The Mental Factors Employed in the Cognition of Direct Perception, Inference, and Non-Valid Cognition

Among the three kinds of discernment, it is not fixed which of the fifty-one mental factors (caittas) will be employed; each case must be analyzed on its own merits. Different situations call for different mental factors, and different people, for various reasons, employ different mental factors. Even the same person, at different times and in different settings, with different physical and mental states, different levels of knowledge, and different levels of wisdom, will employ different mental factors. The five universal mental factors will always be used; the five object-specific mental factors are not necessarily all used; the eleven wholesome mental factors do not necessarily appear; and the fundamental afflictions and the major, intermediate, and minor derivative afflictions likewise do not necessarily appear—all depends on the circumstances.

Direct-perception discernment requires sufficient data, which in turn requires very deep wisdom: the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa) must be extremely strong, the mental factor of meditative concentration must be present, and the mental factor of mindfulness must be complete, so that mind after mind, thought after thought, there is no interruption. Inference-based discernment involves relatively shallower wisdom; it must proceed through comparison—without comparison there is no reference point, and one cannot know. If there is no corresponding condition, there is no place to begin. Direct-perception discernment, by contrast, knows directly without comparison, or knows in the very moment—this indicates sharper faculties. Non-valid cognition is used when evidence truly cannot be found: when there is insufficient data and nothing to compare against, one has no choice but to resort to imagination, guessing, reasoning, and other such means. The more methods employed, the more limited the wisdom, the weaker the power of determination (adhimokṣa), and of course both the power of concentration and the power of mindfulness are insufficient, to the point that one cannot judge directly or reach a conclusion directly.

Inference is like a person whose ability is insufficient to accomplish a task alone and who must find someone to help in order to get it done. Non-valid cognition is when not even a single person who could help can be found, and one has no choice but to fumble about on one's own—perhaps by sheer luck getting it right. Even if one gets it right, the wisdom is insufficient, and it does not count as direct perception. It is like being unable to see what clothes someone is wearing at present, and having nothing to compare against, so one has no choice but to imagine and guess; even if the guess is correct, it is still not something directly seen.

Some people lack wisdom and do not know how to guide others step by step in cultivation and realization so as to attain direct perception and see the Way, yet they still insist on guiding others, and so they resort to the process of elimination. For example, suppose there are five roads here leading out of the city to five other regions, and only one of them leads to Beijing. Not knowing how to guide a person to make the correct choice, he resorts to elimination: first he points to the first road. The other person, hesitating, points at it again and again, not daring to be certain; seeing the hint in his eyes that it is wrong, he then chooses the second road. The other person looks at his expression and feels that this too is wrong, and so eliminates the second road. In this way, four roads are rejected one by one, leaving only the last one. The other person then says, "It must be this road—this is the road that leads to Beijing." Whereupon this man says: "Well, that's what you said, not what I taught you. Congratulations, you have seen the Way!" Everyone, tell me—does this count as seeing the Way? What wisdom has arisen from such "seeing the Way"? Those who cheat people and lead students astray are precisely such people—downright deceivers through and through, and the other person is cheated happily along with them. What a pair of fools!