Grammatical Analysis
Chanda: [m.] desire; zeal; will-to-do; purposeful resolve. From root chand (to please, wish for).
Orthodox Definition
In Theravāda psychology, chanda is an ethically variable mental factor (pakiṇṇaka-cetasika). It must be strictly separated from taṇhā (craving) and lobha (greed). While craving is a blind, unwholesome thirst that clings to objects, chanda is simply the neutral psychological “will-to-do” or the desire to act.
When chanda is directed toward sense pleasures, it becomes the unwholesome hindrance of kāmacchanda. However, when it is directed toward liberation, ethical purity, and the realization of Nibbāna, it becomes Dhammacchanda (wholesome zeal).
As the first Base of Spiritual Power (iddhipāda), wholesome chanda acts as a massive engine for spiritual progress. The Atthasālinī describes its characteristic as the desire to act (kattukamyatā-lakkhaṇa), comparing it to the stretching out of a hand to grasp a target. Without this fundamental, driving desire to achieve awakening, no meditation practice can succeed.
Textual References
- Sutta: Brāhmaṇa Sutta (SN 51.15) – The beautiful dialogue where Venerable Ānanda explains to a Brahmin that the path is not endless desire; rather, the wholesome desire (chanda) to reach the destination naturally ceases the moment the destination (Arahatship) is reached.
- Abhidhamma: Dhammasaṅgaṇī (Classification of occasional mental factors).
- Commentary: Atthasālinī – Differentiating the mechanics of neutral zeal versus toxic greed.