Chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
The classic Heart Sutra translation by Edward Conze uses a strange term, "thought coverings." What he was translating was new to English, the technical Buddhist psychological terms vitakka and vicara. They are not "thinking" as such. The enlightened scholar-monk Pa Auk Sayadaw translates them as initial application and sustained application of mind.
That's somewhat like thought but completely different from discursive thinking (the wandering mind). Ven. Thanissaro -- who often makes idiosyncratic and utterly misleading word choices spread widely on accesstoinsight.org -- errs terribly to translate them as "thinking and pondering," but the mistake is understandable when we look at Bhikkhu Bodhi's treatment of these terms: They refer to a component of thinking, the "mounting of the mind on the object" then "staying on it."
They are two factors of meditative absorption (jhana) found in the first absorption, so they are crucial to understand. There is no thinking in the first absorption, only awareness. In yogic terms the absorptions and meditations (dhyanas and dharanas), it is as if the vrittis are settling and undisturbed. The state is full of brightness and singlepointed. It is too close to normal conscious, which has thinking, for comfort. So one moves on to the second absorption, which is better, has fewer faults, is more peaceful.
The Buddha compared them by analogy to the flying of a bird. A bird on a branch wishing to soar first jumps and flaps and struggles then settles down and glides through the air almost effortlessly. The flapping is like vitakka initially applying the mind to the meditation object, having to bring it back again and again. But after a time it stays apparently without effort. It sustains, and that the vicara.
Let's check our handy online Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia (ChinaBuddhismEncyclopedia.com):
Vitakka (Sanskrit vitarkah) is a Buddhist term that has been translated as "conception," "application of thought," and so on.
In the ancient Theravada Buddhist tradition, it is defined as the mental factor that mounts or directs the mind towards an object. In the Mahayana tradition, vitakka is defined as a mental factor that investigates things roughly.
Vitakka is identified as: One of the six occasional mental factors within the Theravada Abhidhamma system. It is one of the four changeable mental factors in the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings.
Vitakka is the first of four or five mental factors present in the first jhana (Sanskrit dhyana), the first "meditative absorption."
Explanations
From a Theravada perspective the American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi (Jeffrey Block) explains:
"In the suttas (sutras), the word vittaka is often used in the loose sense of thought, but in the Abhidhamma it is used in a precise technical sense to mean the mental factor that mounts or directs the mind towards an object [in normal consciousness as well as meditation].
"Just as a king's favorite might conduct a villager to the palace, even so vitakka directs the mind onto the object. In the practice of attaining jhana [meditation, absorption, ecstasy], vitakka has the special task of inhibiting the hindrance [see the Five Hindrances] of sloth and torpor (thina-middha) [mental and physical laziness]."
The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga IV, 88) defines vitakka as follows:
"...Herein, applied thinking (vitakkama) is applied thought (vitakka) [initial application of mind]; hitting upon, is what is meant. It has the characteristic of directing the mind onto an object (mounting the mind on its object).
"Its function is to strike at and thresh -- for the meditator is said, in virtue of it, to have the object touched and struck at by applied thought [application of mind]. It is manifested as the leading of the mind onto an object..."
Nina van Gorkom explains: The Atthasālinī (Book I, Part IV, Chapter I, 114)… uses a simile of someone who wants to “ascend” [to] the king's palace and depends on a relative or friend dear to the king to achieve this.
In the same way the citta [mind moment] which is accompanied by vitakka depends on the latter in order to “ascend” to the object, to be directed to the object. Vitakka leads the citta to the object so that citta can cognize it.
In relation to vicara [sustained application of mind], it is said that: "Vitakka is the directing of concomitant properties towards the object; vicāra is the continued exercise of the mind on that object."
It is also said [apparently by Ven. Thanissaro because who else uses ampersands as if they were proper English?] that: "Vitakka has the characteristic of fixity & steadiness, vicāra that of movement & display." [This would be exactly backward because initially there is gross movement and display, and subsequently there is fixity and steadiness, the increasingly subtle sustain.] More
What is vicara?
Vicara (Sanskrit and Pali vicāra) is a Buddhist term that is translated as "discernment," "sustained thinking," and so on. In the Theravada tradition, it is defined as the sustained application of mind on an object.
In the Mahayana tradition, vicara is defined as a mental factor that finely scrutinizes to discern the specific details.
Vicara is identified as: One of the six occasional mental factors within the Theravada Abhidhamma system. It is one of the four changeable mental factors within the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings and one of four or five mental factors present in the first jhana (Sanskrit dhyana). It is closely associated with the mental factor vitakka.
Explanations
From a Theravada point of view, American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi explains: "The word vicara usually means examination, but here it signifies the sustained application of the mind on the object.
"Whereas vitakka is the directing of the mind [cittas] and its concomitants [cetasikas] towards the object, vicara is the continued exercise of the mind on the object.
