Cultivating the mind The following list of states of mind can be very helpful in our meditation practice, as we recognize and embrace what is going on in our heart and mind with the energy of mindfulness.

Cultivating our mind is a fourfold practice of "right diligence" or "right effort". First, we want to encourage positive mental formations to manifest, and second, we want to keep positive mental formations for as long as possible. Third, we want to avoid triggering negative mental formations. However, if they manifest, then we want (fourth), to embrace, calm, and soothe them.

In order to do this, we need to be able to identify - to discern - which mental formation is manifesting at any time. This is why the following list is very helpful, and is traditionally memorized by monks and nuns.

What is a mental formation? A mental formation comes to be when a "seed" in our store (lower level) consciousness manifests in our mind (upper level) consciousness. It may manifest due to external or internal causes and conditions. It may also manifest due to habit energies - either our own, or those we have inherited from our culture or ancestors.

As we practice getting to know our mental formations better, it is important keep an energy of ease, joy and tenderness. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, "We should not make ourselves into a battlefield." We simply practice to gently recognize and embrace our mental formations - whether they are wholesome or unwholesome - with the energy of loving kindness, compassion and non-discrimination.

Origins The Plum Village tradition belongs to the "Manifestation Only School" of Buddhist psychology, which has traditionally divided mental formations into these following fifty-one categories. The list below includes a number of additional mental formations added by Thich Nhat Hanh himself. If you wish to study mental formations more deeply, you may like to read Thich Nhat Hanh, Understanding Our Mind (2001).

Download a copy of the 51 Mental Formations with translations in 漢 (Traditional Chinese), Tiếng Việt, Sanskrit, English and Français

The Fifty-One Mental Formations

5 Universals

contact

attention

feeling

perception

volition

5 Particulars

intention

determination

mindfulness

concentration

insight

11 Wholesome

faith

inner shame

shame before others

absence of craving

absence of hatred

absence of ignorance

diligence, energy

tranquility, ease

vigilance, energy

equanimity

non harming

Wholesome (added by Thay)

non fear

absence of anxiety

stability, solidity

loving kindness

compassion

joy

humility

happiness

feverlessness

freedom/sovereignty

6 Primary Unwholesome

craving, covetousness

hatred

ignorance, confusion

arrogance

doubt, suspicion

wrong view

20 Secondary Unwholesome

10 Minor Secondary Unwholesome

anger

resentment, enmity

concealment

maliciousness

jealousy

selfishness, parsimony

deceitfulness, fraud

guile

desire to harm

pride

2 Middle Secondary Unwholesome

lack of inner shame

lack of shame before others

8 Greater Secondary Unwholesome

restlessness

drowsiness

lack of faith, unbelief

laziness

negligence

forgetfulness

distraction

lack of discernment

Unwholesome (added by Thay)

fear

anxiety

despair

4 Indeterminate

regret, repentance

sleepiness

initial thought

sustained thought