Intention

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Intention (Skt. cetanā; Tib. སེམས་པ་, Wyl. sems pa) — one of the fifty-one mental states defined in Abhidharma literature. According to the Compendium of Abhidharma, it belongs to the subgroup of the five ever-present mental states.

Definitions

In the Khenjuk,Mipham Rinpoche says (Tib. སེམས་པ་ནི་སེམས་ཡུལ་ལ་གཡོ་ཞིང་འཇུག་པ།)

  • Intention is the mind moving towards and engaging with an object (▷RIGPA)
  • Attraction describes the process of mind [attention] moving towards and becoming involved with an object (Erik Pema Kunsang)

In terms of support, there are six, such as 'intention upon the meeting of the eye' [i.e. between object, sense faculty and consciousness], and so on.

The Ornament of Abhidharma says that if there is intention, it focuses on the six objects, and it makes the mind actually manifest and move toward its object, like iron to a magnet. It can be divided into six, in relation to the six (faculties). Its function is to give rise to the actions of body and speech.

Alternative Translations

  • attraction (Erik Pema Kunsang)
  • an urge (Berzin)
  • Volition (David Karma Choepel, Gyurme Dorje, Tony Duff[1])

Notes

  1. Tony Duff: It operates to take the mind towards its object and fix it to it. There is no specific term for this in the English language but it has been variously translated as "will", "motivation", "volition", "(mental) drive", "directionality". It is the drive in mind which results in either mental action or mentally motivated action of body or speech. Therefore it is regarded as equivalent to karma. In this way, the (chos mngon mdzod) Abhidharmakoṣha says that there are two types of karma. If something is thought in the mind, automatically that drive produces sems pa'i las "mental karma". If, due to thinking of something, speech or bodily action ensue, then there is bsam pa'i las "mentally motivated karma"