The Operational Process of the Five Universally Pervading Mental Factors (2)

The five universal mental factors (pañca-sarvatraga-citta-caitta) initially operate in the order of attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), and perception (saṃjñā), but later this is not necessarily so, and the sequence of their operation may become inverted. The volition mental factor (cetanā) does not necessarily appear at any fixed time, and the manas does not necessarily make its decision at any fixed moment; deliberation and evaluation may have occurred many times in between—at first there is a small decision, a partial decision on some particular link, and only at the end of the process is there a general, final decision. The decisions made in between are not ultimate, but they also play their corresponding role in the final decision. For example, after finishing this mouthful of rice, whether to eat the next mouthful, and what to eat and how much—the volition mental factor must make a decision; when the whole meal is finished, the volition mental factor must also make an overall decision that the meal is over and no more will be eaten, and then the five-aggregate body will put down the bowl and chopsticks. Sometimes one does not want to eat any more, but someone nearby urges one to eat a little more; at this moment the volition mental factor may be unable to make up its mind, so it will weigh the pros and cons, gains and losses, and again quickly direct attention, contact, feeling, and perception toward the food one has eaten and the sensations in the stomach, and finally deliberate and decide that one cannot eat any more, and thus the meal comes to an end.

Attention is the beginning of the activity of the mind consciousness; it is the starting point of the arising, abiding, alteration, and cessation of all dharmas. Without attention, one cannot contact dharmas; without contact, one cannot receive and feel them; without receiving, one cannot know them; without knowing, there will be no deliberation or decision; without decision, there will be no bodily, verbal, or mental actions. Therefore attention is very important, and volition is even more important; the function of volition is the greatest, and the process of volition may be the longest. But at the time of feeling, perception, and volition, there must be contact; without contact there is no feeling, perception, or volition, so contact is also very important. Feeling and perception are the prerequisite and foundation of volition; without feeling and perception, there would be no subsequent bodily, verbal, or mental actions, and the mind consciousness would be tranquil and pure. Therefore, a great practitioner only gives dharmas a slight and brief attention; after contact, no feelings arise, and there is no desire to know them, so there is no subsequent action or activity—there is neither mind nor affair.

When a dharma is in operation, attention is present throughout. When one thinks about something carefully, the six sense objects (ṣaḍ-viṣaya) transform into a solitary mental object (dharma-viṣaya); the shifting of the focus of the dharma indicates that another new attention has appeared. In the initial process from attention to perception, the sequence of attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition may operate extremely briefly and extremely rapidly, reaching volition in an instant; because the knowing is unclear, the deliberation is also unclear, so one must again direct attention, contact, feeling, and perception anew. This process repeats over and over, continuing without interruption. It is very difficult to observe this process in fine detail; even a rough observation is quite difficult. However, by observing one's own and others' bodily actions, verbal actions, thoughts, and views, one can also, by comparison, observe a part of it.