buddhism, the mental factors of the several consciousnesses are already quietly transforming; it is only that the accumulation of quantity is not yet sufficient to bring about a qualitative leap. Mental factors are the mark of whether a person has practiced or not. Even if non-Buddhists attain meditative concentration, the mental factors of their seven consciousnesses will also undergo some transformation. Mental factors are not fixed and unchanging, nor are they identical in everyone. Even among sentient beings who have not yet begun to practice, the mental factors of their conscious minds are not entirely the same; each has its own emphasis. Therefore, this person's direct observation of his own mental factors is thus, while that person's direct observation of his own mental factors is otherwise—not necessarily the same. This shows that human natures each have their differences, and people's minds are not entirely alike.
If someone directly perceives that his sixth consciousness's mental factors include the six root afflictions of greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views, along with eight universal secondary afflictions, two middling secondary afflictions, and ten minor secondary afflictions, then such a person has no practice whatsoever—neither meditative concentration nor good moral cultivation. Most people cannot directly perceive their own seventh consciousness's mental factors, but if one could directly perceive that one's seventh consciousness's mental factors include intense greed, hatred, and delusion, as well as laziness, distraction, lack of faith, forgetfulness, restlessness, incorrect knowledge, non-diligence, torpor, strong self-grasping, deep arrogance, deep greedy attachment, strong view of self, and a tendency toward objectification, all stubborn and hard to change, then such a person has no practice at all, and meditative concentration would also be very difficult to develop.
If this person's seventh consciousness's mental factors do not correspond at all with the eleven wholesome mental factors, then such a person's practice has not even gotten on track; the afflictions are very heavy, and perhaps he is even an evil person. Even ordinary people who have not studied Buddhism have a wholesome side to the manas's mental factors; if the wholesome outweighs the unwholesome, such a person can ascend to the heavens at death and enjoy blessings. The transmigration through the six realms is determined by the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of the manas's mental factors: if the manas is mentally wholesome and performs wholesome karma, one ascends to the heavens in the next life; if the manas is unwholesome and commits evil karma, one falls into hell in the next life. From this it can be known that bodhisattvas at and beyond the first bhūmi, who are in the stage of transformed basis, having eliminated afflictions and reached an untainted mind-ground, must necessarily undergo transformation in the mental factors of their sixth and seventh consciousnesses: afflictive mental factors are eliminated, wholesome mental factors increase, and the mental factors of concentration and of wisdom are strengthened. This is absolutely inevitable; otherwise they would be no different from ordinary beings.
When practice is effective, the universal secondary afflictions are the first to lighten, and some are eliminated. For example, the mental factor of non-faith lightens and is eliminated, gradually moving from non-faith to faith, and finally to complete faith; the mental factor of laziness lightens and is eliminated, and one gradually becomes diligent; the mental factor of non-diligence lightens and is eliminated—whereas before one constantly indulged one's body and mind in pleasure and ease, now one has no interest in such things; the mental factor of torpor rarely appears anymore—whereas before one would feel drowsy as soon as one practiced, now one's energy is vigorous and attention highly focused; the mental factor of restlessness also decreases and disappears—whereas before, when studying Buddhism, stray thoughts flew about, now past experiences pass without lingering, and one does not fantasize about the future; whereas before the mind was always scattered, now when contemplating the Dharma one can concentrate for a period of time; whereas before one had incorrect knowledge of the Four Noble Truths, the four foundations of mindfulness, and other Buddhist teachings, now one's views are quite correct; whereas before, while keeping the Dharma in mind, one would forget it after a while, now one can keep it constantly in mind without losing mindfulness.
As practice deepens, the middling secondary afflictions will also become mild, and may even be eliminated. For example, whereas before, when one did wrong, one always lacked shame and remorse, now the sense of shame and remorse gradually increases, and if one commits a major wrong, one feels deeply ashamed. From this it can be seen that only when afflictive mental factors decrease and lighten can wholesome mental factors correspondingly increase and strengthen; when afflictive mental factors are eliminated, wholesome mental factors appear.
