The Transformation of Mind Consciousness and Mental Factors

The mind consciousness, at the stage of ordinary beings, has fifty-one mental factors (caittas), with the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion all complete; at the stage of the third fruit of the śrāvaka (anāgāmin), the mental factors of the mind consciousness are reduced, with the mental factor of greed and the mental factor of hatred no longer present; after entering the bhūmis, at the stage of transformation of the basis (āśraya-parāvṛtti), the afflictive mental factors of the mind consciousness are further reduced, gradually transforming into wholesome ones; at the stage of buddhahood, the mental factors of the mind consciousness consist of the five universal factors, the five particular factors, and eleven wholesome mental factors. Therefore, cultivation is precisely the process of gradually changing the mental activities (citta-carita) of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses; the mental activities and nature of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are not fixed and unchanging. Thus, when speaking of the mind, one must clarify whether it refers to the mental activities of an ordinary being, the mental activities of a person with meditative concentration (samādhi), the mental activities of a worthy one, the mental activities of a sage, or the mental activities of a Buddha.