The Mental Factors of the Five Consciousnesses

The mental factors of the first five consciousnesses begin with the five universal mental factors; as soon as the five consciousnesses arise, the five universal mental factors operate along with them. The five consciousnesses also have the five object-specific mental factors. Among them, the mental factor of desire (chanda) is the longing, pursuit, and clinging toward the five sense objects; in most cases it is mobilized and directed by the manas, and it also manifests under the influence of the mind consciousness's mental factor of desire. In a few instances it continues due to being attracted by the states of the five sense objects—for example, when the eye consciousness sees a soft light and wishes to contact it more and discern it further, this is the mental factor of desire. This desire is too simple, having no autonomy whatsoever; it is entirely approved and adjudicated by the manas. Not wanting to leave that light belongs to the mental factor of greed; being averse to and avoiding that light barely qualifies as the mental factor of aversion.

In fact, the five consciousnesses do not have a mental factor of aversion; it is brought about through regulation by the manas. For example, glaring at someone with the eyes is aversion, and this is done by the body consciousness, manifesting the manas's aversion toward that person, which may also include the mind consciousness's aversion. If one knows in the mind that this person is hateful and feels aversion, that is the mind consciousness's aversion; disliking someone for no reason, without any clear justification, or being unable to be talked out of it, or having aversion arise upon encountering a situation before there is time to think—this is the manas's aversion. In fact, greed is also barely present; it all manifests the greed of the mind consciousness and the manas.

The five consciousnesses' mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa) is clarity regarding the object realm, not being muddled, knowing exactly what one is discerning, without illusion. The mental factor of mindfulness (smṛti) is that after the five consciousnesses discern the object realm, there is a certain memory of it; this memory is extremely brief. If the mind can be mindful of the object realm and wish to dwell on it, in most cases it is induced by the manas's mindfulness, or induced by the manas's desire; it is the result of the manas's direction, and is sometimes also influenced by the mind consciousness. The five consciousnesses' own mindfulness is not clear and distinct, lacking an obvious quality of mindfulness. The five consciousnesses' mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi) is a relatively focused discernment of the object realm; this focused discernment is mainly brought about through the manas's direction and manipulation, facilitated by the manas, and is sometimes influenced by the mind consciousness; the five consciousnesses themselves have no proactive thoughts or actions. The five consciousnesses' mental factor of wisdom (prajñā) can accurately judge and discern the realms of the five sense objects, discerning without confusion or error.

Because the five consciousnesses can only face the coarse five sense objects and cannot discern mental objects (dharmas), their wisdom is very poor; they have little mental activity and little capacity for thinking and discrimination, and therefore they do not have many wholesome or unwholesome mental factors. Wholesome and unwholesome mental factors mainly operate upon mental objects; thoughts and concepts belong to mental objects, and only the sixth and seventh consciousnesses correspond to mental objects, and thus have so many wholesome and unwholesome thoughts and concepts, having wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, whereas the five consciousnesses do not. The five consciousnesses slightly have the root afflictions of greed, aversion, delusion, and doubt. A minority of greed arises actively from the five consciousnesses themselves, but most is directed by the manas; aversion is almost entirely brought about by the manas; delusion is mostly directed by the manas, with a minority belonging to their own weak discernment.

If the five consciousnesses have doubt, they can only doubt the accuracy and authenticity of the five sense objects they themselves discern, and will not doubt other dharmas; doubting whether one has seen clearly is the mind consciousness's doubt or the manas's doubt. The five consciousnesses do not have the broad doubt toward all dharmas that the mind consciousness and manas have, because the five consciousnesses' mental power is weak, with little capacity for thought and extremely inferior wisdom; therefore, on their own they have no mental activity, no afflictions, and no wholesome mind either. The vast majority of the time, they rely on the manas and mind consciousness to have wholesome and unwholesome mental factors; only driven by the manas and influenced by the mind consciousness can they have wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, and they are mostly neutral in themselves.

