The Mental Factors (caitasika-dharma) of Sentient Beings

What mental factor (caitta) is longing? What mental factor is thinking? What mental factor is studying? What mental factor is deliberating? What mental factor is investigating?

What functions does the mental factor of volition (cetanā) have? What functions does the mental factor of perception (saṃjñā) have?

What mental factor is understanding? What mental factor is willingness? What mental factor is hope? What mental factor is comprehension? What mental factor is intention? What mental factor is expectation? What mental factor is well-wishing? What mental factor is the power of aspiration? What mental factors are comprehending, realizing, and knowing? What mental factors are agreeing, endorsing, and echoing?

What mental factor is abiding mindfulness of this very object? What mental factor is it when an image in the mind lingers and cannot be dispelled? What mental factor is being unable to forget, thought after thought? What mental factor is keeping something firmly in mind? What mental factor is unwavering resolve? What mental factor is fixing the mind on one point? What mental factor is keeping one's eyes fixed without turning away? What mental factor is conscience?

The states of mind, the characteristics of mind, personality, temperament, and disposition all belong to the mental factors; there are wholesome ones, unwholesome ones, and neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome ones. Strictly speaking, there are not only fifty-one mental factors—there are many. If one were to divide them finely, there would be at least several hundred or even a thousand. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu only roughly and coarsely summarized them as fifty-one, which is not comprehensive. If the Buddha were to categorize these mental factors, it would be extremely subtle and fine. Therefore, in learning Buddhism, apart from relying completely on what the Buddha has said, we may rely on what others say, but we must handle it with discretion and have the capacity for flexibility and adaptation. Even when relying on what the Buddha has said, one should still have a certain capacity for flexibility; and to fully understand what the Buddha has said is also not at all easy. Sometimes the Buddha's words and the Buddha's intent have a certain difference and gap, and are not entirely consistent, because sentient beings' wisdom is limited, and the Buddha cannot fully speak out His meaning; He often speaks implicitly, speaking skillfully, and when one's wisdom is insufficient, misunderstanding easily arises. Many people who expound the Buddhist sūtras are actually not expounding the Buddha's original intent; the phenomenon of distorting the Buddha's intent is too common and too widespread. The Buddha endures it all—though He has no mind of enduring.

Among the mental factors, apart from the five universal mental factors (sarvatraga), all other mental factors do not appear constantly; they only occasionally arise and operate at particular times. The five object-specific mental factors (viśeṣa) appear only at particular times; the wholesome and unwholesome mental factors, and the neither-wholesome-nor-unwholesome mental factors, likewise appear only at particular times, and cannot manifest at every moment. But at the stage of buddhahood, the mental factors may manifest at every moment. For example, the mental factor of meditative concentration (samādhi): the Buddha's mind is always in concentration, never emerging from it. For example, the mental factor of wisdom (prajñā): the Buddha's mind always has great wisdom, and there is never a time without wisdom. For example, the mental factor of determination (adhimokṣa): the Buddha's mind can at every moment determine and comprehend all dharmas. For example, among the wholesome mental factors, non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion: the Buddha's mind is forever, at every moment, without greed, without hatred, without delusion.

Each person has their own personality, temperament, and disposition; everyone's mental factors are different. As complex as sentient beings' minds are, so complex is the world, for the world is manifested and transformed by the minds of sentient beings. If all sentient beings' minds were like the Buddha's mind, the world would be far simpler and far more sublime—light clouds and gentle breezes, or even without even light clouds and gentle breezes, quiet and still, silent and serene; no language could accurately describe that kind of beauty.

In the end, the world will all be like that; in the end, sentient beings who complete their cultivation will all have minds that are wise and simple, not the least bit complicated. Personality and individuality will all be extinguished, temperament and disposition all eliminated, and the mental factors will all be wholesome with nothing unwholesome—only twenty-one, no more, no less. But to dissolve the mind to such a degree requires three innumerable kalpas; one can see how difficult cultivating the mind is, how hard it is to change the mind. If the mind does not change, one must suffer torment—tormenting oneself and tormenting others, mutually tormenting one another, not knowing that sentient beings share the same root, so they can only fry one another, and then stew in it themselves.