Mental Factors of the Mind base\: A Practical Compass (Second Edition) (with over 30,000 additional words, reorganized)
Chapter Two: The Five Universal Mental Factors
Section One: General Discussion of the Five Universal Mental Factors
1. Mental factors are the operational characteristics of the mind-king
The five universal mental factors do not operate only when thoughts arise; rather, at every moment and instant they operate together with the eight consciousnesses, accompanying the eight consciousnesses without ever departing for even an instant. Wherever the eight consciousnesses appear, the five universal mental factors accompany and operate alongside them. The Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume One, states that the five universal mental factors are the aids and companions of the mind-king: whenever the mind-king operates, it takes the five universal mental factors as its aids and companions; without the five universal mental factors, the mind-king cannot operate.
The operation of the mental factor of attention (manaskāra): for example, before a consciousness-seed is to arise, there must be a direction for its arising, and a determination of where it will arise — for instance, arising upon the flower-color before one's eyes. The manas needs to cognize the flower-color; once the location of this dharma is determined, the consciousness-seed rushes forth to arise at that place of the flower's form-dust in the supreme faculty; or it rushes toward the location of a certain sound, arising at the place where the form-dust of sound appears in the supreme faculty; or it arises at some other place among the six dusts that the manas wishes to cognize. Therefore, before the consciousness-seed arises there is attention; attention means having a direction of arising, a location of arising. The mental factor of attention begins to operate before the consciousness-seed has arisen, and after arising it must continue to operate without cease. The operational characteristics of the mental factors and those of the mind-king merge together perfectly: the mental factors are the operational characteristics of the mind-king. What manifests on the surface are the operational characteristics of the mental factors, yet hidden within them are the operational characteristics of the mind-king's consciousness-seeds flowing forth. Although the two are consistent, each has its own operational characteristics.
The last of the five universal mental factors is the mental factor of volition (cetanā). The final function of the mental factor of volition is action and fabrication. When the mental factor of volition has finished its fabrication, it is equivalent to the mind-king having finished its fabrication; the consciousness-mind then ceases or shifts its location, and the mental factors at that dharma-place also disappear. From this principle, the operational characteristics of the mind-king and the mental factors are consistent: their operation is twisted together, the characteristics manifesting in the operational characteristics of the mental factors, while concealing the operational characteristics of the consciousness-seeds flowing forth. They cannot be separated.
2. Mental factors are the mental activities of the mind-king
When the consciousness-seeds flow out, they form the substance of the mind-king. The substance of the mind-king is pure, because the consciousness-seeds are pure. The consciousness-seeds have no defiled nature, nor any wholesome or unwholesome nature; but when combined with the mental factors and operating in the form of mental factors, wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral mental activities appear. Therefore, the mental activities of the eight consciousness-mind-kings and the mental factors are in fact one and the same: the mental factors are the mental activities of the mind-king. When the eight consciousness-mind-kings operate, they operate in the form of mental factors, especially in the form of the five universal mental factors.
3. The Operational Process of the Five Universal Mental Factors (Part One)
The six faculties contact the six dusts and the six consciousnesses arise; the six faculties and six dusts together constitute the twelve entrances (āyatanas). The six faculties refer to the supreme faculties: the five supreme faculties in the back of the brain, plus the manas — these are the six faculties, also called the six inner entrances. The six dusts are the inner five dusts, plus one form included in the dharma-base (dharma-āyatana-rūpa); these are the six inner dusts, also called the six outer entrances. The six inner entrances and six outer entrances together are called the twelve entrances. Among them, faculties and dusts are always in contact with each other; the six inner dusts arise in the supreme faculties at the back of the brain and contact the six faculties. Only when faculties and dusts are together can there be contact; after contact, the manas attends and makes its choice, and only then can the eighth consciousness produce the six consciousnesses.
Where do faculties and dusts contact each other? At the five supreme faculties at the back of the brain. The five dusts, together with the mental dust, manifest at the supreme faculties at the back of the brain; the inner five dusts are produced at the supreme faculties at the back of the brain, and thus faculties and dusts make contact. After faculties and dusts make contact, the manas attends and decides to cognize; the eighth consciousness then produces the five sense consciousnesses. At the same time, the mental dust that exists dependent on the five dusts is also at the supreme faculties at the back of the brain, contacting the manas; the eighth consciousness will also simultaneously produce the mind consciousness, which discriminates the six dusts together with the five sense consciousnesses — this is called consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna).
