Details of Kamma – Intention, Who Is Affected, Kamma Patha

We discuss several factors that determine the strength of a kamma, including intention, who is affected, and how each of the forty types of kamma becomes a kamma patha that can lead to rebirths in the apāyās.

July 24, 2022; last revised August 3, 2026

Cetanā in Kamma Is Sañcetanā

• Did the Buddha refer to the cetanā cetasika in the above verse? No, because the cetanā cetasika is in EVERY citta. I introduced cetasika in “Cetasika (Mental Factors)” and have discussed some aspects of them in the “Citta and Cetasika” section.
• The meaning becomes more apparent with the next verse in the “Nibbedhika Sutta (AN 6.63)“: “Cetayitvā kammaṁ karoti—kāyena vācāya manasā,” meaning “After making a ‘defiled intention’, one takes ‘defiled action’ (kamma)—by way of body, speech, and mind.”
• Thus, one acts with intention ONLY AFTER an ārammaṇa comes to mind first. One decides how to respond to a sensory input that just came in as a kamma vipāka. The intention depends on the type of action one chooses to take.

Six Types of Sañcetanā 

2. Six types of sañcetanā (cetanā with “san” or defilements of rāga, dosa, moha) can arise based on the six types of sensory inputs. We need to keep in mind that in many suttāss, “cetanā” means “sañcetanā.”

• That is stated in the “Upādānaparipavatta Sutta (SN 22.56): “Chayime, bhikkhave, cetanā kāyā—rūpa sañcetanā, sadda sañcetanā, gandha sañcetanā, rasa sañcetanā, phoṭṭhabba sañcetanā, dhamma sañcetanā. Ime vuccanti, bhikkhave, saṅkhārā.”
• It is also clear from the above verse that saṅkhārā are generated with sañcetanā.
• Thus, it is with sañcetanā that one engages in kamma with (abhi)saṅkhāra.

3. We are not talking about neutral actions like walking to the kitchen with the intention of getting a glass of water. In Buddha Dhamma, cetanā does not refer to such ‘neutral intentions’, but only those involving raga, dosa, or moha in the mind. They are sañcetanā leading to puñña/kusala kamma or apuñña/akusala kamma that can lead to good or bad vipāka in the future.

• Thus, the “intention” involves puñña/kusala kamma or apuñña/akusala kamma. Based on that, we can see that the critical point is whether “good cetasika,” like compassion, or “bad cetasika,” like greed or anger, arises in the mind.
•  Cetanā cetasika combines the cumulative effect of many cetasika that come into play. The ‘DEFILED intention’ (sañcetanā) comes from the types of cetasika incorporated by the cetanā cetasika, based on one’s gati.“

Connection to Gati/Anusaya

4. The “intention” in committing an akusala kammā is one of the dasa akusala. That intention arises BECAUSE OF one’s gati. A particular set of cetasika will arise automatically according to one’s gati (pronounced “gathi”). Of course, gati is closely related to one’s anusaya.

• When committing an akusala kammā, a set of four universal cetasika always comes into play. Those are moha (ignorance), Ahirika (shamelessness),  Anottapa (fearlessness in the wrong), and uddhacca (restlessness or agitation).
• Other “akusala cetasika,” like lobha, diṭṭhi, vicikicca, etc., may also be present depending on the situation and the person committing the act; see “Cetasika – Connection to Gati.” For example, one may lie about something because of greed (lobha); another person may tell the same lie because of hate (dosa). The consequences are worse for the latter.
• When committing an akusala/apuñña kamma, the intention is to do one (or more) of the dasa akusala. Thus cetanā cetasika is not the “intention.” The “intention” depends on how the cetanā cetasika incorporates one’s gati/anusaya when it “prepares” a citta in response to ārammaṇa.
• Kusala/puñña kammā work the same way. Here the “intention” (sañcetanā) is to commit one or more kusala/puñña kammā, and here a set of moral (or sobhana) cetasika come into play.

5. From #4, it may appear that we don’t have control over the response to an ārammaṇa. But #4 only describes the initial “automatic response” to an ārammaṇa with mano saṅkhāra. That happens automatically in the ‘purāna kamma‘ stage; see “Purāna and Nava Kamma – Sequence of Kamma Generation.”

• However, we can change that automatic response when generating vaci and kāya saṅkhāra. If we are mindful, we can catch ourselves starting to engage in bad kamma and stop it. See “Correct Meaning of Vacī Sankhāra.”
• Suppose we instead keep generating bad vaci and kāya saṅkhāra (by going along with bad gati/anusaya). In that case, we will strengthen that bad kamma by strengthening our expectation in the ‘nava kamma‘ stage; see “Purāna and Nava Kamma – Sequence of Kamma Generation.”

Connection to Viññāṇa and Rebirth

6. In the “Cetanā Sutta (SN 12.38),” we get further clarification on how this “intention” relates to our “future expectations” that manifest as “viññāṇa.”  

“Yañca, bhikkhave, ceteti yañca pakappeti yañca anuseti, ārammaṇametaṁ hoti viññāṇassa ṭhitiyā. 
Ārammaṇe sati patiṭṭhā viññāṇassa hoti. Tasmiṁ patiṭṭhite viññāṇe virūḷhe āyatiṁ punabbhavābhinibbatti hoti.”

Translated: 

“Bhikkhus,  what you intend or plan (based on your underlying tendencies or anusaya), help grow that anusaya and become a support for the viññāṇa.
When one focuses on an ārammaṇa (with an expectation/intention), viññāṇa becomes established.
When that viññāṇa is established and grows, that can bring rebirth into a new state of existence in the future.”

• That is what I mentioned in #1 above. For an intention/expectation to arise, an ārammaṇa must first bring in sensory input. For greedy anticipation for a particular food to occur, one must either taste that food or the memory of consuming that food must come to mind first.
• Then we start thinking, speaking, and acting about how to get more of it to eat. The more we do, the more that “viññāṇa” will grow (“saṅkhāra paccaya viññāṇa” in Paṭicca Samuppāda.)
• Growing the “viññāṇa” is the same as “growing the strength of the kamma.” Such saṅkhāra are abhisaṅkhāra!
• That is how we accumulate kamma with intention (cetanā).
• Regarding anuseti (help grow that anusaya), see “Anuseti – How Anusaya Grows with Saṅkhāra.”

Strength of Kamma Depends on the Victim Too