The True Meaning of the Five Universal Mental Factors

All sentient beings have eight consciousnesses, but the consciousness-mind itself is invisible; what is visible are the mental factors (caittas) of the eight consciousnesses, and only through the manifestation and operation of these mental factors can the consciousness-mind be known and observed. Thus the mental factors represent the mind of sentient beings, and a change in the state of the mind is a change in the mental factors. The mental factors can be roughly divided into a few dozen, and in finer subdivision far more than a few dozen. So many mental factors cannot all appear and operate simultaneously; rather, they appear selectively according to the specific mental state and intention. Even the five universally present mental factors, which pervade every consciousness-mind, do not appear simultaneously but appear sequentially, or appear selectively and intermittently, or may temporarily not appear at all.

Some people believe that because the five universally present mental factors pervade the consciousnesses, they must appear and operate at all times and places, and all five must appear simultaneously. This is due to an inability to actually observe the operation of the mental factors; if one observes one's own mind, one will know what the actual situation is, and if one cannot observe it, one will just take things for granted. The five mental factors absolutely cannot appear simultaneously, nor must they all appear; even if one cannot observe this, one can figure it out through analysis, and if one cannot even analyze it, then one should not voice an opinion. Modern people cannot understand the meaning of words; they often remain at the surface and the superficial, and their understanding of the meaning of classical texts is even more one-sided, unable to probe deeply. Their meditative concentration is very poor, so of course their comprehension is also very poor.

What does "universally present" (遍) mean? It means pervasive. What does pervasive mean? It means extensive and common, emphasizing scope and extent, not individuality. The true meaning of the five universally present mental factors is that there are five mental factors that exist pervasively in the eight consciousnesses—all eight consciousnesses possess these five mental factors. But possessing them is one thing; when they are used, how much they are used, and where they pause is not fixed. That is to say, how the consciousness-mind uses these five mental factors is not fixed; in short, as long as the five mental factors exist and all eight consciousnesses can use them, that suffices. It is like the wealthy, who universally possess large amounts of money—how they use it and how much they use is not fixed. Some people are very frugal and simple, not extravagant, not particular about enjoyment, spending little. Some people, though they have mansions and villas, do not live in them themselves, spending money to hire people to guard them and letting others enjoy them. You cannot say such people are not wealthy.

Another example: leaders universally have power and status, but they do not necessarily use their power and status to seek personal gain or engage in illegal transactions; they use them selectively in their work, to serve the general public. You cannot say that using power and status selectively means one is not a leader, or that a leader has no power. Another example: in today's society almost everyone universally has information tools such as mobile phones and computers, including the elderly and children, but having information tools does not mean one must use them at every moment, nor that one must use all of them. You cannot say that because someone uses them occasionally or individually, these people have no mobile phones or computers.

Another example: human beings universally have the five aggregates, a physical body, a brain, and limbs, but they do not necessarily use them at every moment, nor use them all together at every moment. Sometimes they use one aggregate, sometimes two, three, or four aggregates; when fatigued, the five aggregates also need rest, need to conserve energy. You cannot say that because humans do not use the five aggregates and the physical body at every moment, but use them selectively, humans therefore have no five aggregates or physical body, no brain or limbs. The five universally present mental factors are the same: they need not appear at every moment, and certainly need not all appear simultaneously—there is no such principle. The consciousness-mind has these five functions; how exactly they are used depends on time and place, on mental intention, on conditions. When conditions change, the use of the mental factors must change accordingly.

Specifically, the mental factor of attention (manaskāra) is the beginning of attention directed toward an encountered object. A person encounters too many objects; no matter how much energy one has, it is impossible to attend to all objects—one must make choices, and sometimes one is too exhausted to attend to anything. Practitioners who wish to cultivate meditative concentration and wisdom must block out the vast multitude of worldly dharmas and attend only to what they are currently learning and the problems they need to solve, such as investigating Chan (canhua) and recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti). When cultivating concentration, one must not attend even to the Buddha-dharma, otherwise concentration will not arise. If one attends to everything, the mind becomes chaotic, one cannot cultivate the Path, and even worldly work cannot be done well—one cannot think through even a small problem. The mental factor of contact (sparśa) is the same: it contacts objects selectively, and when fatigued it ceases to contact, letting the six consciousnesses cease, or be half asleep and half awake, or become drowsy; when energy is even more insufficient, one becomes a vegetative state patient. A person in a vegetative state still has the five universally present mental factors, but uses them very little.

The mental factors of feeling, perception, and volition are the same: if one feels, perceives, and deliberates toward every object without selecting dharmas or times, one's energy will soon be exhausted, leading to mental disorder, mania and restlessness, mental abnormality, and the danger of sudden death. True practitioners feel, perceive, and deliberate selectively—toward the dharmas they are cultivating and need to understand; what is unnecessary they block out. When cultivating concentration, they not only do not feel or perceive, they even cut off part of volition. In the various levels of meditative absorption, the five universally present mental factors operate extremely weakly; feeling and perception may even be temporarily cut off. In the concentration of no-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti) there is never perception; in the cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti) there is no feeling or perception, volition is very slight, the six consciousnesses do not appear at all, and the mental factors appear even less. For a person of pure mind, the five universally present mental factors operate very little; feeling becomes only neutral feeling (upekṣā-vedanā) without painful or pleasant feeling, greatly different from a person laden with afflictions.

Observe the specific circumstances and think about it, and you will understand. Many people have chaotic thoughts and extremely narrow, stubborn lines of thinking, believing that these five mental factors should operate in the consciousness-mind at all times without pause, and that if they cease operating at any moment, they would not be "universally present"—this understanding misconstrues the meaning of "universally present." Others believe that all five mental factors should operate simultaneously in the consciousness-mind, with not a single one missing—this misunderstanding is also very great. Many people are naive in their thinking; even with a brain they do not know how to use it, their reasoning is often in a short-circuit state, blocked everywhere, yet they are stubborn and full of self-confidence, difficult to communicate with.

There is also great misunderstanding regarding the manas's nature of constant, attentive deliberation (恒审思量). People think that "constant" means deliberating every second and every instant, and that if there is an interruption in between, it is not constant. Think about it a little: if the manas deliberated without pause every second and every instant, a person would be exhausted to death in a short time—could one live for decades? Even if one could deliberate for a year or half a year without dying of exhaustion, one would be tormented into madness and derangement. In fact, "constant" means forever, long-lasting, unchanging: the manas's functions of deliberation and examination will continue to exist, the functions unchanging, but not intensively used every second and every instant, not deliberating at every moment. The manas also becomes fatigued and needs rest; it also distinguishes the priorities of matters. For unimportant matters, trivial matters, matters unrelated to itself, He will not waste mental effort deliberating; His energy does not permit it either—if the energy is completely used up, the person collapses.