The Mental Factors of the Seventh Consciousness

The mental factors of the seventh consciousness are very complex, because the wholesome and unwholesome karmic retributions of all sentient beings since beginningless kalpas have all been accomplished through the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors of the seventh consciousness, the manas. Whether it is the karmic retribution of ordinary beings in the three good destinies or the three evil destinies, or the sublime karmic retribution of the four kinds of noble ones—arhats, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas—all of it is accomplished through the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors of the manas. The difference in karmic retribution from hell to Buddhahood is so vast, and it is all brought about by the differences in the mental factors of the manas. Although the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors of the mind consciousness also have a very great influence on karmic retribution, on the one hand the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of the mind consciousness is infused and cultivated by the manas, and on the other hand, only when the wholesome or unwholesome qualities infused by the environment are infused into the manas can they truly influence and affect the final karmic retribution. If it has not been infused into the manas, it means that this person's fundamental nature has not changed, and the karmic retribution cannot change.

Since the mental factors of the manas determine the wholesome and unwholesome karmic retribution of sentient beings in future lives, and sentient beings indeed do have different wholesome and unwholesome karmic retributions, the manas must therefore have wholesome and unwholesome mental factors. Moreover, the degree of weight of the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors of each sentient being's manas is different: the manas of beings in the three evil destinies is complete with afflictive mental factors, the Buddha is complete with wholesome mental factors, and other sentient beings are not complete in either wholesome or unwholesome mental factors. Since the mental factors of the manas of different sentient beings differ so greatly, the various mental factors of the manas must be described separately according to the different types of sentient beings; one cannot generalize.

Sentient beings have had ignorance and afflictions in the seventh consciousness since beginningless kalpas. After studying Buddhism and cultivating practice, due to the restraint of the precepts and the growth of meditative concentration (samādhi) and wisdom, ignorance and afflictions are continuously subdued and eradicated, afflictive mental factors are continuously lightened and reduced, the eleven wholesome mental factors continuously increase and strengthen, and the functions of the five particular mental factors also continuously increase and strengthen. Therefore, the mental factors of the seventh consciousness must be described separately according to the stage and degree of cultivation.

(1) The mental factors of the seventh consciousness of ordinary sentient beings include the five universal mental factors, the five particular mental factors, the afflictive mental factors of greed, aversion, delusion, conceit, doubt, wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi), lack of faith, laziness, non-diligence, forgetfulness, lack of proper knowledge, distraction, restlessness, shamelessness, lack of remorse, anger, resentment, vexation, concealment, deceit, flattery, arrogance, harm, envy, and stinginess, as well as the eleven wholesome mental factors and so on; there is no mental factor of torpor; among the indeterminate mental factors there are the mental factors of remorse, initial application (vitarka), and sustained examination (vicāra), but no mental factor of sleep.

Initial application and sustained examination differ: initial application is the coarse activity of the mind—searching, seeking, inferring, deducing, thinking, analyzing... Sustained examination is the subtle, refined activity of the mind—waiting, investigating, scrutinizing, fine thinking, careful study... Initial application is generally the mental activity of the mind consciousness; the manas also has the behavior of initial application, but it is too difficult to observe. When the mind consciousness has forgotten certain people or matters, the manas is in a state of initial application, while the mind consciousness may be in a state of initial application or may be in a state of sustained examination. When the manas is in a state of sustained examination, the mind consciousness has long since stopped initial application, and may even have stopped sustained examination, with the manas operating entirely on its own. From initial application and sustained examination, one can think of this: when the mind consciousness is in a state of not arising a single thought, the manas is absolutely not in a state of not arising a single thought; the manas is still deliberating (manasikāra). Whatever He is deliberating, it is all initial application and sustained examination—including deliberating about that "non-deliberating"—that too is the manas engaged in initial application and sustained examination.

The sustained examination of the manas is even harder to observe than initial application, because its mode of activity is too subtle. Therefore countless people deny most of the mental factors of the manas, claiming they do not exist, when in fact they simply cannot be observed. Not knowing or understanding, they simply deny them outright—this attitude is really not good; the mind is not honest, and wisdom cannot grow. Honesty is also a mental factor, belonging to the wholesome mental factors, though it is not included among the fifty-one mental factors.

Whatever is the mind's activity, the mind's form, the mind's mode of activity, the mind's nature—all belong to the mental factors; there are wholesome ones, unwholesome ones, and also neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome ones. Initial application is searching without a target, like shining a flashlight around everywhere—movement that is obvious and rapid. Sustained examination is, after searching around everywhere, having found an approximate target, then concentrating attention on the target to observe—movement that is light and slow. When practicing Chan, after one has found an approximate direction and focus of investigation, one begins to lock onto a target to observe and examine; the mind becomes even more subtle and refined, difficult to detect.

