The Five Specific-Object Mental Factors (pañca-viśeṣa-caitta-dharma)

Meditative concentration (samādhi), wisdom, and the power of determination (adhimokṣa) are mental factors of the conscious mind; they are functions of the conscious mind, belonging to the five object-specific mental factors. For the seventh consciousness, they arise one by one on specific occasions, not operating at every moment; what operates at every moment are the five universal mental factors. However, the seventh consciousness of all Buddhas and great bodhisattvas possesses meditative concentration, wisdom, and the power of determination at all times and in all places; for them, the five object-specific mental factors, which are not always operating for ordinary beings, can indeed operate at every moment. As for the tathāgatagarbha, its meditative concentration, wisdom, and power of determination are operating at all times and in all places—even in nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa), this is so.

How strong is the tathāgatagarbha's power of meditative concentration? Through observation one can know that it is extremely powerful. In the operation of all dharmas, whatever states it encounters, it remains suchness, immovable—let the winds blow east, west, south, or north, it remains serene and unmoved; though Mount Tai presses down upon it, its waist does not bend. Whatever conflicts, rights and wrongs there may be, it simply pays them no heed, moving effortlessly along in accordance with the established laws. The Buddha said that it is the great Śūraṅgama-samādhi—it never emerges from concentration and never needs to enter concentration, unmoved and unshaken amid all dharmas, without rival—a true mountain of treasure. In nirvāṇa without remainder, if the tathāgatagarbha had no meditative concentration, then the tathāgatagarbha's mind would be distracted. Yet since the tathāgatagarbha is itself the great Śūraṅgama-samādhi, with neither emerging nor entering, it never leaves concentration—how could it be distracted and lack meditative concentration?

How strong is the tathāgatagarbha's power of wisdom? Even in nirvāṇa without remainder, it must at every moment discern the karmic seeds. If the tathāgatagarbha had no wisdom and could not exercise determination, it would not know what the karmic seeds are or whether they have ripened; then the arhat could never emerge from nirvāṇa and possess the manas and a body of the five aggregates. The tathāgatagarbha's wisdom neither increases nor decreases; it forever possesses the great prajñā wisdom, able to discern all dharmas, create all dharmas, and sustain all dharmas. Even in nirvāṇa without remainder, there are still dharmas that the tathāgatagarbha faces, so the tathāgatagarbha's mental factors still exist.

If, at the moment the tathāgatagarbha gives rise to the ear faculty, the body of the five aggregates, and all dharmas, its power of concentration were suddenly insufficient, its power of wisdom also insufficient, and it did not know what the karmic seeds were like, what would the result be? The result would be that the tathāgatagarbha, through a moment's carelessness, might deliver too small a quantity of the four great element seeds, or get their proportional structure wrong, or deliver the wrong seeds; then the dharmas it gives rise to would be mismatched—Zhang's hat placed on Li's head—and all dharmas would be transformed beyond recognition, and the world would descend into chaos. If the tathāgatagarbha did not possess an extremely strong power of determination, and could not even understand the intentions of the manas, what would the result be? No dharma would appear in a reasonable way, none would appear as wished; the vows made by sentient beings would be useless, all thoughts would be useless, and the world of the five aggregates would become abnormal.