How Do the Five Universal Mental Factors of the Eighth Consciousness Operate?

The five universal mental factors of the eighth consciousness accompany the operation of the eighth consciousness moment by moment, never departing from it even for an instant, because the eighth consciousness is constantly operating upon all dharmas—it can discern karmic seeds, discern the five-aggregate body, discern the material world (the receptacle-world), and discern the mental activities of the manas. Whatever dharmas the eighth consciousness manifests, the eighth consciousness can discern them all, and thus the five universal mental factors will accompany the operation of the eighth consciousness.

As for the mental factor of attention (manaskāra): the eighth consciousness directs its attention to all the dharmas it discerns, directing the mind toward the dharmas to be discerned; next, it makes contact with the dharmas to be discerned; then it accepts the dharmas it is contacting; and afterward, having discerned the accepted dharmas, the appearances (images) of those dharmas arise in the mind. This differs greatly from the dharma-appearances that arise in the minds of the seven consciousnesses: the eighth consciousness does not have the appearances of worldly dharmas, and the concrete appearances of form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects do not appear, but it will certainly discern the distribution and operation of the six great elements' seeds within the dharmas. Afterward, the eighth consciousness's mental factor of volition (cetanā) arises, deciding how to bring forth corresponding dharmas or change corresponding dharmas; by regulating and outputting the six great elements' seeds, it causes the phenomena of arising, ceasing, and change of dharmas to appear. In its discernment of the seventh consciousness, the manas, the eighth consciousness mainly discerns the mental factors of the manas, discerning the dispersal and concentration of the consciousness seeds, and thereby knows what dharmas the seventh consciousness is attending to and what it wishes to do; when the karmic seeds allow it, the eighth consciousness will satisfy the desires and intentions of the seventh consciousness.