user157: Is there a Buddhist concept that maps to the western concept of the will? For instance the will to get up on a morning, to go to work, practice Buddhism etc... One of my teachers said that it is just another name for our greed, hatred and delusion. I really like that concept but I wonder if the will is discussed in Buddhist texts or by established teachers and in what terms.

user2282: 
Is there a Buddhist concept that maps to the western concept of the will? For instance the will to get up on a morning, to go to work, practice Buddhism etc...

There's the Four Right Kinds of Striving (Sammappadhana), part of the 37 Aids to Enlightenment:

MN 77: “Again, Udāyin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to develop the four right kinds of striving.

Here a bhikkhu awakens zeal for the non-arising of unarisen evil unwholesome states, and he makes effort, arouses energy, exerts his mind, and strives.

He awakens zeal for the abandoning of arisen evil unwholesome states...

He awakens zeal for the arising of unarisen wholesome states…

He awakens zeal for the continuance, non-disappearance, strengthening, increase, and fulfilment by development of arisen wholesome states, and he makes effort, arouses energy, exerts his mind, and strives. And thereby many disciples of mine abide having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge.




user-1: Will is cetana, 'consciousness, sense, thought, intention,' the original and originating kinetic aspect of trans-dual reality. Intention is of course the essence of karma, correlative to the "act of observation" in quantum physics.
It is the root of samsara, the principle where samsara originates in reality, not in the sense of a temporal sequence but in the sense of logical primacy. Desirous attachment is will in its objectifying mode. Based on your examples it might also be correlated with 'energy' (viriya'), to which the Buddha frequently exhorts his followers, contrary to the view that Buddhist practitioners are "passive." 

user43: "the will to get up on a morning, to go to work, practice Buddhism etc"
This sounds similar to Mahayana's virya-paramita, paramita of exertion or energy. According to Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the key factor of this is joy. The key to exertion is not as much forcing oneself, as it is an ability to derive delight from the element of doing the right thing.
My last teacher called this the power of good news. He said we should be the masters of information, instead of letting the information drive us around. My Zen master said the same about meditation: don't fight the thoughts but don't let them drive you either. Buddha called this the right attention, focusing on things that help us, not on things that wreck us.
The will your teacher referred to as the three poisons is the samsaric will, the will that drives us. Even the will to practice Buddhism on the initial stages can be a type of samsaric will. We hear a nice story about Nirvana and we get inspired to practice. Like a donkey following a carrot on a stick. This is what he must have meant.
The will that is without defilements -- the Enlightened will we could say -- is not dependent on a carrot. It is the choice you make to be motivated by whatever it is that you chose. It is like making yourself fall in love and then maintaining the affair by deliberately focusing only on signs that stimulate it.
The will that is like "another name for our greed, hatred and delusion" seems the same from non-dualistic no-free-will victim perspective, but from Enlightened master's perspective it is quite the opposite. Enlightenment does entail disenchantment and exhaustion of all projects or impulses, but that only means the projects/impulses that come from greed, hatred and delusion. It does not mean you don't have will to do things you see as worth of doing.

user745: The will to do something would probably be equivalent to the term cetana, which means intention or an act of will. The term itself doesn't have any particular positive or negative connotation, as you can have a cetana that is good just as easily as a cetana to do something bad.
Most significantly, the cetana formed with an act is what determines the kind of karma that is produced, as is explained in AN 6.063 where the Buddha said:

Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of
  body, speech, & intellect.


157: <p>Is there a Buddhist concept that maps to the western concept of the will? For instance the will to get up on a morning, to go to work, practice Buddhism etc... One of my teachers said that it is just another name for our greed, hatred and delusion. I really like that concept but I wonder if the will is discussed in Buddhist texts or by established teachers and in what terms.</p>
 2282: <blockquote>
<p>Is there a Buddhist concept that maps to the western concept of the will? For instance the will to get up on a morning, to go to work, practice Buddhism etc...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There's the Four Right Kinds of Striving (Sammappadhana), part of the 37 Aids to Enlightenment:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://suttacentral.net/en/mn77" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MN 77</a>: “Again, Udāyin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to develop the four right kinds of striving.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Here a bhikkhu awakens zeal for the non-arising of unarisen evil unwholesome states, and he makes effort, arouses energy, exerts his mind, and strives.</p>
</li>
<li><p>He awakens zeal for the abandoning of arisen evil unwholesome states...</p>
</li>
<li><p>He awakens zeal for the arising of unarisen wholesome states…</p>
</li>
<li><p>He awakens zeal for the continuance, non-disappearance, strengthening, increase, and fulfilment by development of arisen wholesome states, and he makes effort, arouses energy, exerts his mind, and strives. And thereby many disciples of mine abide having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
 -1: <p>Will is cetana, 'consciousness, sense, thought, intention,' the original and originating kinetic aspect of trans-dual reality. Intention is of course the essence of karma, correlative to the "act of observation" in quantum physics.</p>

<p>It is the root of samsara, the principle where samsara originates in reality, not in the sense of a temporal sequence but in the sense of logical primacy. Desirous attachment is will in its objectifying mode. Based on your examples it might also be correlated with 'energy' (viriya'), to which the Buddha frequently exhorts his followers, contrary to the view that Buddhist practitioners are "passive." </p>
 43: <p><em>"the will to get up on a morning, to go to work, practice Buddhism etc"</em></p>

<p>This sounds similar to Mahayana's <em>virya-paramita</em>, paramita of exertion or energy. According to Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the key factor of this is joy. The key to exertion is not as much forcing oneself, as it is an ability to derive delight from the element of doing the right thing.</p>

<p>My last teacher called this the power of good news. He said we should be the masters of information, instead of letting the information drive us around. My Zen master said the same about meditation: don't fight the thoughts but don't let them drive you either. Buddha called this the right attention, focusing on things that help us, not on things that wreck us.</p>

<p>The will your teacher referred to as <em>the three poisons</em> is the samsaric will, the will that <em>drives us</em>. Even the will to practice Buddhism on the initial stages can be a type of samsaric will. We hear a nice story about Nirvana and we get inspired to practice. Like a donkey following a carrot on a stick. This is what he must have meant.</p>

<p>The will that is without defilements -- the Enlightened will we could say -- is not dependent on a carrot. It is the choice you make to be motivated by whatever it is that you chose. It is like making yourself fall in love and then maintaining the affair by deliberately focusing only on signs that stimulate it.</p>

<p>The will that is like "another name for our greed, hatred and delusion" seems the same from non-dualistic no-free-will victim perspective, but from Enlightened master's perspective it is quite the opposite. Enlightenment does entail disenchantment and exhaustion of all projects or impulses, but that only means the projects/impulses that come from greed, hatred and delusion. It does not mean you don't have will to do things you see as worth of doing.</p>
 745: <p>The will to do something would probably be equivalent to the term cetana, which means intention or an act of will. The term itself doesn't have any particular positive or negative connotation, as you can have a cetana that is good just as easily as a cetana to do something bad.</p>

<p>Most significantly, the cetana formed with an act is what determines the kind of karma that is produced, as is explained in <a href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.063.than.html#part-5" rel="nofollow">AN 6.063</a> where the Buddha said:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of
  body, speech, &amp; intellect.</p>
</blockquote>
