The Process of Cultivation Is the Process of Reversing and Transforming Mental Factors.

The process of cultivation is the process of reversing and transforming the mental factors (caittas), ultimately bringing all eight consciousnesses to perfect fulfillment of the twenty-one mental factors, thereby becoming beyond training (aśaikṣa) in both the Great and Small Vehicles. Bodhisattvas at and above the first bhūmi, having eradicated the fundamental afflictions, the great derivative afflictions, and the intermediate derivative afflictions, transform the sixth and seventh consciousnesses into wisdom and attain the wisdom of the patience with the non-arising of dharmas (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti); their mental factors all correspond to the twenty-one mental factors. It is only that the five object-specific mental factors are not yet ultimate or complete and still need to be strengthened, the eleven wholesome mental factors also need to be strengthened and enhanced, and the small derivative afflictions still need to be further eliminated. Bhūmi-level bodhisattvas have not fully severed the affliction of delusion within the Mahāyāna dharma, so the wholesome mental factor of non-delusion is not yet complete; some bodhisattvas still have the mental factor of pride in the manas not fully severed, so the twenty-one mental factors still require continuous refinement and strengthening. Only at the Buddha stage are the twenty-one mental factors of the eight consciousnesses complete and ultimate, requiring no further enhancement.

Because bodhisattvas from the first to the eighth bhūmi still have the obscuration of afflictive habits, their mental factors are not yet sufficiently pure, not purely wholesome. Upon reaching the eighth bhūmi, the small derivative afflictions are extinguished, the afflictive habits are severed, and a portion of the defiled seeds is further eliminated, making the twenty-one mental factors more complete and powerful. Therefore, cultivation is greatly related to severing afflictions and habits; the purpose of cultivation is to sever afflictions, afflictive habits, and all ignorance, thereby attaining liberation. When ignorance is completely severed, the Buddha Way is accomplished—ultimate liberation. The functions of the five object-specific mental factors will grow ever stronger as afflictive habits are continuously eliminated. All superknowledges and spiritual powers are related to the five object-specific mental factors and are accomplished through them, though of course they are never apart from the assistance of the five universal mental factors. As cultivation continuously advances, the consciousness-mind must inevitably undergo change; the change of the consciousness-mind is the transformation of the mental factors, and the transformation of the mental factors is the result of cultivation.