All Dharmas Possess Characteristics

There are material dharmas and mental dharmas; there are true dharmas and false dharmas. Material dharmas have their own specific characteristics and common characteristics; mental dharmas have their own specific characteristics and common characteristics; false dharmas have their own specific characteristics and common characteristics. True dharmas have their own essential characteristics but no common characteristics.

The common characteristic of material dharmas is that they are substances composed of the four great elements, possessing impenetrability, being non-empty, capable of propagation and diffusion, exhibiting magnetic field effects, being tangible and visible, and subject to birth, cessation, and change. The specific characteristics of material dharmas are that form, sound, smell, taste, and touch each have their own appearances and features, which cannot be confused; hence, the sense consciousnesses that perceive and see them differ. Even within the same category of material dharmas, each has its own appearance and features, each with different functions, such as flowers, plants, trees, mountains, tables, chairs, and benches.

The common characteristic of mental dharmas is that they all possess the nature of recognition and discernment, all involve mental factors, are all formless and without appearance, all arise from consciousness-seeds, and, except for the eighth consciousness, are all subject to birth, cessation, and change. Each consciousness has its own unique object of recognition and its corresponding dharmas that can be perceived. The eighth consciousness has no common characteristics; it is the unique dharma, transcending the mundane, neither born nor ceasing, neither increasing nor decreasing, unchanging. It is the basis of reliance for sentient beings.