When the six faculties contact the six dusts and the six consciousnesses are produced, the three then combine and contact again; the six consciousnesses, relying on the six faculties, further contact the six dusts and can thereby cognize the six dusts. While the six consciousnesses are cognizing, faculties and dusts must remain in contact; if faculties and dusts separate, the six consciousnesses cease. After the six consciousnesses contact the six dusts, there is the nature of receiving — receiving and accepting the six dusts — and the mental factor of feeling (vedanā) appears. After accepting the six dusts, the six consciousnesses cognize the six dusts and grasp the six dusts, and the mental factor of perception (saṃjñā) emerges.
After cognizing the six dusts, the six consciousnesses begin to deliberate (manasikāra). If the deliberation is unclear, they attend again, generating attention toward the six dusts once more. After attention, there is cognition again, and feeling again; at this point the feeling takes on the feeling-tones of pain, pleasure, sorrow, joy, and neutral feeling. The initial feeling is receiving and accepting; after accepting — which is equivalent to taking in the six dusts — one then knows what the six dusts are; this acceptance represents taking them in. The feeling that comes later takes on emotional coloring, and the feelings of pain, pleasure, sorrow, joy, and neutrality arise.
After the feeling emerges, if the feeling is unclear, one takes the mark and cognizes again; the mental factor of perception will arise again, and after the mental factor of perception arises and cognizes, deliberation begins again. If the deliberation is unclear, there is contact again; after contact, there is receiving and feeling again, or attending again at this point, then cognition again. There is contact again, cognition again; here the order of the later mental factors becomes scrambled. The initial order follows the sequence of attention, contact, feeling, perception, volition — such is the operation of the five universal mental factors.
4. The Operational Process of the Five Universal Mental Factors (Part Two)
The five universal mental factors initially operate in the order of attention, contact, feeling, perception; later the order is no longer fixed, and the sequence of operation becomes inverted. The mental factor of volition does not necessarily appear at any fixed time, and the manas does not necessarily make its choice at any fixed time. There may be many deliberations in the middle: at first a small decision, a partial choice regarding some particular link, and only at the end of the operation is there one overall, final choice. The intermediate choices are not ultimate, but they also play their corresponding role in the final decision. For example, after finishing this mouthful of rice, whether to eat the next mouthful, and what to eat and how much — the mental factor of volition must make a choice; after the whole meal is finished, the mental factor of volition must also make an overall decision that the meal is finished and no more will be eaten, and then the five-aggregate body will put down the bowl and chopsticks. Sometimes one does not want to eat more, but someone nearby urges one to eat a little more; at this point the mental factor of volition may be unable to make up its mind, so it will weigh the advantages and disadvantages, gains and losses, and again quickly attend to, contact, feel, and perceive the food being eaten and the sensations in the stomach, finally deliberating that one cannot eat any more, and the meal ends.
Attention is the beginning of the activity of the consciousness-mind, the starting point of the arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing of all dharmas. Without attention there can be no contact with dharmas; without contact there can be no acceptance and feeling; without acceptance there can be no knowing; without knowing there is no deliberation and choice; without choice there is no bodily, verbal, or mental action. Therefore attention is very important, but volition is even more important; the function of volition is the greatest, and the process of volition may be the longest. But during feeling, perception, and volition, there is necessarily contact — without contact there is no feeling, perception, or volition — so contact is also very important. Feeling and perception are the precondition and basis of volition; without feeling and perception, there is no subsequent bodily, verbal, or mental action, and the consciousness-mind becomes tranquil and pure. Therefore, a great practitioner only has slight and brief attention toward dharmas; after contact, no feelings arise, no desire to know, and thus there is no subsequent action and fabrication — neither mind nor affairs.
