Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
The cause of differentiation is consciousness. In some, differentiation can occur, while in others it cannot. Consciousness is only in the soul, not in the non-sentient.
Because it is an independent substance, it should have many qualities; then why is it referred to as a characteristic?
Indeed, the soul possesses infinite qualities, but among them, utility is primary. This is because being of the nature of self-illumination, it can know the self and the other. Apart from that, everything the soul knows about existence and non-existence, the new and the old, the experiences of happiness and suffering, all occur due to utility. Thus, utility is primary in all these qualities.
Is a characteristic different from the essence? No.
Then, what is the purpose of mentioning the characteristics of the soul when it refers to the first five substances as the soul?
Not all extraordinary qualities are the same. Some are truly present in the target, but they may occur sometimes and not at other times; some may not remain within the entire target; while others always reside within the entire target across all three times. The extraordinary quality that meets within the entire target across the three times is utility. Therefore, it has been differentiated as a characteristic and indicated as such.
That is the time.