5  cetanā

5.0.1 overview

The meaning of cetanā lies at the intersection between the semantic domains of Thought and Will, where it spans three distinct senses. First and foremost, cetanā refers to a form of volitional thinking, understood as the mental impulse behind bodily, verbal, or mental actions, especially in discussions about karma.1 In Abhidharma contexts, this sense finds a terminological application where cetanā serves as a caitasika dharma, specifically the mental factor that drives or urges the mind toward a specific object or goal.2 More broadly, cetanā also expresses the notion of consciousness intended as the defining characteristic of a sentient being.3

semantic Tree

5.0.2 frequency & register

Cetanā is a mid to low frequency word in our corpus, with its highest concentration in śāstras and very little occurrences in narrative literature. This may indicate a primarily technical function of this term.

Figure 5.1: frequency relative to other words in the corpus

Figure 5.2: genre frequency

Figure 5.3: genre frequency

5.0.3 context

Collocational patterns featuring cetanā can be found throughout our corpus. The compound “citt-ābhisaṃskāra” (mental formation/volition) appears frequently, defining cetanā’s essential characteristic as mental activity that shapes consciousness.4 The compound “vedanā-saṃjñā-cetanā” (feeling-perception-volition) represents a standard enumeration of universal mental factors.

Particularly significant is the karmic formulation “cetanā karma cetayitvā ca” (volition is karma, and having willed), which establishes cetanā as both the mental act of willing and the karmic force generated thereby.5 This dual function appears prominently in Abhidharma literature, where cetanā serves as the crucial link between mental intention and ethical consequence.

Figure 5.4: collocations wordcloud

5.0.4 connotation

In our annotated data, the semantic prosody of cetanā is predominantly neutral. Still, positive hues emerge in contexts discussing wholesome mental cultivation, e.g. in the Lalitavistara: “tasy ^aiva me viharataḥ prāptasya ^uttama-cetanām” (having attained supreme volition). A more negative prosody occurs when the term is negated in discussions of ultimate reality, such as in the Kāśyapaparivarta: “yatra kāśyapa na cetanā na mano na vijñānam” (where there is neither volition, nor mind, nor consciousness).

This entry is based on version 6 of of the Visual Dictionary of Buddhist Sanskrit, see data at zenodo.org/records/13985112

  1. cetanā citt-^ābhisaṃskāro manasaś ceṣṭā yasyāṃ satyām ālambanaṃ prati cetasaḥ praspanda iva bhavaty ayaskānta-vaśād ayaḥ-praspandavat / triṃśikābhāṣya 58
    “Cetanā or will is the mental effort that conditions (re-arranges) the mind; which being there, the mind flows in a stream towards the object (of cognition) as does iron towards the mass of a magnet.” [Chatterjee 46]↩︎

  2. […] cakṣuḥ pratītya rūpāṇi c ^ otpadyate cakṣur-vijñānaṃ trayāṇāṃ saṃnipātaḥ sparśaḥ saha-jātā vedanā saṃjñā cetan^eti / abhidharmakośabhāṣya 146
    “(The Vaibhasikas:) If sensation is later than contact, you have to take into account the Sutra, ‘By reason of the eye and visible things there arises visual consciousness; the coming together of the three is contact; together there arises (sahajāta) sensation, ideas, volition’.” [Pruden 429]↩︎

  3. a-cetanaś ca n ^aiv ^āham a-caitanyāt paṭ-^ādivat / atha jñaś cetanā-yogād a-jño naṣṭaḥ prasajyate // bodhicaryāvatāra 9.68
    “That which is not conscious is not ‘I’ because it lacks con­sciousness like an object such as a cloth. If it is a conscious thing because it possesses consciousness it follows that when it stops being conscious of something it perishes.” [Crosby & Skilton 122]↩︎

  4. cetanā citt-^ābhisaṃskāro manasaś ceṣṭā yasyāṃ satyām ālambanaṃ prati cetasaḥ praspanda iva bhavaty ayaskānta-vaśād ayaḥ-praspandavat / triṃśikābhāṣya 58
    “Cetanā or will is the mental effort that conditions (re-arranges) the mind; which being there, the mind flows in a stream towards the object (of cognition) as does iron towards the mass of a magnet.” [Chatterjee 46]↩︎

  5. tathā cetanā karma cetayitvā karma iti vacanāc ca / bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā 222
    “And likewise in accordance with the statement, ‘Intention (cetanā) is action; having intended is action.’” [Oldmeadow 471.8]↩︎