Cetanā

Cetanā (Sanskrit, Pali; Tibetan: sems pa) - is translated as "volition", "directionality", or "attraction". It is defined as the process of the mind moving forward and settling on an object.[1][2] It is one of the fifty-one or fifty-two mental states (saṅkhāra) within the Abhidharma teachings.

The Abhidharma-samuccaya states:

What is directionality? It is a mental activity that propels the mind forward. It has the function of making the mind settle on what is positive, negative, or indeterminate.[2]

Herbert Guenther states:

It is a mental event that arouses and urges the mind with its corresponding events on towards an object. From among all mental events, it is said to be the most important because the force of this mental event sets the mind and any mental event on to the object. Just as iron cannot but be attracted by it magnet, so also the mind cannot be but set on an object by this mental event.[2]

Cetanā operates with six supports, or along six channels:[1][2]

  1. Cetanā occurring in visual situations
  2. Cetanā occurring in auditory situations
  3. Cetanā occurring in olfactory situations
  4. Cetanā occurring in gustatory situations
  5. Cetanā occurring in tactile situations
  6. Cetanā occurring in thought situations

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Erik Pema Kunsang (translator) (2004). Gateway to Knowledge, Vol. 1. North Atlantic Books. p. 23.
  2. ^ a b c d Herbert V. Guenther & Leslie S. Kawamura, Mind in Buddhist Psychology: A Translation of Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan's "The Necklace of Clear Understanding" Dharma Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Kindle Locations 386-392).

External links