IV. Different Sentient Beings Have Different Mental Factors
Among the mental factors, apart from the five universal mental factors, all other mental factors do not appear constantly; they only appear and operate on particular occasions. The five particular mental factors appear on particular occasions; the higher a person's wisdom, the more often they manifest. The wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, and the neutral mental factors, also appear on particular occasions, not manifesting at all times. The more wholesome a person is, the more often wholesome mental factors manifest; the more unwholesome a person is, the more often unwholesome mental factors manifest. At the stage of buddhahood, the wholesome mental factors may manifest at all times. For example, the mental factor of concentration: the Buddha's mind is always in meditative concentration, never emerging from it; for example, the mental factor of wisdom: the Buddha's mind always has great wisdom, with no moment lacking wisdom; for example, the mental factor of determination: the Buddha's mind can always determine all dharmas; for example, among the wholesome mental factors, non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion: the Buddha's mind is forever and always without greed, hatred, or delusion; for example, the mental factors of diligence, pliancy, equanimity, and non-harm: the Buddha's mind is always thus.
Each person has their own 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 up 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, so serene that no language could accurately describe that beauty.
The world will ultimately become like that; sentient beings, after cultivating to the end, will all be wise and simple, not complex in the least. Personality 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 less. But to cultivate the mind to this degree requires three immeasurable kalpas; one can see how difficult cultivating the mind is, how hard it is to change the mind. If the mind does not change, one must suffer torment—tormenting oneself and tormenting others, mutually tormenting. Not knowing that sentient beings share the same root, they can only sear one another and then stew in their own juices.
The process of practice is the process of reversing and transforming the mental factors, ultimately bringing all eight consciousnesses to fully possess twenty-one mental factors, whereupon one becomes beyond training (aśaikṣa) in the Great and Small Vehicles. Bodhisattvas at and above the first bhūmi, having eliminated the root afflictions, the universal secondary afflictions, and the middling secondary afflictions, transform the sixth and seventh consciousnesses into wisdom and attain the wisdom of the tolerance of non-arising of dharmas; their mental factors all correspond with the twenty-one mental factors, except that the five particular mental factors are not yet ultimate or complete and still need strengthening, the eleven wholesome mental factors also need strengthening and enhancement, and the minor secondary afflictions still need to be eliminated. Bodhisattvas on the bhūmis have not exhausted the affliction of delusion within the Mahāyāna Dharma, so the wholesome mental factor of non-delusion is not yet complete; some bodhisattvas' manas still has the mental factor of arrogance not fully eliminated, so the twenty-one mental factors still need continuous refinement and strengthening. Only the eight consciousnesses' twenty-one mental factors at the stage of buddhahood are 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 exhausted, the afflictive habits are severed, and part of the defiled seeds is further eliminated, making the twenty-one mental factors more complete and powerful. Therefore, practice has a great deal to do with eliminating afflictions and habits; the purpose of practice is to eliminate afflictions, afflictive habits, and all ignorance, thereby attaining liberation. When ignorance is fully severed, the path to buddhahood is accomplished—ultimate liberation.
The functions of the five particular mental factors will become increasingly powerful as afflictive 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 not without the assistance of the five universal mental factors. As practice continuously advances, the conscious mind must undergo change; the change of the conscious mind is the transformation of the mental factors, and the change of the mental factors is the result of practice. 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 distinguishes more accurately and thoroughly; the mental factor of volition has greater, faster, more accurate, more wholesome, and more selfless power of deliberation and selection. It is also possible that the mental factors of feeling, perception, and volitional formations appear less and less, with fewer and fewer mental activities and fabrications.