While operating on a dharma, attention is continuously present. When one thinks carefully, the six dusts transform into a solitary mental dust; the shifting of the dharma's focus indicates that a new attention has appeared. In the initial process from attention to perception, the operation of attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition may be extremely brief and extremely fast, reaching volition in an instant; because the knowing is unclear, the deliberation is unclear, and one must attend, contact, feel, and perceive anew. This process repeats over and over, continuing without interruption. It is very difficult to observe this process in fine detail; even a rough observation is quite difficult. But by observing one's own and others' bodily activities, verbal activities, thoughts, and views, one can also, by comparison, observe a portion of it.
5. The Operational Process of the Manas's Five Universal Mental Factors (Part Three)
What determines what dharmas the manas attends to? This question is discussed in the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra: it is the manas's mindfulness and desire, habitual tendencies, habits, ideas, interests, preferences, plans, wishes, demands, and so forth that give rise to the attention of the manas's own consciousness-seeds. The attention of all six consciousnesses is initiated and determined by the manas. Whichever dharma the manas wishes to act upon and engage in, the seeds of the six consciousnesses have a direction of arising within the tathāgatagarbha, with the intention to arise at that dharma-place — this is attention; afterward, the consciousness-seeds will certainly arise upon that dharma.
After the manas attends, whichever consciousness it is must contact the corresponding dharma, because whichever dharma the consciousness-seed arises upon, it will contact that dharma; after contact, it receives and accepts it. For example, after the hand contacts a ball, it accepts the ball, receives the ball, and only then is there sensation — that is, feeling — and afterward, knowing. For example, when the eye faculty contacts form-dust, only after first receiving the form-dust does one know the form-dust, then grasp the form-dust, generating ideas, plans, schemes, and so forth; only after grasping the form-dust is there feeling, so feeling arises after perception; after having feeling, deliberation continues, followed by subtle cognition, making decisions and exercising mastery, wanting to know how to handle it.
Before handling it, the manas must finish grasping this dharma; before grasping, it must cognize clearly, and must first have feeling toward this dharma; after feeling, a choice will arise. This choice is the function of the mental factor of volition; this choice is not necessarily the final choice — it may be an immature, temporary choice. After further detailed cognition later, when one feels confident that everything has been cognized clearly, the final choice will be made, and then the operation of the seven consciousnesses upon this dharma concludes.
Before the operation upon this dharma is thoroughly completed, the manas's mental factor of volition will continue to operate without interruption, until the cognition of this dharma is entirely finished; then all the mental factors of volition and the five universal mental factors also conclude, and one enters the operation of the next dharma, with the five universal mental factors continuing to operate on new content. If this dharma has not concluded, then contact, attention, feeling, perception, and volition will continue to operate without interruption, feeding back and forth, constantly correcting. It is like looking at an object\: at first one takes it in; after accepting it, wanting to see it clearly, one cognizes it. At first one may not see it clearly, so there is continuous contact, continuous feeling, continuous knowing; after knowing, the three kinds of feeling — pain and pleasure — arise, and then one grasps the mark and makes a choice, and the six consciousnesses will then engage in karmic activity.
6. The Operational Process of the Five Universal Mental Factors Is Like Copying a Painting
When copying a painting, the eyes observe and cognize the scene over and over without cease; the mind consciousness, while observing, continuously memorizes; while copying, one paints while continuously recalling, then repeats this process again and again until the copying is finished and the work is complete. One glance at the scene, paint a bit, ponder a while, paint a bit more, ponder a while more, over and over, until the painting is done. Then the painting is set aside — no more pondering, no more painting, no more attention — and one moves on to the next activity.
The operational process of the five universal mental factors is similar to copying a painting; the process of painting and the operating principle of the consciousness-mind are similar. When the consciousness-mind operates on a certain dharma, it must finish operating before setting that dharma aside. When the operation is incomplete, there will be repeated attention, repeated contact, acceptance, reception, cognition, knowing, feeling, deliberation, continuous analysis and deliberation, repeated operation and execution — the process is extremely complex. The order of operation of the mental factors is not necessarily feeling first and perception later; during operation it is not fixed, depending on the cognitive wisdom and degree of the consciousness-mind. Only when the operation is complete is there a deeper feeling; after feeling, cognition again; after cognition, feeling again, until the manas feels the cognition is clear, and then it stops attending. If later the manas thinks of something that still needs to be understood, it will again attend to, contact, feel, perceive, and deliberate upon the dharma; once it is understood clearly and thought through, the operation of the mental factors on this dharma stops, and this dharma again disappears from the consciousness-mind.
