Five Default Settings Hidden in Every Thought

Omnipresent Mental Factors

"Omnipresent" refers to the pervasive nature of these mental factors in all mental activity.

Whenever any mental shift arises in us—be it a wholesome thought, an unwholesome thought, or a neutral thought—the five mental factors that make up the omnipresent mental factors will simultaneously arise.

Their pervasiveness is reflected in four aspects:

○ Omnipresent across all ethical natures: Regardless of whether a thought is wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral (unmarked), omnipresent mental factors can arise concurrently with the mind; ○ Omnipresent across all consciousnesses: Sentient beings all possess the eight consciousness sovereigns, and omnipresent mental factors can arise alongside all of these consciousnesses; ○ Omnipresent across all realms and stages: Due to karmic conditions, sentient beings cycle through the three realms and nine stages of existence, and omnipresent mental factors operate universally across all such realms and stages; ○ Omnipresent across all time: Whether in the past, future, or present, these mental factors can arise in correspondence with consciousness.

The omnipresent mental factors comprise five total factors: contact, attention, feeling, perception, and volition.

Of these, the feeling and perception factors are each individually categorized as their own aggregates (the aggregate of feeling and the aggregate of perception) due to their distinct karmic functions, so we will only discuss the remaining three factors—contact, attention, and volition—here.

The Mental Factor of Contact

"What is contact? It is defined as the characteristic arising from the conjunction of three elements and discriminative function." — Treatise on the Five Aggregates of the Mahayana

To cognize any object, all requisite conditions must come together to complete the process of perception.

The first step requires the conjunction of three elements: the sense faculty, the cognitive object, and consciousness.

The sense faculty refers to the six sensory organs: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.

The object refers to the six types of objects perceived by the six sense faculties: form, sound, smell, taste, tactile objects, and mental objects.

Consciousness refers to the cognitive and discriminative function that arises when a sense faculty contacts an object, comprising eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mental consciousness.

At the exact moment the sense faculty, cognitive object, and consciousness converge, the mental factor of contact arises simultaneously. We form a subjective perception of the objective object, and from this starting point, a series of subsequent mental factors—feeling, perception, and volition—arise all at once.

For example, when we look at a flower, our visual sense faculty contacts the object of form. In this moment, eye consciousness arises, recognizing that this is a red object. At the same time, mental consciousness draws on the input from eye consciousness to further discriminate: “Oh, this is a rose.” This is accompanied by the arising of feeling: I like it, I dislike it, or I am neutral toward it.

In short, the mental factor of contact is like flipping a power switch: it puts the system in standby mode, ready to spring into action at any moment.

The Mental Factor of Advertence

"What is advertence? It is defined as the characteristic of arousing alertness in the mind." — Treatise on the Five Aggregates of the Mahayana

The mental factor of advertence is a psychological function that brings alertness to our mind.

Even if the sense faculty, cognitive object, and consciousness have come into contact, if our mind is not in a state of alertness, we cannot truly take the object as the focus of our mental activity.

In daily life, we are all familiar with the state of being distracted: even though we are physically present in an environment, our mind is not focused on the things around us.

When our mind is preoccupied with other matters, it is very difficult for us to take in information from the external environment: we may look without seeing, listen without hearing, and fail to perceive the true nature of things. This is why we need the function of the mental factor of advertence, to arouse alertness and awareness in the mind.

In addition to helping us concentrate our attention, the mental factor of advertence can also direct consciousness toward its intended object. For example, during a lecture, it directs ear consciousness toward the specific sounds of speech, rather than letting words go in one ear and out the other.

In daily life, our consciousness is often in a state of half-awareness. If our mental energy is insufficient, we will frequently zone out, and our attention cannot stay focused on the object that requires our awareness.

If the mind cannot concentrate on the object it seeks to understand, subsequent mental responses will rarely arise. The mental factor of advertence can be said to be a crucial psychological condition for clearly cognizing external objects.

The mental factor of advertence is also like focusing a camera lens when taking a photograph: only when the subject is in sharp focus can you press the shutter to capture the image; otherwise, the photo will be blurry and out of focus.

The Mental Factor of Volition

Among the five omnipresent mental factors we are studying, the mental factor of volition is an extremely important one.

○ Contact: The conjunction of the sense faculty, cognitive object, and consciousness. ○ Advertence: The mind becomes alert and turns toward the object. ○ Feeling: The arising of affective experience (pain, pleasure, or neutral neither-pain-nor-pleasure). ○ Perception: The grasping of an object’s characteristics and conceptualization of it. ○ Volition: Building on the preceding steps, it initiates intentional mental activity and triggers corresponding behavior.

It can be said that the mental factor of volition is the key turning point where consciousness shifts from "cognition" to "action."

"What is volition? It is defined as the characteristic of prompting the mind to create intentional action in response to wholesome states, unwholesome states, and states that are contrary to both." — Treatise on the Five Aggregates of the Mahayana

The objects that the mental factor of volition engages with fall into three categories: wholesome (meritorious) states, unwholesome (demeritorious) states, and neutral states that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome.

“Wholesome states” refer to beneficial conditions arising from pure, wholesome karmic actions; “unwholesome states” refer to harmful conditions arising from impure, unwholesome karmic actions; and “neutral states (neither wholesome nor unwholesome)” refer to unchanging conditions that do not fall into the above two categories, arising from neutral, unmarked karmic actions.

When we encounter any of these three types of conditions, our mind decides how to respond and ultimately takes action: this is the function of the mental factor of volition. For example, when we see someone bowing to the Buddha and praying for blessings (a wholesome condition), we may think, “This is good, I should do the same.” Once this thought arises, it drives us to bow and worship before the Buddha. Or, for instance, if someone insults us (an unwholesome condition), after hearing the insult, we may react internally: “I can’t let this slide, I have to insult them back!” In this way, we create unwholesome verbal karma.

Conclusion

Omnipresent mental factors are the psychological elements that enable sentient beings to cognize objects and make decisions about action. We rely on the function of these mental factors to live in the world and meet our most basic survival needs.

As Buddhist practitioners, after studying the teachings on omnipresent mental factors, we should not treat them merely as abstract Buddhist doctrinal knowledge. Instead, we must integrate them into our own lives, regularly reflecting inward to observe our true inner states and thoughts.

On this basis, we should guide them skillfully, transforming our engagement with these factors from following our own ignorant habitual tendencies to following wisdom and compassion, so as to create as much wholesome karma as possible and reduce the generation of unwholesome karmic actions.