How the Five Universal Mental Factors Operate in the Six Consciousnesses (Three)

In the series of operational processes of the five mental factors, the mental factor of contact (sparśa) must be present; that is to say, the faculties, sense objects, and consciousnesses must come together and cannot be separated. Otherwise, if the consciousness departs from the sense-object realm, contact will vanish and can no longer exist or operate; likewise, the sense objects cannot depart from the faculties, otherwise no consciousness would arise. Furthermore, only when the six consciousnesses contact the six sense objects can the realms be received and discerned—contact is the prerequisite condition. If we no longer wish to discern, no longer wish to feel, no longer wish to have bodily, verbal, and mental actions, then the consciousnesses should no longer continue to contact the sense objects; shift the attention of the six consciousnesses away, and no longer sustain attention (manaskāra) either—then there will be no subsequent mental activities. This is the best method for cultivating meditative concentration and cultivating the mind; by practicing in this way one can forget the sense-object realms, so that thoughts do not arise or arise only rarely—this is exactly how the arhats are. Therefore, generally speaking, they have no emotional fluctuations, few feelings, and no mind toward objects.

When ordinary sentient beings encounter realms, because they have craving and attachment and have ignorance, once they contact a realm they refuse to leave it; they discern and feel for a long time, deliberate for a long time, and their minds cannot find any peace, their thoughts in disarray. Some people, precisely because they lack the power of wisdom (prajñā-bala), discern things unclearly and cannot think them through, and thus cannot make a decision; therefore they must continuously and repeatedly contact the realm, pondering back and forth, tossing and turning, their minds restless. Because they cannot think it through, cannot deliberate it clearly, they cannot make a choice, and so they must repeatedly and continuously sustain attention and make contact.

Some people need a very long time to contact a realm, and also need a very long time to think through a matter—one reason is that the mind has craving and attachment; one reason is that the matter is complex and their discerning wisdom is poor; and one reason is that the matter is very important and must be discerned and thought through clearly before a choice can be made. If something is not clearly known, then the feeling of it will not be clear, and the thinking and deliberation that follow will likewise be unclear; this requires continuous sustaining of attention, continuous contact, continuous discernment. Among these, as for attention and contact, as their operation proceeds, which one operates first and which one operates afterward is not fixed; likewise, which of feeling and perception operates first and which operates afterward is also not fixed—the sequence of these several mental factors is all not fixed.