After deliberation, sometimes a decision is made, and sometimes no decision is made, because the manas feels the cognition was not clear or thorough enough. As long as the manas does not make its final choice, the five universal mental factors do not conclude, until the manas feels satisfied and the purpose is achieved; then it no longer deliberates and immediately makes the decision on how to handle it.
7. The Mental Factors Involved in Deliberation and Refinement
The term "deliberating and refining" (tuiqiao) comes from the story of the Tang dynasty poet Jiadao composing poetry; it originally described Jiadao's mode of thinking and state of effort in selecting words and phrases while composing poems. In order to find the appropriate words, the poet continuously searched for terms in his mind to convey the artistic conception the poem was meant to express, with body and hands simultaneously coordinating in the deliberation. At first it is the mind consciousness that deliberates and examines (vitarka-vicāra), gradually transitioning to the manas's deliberation and examination; the manas's deliberation and examination is extremely subtle and hidden, to the point that the mind consciousness seems motionless, as if no longer thinking — just like investigating Chan.
When Jiadao was pondering and refining his words and phrases, what mental factors appeared? There were the five universal mental factors and the five particular mental factors, and perhaps also wholesome mental factors and afflictive mental factors. In deliberating, one must first raise the mental factor of attention toward the dharma being deliberated, directing the mind toward the dharma to be deliberated; the mental factor of contact appears, the mind contacting the dharma to be deliberated; the mental factor of feeling appears, accepting and receiving the dharma being deliberated; the mental factor of perception arises, recognizing and taking hold of the dharma being deliberated; the mental factor of volition appears, continuously deliberating this dharma until finally it is thoroughly understood and determined, followed by subsequent actions. When gesturing with the hand the motions of pushing and knocking, the five universal mental factors of the five sense consciousnesses and the consciousness accompanied by the five senses also appear.
During attention, the mind is relatively concentrated; the mind consciousness and manas are concentrated on the corresponding dharma, and the mental factor of feeling may appear less than at other times, as the mind is calculating over the problem being considered. During the process of deliberation, if one touches upon images to which the manas is particularly sensitive, the mental factor of feeling may appear; this feeling is a mental stirring and sensation, not a feeling caused by changes in the external six dusts. The mental factor of feeling originally means accepting, receiving, taking in; because if one does not take in and accept the problem, one cannot continue thinking about it, cannot deliberate, cannot have the final result of deliberation, cannot have choice and subsequent action, and still less can wisdom arise.
During the processes of perception and volition, the mental factor of concentration is always present in accompaniment. There is also the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa): determination should be a correct understanding of the general meaning of the dharma — that is, grasping the general idea, being able to derive a relatively reasonable answer, view, notion, and conclusion regarding the dharma being considered. During the process of deliberation, the mental factors of desire, mindfulness, and concentration also appear: the mental factor of desire is the wish to deliberate, driving the sixth and seventh consciousnesses to deliberate, to select words and form sentences; after determination, mindfulness of the word's meaning is formed — the mental factor of mindfulness; focusing on the deliberation is the merit of the mental factor of concentration.
8. How Karmic Activity Arises
The process of operation of the five universal mental factors is precisely the process of creating karmic activity. If wholesome mental factors join in, what is created is wholesome karma; if unwholesome mental factors join in, what is created is unwholesome karma. The mental factors of attention and contact are themselves neither wholesome nor unwholesome; if wholesome or unwholesome mind is added, their attention and contact become well-intentioned or ill-intentioned. The mental factors of feeling, perception, and volition are themselves also neither wholesome nor unwholesome; if wholesome or unwholesome mental factors are added, their feeling, perception, and volition take on wholesome or unwholesome character. If the mental factor of wisdom participates in the operation of the five universal mental factors, the karmic activity is of a wise nature; otherwise, it is karmic activity of a foolish nature. If the mental factor of determination participates, the person is intelligent, good at understanding others, with strong comprehension. When the mental factor of concentration arises, feeling and perception are both slight, the operation of the five universal mental factors is slow and slight, attention and contact arise passively, and the mental factors of feeling, perception, and volition arise and operate in accordance with conditions, functioning spontaneously.
