The subsidiary awareness (mental factor) that causes the mental activity to face an object or to go in its direction. In general, it moves a mental continuum to cognitively take an object. It is equivalent to mental karma and, according to Sautrantika, Chittamatra, Svatantrika-Madhyamaka, and the non-Gelug Prasangika-Madhyamaka schools, it is equivalent to physical and verbal karmas as well.
Tibetan: སེམས་པ། sems-pa
Sanskrit: cetanā
J. Hopkins: Attention; intention; intentionality; will
Synonyms: Impulse, Mental impulse; Urge; Compelling urge; Karmic urge
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