Mental factors (Buddhism)

• Vedanā – feeling
• Saṃjñā – perception
• Cetanā – volition
• Sparśa – contact
• Chanda – desire (to act)
• Prajñā – wisdom
• Smṛti – mindfulness
• Manasikāra – attention
• Adhimokṣa – decision
• Samādhi – mental concentration. it also called Ekaggata, one-pointedness

• Śraddhā – faith
• Vīrya – energy
• Hrī – shame at doing evil
• Apatrāpya – decorum, regard for consequence
• Alobha – non-attachment
• Adveṣa – non-aggression
• Praśrabdhi – calmness
• Upekṣā – equanimity
• Appamāda – conscientiousness
• Ahiṃsā – non-injuriousness

• Moha – delusion
• Pramāda – heedlessness, carelessness, unconcern
• Kauśīdya – laziness, slothfulness
• Āśraddhya – lack of faith, lack of trust
• Styāna – lethargy, gloominess
• Auddhatya – excitement, ebullience

• Āhrīkya - shamelessness
• Anapatrapya - disregard

• Krodha - anger
• Mrakśa - hypocrisy
• Mātsarya - selfishness
• Īrṣyā - envy
• Pradāśa - spite
• Vihiṃsā - violence
• Upanāha - vengefulness
• Śāṭhya - craftiness
• Māyā - deceit
• Mada - pride

These factors can be associated with good, bad or neutral mind.

• kaukritya - regret
• Middha - sleepiness
• Vitarka - initial thought
• Vicāra - sustained thought

The seven universal mental factors (sabbacittasādhāraṇa cetasikas) are common (sādhāraṇa) to all consciousness (sabbacitta). Bhikkhu Bodhi states: "These factors perform the most rudimentary and essential cognitive functions, without which consciousness of an object would be utterly impossible."[13]

These seven factors are:

• Phassa – contact
• Vedanā – feeling
• Saññā – perception
• Cetanā – volition
• Ekaggata – one-pointedness
• Jīvitindriya – life faculty
• Manasikāra – attention

The six occasional or particular mental factors (pakiṇṇaka cetasikas) are ethically variable mental factors found only in certain consciousnesses.[14] They are:

• Vitakka – Application of thought
• Vicāra – Examining
• Adhimokkha – Decision
• Viriya – Energy
• Pīti – Rapture
• Chanda – Desire (to act)

The unwholesome mental factors (akusala cetasikas) accompany the unwholesome consciousnesses (akusala citta).

The fourteen unwholesome mental factors are:

• Four universal unwholesome mental factors (akusalasādhāraṇa):
  • Moha – delusion
  • Ahirika – lack of shame
  • Anottappa – disregard for consequence
  • Uddhacca – restlessness
• Three mental factors of the greed-group (lobha):
  • Lobha – greed
  • Diṭṭhi – wrong view
  • Māna – conceit
• Four mental factors of the hatred-group (dosa)
  • Dosa – hatred
  • Issā – envy
  • Macchariya – miserliness
  • Kukkucca – regret
• Other unwholesome mental factors
  • Thīna – sloth
  • Middha – torpor
  • Vicikicchā – doubt

Bhikkhu Bodhi states:[15]

Unwholesome consciousness (akusalacitta) is consciousness accompanied by one or another of the three unwholesome roots—greed, hatred, and delusion. Such consciousness is called unwholesome because it is mentally unhealthy, morally blameworthy, and productive of painful results.

The beautiful mental factors (sobhana cetasikas) accompany the wholesome consciousnesses (kusala citta).

The twenty-five beautiful mental factors (sobhana cetasikas) are:

• Nineteen universal beautiful mental factors (sobhanasādhāraṇa):
  • Saddhā – faith
  • Sati – mindfulness
  • Hiri – shame at doing evil
  • Ottappa – regard for consequence
  • Alobha – lack of greed
  • Adosa – lack of hatred
  • Tatramajjhattatā – balance, neutrality of mind
  • Kāyapassaddhi – tranquility of mental body
  • Cittapassaddhi – tranquility of consciousness
  • Kāyalahutā – lightness of mental body
  • Cittalahutā – lightness of consciousness
  • Kāyamudutā – malleability/softness of mental body
  • Cittamudutā – malleability/softness of consciousness
  • Kāyakammaññatā – wieldiness of mental body
  • Cittakammaññatā – wieldiness of consciousness
  • Kāyapāguññatā – proficiency of mental body
  • Cittapāguññatā – proficiency of consciousness
  • Kāyujukatā – straightness/rectitude of mental body
  • Cittujukatā – straightness/rectitude of consciousness
• Three Abstinences (virati):
  • Sammāvācā – right speech
  • Sammākammanta – right action
  • Sammā-ājīva – right livelihood
• Two Immeasurables (appamañña):
  • Karuṇā – compassion
  • Mudita – sympathetic joy
• One Faculty of wisdom (paññindriya):
  • Paññā – wisdom

