Do the mind king and mental factors each have their own functioning characteristics?

The operational characteristics of the mind-king are manifested in the flowing forth and operation of the consciousness seeds, while the operational characteristics of the mental factors are manifested in the wholesome mental factors, unwholesome mental factors, and the mental factors that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome, as well as in the five universal mental factors and the five object-specific mental factors. These mental factors are not carried over from the consciousness seeds and are not of one substance with the consciousness seeds; each has its own operational characteristics. Yet they can merge together perfectly, cooperating seamlessly.

Among the mental factors of the mind-king, the operation of the five universal mental factors and the five object-specific mental factors is not easy to distinguish from the operation and flowing forth of the consciousness seeds. Even so, the two are not of one substance; each has its own operational characteristics. Because mental factors must constantly change—they can not only increase and decrease but also become more refined—their operation still differs somewhat from the operation of the consciousness seeds. This difference is extremely difficult to distinguish and observe; and even if one observes it, it is hard to express in words.

For example, take the concentration mental factor among the five object-specific mental factors: when the mind-king can settle down, meditative concentration appears, and this concentration can increase, and can also decrease and disappear—the concentration mental factor is constantly changing. These changes certainly are not carried over from the consciousness seeds; they come from another place, for instance carried over from karmic seeds, appearing along with the karmic seeds. If the mental factors are mixed together with the karmic seeds, the mental factors have a certain continuity between past and future lives. For example, for someone who cultivated meditative concentration in a past life, if they cultivate meditative concentration only slightly in this life, the concentration mental factor will easily arise. Although the mental factors are related to the karmic seeds, the mental factors do not have separate seeds of their own; they are bundled together with the seeds of past lives' bodily, verbal, and mental actions.

Take another example, the determination (adhimokṣa) mental factor, the mindfulness mental factor, and the desire mental factor: each mental factor undergoes variation. Mental factors are not fixed; they can increase, can decrease, and can also undergo variation. This does not come out together with the consciousness seeds; it is also related to the karmic seeds, yet there are no separate karmic seeds for them. The content here is extremely profound.

For example, the wisdom mental factor among the five object-specific mental factors certainly increases or decreases continuously through the conditioning of the environment; it is constantly undergoing variation. But the consciousness seeds of the mind-king do not vary; the seeds of consciousness themselves are forever pure as they are—the only difference lies in whether the seeds flow forth in a concentrated or a dispersed manner.

When the consciousness seeds flow out, they form the substance of the mind-king. The substance of the mind-king is pure, because the consciousness seeds are pure. The consciousness seeds have no defiled nature, nor any wholesome or unwholesome nature; but when they combine with the mental factors and operate in the form of mental factors, wholesome, unwholesome, and neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome mental actions appear. Therefore, the mental actions of the eight consciousness mind-kings and the mental actions of the mental factors are actually one and the same: the mental factors are the mental actions of the mind-king. When the eight consciousness mind-kings operate, they operate in the form of mental factors, especially in the form of the five universal mental factors.

In the first chapter of Maitreya Bodhisattva's Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, it is said that the five universal mental factors are the aides and companions of the mind-king: whenever the mind-king operates, it must take the five universal mental factors as its aides and companions; without the five universal mental factors, the mind-king cannot operate—this is what is stated in Volume One of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. For example, before a consciousness seed is to arise, there must be a location for its arising; the place where it will arise must be determined. For instance, if it is to arise at the flower's color seen by the eye, after the manas determines this location, the consciousness seed rushes forth to arise at the place of the flower's material sense-object at the supreme faculty; or it rushes toward the location of a certain sound, arising at the place where the sound-object appears at the supreme faculty, or arises at some other location that the manas is to discern. Therefore, before the consciousness seed arises there is a manaskāra (attention): manaskāra means having a direction of arising, a location of arising. Before the consciousness seed has arisen, the manaskāra mental factor has already begun to operate. The operational characteristics of the mental factors and of the mind-king merge together perfectly; their characteristics should be completely identical—on the surface what is manifested is the operational characteristic of the mental factors, while hidden within is the operational characteristic of the flowing forth of the mind-king's consciousness seeds. Although the two are consistent, each still has its own operational characteristics.

There is also the last of the five universal mental factors, the volition (cetanā) mental factor. The final function of the volition mental factor is to create action. When the volition mental factor has finished creating action, it is equivalent to the mind-king having finished creating action; once the creating is done, the conscious mind ceases or shifts its location, and then the mental factors also disappear. From this principle, the operational characteristics of the mind-king and the mental factors are consistent: their operations are twisted together, the characteristics are manifested in the operational characteristics of the mental factors' operation, with the operational characteristics of the flowing forth of the consciousness seeds hidden within—they cannot be separated.