Chart of Mental Elements / Classification Criteria

(Characteristics, Function, Manifestation, and Proximate Cause)

No.	Element Name	Characteristic		Function	Manifestation	Proximate Cause
1	Sensation	Touches the object thereby initiating the cognitive process.		Makes the consciousness and object to impinge upon each other.	Meeting of consciousness, sense faculty (matter) and the object.	The external object that has come in contact.
2	Feeling	Feels the object affectively thereby initiating the experience.		Makes the consciousness experience the object directly and thoroughly.	Pleasure, Pain, Joy, Sorrow and equanimity.	Sensation and tranquility.
3	Perception	Perceives the qualities of an object		Makes the mark or memory for future perception. Recognizes based on memory.	Interpretation of the object based on memory.	Appearance of the object
4	Volition	Acts as the will power or willingness for mental action.		Decides further course of action on the object by determining the ethical quality (wholesome or unwholesome) of action	Bringing together and leading all the other mental elements to work on the decided course of action	Associated mental elements to be coordinated
5	Attention	Steers mind towards the destination. Guides all mental elements towards the object		Bonds all the elements with the object and channelizes them	Facing the object and confronting it.	The object of attention.
6	Mental Life	Vitalization and maintenance of mental phenomena		Facilitates arising of mind with consciousness	Presence of mind	Mental elements to be vitalized and maintained
7	Thinking	Directing and applying the mind onto the object		Attacking to unfold, open-up or unravel the object	Guiding or leading of consciousness onto the object	The object of thinking
8	Thoughtfulness	Examining the object through sustained thinking		Sustained application of the mind onto the object	Anchoring of consciousness onto the object	The object of examination
9	Rapture (Happiness/Bliss)	Taking delight or joyful interest in the object of examination		Pervading the embodiment (mind-body) with ecstasy	Exultation of consciousness, elation, uplifting or lightness of body	The embodiment
10	Concentration	Non-distraction and one-pointedness of mind		Unification of all mental phenomena; Contemplation; Meditation	Peacefulness of consciousness, mental absorptions (Dhyanas) ultimately leading to Samadhi	Happiness/Rapture
11	Resolution	Conviction, fervor, sincerity		Confirming, non-groping, etc	Determination, unshakability, decision	Being certain or convinced about something
12	Vigor	Energetic efforts or vigorous action		Not turning back, non-receding. Reinforcing, supporting, upholding, consolidating or restraining mental states	Non-failing and non-ending of mental states	Sense of urgency or anything that arouses energetic effort
13	Bare-Desire (Inclination/ Intention)	An inclination for action or performance		Looking for an object to work on	Requiring an object	The object in need
14	Greed	Grasping an object		Creating attachment, bondage, sticky/glue like conditions	Ego, not letting go, craving, clinging, passion, selfishness, lust, etc	Lack of meditativity, Taking delight in things, activities, relationships, tasks, goals, etc which lead to bondage
15	Hatred	Intensity, fierceness, viciousness		To put on and spread like fire and to burn up or to devastate	Persecution, aversion, anger, disgust, displeasure, ego, etc	Conditions for aggravation or irritation, lack of meditativity
16	Delusion	Ignorance, not-knowing the reality, mental-blindness		Creating illusion, hiding the truth or reality	Ego, lack of pure understanding, lack of wisdom, stupidity	Ignorance/Delusion itself and the lack of wise attention
17	Restlessness	Mental anxiety, lack of calmness, lack of stillness, disquiet		Makes the mind unsteady and wavering, like waves or ripples	Impatience, agitation, irritation, turmoil, confusion, indecision	giving unwise attention to mental disturbances
18	Shamelessness	Not being apprehensive about doing bad things, being immoral		Makes the mind do sinful, wicked, immoral, or bad things	Lack of dread or anxiety about immorality; wildness; unruliness	Lack of respect/honor/reverence for others, and lack of meditativity
