A subsidiary awareness (mental factor) that, like a magnet, draws the consciousness and its accompanying additional mental factors, compelling them to focus on an object and to commit an intended action with or to that object (think about it, or say or do something to it or with it). The specific action is what the accompanying mental factor of intention (‘dun-pa) identifies as what you wish and intend to do with or to it. If it is a mental urge, it is pervasive that it is a karmic impulse of the mind (yid-kyi las). But if it is a karmic impulse of the mind, it is not pervasive that it is an inciting karmic impulse (sems-pa'i las). (1) In the Sautrantika and Chittamatra systems, an incited karmic impulse (bsam-pa'i las) is mental urge and a karmic impulse of the mind, but neither an inciting karmic impulse nor a karmic impulse for an action of the mind. (2) In the Vaibhashika and Prasangika systems, the mental urge that brings on an incited karmic impulse (a form of a physical phenomena) is a karmic impulse of the mind, but neither an inciting nor an incited karmic impulse.
Tibetan: སེམས་པ། sems-pa
Sanskrit: cetanā
J. Hopkins: Attention; Intention; Intentionality; Will
Synonyms: Impulse; Mental impulse; Urge; Compelling urge; Karmic urge
Other languages
Related terms