The mental factors of one ordinary being and another are also not entirely the same; the greater the difference between one's mental factors before and after studying Buddhism, the better one has practiced. If someone has studied Buddhism for ten or twenty years and his mind-ground, mental activities, and mental factors are still the same as before, what has this person been doing all those decades? If after many years of study there has been no change in mental activities or mental factors, the afflictions have not been subdued to a certain degree, and there is still a great difference from the mental factors and mental activities of a srotāpanna, how can one advance toward the direction of the first fruit and then realize the first fruit? As long as practice gives rise to the seven factors of enlightenment, the mental factors must change; if they do not change, the seven factors of enlightenment are incomplete, and if the seven factors of enlightenment are incomplete, one can never realize the fruits no matter what. How many people do not even come close to the seven factors of enlightenment, yet claim to have attained great noble fruits and go home to enjoy them—this is the chaos of the Dharma-ending age.
V. The Mental Factors of Mahāyāna Bodhisattvas Should Transform Even More
Some say that the practice of Mahāyāna bodhisattvas is utterly different from that of Small Vehicle practitioners: Small Vehicle practitioners seek to eliminate afflictions and seek liberation, whereas Mahāyāna bodhisattvas should, like the tathāgatagarbha, neither eliminate afflictions nor seek liberation. But does the tathāgatagarbha have any afflictions to eliminate? Is the tathāgatagarbha bound by any dharma? The tathāgatagarbha originally has no afflictions and is intrinsically liberated; there is no need to seek to eliminate afflictions and attain liberation. The tathāgatagarbha has no ignorance, and therefore no exhaustion of ignorance. But the bodhisattva's seven consciousnesses have afflictions, so afflictions must be eliminated; if the seven consciousnesses are not liberated, liberation must be sought; if the seven consciousnesses have ignorance, ignorance must be broken through. If a Mahāyāna bodhisattva has heavy afflictions and is bound by birth-and-death, such a bodhisattva is not a true bodhisattva and cannot liberate sentient beings—still unable to escape from the river of birth-and-death himself, how could he rescue sentient beings?
Moreover, not to mention that a Mahāyāna bodhisattva has root afflictions, but also the eight universal secondary afflictions of non-faith, laziness, non-diligence, torpor, restlessness, forgetfulness, incorrect knowledge, and distraction, as well as the two middling secondary afflictions of shamelessness and lack of remorse, displayed openly before the world—what kind of bodhisattva is this? If the mind does not correspond with any of the eleven wholesome mental factors, what kind of Mahāyāna bodhisattva is this? Can such a bodhisattva serve as a model and exemplar for sentient beings? What could the vast multitude of sentient beings learn by following such a bodhisattva? If the perverse trend of wanting only fruits, benefits, and fame, without wanting the merits of liberation, is not curbed, Buddhism will surely perish swiftly.
VI. Genuine Practice Involves the Transformation of Body, Mind, and World
The change of mental factors can be taken as a quantifiable standard of the fruits of practice. For example, if hatred has lessened, greed has lessened, delusion has lessened, the other afflictive mental factors have all correspondingly lightened, and the mind-ground corresponds less and less with afflictions such as greed, hatred, and delusion, and this persists for a relatively long time—if so, it shows that practice has achieved results. The transformation of afflictions has corresponding changes in mental factors as their counterpart, and the transformation of wisdom also has corresponding changes in mental factors as its counterpart. Using tangible, measurable standards to gauge one's practice progress may benefit the practice of the general public: using these standards, one checks oneself, measures oneself; every step of progress has a standard to measure it by, and thus confidence in practice can be increased.
The change of mental factors is the result of practice and can serve as a standard for measuring the degree of practice, but there is also the question of to what degree specific afflictions have decreased and to what degree wholesome mental factors have increased and strengthened—this is hard to grasp, and it likewise involves the transformation of body and mind. The transformation of body and mind is a major, obvious, and clear mark: the attainment and realization of each fruit must be accompanied by a corresponding degree of transformation of body and mind—this is the mark. There are also hints from certain states, such as indications in dreams, showing the degree to which a person has realized the fruits of the Great and Small Vehicles, the degree to which afflictions have been eliminated, and the degree to which the mind has been purified. Each time a practitioner advances a fruit or raises the level of practice, there are displays and hints in the form of states: one is the shock and change experienced in body and mind, and the other is the hint of auspicious dreams, indicating the degree of inner purity, the degree to which afflictions have been subdued, the depth of the state of wisdom, and how future development will proceed.
