Summary: Cetasikā are the mental factors that arise together with citta and specify its affective, ethical, and cognitive character. The Dhammasaṅgaṇī defines them in context — for example phassa (contact), vedanā (feeling), saññā (perception), and cetanā (volition) — and repeatedly shows them as associated with consciousness in a single arising (Dhs 14-17, Dhs 75).
Canonical locus
The first wholesome consciousness analysis defines several central mental factors one by one. (Dhs 14-17)
Dhs 14-17 (ds2.1.1:14.2–17.3)
Yo tasmiṁ samaye phasso phusanā samphusanā samphusitattaṁ— ayaṁ tasmiṁ samaye phasso hoti.
>
Yaṁ tasmiṁ samaye ... vedanā— ayaṁ tasmiṁ samaye vedanā hoti.
>
Yā tasmiṁ samaye ... saññā— ayaṁ tasmiṁ samaye saññā hoti.
>
Yā tasmiṁ samaye ... cetanā sañcetanā cetayitattaṁ— ayaṁ tasmiṁ samaye cetanā hoti.
The same section later gathers many associated factors into the saṅkhārakkhandha side of the analysis. (Dhs 75)
Dhs 75 (ds2.1.1:75.2–75.3)
Phasso cetanā vitakko vicāro pīti cittassekaggatā ... alobho adoso amoho ... sati sampajaññaṁ samatho vipassanā paggāho avikkhepo ...
Analysis
The core Abhidhamma question is not whether mental factors exist, but how they arise with consciousness and differentiate one occasion of mind from another. (Dhs 14-17, Dhs 75)
They arise with consciousness
The canonical pattern is not "a mind plus optional decorations". Rather, each conscious event is analysed together with a structured field of associated mental factors. The factors are distinguishable, but they are given as arising in a shared occasion (tasmiṁ samaye). (Dhs 14-18, Dhs 75)
They explain ethical tone
When the Dhammasaṅgaṇī analyses a wholesome consciousness, factors such as alobha, adosa, and amoha appear. When it analyses unwholesome states, the defining factors shift accordingly. This is how the Abhidhamma explains why different cittas differ morally and functionally. (Dhs 44-49; Dhs 365ff.)
On the familiar count "52"
Theravāda manuals commonly speak of fifty-two mental factors. That fixed count is a standard Theravāda systematisation grounded in Abhidhamma analysis, but the opening canonical method is definitional and contextual rather than a single numbered list announced in one line. This page therefore roots the category in the Dhammasaṅgaṇī's actual analyses first. (Dhs 14-17, Dhs 75)
Textual notes
- The word cetasika itself is the adjectival form "mental / of the mind". In Abhidhamma usage it functions substantively for the factors associated with consciousness.
- The full later enumeration of fifty-two mental factors should not be treated as if the canon itself opens with that single numerical headline; the canonical texts build the category analytically.