The Operational Process of the Five Universal Mental Factors (I)

When the six sense faculties contact the six sense objects, the six consciousnesses arise. The six faculties and six objects together are the twelve entrances (āyatanas). The six faculties refer to the supreme faculties (rūpa-prasāda); the five supreme faculties located in the back of the brain, together with the manas, constitute the six faculties, also called the six inner entrances. The six objects are the five inner sense objects; adding to them form subsumed under the Dharmāyatana makes the six inner objects, also called the six outer entrances. The six inner entrances and the six outer entrances together are called the twelve entrances. Among them, the faculties and objects are always in contact with each other; the six inner objects arise in the supreme faculties at the back of the brain and contact the six faculties. Only when faculties and objects are together can there be contact; after contact, when the manas engages its attention and makes a decision, the eighth consciousness can then produce the six consciousnesses.

Where do the faculties and objects make contact? At the five supreme faculties in the back of the brain; the five sense objects, together with the mental objects, manifest at the supreme faculties in the back of the brain. The five inner sense objects are produced at the supreme faculties in the back of the brain, and thus the faculties and objects make contact. After the faculties and objects come into contact, when the manas engages its attention and decides to discern, the eighth consciousness produces the five sense consciousnesses. At the same time, the mental object that exists dependent on the five sense objects is also at the supreme faculties in the back of the brain and contacts the manas; the eighth consciousness will also simultaneously produce the mind consciousness, which, together with the five sense consciousnesses, discerns the six sense objects. This is called the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses (pañcavijñāna-sahagata-manovijñāna).

When the six faculties contact the six objects and the six consciousnesses are produced, the three then come together and make contact. The six consciousnesses, relying on the six faculties, again contact the six objects and can discern the six objects. While the six consciousnesses are discerning, the faculties and objects must remain in contact; if the faculties and objects separate, the six consciousnesses cease. After the six consciousnesses contact the six objects, there is a receptive quality—they receive and accept the six objects—and the mental factor of feeling appears. After accepting the six objects, the six consciousnesses have discerned the six objects and grasped the six objects, and the mental factor of perception emerges.

After discerning the six objects, the six consciousnesses begin to deliberate. If the deliberation is unclear, they engage attention again, generating attention toward the six objects once more. After engaging attention, there is discernment again, and feeling again. At this point, the feelings of suffering, happiness, sorrow, joy, and neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) emerge. The initial feeling is reception and acceptance; after accepting, it is as if the six objects have been taken in, and only then does one know what the six objects are—this acceptance represents taking them in. The feeling that comes later carries emotional coloring, and the feelings of suffering, happiness, sorrow, joy, and neutrality will arise.

After the feelings emerge, if the feeling is unclear, perception is taken up again for discernment, and the mental factor of perception will arise again. After the mental factor of perception arises and discerns, deliberation begins again. If the deliberation is unclear, there is contact again; after contact, there is reception and feeling, or at this point attention is engaged again, and then there is discernment again. With contact again and discernment again, the sequence of the subsequent mental factors becomes disordered. The initial sequence follows the order of attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition. Thus, after discerning and feeling, there is deliberation again, until finally the matter is deliberated clearly and discerned distinctly. Then the six consciousnesses give rise to a decisive mind; the manas knows the decisive mind of the six consciousnesses and gives rise to its own final decision, and then begins to act—this is the mental factor of volition.

The content discerned by the six consciousnesses must also be transmitted to the manas, and the manas will simultaneously, toward the content discerned by the six consciousnesses and their mental activities, employ the five universal mental factors, giving rise to a series of psychological activities. Finally, when the manas gives rise to a decisive mind, deciding how to act, the eighth consciousness discerns this and, in accordance with the manas's deliberated decision and the objects toward which He engages attention, operates in coordination. Because the eighth consciousness must know what the manas is attending to and which kind of sense object it is attending to, only after knowing this can the eighth consciousness manifest the six consciousnesses upon that sense object. Once the six consciousnesses manifest, the bodily, verbal, and mental actions begin to be performed.

If the manas has not yet deliberated clearly, then the manas will continue to contact, continue to engage attention, continue to feel, continue to discern, and finally deliberate again and make a decision. Before a decision is made, the five universal mental factors are constantly running back and forth; their sequence may not follow the order of attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition, and may be reversed. Contact may come first and discernment after, or contact may come first and feeling after, with discernment following feeling. Perhaps after discernment there is feeling again; if the feeling and discernment are unclear, deliberation continues. If the deliberation is unclear, there is contact again, then feeling again, then discernment again.

Thus, which mental factor comes first is not certain; the sequence here becomes disordered. In the beginning there is attention; attention is certainly at the seed stage. At the seed stage, attention is generated corresponding to that mental object; then the consciousness seeds are produced, and at the location of that mental object, the manas contacts the mental object and attends to it. The seeds are generated onto that mental object, forming the consciousness mind. Contact with that mental object occurs with attention first and the generation of seeds afterward; only after the seeds emerge and form the consciousness mind can there be contact with the mental object.

After contact there is reception; after reception, perception is taken up for discernment; after discernment, there is deliberation. If the deliberation is unclear, contact continues; after contact there is reception and feeling, or at this point attention is engaged again, and then there is discernment again. With contact again and discernment again, the sequence of the subsequent mental factors becomes disordered. The initial sequence follows the order of attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition—this is how the five universal mental factors operate.