Why does realization involve the transformation of body and mind, and why is the transformation of body and mind a major and clear mark? Because the body-mind-world, from beginningless kalpas until beginningless kalpas hence, has all been controlled and regulated by the manas. When the manas's cognition transforms, its views transform, and its wisdom transforms, it will correspondingly transform the body-mind-world somewhat. The reactions of body and mind are the barometer of the manas; the manas's emotional venting, the expression of its thoughts, and so on are all reflected through body and mind. If the manas's thoughts are touched or shaken by something, it will inevitably simultaneously drive and influence the body-mind-world, triggering a chain reaction in body and mind.
Those dreams with special significance have important meaning and serve as hints and warnings, enabling one to judge oneself; they are the basis for judging the degree and progress of one's practice, and within dreams there are also hints and indications from the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The marks of achievement in practice are, first, the transformation of afflictions, and second, the transformation of wisdom—these two are the most important, and both are transformations of mental factors. When the mental factors have truly changed, that is the stage of third- and fourth-fruit persons and bodhisattvas who have entered the bhūmis. Before this, afflictions are only subdued, and there cannot be obvious and clear changes in the mental factors; therefore, before the third and fourth fruits, there is no way to accurately quantify the standards.
VII. The Strength of the Manas
As practice deepens continuously and meditative concentration and wisdom become increasingly complete, the manas will gradually grow strong. The mark of the manas's strength is the transformation of consciousness into wisdom—the transformation of the mental factors. The strength of the manas represents the strength of the mental factors; when the mental factors are strong, the manas grows strong and invincible, fully possessing the five universal mental factors, the five particular mental factors, and the eleven wholesome mental factors, with the afflictive mental factors long since completely eliminated—though perhaps some extremely mild afflictive habits remain, and some mild attachment to dharmas. When the manas grows strong to a certain point, it will replace the six consciousnesses and, without needing the assistance of the six consciousnesses, can on its own know the objects of the six sense objects, coarse or fine—no problem at all. At this point, the great superknowledges will manifest.
VIII. The Manas's Functions Are the Same, but Its Mental Factors Differ
Question: Is the functional operation of the manas the same between one person and another? Is the functional operation of the manas the same among sentient beings of the six realms? Is the manas's functional operation the same for ordinary beings and for sages? Is the manas's operation the same for animals and humans?
Answer: The functional operation of the manas is the same in all sentient beings; only the mental factors differ, the degree of ignorance contained differs, and the degree of enlightenment differs, so when it operates, there is a distinction between good functioning and bad functioning. For example, all knives have the function of cutting, but because knives differ in sharpness, the results of what they carve differ: what a sharp knife carves is perfect, neat, and valuable, while what a dull knife carves is uneven and unusable, and may even destroy things, with no good result. Different wisdom in the manas creates different undertakings; different afflictions create different karmic actions, and the retributions differ. A manas with mild ignorance can use it well; a manas with heavy ignorance uses it badly, and the results differ greatly. Because the degree of the manas's ignorance differs, and the degree of its enlightenment differs, sentient beings in the world are divided into ranks—there is the distinction between ordinary beings and sages, and the kalpas required for sentient beings to become Buddhas differ.
The differences between each person are caused by the differences in the manas's mental factors. Whether acknowledged or not, this is the fact—and does the fact care whether you acknowledge it or not? The fact does not care who acknowledges it or not; it will never change. Truth, even if not a single person in the Sahā world acknowledges it, is forever truth; it does not cease to be truth because others refuse to acknowledge it. The true Buddhadharma, no matter who slanders it, is the Buddhadharma; truth is truth.
