Manaskāra: The Switch of the Mind

The Cheng Weishi Lun defines manaskāra: "Alerting the mind as its nature, directing the mind toward its object as its function." Two roles — awakening (rousing mind from dormancy) and directing (pointing mind at a specific object). Manaskāra is more fundamental than "deciding" to pay attention — it's the switch that takes mind from latent to active.