The Feeling Mental Factor of the Six Consciousnesses

The feeling (vedanā) in the feeling mental factor refers to the receiving and accepting of the six consciousnesses themselves. Receiving and accepting means accepting the sense object; after accepting the sense object, there is discernment, and only after discernment do the six consciousnesses have emotional feelings of suffering, happiness, and neither-suffering-nor-happiness. The feeling that occurs before the emotional feeling arises is the feeling of receiving and accepting the sense object. For example, after the eye consciousness contacts material sense objects, the eye consciousness receives and accepts the material sense object; after accepting it comes the perception of discernment and knowing, and then grasping perception arises—only because there is knowing and grasping do feelings of suffering and happiness arise. If there is no knowing, there is no emotional feeling of suffering or happiness; if there is no grasping, no feeling of suffering or happiness appears either. Therefore, the scope of the feeling mental factor is somewhat broader than the aggregate of feeling among the five aggregates; the aggregate of feeling is primarily emotional feeling, encompassing the three kinds of emotional feelings: suffering, happiness, and neither-suffering-nor-happiness. As for the feeling mental factors of the seventh consciousness and the eighth consciousness, they differ somewhat from the feeling of the six consciousnesses: the seventh and eighth consciousnesses have only neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā), without feelings of suffering or happiness, and without any emotional coloring. The five universally present mental factors of the eight consciousnesses each have many subtle differences.