The Five Object-Specific Mental Factors Cannot Manifest Universally

If one cultivates meditative concentration without subduing the manas, the manas will chase after objects everywhere, the mind will be scattered, and there will be no concentration. The five specific mental factors indicate that the functions of the consciousness-mind are powerful and its discerning ability is strong. When bodhisattvas on the bhūmis eradicate afflictions, and the manas and mind consciousness undergo the transformation of consciousness into wisdom, the mental factors change: some of the afflictive mental factors are removed, and the eleven wholesome mental factors increase. The specific mental factors appear individually and separately, not at all times. No matter what stage of cultivation sentient beings reach, the specific mental factors always manifest as specific factors, manifesting only at particular times and in particular states; they cannot manifest universally and at all times. But for the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of certain bhūmis and above, their determination (adhimokṣa), meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajñā) manifest at all times and in all places.

If the specific mental factors were to manifest universally, the mind would be busy and chaotic—desires at all times, thoughts everywhere—and the mind could not be at peace, except for the mental factor of meditative concentration. The manas cannot always have desires, cannot always have thoughts; otherwise there would be no concentration. When the manas always has determination (adhimokṣa), that wisdom is extremely vast and profound—roughly at the level of a bodhisattva of the eighth bhūmi and above—but bodhisattvas of the ninth and tenth bhūmis still have delusion and ignorance that have not been completely eradicated. The mind consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses also cannot always have the five specific mental factors; they cannot always discern sense objects, cannot always have mindfulness (smṛti), cannot always have desires—otherwise the mind would be tangled like hemp and the power of concentration would vanish. Nor can the deep concentration of the second dhyāna and above always be present, otherwise sentient beings in the desire realm could not live normal lives.

At the Buddha-stage, all eight consciousnesses have twenty-one mental factors; the mental factors of the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna) are exactly the same as those of the mind consciousness, the manas, and the five sense consciousnesses—this is unimaginable. The mental factors of an ordinary person's mind consciousness correspond with the fifty-one mental factors, but not necessarily all fifty-one mental factors can manifest. Apart from the five universal mental factors, the other mental factors manifest intermittently, and some mental factors have no opportunity to manifest. Among the fifty-one mental factors, afflictive mental factors make up the majority. If the mental factors do not change, this person has essentially no cultivation at all, and cultivation would have no meaning. The transformation of consciousness into wisdom is precisely the transformation of the mental factors of the consciousness-mind: the unwholesome are removed, and the wholesome are increased and strengthened. Once cultivation has achieved some accomplishment, this is the result.