The Mental Factors of the First Five Consciousnesses

The mental factors of the first five consciousnesses: first, there are the five universal mental factors. As soon as a five-sense consciousness arises, the five universal mental factors operate along with it. The five consciousnesses also have the five particular mental factors. Among them, the mental factor of desire (chanda) is the longing, pursuit, and clinging toward the five sense objects; in most cases it is mobilized and directed by the manas, and it also manifests under the influence of the mind consciousness's mental factor of desire. In a few cases it manifests due to being attracted by the five sense objects—for example, when the eye consciousness sees a soft light and wants to contact and discern it more, this is the mental factor of desire.

Not wanting to leave this light belongs to the mental factor of greed; being averse to and avoiding this light can barely be counted as the mental factor of aversion—in fact, the five consciousnesses do not have the mental factor of aversion; it is brought out through the regulation of the manas. For example, glaring at someone with the eyes is aversion; this is done by the body consciousness, manifesting the manas's aversion toward that person, and there may also be the mind consciousness's aversion involved. If one knows in the mind that this person is hateful and feels aversion, that is the mind consciousness's aversion; disliking someone for no reason, without any clear justification, or being unable to be talked out of it, or aversion arising upon encountering an object before there is time to think—that is the manas's aversion.

The five consciousnesses' mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa) is clarity regarding the object—not being confused, knowing exactly what one is discerning, without illusion. The mental factor of mindfulness (smṛti) is that after the five consciousnesses discern an object, they have a certain memory of it. If the mind can hold the object in mind and want to dwell on it, in most cases this is caused by the manas's mindfulness, or caused by the manas's desire; it is the result of the manas's direction, and sometimes it is also influenced by the mind consciousness. The five consciousnesses' own mindfulness is not clear and distinct, lacking an evident nature of mindfulness. The five consciousnesses' mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi) is a relatively focused discernment of objects; this focused discernment is mainly brought about by the manas's direction, facilitated by the manas, and sometimes influenced by the mind consciousness; the five consciousnesses themselves have no active thought or behavior of concentration. The five consciousnesses' mental factor of wisdom (prajñā) can accurately judge and discern the five sense objects, discerning without confusion or error.

Because the five consciousnesses can only face the coarse five sense objects and cannot discern mental objects (dharmāyatana), their wisdom is very weak; they have little mental activity and little capacity for thinking and discrimination, and therefore they do not have many wholesome or unwholesome mental factors. Wholesome and unwholesome mental factors mainly operate on mental objects; thoughts and concepts belong to mental objects. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses correspond to mental objects, and only then do they have so many wholesome and unwholesome thoughts and concepts, having wholesome and unwholesome mental factors—the five consciousnesses do not. The five consciousnesses slightly have the root afflictions of greed, aversion, delusion, and doubt. A small portion of greed arises actively from the five consciousnesses themselves, but most is directed by the manas; aversion is almost entirely brought about by the manas; delusion is mostly directed by the manas, with a small portion belonging to their own weak discernment.

The five consciousnesses' doubt can only doubt the accuracy and reality of the five sense objects they themselves discern; they will not doubt other dharmas, lacking the broad doubt toward all dharmas that the mind consciousness and manas have, because the five consciousnesses' mental power is weak and they have no capacity for deliberation. The five consciousnesses' wisdom is extremely inferior and they have no capacity for deliberation; therefore, on their own they have little mental activity, few afflictions, and little wholesome mind; in the vast majority of cases, they rely on the manas and the mind consciousness to have wholesome and unwholesome mental factors; only when driven by the manas and influenced by the mind consciousness can they have wholesome and unwholesome mental factors; on their own they are mostly neutral (avyākṛta).

Among the five consciousnesses' universal afflictions (mahābhūmika kleśas), those brought about by the manas include non-faith, laziness, non-diligence, loss of mindfulness, non-correct knowledge, distraction, and torpor; they do not have restlessness, nor the intermediate afflictions of shamelessness and lack of moral dread, nor the minor afflictions; and of course they also lack the wholesome mental factors opposite to these, because the five consciousnesses are relatively coarse and inferior, lacking even slightly finer capacity for deliberation. For non-Buddhist ordinary beings who possess the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, the five consciousnesses' universal affliction mental factors will be lightened and reduced; the root afflictions can only be lightened, not eradicated. Each person's five consciousnesses need not have the same mental factors, because the manas varies greatly, and thus the mental factors induced in the five consciousnesses differ.

The five consciousnesses have the mental factor of sleep, temporarily ceasing during sleep. The five consciousnesses also have the mental factors of initial application (vitarka) and sustained examination (vicāra). Initial application is the eye consciousness's coarse searching everywhere; of course, the searching behavior is regulated by the manas, and the direction of searching is also designated by the manas—wherever the manas points, the five consciousnesses must turn toward it, with no autonomy whatsoever. The mind consciousness has a slight degree of decision-making power, but the five consciousnesses have none at all; that is why it is said that the five consciousnesses' mental factors mostly exist depending on the manas and turn following the manas; from the operation of the five consciousnesses, one can know the mental activities of the manas. The five consciousnesses' sustained examination is, after the five consciousnesses have found the general location of the five sense objects through initial application, calmly waiting for the five sense objects to appear, or carefully discerning the features of the five sense objects. The five consciousnesses do not have the mental factor of remorse, because they lack much capacity for deliberation and cannot discern mental objects, and therefore cannot feel remorse.

The five consciousnesses' wholesome mental factors, generally speaking, can only exist depending on the manas, including faith, non-greed, non-aversion, non-delusion, diligence, non-diligence's opposite (diligence), equanimity of action, and non-harm. When the manas is unwholesome, the five consciousnesses cannot be wholesome either; the five consciousnesses cannot have their own wholesome mental factors independently, because the object of wholesomeness is mental objects, and the five consciousnesses cannot contact mental objects and cannot have the deliberative capacity of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, and thus cannot have wholesome or unwholesome mental activities; wholesome and unwholesome minds can only be possessed by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. After the five consciousnesses transform consciousness into wisdom at the buddha stage, they may fully possess the wholesome mental factors, but this cannot yet be observed at present.

Before becoming a buddha, the five consciousnesses' mental factors generally do not change much, except for those mental factors directed by the manas: when the manas is unwholesome, the five consciousnesses become unwholesome accordingly; when the manas is wholesome, the five consciousnesses become wholesome accordingly, and in between they are also influenced by the mind consciousness's mental activities. The mental factors that the five consciousnesses correspond to on their own are only the five universals, the five particulars, and among the indeterminate mental factors, sleep, initial application, and sustained examination—thirteen mental factors in total; adding the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors that can only manifest depending on the manas, there are thirty-two in total; this still awaits further careful observation and is not a final conclusion. However, the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, on the way to buddhahood, must undergo three transformations of consciousness into wisdom, with their mental factors transformed three times, whereas the five consciousnesses' transformation of consciousness into wisdom occurs only once, at the time of becoming a buddha, with their mental factors transforming only at buddhahood—this shows that the five consciousnesses, on their own, do not have so many wholesome and unwholesome mental factors; all of them can only manifest depending on the manas.