Appearance refers to external or objective phenomena. That which is seen, heard, smelled, touched, or tasted is included in this factor. Appearance involves the way phenomena are encountered in their various changing expressions and objective relations. For instance, the hell-dwellers have the appearance of undergoing various painful experiences such as being boiled in oil; on the other hand, heavenly beings have the appearance of pleasure and ease in their palaces and gardens. The two vehicles of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas have peaceful demeanors as they have transcended suffering by realizing nirvāṇa. The bodhisattvas can be observed cultivating the six perfections, realizing nirvāṇa, and attaining virtuous qualities. The liberating activities of a buddha are the appearance of a buddha.
Nature refers to internal or subjective phenomena. This factor focuses on inner thoughts and feelings. Nature is about the subjective side of life, the conscious and felt nature of experience. It also refers to the inner qualities that remain for a time even as external appearances, expressions, and relations change. For instance, hell-dwellers are constantly dwelling on the perpetration of unwholesome actions that they believe will benefit them, whereas heavenly beings dwell on the performance of wholesome actions in order to gain benefit. The two vehicles are no longer attached to notions of gaining benefit through wholesome or unwholesome actions. The nature of a bodhisattva is either that of heavenly deeds or undefiled wisdom or the determination to remain in the six lower realms to save all sentient beings. The wisdom that illuminates the true nature of reality is the nature of a buddha.
Entity is the causal nexus that expresses itself in both internal and external phenomena. Internal and external can never really be separated because both are nothing more than partial aspects of an integral whole. The integral whole is the contingent entity whose qualities have an objective and subjective dimension. For instance, the entity of hell-dwellers is characterized by torment, but the entity of heavenly beings is characterized by the temporary transcendence of disturbance. The entity of the two vehicles is the fivefold Dharma-body of morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and knowledge of liberation manifest in their actions and attitudes. The entity of the bodhisattvas is that of the 32 marks of greatness and later the ability to transform into whatever is needed to save sentient beings. The entity of the buddha is the true nature of reality.
Power is the ability of phenomena to effect and undergo change. Whereas the first three factors analyze phenomena in terms of internal and external relations and their integral unity, this factor and the next point out that phenomena do not stand still as they are actually not static things but causes and conditions in a constant process of mutual influence and transformation. Any phenomenon is a causal entity that has the power to affect the world in myriad ways. For instance, hell-dwellers have the power to enter into states of suffering while the heavenly beings have the power to attain pleasure. The power of the two vehicles is to be in the world but no longer of it. The power of the buddhas and bodhisattvas is expressed in the four great vows.
Activity is the actual change brought about through the function of the aforementioned power. It should be pointed out that phenomena depend upon cooperative conditions in order to have an actual effect on the world. Just because something or someone has the power to do something doesn’t mean that it will actually exert that power. When the right circumstances are met with, then that power will be activated. For instance, the hell-dwellers actively commit the ten evil acts, whereas the heavenly beings are generous and actively abide by the ten good acts. The activity of the two vehicles is to strive diligently to progress on the path to liberation. The performance of the six perfections is the activity of buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Causes are those intentional actions of moral import made in the present. This factor and the next three directly refer to the moral law of cause and effect or karma. Cause, in this context, refers to all of our thoughts, words, and deeds, which become karmic seeds in the depths of our lives. These seeds are the habit-patterns that determine the ways in which our life will unfold. In fact, the dominant realm or state of mind that is our usual state of being is the fruition of these very seeds. Therefore, it is very important that we plant as many goods seeds in our life as possible. For instance, the hell-dwellers make bad causes of unwholesome thoughts, words, and deeds; the heavenly beings make good causes through wholesome thoughts, words, and deeds. The two vehicles make the cause of coming to know for themselves nondefilement. As the bodhisattvas progress, they initially make the same causes as the heavenly beings, then the same causes as the two-vehicles, and then the perfecting of wisdom becomes their primary cause. The perfection of wisdom is the cause made by the buddhas.
Conditions are the secondary or environmental causes that allow the primary causes to bear fruit. The seeds we have planted in our life through our own actions require the proper circumstances before they come to fruition. Even when they do come to fruition, the exact ways in which they manifest can be influenced by the conditions that surround them. The causes we have made can be inhibited, distorted, modified, mitigated, or even amplified, depending upon the other causes that we have planted and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. For instance, the hell dwellers find themselves in wretched circumstances and have unwholesome views and attitudes that drive them to greater desperation and even worse evils; whereas the heavenly beings find themselves in pleasant circumstances that put them at ease and inspire wholesome past times and benevolent attitudes. The two vehicles have as their conditions the practice of eliminating defilements. The bodhisattvas initially take the passions that bind beings to rebirth as their conditions but then move on to the practices and contemplations that reveal the truths of emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle Way. The buddhas have the adornment of virtuous qualities as their conditions.
Effects are the immediate consequences of the causes we make. Whenever we act, speak, or even think about something, there is an immediate effect upon our lives. That effect might be so minuscule as to be hardly noticeable. However, effects primarily refer to the planting of a new karmic seed in the depths of our lives, not just the immediate change in our consciousness or external circumstances. The importance of this is that everything we do has, at the very least, a subtle effect on our lives, and even more importantly contributes to the formation of our whole character. For instance, the hell-dwellers fall into bad habits as the effect of the causes they have made, whereas the heavenly beings cultivate good habits because they strive to make good causes. The two vehicles progressive elimination of the fetters that bind them to rebirth and their attainment of nirvāṇa is the effect resulting from the causes and conditions, though nirvāṇa is not actually the effect of a cause but what is realized when the fetters are undone. The bodhisattvas initially eliminate deluded views and attitudes and later eliminate the delusions as innumerable as grains of sand as the effects of their continuing efforts. The buddhas realize perfect and complete awakening as the effect of the perfection of wisdom.
Recompenses are the future manifest results of present causes. This refers to the perhaps unforeseen long-term effects of the causes we have set in motion. In one manner or another the karmic seeds planted in the depths of our lives come to fruition under the right conditions. For instance, the unwholesome actions of the hell-dwellers will lead to future rebirths in the lower realms, whereas the wholesome actions of the heavenly beings will lead to future rebirths in the heavens or at least the human realm. The two vehicles believe that there will be no future suffering of recompense for past karma because they have ended the process of rebirth, but from the perspective of the One Vehicle they are still subject to “transmigration of change and advance” until they overcome fundamental ignorance and attain buddhahood. The bodhisattvas likewise do not suffer the consequences of karmic recompense after they have matured in their practice and cultivation, but they do engage in “transmigration with change and advance” in accordance with their vows. The realization of the true nirvāṇa of purity, bliss, eternity, and self that is neither identical to nor distinct from saṃsāra can be said to be the result enjoyed by the buddhas as a recompense of their cultivation of the One Vehicle.
Beginning and end ultimately equal refers to the non-duality of all phenomena despite these differing aspects. Even though the ten realms can be distinguished due to their differing appearances, natures, and so on, they are all united and equal in that these differing aspects are all empty of any fixed independent substance, all temporary manifestations of causes and conditions, and all exemplify the Middle Way that embraces both emptiness and provisional existence.
