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Mental Factors (caitta, sems byung)

This division of consciousness comprises mental factors. A mental factor is a knower which, on the basis of observing an object, engages in the object from the point of view of other features, such as function and so forth.

There are fifty-one mental factors classed in six groups:

five omnipresent factors (sarvatraga, kun ‘gro)
five determining factors (viniyata, yul nges)
eleven virtuous factors (kushula, dge ba)
six root afflictions (mulaklesha, rtsa nyon)
twenty secondary afflictions (upaklesha, nye nyon)
four changeable factors (aniyata, gzhan ‘gyur)

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