First verse of dhammapada:
"all phenomena of existence have mind as their precursor, mind as their
supreme leader, and of mind are they made. If with an impure mind one speaks
or acts, suffering follows him in the same way as the wheel follows the foot
of the chariot."
Most translations I've seen have mano = mind. A few days ago, Bhikkhu
Samahita translated mano in this verse as "intention", which gives the verse
an interesting twist. What do you guys think of that?
In Nyanatiloka's dictionary, mano is defined as a conglomeration of
vinnana/consciousness and citta (abidhamma definition). BTW citta in this
book is defined as a synonym of mano, which doesn't help clarify what
abidhamma means by a compound of mano=vinnana+citta.
I think translating mano as "intention" for this verse makes it too specific
and renders the meaning of the verse incorrect for many instances, whereas
"mind" has a much broader scope. For example, Christians proselytizing often
have very pure intention to save the world, Christian fundamentalists
blowing up abortion clinics, Moslem terrorists suicide car bombers, all
might have a very sincere desire to do good. While "intention" is a very key
part of determining the magnitude of wholesome kamma, by itself "intention"
is not enough to ensure good kamma. If we judge those examples above
strictly by how much good intention was put forth, then there should be
abundant good kamma arising from their actions, according to Samahita's
verse. This is why I prefer translation of "mind" as mano, since it has a
broad enough range that it leaves open that not only intention, but a
sufficient amount of mundane right view is prerequisite for wholesome kamma
to arise.