The Mental Factors (Caittas) Contained in Deliberation

The term "tuiqiao" (deliberating and weighing) originates from an anecdote about the Tang dynasty poet Jia Dao composing poetry; it originally described Jia Dao's manner of thinking and state of effort when selecting words and phrases while writing poems. In order to find the appropriate words, the poet continuously searched for terms in his mind to convey the artistic conception the poem was meant to express, with body and hands simultaneously gesturing the deliberation. At first, the mind consciousness deliberated and examined (vitarka-vicāra), and gradually this transitioned to the deliberation and examination of the manas. The manas's deliberation and examination is extremely subtle and concealed, so much so that the mind consciousness seems motionless, as if no longer thinking—just like investigating Chan.

When Jia Dao was pondering and weighing his words and phrases, what mental factors (caittas) arose? There were the five universal mental factors, the five particular mental factors, and perhaps also wholesome mental factors and afflictive mental factors. When deliberating, one must first raise the mental factor of initial application (manaskāra) toward the object of deliberation, directing the mind onto the matter to be deliberated; the mental factor of contact (sparśa) arises, and the mind contacts the object of deliberation; the mental factor of feeling (vedanā) arises, receiving and accepting the object of deliberation; the mental factor of perception (saṃjñā) arises, recognizing and grasping the object of deliberation; the mental factor of volition (cetanā) arises, continuously deliberating (manana) on this matter until finally working it through and confirming it, and then proceeding to subsequent actions.

When gesturing the motions of pushing and knocking with the hands, the five universal mental factors of the five sense consciousnesses and the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses (pañcavijñāna-sahagata-manovijñāna) also arise. During initial application, the mind is relatively concentrated; the mind consciousness and the manas are focused on the corresponding object. The arising of the mental factor of feeling may be less frequent than at other times, as the mind is busy calculating and pondering the problem at hand. During the process of deliberation, if one happens upon an image to which the manas is particularly sensitive, the mental factor of feeling may arise; this feeling is an inner stirring and sensation of the mind, not a feeling caused by changes in the external six sense objects. The mental factor of feeling originally means to receive, accept, and take in; for if the problem is not taken in and accepted, one cannot continue thinking about it, cannot deliberate, cannot arrive at the final result of deliberation, cannot make a decision and engage in subsequent actions, and still less can wisdom arise.

Throughout the processes of perception and volition, the mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi) is always present as a companion. There is also the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa): determination should mean having correctly understood the general meaning of the matter—that is, grasping the gist—and being able to derive a reasonably sound answer, view, notion, and conclusion regarding the object of contemplation. During the process of deliberation, the mental factors of desire (chanda), mindfulness (smṛti), and meditative concentration (samādhi) also appear. The mental factor of desire is the wish to deliberate, driving the sixth and seventh consciousnesses to deliberate and to select words and compose phrases; after determination, the mental factor of mindfulness forms regarding the meaning of the words; and being focused on the deliberation is the merit of the mental factor of meditative concentration.