In the operation of all dharmas, the manas plays the role of the driving force and is the master of karmic activity; this can be observed from ordinary bodily, verbal, and mental activities. For example, raising the hand, then picking up a pen, then pressing the hand onto the paper. If this process is observed carefully, one can clearly feel a mental force driving it — sometimes the driving is obvious, sometimes not obvious, sometimes very casual, as if not driven, but actually it is done by momentum. However, no matter how casual and unattentive the manas's operation is, when the mind consciousness lacks wisdom it is still very difficult to observe.
Another example: when we ride a bicycle very skillfully, it seems we are not riding with deliberate attention; the mind consciousness does not think about or consider how to ride, yet the manas is commanding and operating moment by moment, applying its mind — it is just that the mind consciousness does not know it. When riding skillfully, even if one wants to fall, it is not easy to fall; when one cannot ride, even if one does not want to fall, one still falls. Because when skilled, the mind consciousness need not think and control — the manas has already mastered it and can command and control with ease; when unskilled, the manas has not learned it, so the mind consciousness must repeatedly think and permeate the manas until the manas has fully mastered it and can control freely; then the mind consciousness need not expend much thought.
Some people always say they did something unintentionally; but no matter how unintentional your mind consciousness is, the manas is intentional — it is the manas that drives the doing of something, and thus that thing is accomplished; one simply does not know it. In familiar operations, unconscious and subconscious movements are all operated, commanded, and controlled by the manas, not by the mind consciousness; the mind consciousness merely cooperates simply with the manas, without any thoughts, opinions, or views. Furthermore, the mind consciousness being unintentional does not mean the manas is unintentional; only when the manas is unintentional is the mind truly in nonaction.
9. The Driving Function of the Manas's Five Universal Mental Factors
One senses a vague force compelling oneself to give rise to thoughts, and then delusive thoughts arise — what mysteries lie here? The sensing is the sensation of the mind consciousness; the vague force belongs to the manas: He is attending to and clinging to the mental dust, giving rise to the mental factor of volition; the eighth consciousness, in accordance with the manas's mental factor of volition, gives birth to the mind consciousness, and after the mind consciousness appears and cognizes the mental dust, thoughts appear.
The thoughts of the mind consciousness exist only upon contacting and knowing sense objects; they are the result of discriminating the sense objects. The manas also conditions this sense object — otherwise the mind consciousness could not arise. At this time the manas and the mind consciousness condition the same sense object; the manas cannot discriminate specifically, and only the mind consciousness can discriminate. So the manas must attend to, contact, feel, perceive, and deliberate upon this sense object, and has a faint discriminating wisdom. Among these, attention is easy to understand, contact is also easy to understand, feeling is accepting and receiving — also easy to understand, perception is grasping and taking the mark — also easy to understand; the last one, volition, has the meaning of choosing, deciding, and acting, and also the meaning of deliberating and weighing — what specific mental activities are within it is rather hard to understand; the manas's volition is the most mysterious.
10. The Five Universal and Five Particular Mental Factors Participate When the Manas Cognizes
The particular discriminating wisdom of the manas does not manifest at all times (except for the manas of the Buddha and bodhisattvas at certain bhūmis); it can only arise on particular occasions, which is why it is called "particular" (specific to objects). But the five universal mental factors must manifest at all times; they are the manas's aids and companions, accompanying the manas's operation moment by moment. The manas's operation is precisely the operation of the mental factors; one cannot find a moment when the manas exists without the five universal mental factors operating.
Grasping is the function of the mental factor of perception; its role is to cognize marks and take up marks, and then to assign names to the marks; once there are names, designations appear, and the mark and the name are thereby acknowledged. Only after the manas has taken up the mark can it deliberate and decide how to act. Of course, the five universal mental factors must operate over and over before a final overall decision can be made, and only after that can action be taken. Therefore, when one sees a person hesitating indecisively, one knows the mind consciousness and manas are deliberating, continuously attending, contacting, feeling, perceiving, and deliberating, with the mental factors operating in turn, and the five particular mental factors also participating in the operation — extremely complex. Thus it is said that the human brain is countless times more complex than a computer; a computer simply cannot compare with the human brain. The so-called brain mainly refers to the functions of the manas, with the six consciousnesses secondary.