Bhikkhu Bodhi states:[15]

Wholesome consciousness (kusalacitta) is consciousness accompanied by the wholesome roots—non-greed or generosity, non-hatred or loving-kindness, and non-delusion or wisdom. Such consciousness is mentally healthy, morally blameless, and productive of pleasant results.

The five universal mental factors (sarvatraga) are:

1. Sparśa – contact, contacting awareness, sense impression, touch
2. Vedanā – feeling, sensation
3. Saṃjñā – perception
4. Cetanā – volition, intention
5. Manasikāra – attention

These five mental factors are referred to as universal or omnipresent because they operate in the wake of every mind situation. If any one of these factors is missing, then the experience of the object is incomplete. For example:

• If there is no sparśa (contact), then there would be no basis for perception.
• If there is no vedana (feeling, sensation), there is no relishing of the object.
• If there is no saṃjñā (perception), then the specific characteristic of the object is not perceived.
• If there is no cetanā (volition), then there is no movement towards and settling on the object.
• If there is no manasikāra (attention), then there is not holding onto the object.[16]

The five object-determining mental factors (viṣayaniyata) are:

1. Chanda – desire (to act), intention, interest
2. Adhimokṣa – decision, interest, firm conviction
3. Smṛti – mindfulness
4. Prajñā – wisdom
5. Samādhi – concentration

The five factors are referred to as object-determining is because these factors each grasp the specification of the object. When they are steady, there is certainty concerning each object.[17]

The eleven virtuous (kuśala) mental factors are:

1. Sraddhā – faith
2. Hrī – self-respect, conscientiousness, sense of shame
3. Apatrāpya – decorum, regard for consequence
4. Alobha – non-attachment
5. Adveṣa – non-aggression, equanimity, lack of hatred
6. Amoha – non-bewilderment
7. Vīrya – diligence, effort
8. Praśrabdhi – pliancy, mental-flexibility
9. Apramāda – conscientiousness
10. Upekṣa – equanimity
11. Ahiṃsā – nonharmfulness, nonviolence

The six root unwholesome factors (mūlakleśa) are:

1. Rāga – attachment
2. Pratigha – anger
3. Avidya – ignorance
4. Māna – pride, conceit
5. Vicikitsa – doubt
6. Dṛṣṭi – wrong view

The twenty secondary unwholesome factors (upakleśa) are:

1. Krodha – rage, fury
2. Upanāha – resentment
3. Mrakśa – concealment, slyness-concealment
4. Pradāśa – spitefulness
5. Īrṣyā – envy, jealousy
6. Mātsarya – stinginess, avarice, miserliness
7. Māyā – pretense, deceit
8. Śāṭhya – hypocrisy, dishonesty
9. Mada – self-infatuation, mental inflation, self-satisfaction
10. Vihiṃsā – malice, hostility, cruelty, intention to harm
11. Āhrīkya – lack of shame, lack of conscience, shamelessness
12. Anapatrāpya – lack of propriety, disregard, shamelessness
13. Styāna – lethargy, gloominess
14. Auddhatya – excitement, ebullience
15. Āśraddhya – lack of faith, lack of trust
16. Kauśīdya – laziness, slothfulness
17. Pramāda – heedlessness, carelessness, unconcern
18. Muṣitasmṛtitā – forgetfulness
19. Asaṃprajanya – non-alertness, inattentiveness
20. Vikṣepa – distraction, desultoriness

The four changeable mental factors (aniyata) are:

1. Kaukṛitya – regret, worry,
2. Middha – sleep, drowsiness
3. Vitarka – conception, selectiveness, examination
4. Vicāra – discernment, discursiveness, analysis