Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c9.s3.27

c9.s3.27

Of the psychology of will and the emotions the Canon has almost nothing systematic. The dependence of volition on desire and of desire on feeling is elaborated in the chain of causation but without psychological insight or purpose. The connexion of thought and action is close (cetanā, saṃcetanā); thinking, one acts by deed, word, or thought,¹ a distinction of modes emphasizing the element of purpose as essential to characterize the moral quality of action. The planning out of a course of action or deliberate resolve is denoted by Saṃkappa, a fashioning or moulding. The union of intellectual activity with attention and pleasure, the product seems to be denoted by the term Piti, for which zest is perhaps the best rendering available.