How to Understand the Mind. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

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СКАЧАТЬ primary mind is accompanied by at least five mental factors, without which it would be unable to function. These are feeling, discrimination, intention, contact and attention. They are known as the ‘five all-accompanying mental factors’. Just as a car cannot function if any of its wheels is missing, so a primary mind cannot function if any of these five mental factors is absent. For example, all physical objects are composed of eight substances – the four elements (earth, water, fire and wind) and the four transformed elements (forms, smells, tastes and tactile objects) – and just as even the simplest physical object must have all eight substances, so even the most basic primary mind must have all five all-accompanying mental factors. Even very subtle primary minds have these five mental factors.

      We should not think of a primary mind and its mental factors as being separate entities, like a leader and his subjects, because each mental factor is a part of a primary mind. However, although a mental factor is a part of a primary mind, it is not a primary mind, just as a hand is a part of the body but not the body.

      The Tibetan word for mental factor is ‘sem jung’, which literally means ‘arisen from mind’. Thus, a primary mind can be likened to a candle flame and its mental factors to the rays of that flame. Just as a candle flame has many rays of light, so one primary mind has many mental factors; just as the rays of light come from the flame and exist simultaneously with it, so mental factors come from the primary mind and exist simultaneously with it; and just as the flame illuminates objects by depending upon the rays of light that emanate from it, so a primary mind knows its object by depending upon its mental factors.

      A primary mind and its mental factors are the same entity and possess five similarities:

      1 Basis – they have the same dominant condition

      2 Object – their observed object is the same

      3 Aspect – their engaged object is the same

      4 Time – they arise, abide and cease simultaneously

      5 Substance – one primary mind has only one of each type of mental factor

      The meaning of dominant condition, observed object and engaged object are explained in Part Two.

      For example, when a tongue awareness tastes tea, both the primary mind and the mental factor feeling associated with it develop from the same uncommon dominant condition, the tongue sense power, and so their basis is the same. Their observed objects are the same because they both focus on the same object – the taste of the tea; their engaged objects are the same because they both apprehend the taste of the tea; and their time, or duration, is the same because they both arise, abide and cease simultaneously. They possess the fifth similarity, similarity of substance, because one primary mind can have only one mental factor feeling, one mental factor discrimination, one mental factor intention, and so forth. Similarly, one specific mental factor can be associated with only one primary mind. Sometimes we say that we have mixed feelings about something, and it may seem that in this case one primary mind has several feelings observing the same object, but this is impossible. Ordinary beings cannot have two different manifest minds observing one object at the same time. What actually happens is that we have several primary minds, each with only one feeling. For example, if we have ‘mixed feelings’ about a house it can either be that at one time we like the house and at another time we dislike it, or that we simultaneously have two different minds relating to the house, each focusing on a different aspect of the house.

      There are fifty-one mental factors, which are divided into six groups:

      1 The five all-accompanying mental factors

      2 The five object-ascertaining mental factors

      3 The eleven virtuous mental factors

      4 The six root delusions

      5 The twenty secondary delusions

      6 The four changeable mental factors

      Each mental factor will now be explained under three headings: definition, function and divisions. The first identifies the mental factor, the second shows the results of generating it, and the third deepens our understanding of it. Some of the fifty-one mental factors are quite similar, and so we need to study them carefully and discuss them with others until we have a clear understanding of each one. Although we develop these mental factors within our own mind, we still need to try to identify them precisely so that we know which ones to abandon and which ones to cultivate. Abandoning non-virtuous mental factors and cultivating virtuous ones is the essence of Dharma practice. Deluded mental factors are the cause of all negative actions and the source of all suffering and danger. By identifying them and eradicating them we solve all our problems. When I studied this subject in Tibet I was very young and, although I understood the subject intellectually, I did not fully appreciate how useful it is for training the mind. Now I understand this very clearly.

      Attain permanent liberation from the sufferings of death

The Five All-accompanying Mental Factors

      The five all-accompanying mental factors are so called because they accompany every primary mind. If just one of them were missing, the primary mind would not be able to cognize its object. The five all-accompanying mental factors are:

      1 Feeling

      2 Discrimination

      3 Intention

      4 Contact

      5 Attention

      Feeling experiences an object as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral; discrimination functions to distinguish an object from other objects and thereby to identify it; intention enables the mind to move towards its object and become involved with it; contact perceives an object as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral and thereby serves as the basis for the development of feelings; and attention functions to focus the mind on a particular attribute of an object.

      The need for all five of these mental factors to be present can be illustrated by considering a tongue consciousness tasting tea. Without the mental factor feeling, the tongue consciousness would not experience the taste of the tea as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Without discrimination, it would not be able to distinguish the taste of the tea from other objects and so would not be able to recognize it. Without intention, an internal tongue consciousness could not become involved with the taste of the tea, which is an external object. Without contact, it could not perceive the taste of the tea as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral and so there would be no basis for developing pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feelings. Without attention, it would not be able to focus on the taste of the tea.

      FEELING

      DEFINITION OF FEELING

      The definition of feeling is a mental factor that functions to experience pleasant, unpleasant or neutral objects.

      Because there are three types of object – pleasant, unpleasant and neutral – there are three types of feeling that experience these objects – pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings and neutral feelings. It is impossible to cognize an object without experiencing it as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.

      Buddhas have only pleasant feelings; the gods of the form realm and the formless realm have pleasant and neutral feelings but do not have unpleasant feelings; and СКАЧАТЬ