The Differences and Connections between the Mental Factor of Perception (saṃjñā) and the Mental Factor of Mindfulness (smṛti)

The five universally present mental factors: attention (manaskāra), contact (sparśa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), and volition (cetanā). The five object-specific mental factors: desire, determination (adhimokṣa), mindfulness, meditative concentration (samādhi), and wisdom. The mental factor of perception belongs to the five universally present mental factors, operating at all times and in all places; whenever a conscious mind appears, the mental factor of perception is operating, because the main function of consciousness is to recognize and know the dharmas it contacts. Perception means discerning and knowing—taking a mark upon the mind. Only after a mark has been taken upon the mind can there be a choice; only after a dharma has been chosen can the five object-specific mental factors operate.

In the operation of the five object-specific mental factors, first there arises desire, interest, longing, and seeking toward the chosen dharma; after a certain degree of determination (adhimokṣa) toward the dharma has been established, one will be mindful of the dharma, and the mental factor of mindfulness appears. Without the prior knowing of the dharma, there would be no subsequent determination toward the dharma; if the dharma cannot be determined with certainty, one will not be mindful of it. Because one does not understand the dharma and does not long for it, how could one keep it in mind and be mindful of it? Being able to keep it in mind and be mindful of it shows that one has already understood the dharma and feels that this dharma is important and is what one needs. This means that it is only because of the mental factor of perception that there is the mental factor of mindfulness—hence there is a word, "xiangnian" (thinking-of), which is first thinking (perceiving) and then being mindful.

This mental factor of mindfulness corresponds to the mindfulness factor among the seven factors of enlightenment. For example, in studying and cultivating the dharma of the Four Noble Truths, only by fully understanding the dharma of the Four Noble Truths, knowing the importance of the Four Noble Truths for the cycle of birth and death, and having attained a considerable degree of determination toward it, can the mindfulness factor of enlightenment appear—the mind constantly and continuously engaged in contemplating the Four Noble Truths and comparing them against the daily activities of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha). If one has not yet fully discerned and understood the principle of the Four Noble Truths, it is impossible to be mindful of the dharma of the Four Noble Truths.

From this it can be seen that the operation of the five universally present mental factors has no preconditions; they can follow the conscious mind in operation at all times and places, whereas the appearance of the five object-specific mental factors must have preconditions—they cannot appear at all times and places, but only occasionally when the conditions are complete. The mental factors of desire, determination, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom each require different conditions, and the five mental factors are respectively the conditions for the appearance of the subsequent mental factors; the earlier mental factors can determine whether the later mental factors appear. Therefore, the mental factor of wisdom is not something everyone has, nor can it appear with respect to all dharmas; the same is true of the mental factor of concentration, and likewise the mental factor of mindfulness; the mental factors of determination and desire are both like this as well.