19	Moral Recklessness	Apathy for misconduct, apathy for doing bad things		Makes the mind do sinful, wicked or immoral things	No moral caution; not caring about or not shying away from unwholesomeness	Lack of respect/honor/reverence for oneself and lack of meditativity
20	Conceit	Self-importance and pride; haughtiness		Self-glorification, self-praise, arrogance	Vanity, intoxication, a desire to advertise oneself	Greed without justification, delusion, Lack of meditativity
21	Envy	Resentful about others successes, achievements, and progress		Making oneself dissatisfied and unhappy	Disliking, distaste, boredom, aversion due to others successes	Others upper hand, others achievements, victories, successes, progress, growth, attainments, etc. and lack of meditativity
22	Remorse	Regretting after doing something wrong or neglecting		Making you sorrowful and mournful	Repentance, guilt, worry, feeling sorrowful about doing wrong	Not doing what ought to be done or doing what ought not to be done; regrettable actions
23	Superstitiousness	Viewing or interpreting things wrongly and unjustifiably		To presume, to assume, to suppose, to believe	Beliefs, unwise interpretations, assumptions, unhealthy religiousness, isms, personalized philosophies, etc	Lack of willingness to ‘experience’ the truth or to face the reality, lack of inclination towards wisdom, evading the reality
24	Suspicion	Uncertainty, inability to trust, lack of desire to think through		To waver, to vacillate, to make uncertain	Lack of firmness, indecisiveness, changing camps, etc	Not giving wise attention to matters of doubt, deciding without proper understanding
25&26	Sloth-Torpor	Sloth – Stiffness, lack of driving energy Torpor –Unwieldiness, Morbidity		Sloth – Removal of energy; Torpor – To choke up the mind	Sloth – Subsiding of mind; Torpor – Sleepiness, laziness, lethargy Sloth and torpor – Lack of urgency, lack of energy	Lack of meditativity, lack of thinking, giving unwise attention to boredom, sloth, monotony, and loneliness
27	Avarice	Hiding, not sharing ones fortunes and successes with others		Makes sharing with others hard to stomach	Stinginess, lack of generosity, covetousness	Ones fortunes and successes
28	Non-Greed	Non-grasping, non-sticking, desireless-ness		Not attaching to an object, not holding onto an object	Letting go, non-craving, non-clinging, non-attachment, generosity, unselfishness, renunciation, dispassion, contentment, effacement, happiness and wealth	Meditativity, recollection of repulsive nature of embodiment, not taking delight in things, activities, relationships, tasks, goals, etc which lead to greed
29	Non-Hatred	Lack of fierceness, lack of resistance, lack of opposition		To remove all types of irritation, frustration, annoyance, anger, over-enthusiasm, etc	Loving-kindness, sociability, agreeableness, amity, gentleness, friendliness, calmness, softness, coolness, pleasant appearance	Meditativity, seeing others as worthy of kindness and compassion, recollecting the law of karma
30	Mindfulness	Presence of mind, present-moment-awareness, steadiness and fullness of attention, passive~relaxed~impartial~ silent~receptive~deepening observation		a. To eliminate forgetfulness of present moment, b. To remember, to recollect, to recall past in ‘present,’ c. To awaken the memory, to awaken as in ‘awakening the mind, (Continued below)	Facing and guarding the object of attention, awareness, meditation	Strong-stable perception and mindful contemplation of the phenomena of body-mind-consciousness
		d. To stabilize attention on the object by not drifting away from it, e. To remain in the present moment, f. To ‘mind’ the object of attention as in “minding it,” g. To develop awareness and wisdom through attention, observation, reflection, contemplation, comprehension, etc, h. To expand consciousness through awareness, i. To monitor, supervise, balance other mental elements or states, j. To safeguard the mind from unwholesomeness by assisting in restraining of senses and by assisting in the arousal of wholesomeness.
