The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning of the Word "Dharma" c8.19

c8.19

Volition (cetanā) is defined as the mental effort that precedes action. It is an element or a force which enters in the composition of a personal life (santāna). It must not be forgotten that, since there is no personality in the Buddhist outlook of the universe, there certainly is no will in our sense, i.e. no personal will. There is a certain arrangement of elements, there is an element, or a force, or, still more precisely, the simple fact (dharma) that the elements are arranged in a certain way, according to certain laws. This fact is pointed to by the term cetanā. It “arranges” (sañcetayati)³ the elements in “streams”, which simple folk deem to be personalities. It is synonymous with the law of moral causation (karma)⁴ and likewise with the force of vitality, the “élan vital” (bhāvanā, vāsanā), which in the Buddhist system replaces any conscious agent, whether soul or God or even a conscious human being.¹ A moment of this kind of will accompanies every conscious moment (*citta*).