Mental activity is made up of six types of consciousness that are aware of an object as being a sight, a sound, and so on, and 51 types of mental factors that qualify or help with the cognition of that object.

An overview of the history of the Hui, who are unique among the 56 officially recognized nationalities of China in that religion (Islam) is their only unifying category of identity. They have no common unique national tongue, have had much intermarriage with Han Chinese, and live in almost every city and town across China.

While Han Chinese are interested in Tibetan Buddhism, and some monasteries had been reconstructed in 1994, the monastic education level in Han China was low, mostly due to the lack of qualified teachers. Monasteries often functioned more like museums or tourist attractions rather than centers of learning.

Sautrantika, as presented by Vasubandhu, and Chittamatra, as presented by Asanga, agree with Vaibhashika that ignorance is an anti-knowing mental factor that merely stupefies the mind.

According to Vaibhashika, ignorance is an anti-knowing mental factor that merely stupefies the mind regarding the four noble truths.