All Dharmas Have Marks

Dharmas include material form (rūpa-dharma) and mental dharmas (citta-dharma), true dharmas and false dharmas. Material form has its own specific characteristics (svalakṣaṇa) and common characteristics (sāmānya-lakṣaṇa); mental dharmas have their own specific characteristics and common characteristics; false dharmas have their own specific characteristics and common characteristics. True dharma has the mark of its own intrinsic substance, but no common characteristic.

The common characteristic of material form is matter composed of the four great elements, which has the property of tangible obstruction, is not empty, can be transmitted and diffused, has magnetic-field effects, can be touched and seen, and undergoes arising, ceasing, and change. The specific characteristics of material form are that form, sound, smell, taste, and touch each have their own appearances and features that cannot be confused with one another; therefore the faculties and consciousnesses that touch and see them are different. Even among material dharmas of the same kind, each has its own appearance and features, each has different functions, such as flowers, grasses, trees, mountains, tables, chairs, and benches.

The common characteristic of mental dharmas is that they all possess the nature of recognition and discernment, all have associated mental factors (caitasika), are all formless and without marks, and are all formed from consciousness seeds; apart from the eighth consciousness, they all undergo arising, ceasing, and change. Each individual consciousness has its own unique object of recognition, and each has its corresponding dharma that can be perceived. The eighth consciousness has no common characteristic; it is the one and only dharma, the one that transcends the mundane world, the one that neither arises nor ceases, neither changes nor varies, neither increases nor decreases, and it is the place upon which all sentient beings rely.