How the Five Universal Mental Factors of the Six Consciousnesses Operate (4)

The actual operation of the five universal mental factors can be illustrated with an analogy. For example, there is a painter painting a picture; the five universal mental factors can be compared to the painter, and the six sense-object realms cognized by the mental factors are like the landscape painting the painter creates. When the painter is about to paint by copying from nature, he first looks at the scenery before him that he is going to copy. When he raises his head to look at the scenery in front of him, that is directing attention (manaskāra) toward the scenery before him; he shifts his eye-consciousness onto the scenery, which is equivalent to drawing his attention to the scenery in front of him, and then brings forth the next step of the mental activities of contact and grasping the mark. The painter looking at the scenery is directing attention; after directing attention, he makes contact with the scenery; after making contact with the scenery, there is feeling. The feeling at this point is generally of the nature of receiving, taking in the six sense-object realms and accepting them.

At this time there is not yet any emotional coloring; it does not contain emotions such as suffering, happiness, sorrow, joy, or neutral feeling, nor does he think the landscape before him is beautiful or magnificent, nor would he feel inwardly moved because he considers the scenery before him desolate. This is because cognition and grasping of marks have not yet begun; he has merely simply accepted the realm. After accepting it, he then cognizes it; cognition is perception (saṃjñā), and he then knows what it is—this is grasping the mark, grasping the realm. After grasping the mark of the realm, he withdraws his eyes and holds it in mind, contemplating it, firmly memorizing the landscape realm in his mind, and then decides how to copy it—this is equivalent to the operation of the volition (cetanā) mental factor. After the landscape realm is memorized in his mind, he begins to sketch it on the drawing board; these actions of sketching are equivalent to the activity of the volition mental factor, and bodily, verbal, and mental actions have already arisen.

After the painter has copied for a while, he no longer knows how to continue painting, because the image in his mind has become blurred, so he must raise his head again to look at the scenery before him. This is directing attention again, making contact with the scenery again; after contact, he again receives and experiences it, and at this point there are emotional feelings—he feels that the landscape before him is so very beautiful and magnificent, and the poetic and picturesque sentiments within his heart emerge. This kind of feeling may already have been present at the very beginning when he first started sketching. After experiencing the realm, he must cognize it again, and after cognition, he thinks about how to sketch it. After deliberating, he begins to sketch again. This whole series of activities and processes is equivalent to the repeated operation of the five mental factors: directing attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition.

After directing attention, he makes contact with the realm; after contact comes feeling; after feeling comes cognition; if the cognition is unclear, he makes contact again. He may not direct attention again, because he has been looking at the scenery before him all along and his attention has not shifted elsewhere, so he simply continues to make contact; at this point he may not even need to make contact anew, because he has been in contact with the realm all along and has never left the realm before him. After contact with the realm, he experiences it again; at this point he may also not need to receive the realm anew, because he has been experiencing the realm all along, and the perception mental factor directly arises, repeatedly cognizing and deliberating. This series of activities continues to be carried out without interruption until the landscape painting is completely copied—this is equivalent to the six consciousnesses having fully known it and made the final decision, at which point the matter is considered finished. The operation of the five universal mental factors on this realm is complete, the creation of bodily, verbal, and mental actions is finished, and the painting has been copied.

The five universal mental factors can be compared to a painter who is always in contact with the landscape realm that needs to be copied, directing attention to that realm, cognizing that realm, deliberating on that realm, and then beginning to copy it according to the realm as cognized. The five universal mental factors of the six consciousnesses also operate in a similar manner.