Categories of All Dharmas

Vasubandhu Bodhisattva states in the Treatise on the Door to Understanding the Hundred Dharmas: All dharmas are briefly categorized into five kinds.

First, the mind dharmas (citta-dharma): eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, mind-consciousness, Manas-vijñāna (seventh consciousness), and the eighth consciousness (Ālaya-vijñāna), making eight consciousnesses in total.

Second, the mental factors (caitta-dharma), briefly fifty-one kinds: Five Universals, Five Particulars, eleven wholesome dharmas, six root afflictions, twenty secondary afflictions, and four indeterminate factors (neither wholesome nor unwholesome).

Third, the form dharmas (rūpa-dharma), briefly eleven kinds: the five sense faculties, the five sense objects, and the form included in the mental base (dharmāyatana-prajñapti-rūpa).

Fourth, the dharmas not associated with the mind (citta-viprayukta-saṃskāra-dharma), briefly twenty-four kinds.

Fifth, the unconditioned dharmas (asaṃskṛta-dharma), briefly six kinds: space-as-unconditioned, cessation-through-discernment-as-unconditioned, cessation-not-through-discernment-as-unconditioned, stillness-as-unconditioned, cessation-of-perception-and-feeling-as-unconditioned, and Suchness-as-unconditioned.

The eleven form dharmas include: the five sense faculties, the five sense objects, and the form included in the mental base. The five sense faculties are the eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, and body faculty. The five sense objects are form objects, sound objects, smell objects, taste objects, and touch objects. The first five (sense faculties) are the physical sense faculties (rūpīndriya), composed of the seeds of the four great elements (earth, water, fire, wind), also called the superficial sense faculties (upādā-rūpa-indriya), located on the surface of the body. They correspond to the eye faculties of sentient beings, enabling sentient beings to perceive, and belong to the form dharmas. The five subtle sense faculties (adhyātma-rūpa-indriya) located in the hindbrain are also composed of the seeds of the four great elements, belong to the form dharmas, and their nature is characterized by arising and ceasing, change, impermanence, and non-self. The five sense objects are composed of the seeds of the four great elements, correspond to the eye faculties of sentient beings, enabling sentient beings' eye faculties to perceive them. Therefore, they belong to the form dharmas and are also characterized by arising and ceasing, change, impermanence, and non-self.

The form included in the mental base (dharmāyatana-prajñapti-rūpa) simultaneously manifests as the mental objects (dharma-ālambana) upon the five sense objects and also belongs to the form dharmas. It is called the form included in the mental base and is also composed of the seeds of the four great elements. The mental objects manifest dependent on the five sense objects and correspond to the mental faculty (manas). The mental faculty makes contact and grasps them, and they are specifically discerned by the mind-consciousness (mano-vijñāna). They are also characterized by arising and ceasing, change, impermanence, and non-self. After the mental faculty contacts the mental objects upon the five sense objects, the Tathāgatagarbha generates the mind-consciousness, enabling the recognition of these mental objects. That is to say, at this moment, the mind-consciousness is jointly cognizing the five sense objects with the first five consciousnesses. The five consciousnesses cognize the coarse aspects of the five sense objects, while the mind-consciousness simultaneously cognizes the subtle mental objects upon the five sense objects. The five consciousnesses discern coarsely, while the mind-consciousness discerns subtly. The above is an extremely brief summary. A detailed explanation would involve distinctions such as internal faculties, external faculties, internal objects, external objects, internal mental objects, external mental objects, etc., and the content is extremely complex.