Of the five consciousnesses' universal secondary afflictions, those brought about by the manas include non-faith, laziness, non-diligence, forgetfulness, non-knowing (lack of knowledge of the situation), distraction, and torpor; there is no restlessness, nor the middling secondary afflictions of shamelessness and lack of remorse, nor the minor secondary afflictions; and of course there are also no wholesome mental factors opposite to them. Because the five consciousnesses are relatively coarse and inferior, lacking even slightly refined thinking power, the five consciousnesses themselves have no wholesome or unwholesome mental factors; what is manifested is entirely the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of the manas. For non-Buddhist ordinary beings who possess the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, the five consciousnesses' universal secondary affliction mental factors will be lightened and reduced; the root afflictions can only be lightened, not eradicated; these afflictions all exist only in dependence on the mind consciousness and manas, and do not exist independently. Each person's five consciousnesses' mental factors need not be the same, because the differences in the manas are great, and thus the mental factors induced in the five consciousnesses differ.

The five consciousnesses have the mental factor of sleep, which temporarily ceases during sleep; this sleep is determined and regulated by the manas. The five consciousnesses also have the mental factors of initial application (vitarka) and sustained examination (vicāra). Initial application is the five consciousnesses' coarse searching in all directions; of course, the act of searching is regulated by the manas, and the direction of searching is also designated by the manas—wherever the manas points, the five consciousnesses must turn toward, having no autonomy whatsoever. The mind consciousness has a slight degree of decision-making power, but the five consciousnesses have none at all; this is why it is said that the five consciousnesses' mental factors mostly exist in dependence on the manas and turn according to the manas. From the operation of the five consciousnesses, one can come to know the mental activities of the manas. The five consciousnesses' sustained examination is, after the five consciousnesses' initial application has located the general place of the five sense objects, calmly waiting for the five sense objects to appear, or carefully discerning the features of the five sense objects. The five consciousnesses do not have the mental factor of remorse, because they have little thinking power and cannot discern mental objects, and therefore cannot feel remorse.

The five consciousnesses' wholesome mental factors, generally speaking, can only exist in dependence on the manas, including faith, non-greed, non-aversion, non-delusion, diligence, diligence in not being lax, equanimity of action, and non-harmfulness. When the manas is unwholesome, the five consciousnesses cannot be wholesome either; the five consciousnesses cannot have their own wholesome mental factors independently, because the object of wholesomeness is mental objects, and the five consciousnesses cannot contact mental objects and cannot have the thinking power of the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, and thus cannot have wholesome or unwholesome mental activities; wholesome and unwholesome minds can only be possessed by the sixth and seventh consciousnesses. After the five consciousnesses undergo transformation of consciousness into wisdom at the buddha stage, they may fully possess wholesome mental factors, but this cannot yet be observed at present.

Before attaining buddhahood, the five consciousnesses' mental factors generally do not change much, except for those mental factors directed by the manas: when the manas is unwholesome, the five consciousnesses become unwholesome accordingly; when the manas is wholesome, the five consciousnesses become wholesome accordingly, and in between they are also influenced by the mind consciousness's mental activities. The mental factors that the five consciousnesses correspond to on their own are only the five universal and five object-specific factors, ten mental factors in total; adding the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors that can only manifest in dependence on the manas, plus the indeterminate mental factors of sleep, initial application, and sustained examination, which are influenced and led by the manas, there are thirty-two in total. The sixth and seventh consciousnesses, at the time of attaining buddhahood, must undergo three transformations of consciousness into wisdom, with their mental factors transformed three times, whereas the five consciousnesses' transformation of consciousness into wisdom occurs only once, at the time of attaining buddhahood, with their mental factors transformed only at the time of attaining buddhahood; this shows that the five consciousnesses on their own do not have so many wholesome and unwholesome mental factors—all of them can only manifest in dependence on the manas.