31	Conscience	Disgust for misconduct or doing bad things, sense of morality, scrupulousness, principle-driven, ethical.	Makes the mind not do sinful, immoral or unethical things		Modesty, caring about or shying away from unwholesomeness, moral caution, respectfulness, honor, civilized and cultured nature, grace and reverence, etc	Respect/honor/reverence for the self and the presence of meditativity
32	Shame	Apprehension for misconduct or doing bad things, sense of morality, scrupulousness, principle-driven, ethical	Makes the mind not do sinful, immoral or unethical things		Modesty, caring about or shying away from unwholesomeness, moral caution, respectfulness, honor, civilized and cultured nature, grace and reverence, etc	Respect/honor/reverence for others and the presence of meditativity (awareness, non-reaction & wise attention)
33	Faith	Trusting, confiding	To clarify, to illuminate, to purify		Firm decision, clarity, unshakable confidence	Experiential understanding of the ‘subject or object’ of faith
34 35	Tranquility of Body Tranquility of Mind	Calming of mental disturbances or agitation	To crush and to quite disturbances, to destroy stress/distress		Stillness, coolness, peacefulness, quietness, serenity, heavenly delight, dawning of bliss, opposite of restless and worry, etc	Uplifting happiness, meditativity or concentration or insight related to mind-body-consciousness
36 37	Lightness of Body Lightness of Mind	Diminishing of mental heaviness	To crush heaviness		Nimbleness, non-sluggishness, opposite of sloth and torpor, etc	Meditativity or concentration or insight related to mind-body-consciousness
38 39	Flexibility of Body Flexibility of Mind	Malleability, Diminishing of rigidity	To crush rigidity		Non- resistance, lack of stubbornness and obstinacy, opposite of superstitiousness and conceit, suppleness, etc	Meditativity or concentration or insight related to mind-body-consciousness
40 41	Wield-ness of Body Wield-ness of Mind	Calming and diminishing of unwieldiness	To crush and to make quiet the unwieldiness		Success in making something an object of mind, susceptibility of profitable application of mind, etc	Meditativity or concentration or insight related to mind-body-consciousness
42 43	Skillfulness of Body Skillfulness of Mind	Proficiency/healthiness/fitness	To crush unhealthiness or disability		Absence of disability	Meditativity or concentration or insight related to mind-body-consciousness
44 45	Rectitude of Body Rectitude of Mind	Directness or uprightness	To crush indirectness		Absence of impurities such as dishonesty, evasiveness, round-about-ness, cleverness, smartness, crookedness, etc	Meditativity or concentration or insight related to mind-body-consciousness
46	Equanimity (Neutrality of Mind)	Neutrality of mind, being in the middle, equality, non-reaction	To neutralize, to liberate from craving and aversion, to transcend pleasure and pain, to transcend joy and sorrow, to look upon as an outsider, to see all equally, to purify, to equalize and evenly distribute associated mental phenomena		Balance of mind, peace of mind, uninterestedness of mind (not indifference), lack of greed and hatred, absence of craving and aversion, non-attachment (neither-free-nor-bound), neither cheerfulness nor sadness, neither resentment nor approval, middle-ness, sign of egolessness	Meditativity (mindfulness, concentration and non-reaction), maturity of loving-kindness-compassion-gladness, recollection of law of karma; not taking delight in things, activities, relationships, tasks, goals, etc which lead to greed or hatred; completely ceasing all pleasurable as well as painful activities
47	Compassion	Inclination for removing others suffering	Making it possible to see suffering in others, not being able to overlook others suffering		Non-meanness, absence of cruelty, making oneself peaceful	Seeing others as beings who are suffering (in the ultimate sense)
48	Gladness	Feeling happy, joyous and cheerful about the success of others	To eradicate jealousy and envy towards others success		Absence of irritation or any degree of aversion	Noticing and appreciating others successes
49 50 51	Abstinence from Wrong Speech Abstinence from Wrong Action Abstinence from Wrong Occupation	Non-wrongdoing or non-transgression by speech	To shy away from or to minimize the generation of bad karmas		Deliberate abstinence from wrong speech	Noble faith in spiritual practice (such as Yoganta), resolution and sense of urgency for attaining mental perfection, sense of contentment, distaste for mundane living and wrongdoing
52	Non-Delusion	Penetration of the intrinsic nature of realities, mental illumination, knowledge of ultimate realities, complete absence of ignorance, wisdom	To illuminate the object of investigation, to expose the truth as it is, to pierce the target, to enlighten the mind, to shake off delusion or ignorance, to eliminate superstition and religiousness, etc		Non-confusion, wisdom, egolessness, pure understanding, pure knowledge, clear comprehension, purification of views, mental perfection, enlightenment	Meditativity - awareness, non-reaction, concentration & especially wise attention and penetrating insight