The mental factor of remorse is regret, repentance, self-reproach, and weariness toward what one has done in the past; sometimes it belongs to the wholesome mental factors, sometimes to the unwholesome mental factors. The manas of ordinary beings and of those at the three stages of worthiness has remorse, sometimes wholesome and sometimes unwholesome; the manas of noble ones who have severed afflictions and whose minds are pure also has remorse, but it is always wholesome; if someone does a wholesome deed and then regrets it, that is an unwholesome dharma. Bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above, whose afflictive habits have been completely severed, have no remorse in the manas, because they no longer do wrong things; the Buddha's manas even more so has no mental factor of remorse, due to great wisdom. Once the manas of beings in hell regrets the evil karma they have done, the evil karma is extinguished, and they immediately emerge from hell—this is wholesome. The mind consciousness of beings in hell, being busy with suffering, has no mind to repent; even if the mind consciousness could repent, it could not eliminate the evil karma and emerge from hell, because the mind consciousness does not hold the position of master.

The manas of ordinary beings is almost complete with all the afflictive mental factors, and because of these afflictive mental factors they transmigrate through the six destinies life after life, with bitter retribution that is inexhaustible—except that whether each sentient being's afflictive mental factors are all complete, whether they can all manifest, and how heavy or light the afflictions are, varies. Of course, the manas of ordinary beings also has wholesome mental factors; otherwise ordinary beings could not ascend to the heavens to enjoy blessings. In the transmigration of the six destinies there would be only five destinies, without the destiny of gods; in the human destiny there would be no wholesome retribution, and in the asura destiny there would be no wholesome retribution either; even within the human destiny one could not become a good person, and without doing wholesome deeds there would be no wholesome fruit in the future. But the fact is that even beings in the three evil destinies have wholesome minds; otherwise in the future they could not be reborn as humans and gods—it is only that sentient beings' wholesome minds do not appear for the time being, or appear relatively rarely.

(2) The seventh consciousness of ordinary beings who possess the four dhyānas and eight samādhis corresponds with the mental factor of meditative concentration; they can enter the four dhyānas and eight samādhis and can be reborn in the desire-realm heavens, the form-realm heavens, and the formless-realm heavens; the secondary afflictions must be reduced, and there are no mental factors such as laziness, non-diligence, forgetfulness, distraction, torpor, or restlessness. The concentration mental factor among the five particular mental factors must be strengthened; the manas of a person without meditative concentration has no concentration mental factor. Therefore the mental factors of the seventh consciousness of ordinary beings are indeterminate; each person's mental factors need not be the same.

However, for those who have cultivated meditative concentration and those who have realized noble fruits, the common characteristic of the mental factors of the manas and the mind consciousness is that afflictive mental factors must be lightened and reduced, and wholesome mental factors must increase and strengthen.

(3) For bodhisattvas at the three stages of worthiness before passing the final barrier, and for those of the first and second fruits, in the mental factors of the seventh consciousness, the mental factor of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) has been eliminated; several of the great secondary afflictions must be reduced; the mental factor of lack of faith has been eliminated, and the mental factor of faith has increased and strengthened; the mental factor of lack of proper knowledge has been eliminated; the mental factor of torpor was never there to begin with; laziness, non-diligence, restlessness, forgetfulness, and distraction are lightened or eliminated; the great secondary afflictions are lightened, and the intermediate secondary afflictions may be lightened or eliminated; at the same time, all eleven wholesome mental factors increase and strengthen; among the five particular mental factors, the mental factors of determination (adhimokṣa), concentration, and wisdom are strengthened. All of these depend on the individual; each person is not entirely the same.

(4) For bodhisattvas who have passed the final barrier and post-bhūmi bodhisattvas, because the seventh consciousness has initially transformed consciousness into wisdom, the mental factors include the five universal and five particular mental factors, and the eleven wholesome ones, but they are not fully complete and not yet at their strongest; only at the Buddha-ground are they fully complete and strongest. The fundamental afflictive mental factors have all been extinguished; the great secondary afflictions are all eliminated; the intermediate secondary afflictions are lightened or eliminated; and the minor secondary afflictions are gradually extinguished during the stages of bodhisattvas from the fourth to the seventh bhūmi. The mental factors of the seventh consciousness of those of the third and fourth fruits have also changed: for those of the fourth fruit, all afflictive mental factors have been extinguished; for those of the third fruit, there are still some afflictive mental factors; wholesome mental factors increase, and the five particular mental factors are also strengthened, but not fully complete—roughly equivalent to the mental factors of bodhisattvas after passing the final barrier—but they cannot sever the minor secondary afflictions, and the afflictive habits still remain. The mental factors of the Buddha's seventh consciousness are fully complete with the five universal mental factors, the five particular mental factors, and the eleven wholesome ones, with no other mental factors.