'attention', 'mental advertence',
'reflection'.
1. As a psychological term, attention belongs to the
construction-group (sankhāra-kkhandha; s. Tab. II) and is one of the 7
mental factors (cetasika) that are inseparably associated with all states
of consciousness (s. cetanā). In M. 9, it is given as one of the factors
representative of mind (nāma) It is the mind's first 'confrontation with
an object' and 'binds the associated mental factors to the object.' It is,
therefore, the prominent factor in two specific classes of consciousness: i.e.
'advertence (āvajjana, q.v.) at the five sense-doors' (Tab. I, 70) and
at the mind-door (Tab. I, 71). These two states of consciousness, breaking
through the subconscious life-continuum (bhavanga), form the first stage
in the perceptual process (citta-vīthi; s. viññāna-kicca). See
Vis.M. XIV, 152.
2. In a more general sense, the term appears frequently in
the Suttas as yoniso-manasikāra, 'wise (or reasoned, methodical)
attention' or 'wise reflection'. It is said, in M. 2, to counteract the fermentations (āsava,
q.v.); it is a condition for the arising of right view (s. M. 43), of
Stream-entry (s. sotāpattiyanga), and of the factors of enlightenment
(s. S. XLVI, 2.49,51). - 'Unwise attention' (ayoniso-manasikāra) leads
to the arising of the fermentations (s. M. 2) and of the five hindrances (s. S. XLVI,
2.51).

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