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Basic Buddhist Teachings 13 – Five Minds, Six Practices – Loving Kindness
The Dharmalakṣaṇa school divides phenomena into five categories, totaling one hundred dharmas. Here, dharma means phenomenon, also called dharma, and can also mean teaching or the truth of nature. These five categories are:
- Mind dharmas (citta – one mind, or six, or eight minds depending on the school)
- Mental formations (caitasika – 51 or 52 mental factors)
- Form dharmas (rūpa – 11 physical and physiological elements, both coarse and subtle)
- Dharmas dissociated from mind (cittaviprayuktasaṃskāra – phenomena that are neither mind nor matter)
- Unconditioned dharmas (asaṃskṛta – unconditioned, nirvāṇa)
The first four belong to the phenomenal world (waves), they are subject to birth and death, higher and lower. The fifth category is the ontological ground (water), neither born nor dying, transcending all concepts, that is, nirvāṇa.
Nirvāṇa in the Mahāyāna is also described through the three virtues: dharmakāya, prajñā, and liberation. These three virtues can be realized right in our daily practice, as the fruit that helps us to dwell solidly, at ease, and full of understanding.