The Cetasikas of the Seventh Consciousness

The mental factors associated with the seventh consciousness are complex, because all the karmic retributions of good and evil for sentient beings throughout beginningless kalpas are achieved due to the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors of the seventh consciousness, the manas. Whether it is the retribution of ordinary beings within the three wholesome realms or the three unwholesome realms, or the sublime retribution of the four types of saints—arhats, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas—all are achieved due to the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors of the manas. The vast difference in retribution, ranging from hell to Buddhahood, is entirely caused by the differences in the mental factors of the manas. Although the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors of the sixth consciousness (mano-vijñāna) also greatly influence retribution, the wholesome and unwholesome actions of the sixth consciousness can only truly impact the final retribution if they successfully permeate and influence the manas. If they fail to permeate the manas, it indicates that the individual's fundamental substance remains unchanged, and thus the retribution cannot be altered.

Since the mental factors of the manas determine the wholesome and unwholesome retributions of sentient beings in future lives, and sentient beings indeed experience different wholesome and unwholesome retributions, it follows that the manas possesses both wholesome and unwholesome mental factors. Moreover, the degree of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness in the manas varies for each sentient being. Sentient beings in the three unwholesome realms possess mental factors fully saturated with afflictions; a Buddha possesses mental factors fully saturated with wholesomeness; other sentient beings possess mental factors that are neither fully wholesome nor fully unwholesome. Given that the mental factors of the manas differ so greatly among different sentient beings, it is necessary to describe the various mental factors of the manas separately according to the different categories of sentient beings; they cannot be treated as identical.

Sentient beings have always possessed ignorance and afflictions within their seventh consciousness since beginningless kalpas. After studying the Buddha's teachings and practicing, due to the constraints of precepts and the growth of concentration and wisdom, ignorance and afflictions are continuously subdued and eradicated. The mental factors of affliction gradually diminish and decrease, while the eleven wholesome mental factors continuously increase and strengthen. The functions of the five object-specific mental factors also progressively increase and strengthen. Therefore, the mental factors of the seventh consciousness must be described separately according to the stages and degrees of spiritual practice.