The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga IV, 88) defines vicara as follows: "...Sustained thinking [sustained application of mind] (vicaraṇa) is sustained thought (vicāra); continued sustenance (anusañcaraṇa) is what is meant. It has the characteristic of continued pressure on (occupation with) the object. Its function is to keep conascent (mental) states (occupied) with that. It is manifested as keeping consciousness anchored (on that object).
Nina van Gorkom explains: "Vicāra is not the same reality as vitakka. Vitakka directs the citta [mind] to the object and vicāra keeps the citta occupied with the object, “anchored” on it.
However, we should remember that both vitakka and vicāra perform their functions only for the duration of one citta ["mind moment" with "mind" being the "stream of cittas"] and then fall away immediately, together with the citta. Both the Visuddhimagga and the Atthasālinī use similes in order to explain the difference between vitakka and vicāra.
Vitakka is gross, and vicāra is more subtle. We read in the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification IV, 89): "...Applied thought (vitakka) is the first compact of the mind in the sense that it is both gross and inceptive, like the [initial] striking of a bell.
"Sustained thought (vicāra) is the act of keeping the mind anchored, in the sense that it is subtle with the individual essence of continued pressure, like the [sustained] ringing of the bell..." More
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| Kwan Yin as Avalokiteshvara |
That's somewhat like thought but completely different from discursive thinking (the wandering mind). Ven. Thanissaro -- who often makes idiosyncratic and utterly misleading word choices spread widely on accesstoinsight.org -- errs terribly to translate them as "thinking and pondering," but the mistake is understandable when we look at Bhikkhu Bodhi's treatment of these terms: They refer to a component of thinking, the "mounting of the mind on the object" then "staying on it."
They are two factors of meditative absorption (jhana) found in the first absorption, so they are crucial to understand. There is no thinking in the first absorption, only awareness. In yogic terms the absorptions and meditations (dhyanas and dharanas), it is as if the vrittis are settling and undisturbed. The state is full of brightness and singlepointed. It is too close to normal conscious, which has thinking, for comfort. So one moves on to the second absorption, which is better, has fewer faults, is more peaceful.
The Buddha compared them by analogy to the flying of a bird. A bird on a branch wishing to soar first jumps and flaps and struggles then settles down and glides through the air almost effortlessly. The flapping is like vitakka initially applying the mind to the meditation object, having to bring it back again and again. But after a time it stays apparently without effort. It sustains, and that the vicara.
Let's check our handy online Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia (ChinaBuddhismEncyclopedia.com):
Vitakka (Sanskrit vitarkah) is a Buddhist term that has been translated as "conception," "application of thought," and so on.
In the ancient Theravada Buddhist tradition, it is defined as the mental factor that mounts or directs the mind towards an object. In the Mahayana tradition, vitakka is defined as a mental factor that investigates things roughly.
Vitakka is identified as: One of the six occasional mental factors within the Theravada Abhidhamma system. It is one of the four changeable mental factors in the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings.
Vitakka is the first of four or five mental factors present in the first jhana (Sanskrit dhyana), the first "meditative absorption."
Explanations
From a Theravada perspective the American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi (Jeffrey Block) explains:
"In the suttas (sutras), the word vittaka is often used in the loose sense of thought, but in the Abhidhamma it is used in a precise technical sense to mean the mental factor that mounts or directs the mind towards an object [in normal consciousness as well as meditation].
"Just as a king's favorite might conduct a villager to the palace, even so vitakka directs the mind onto the object. In the practice of attaining jhana [meditation, absorption, ecstasy], vitakka has the special task of inhibiting the hindrance [see the Five Hindrances] of sloth and torpor (thina-middha) [mental and physical laziness]."
The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga IV, 88) defines vitakka as follows:
"...Herein, applied thinking (vitakkama) is applied thought (vitakka) [initial application of mind]; hitting upon, is what is meant. It has the characteristic of directing the mind onto an object (mounting the mind on its object).
"Its function is to strike at and thresh -- for the meditator is said, in virtue of it, to have the object touched and struck at by applied thought [application of mind]. It is manifested as the leading of the mind onto an object..."
Nina van Gorkom explains: The Atthasālinī (Book I, Part IV, Chapter I, 114)… uses a simile of someone who wants to “ascend” [to] the king's palace and depends on a relative or friend dear to the king to achieve this.
In the same way the citta [mind moment] which is accompanied by vitakka depends on the latter in order to “ascend” to the object, to be directed to the object. Vitakka leads the citta to the object so that citta can cognize it.
In relation to vicara [sustained application of mind], it is said that: "Vitakka is the directing of concomitant properties towards the object; vicāra is the continued exercise of the mind on that object."
It is also said [apparently by Ven. Thanissaro because who else uses ampersands as if they were proper English?] that: "Vitakka has the characteristic of fixity & steadiness, vicāra that of movement & display." [This would be exactly backward because initially there is gross movement and display, and subsequently there is fixity and steadiness, the increasingly subtle sustain.] More
What is vicara?
Vicara (Sanskrit and Pali vicāra) is a Buddhist term that is translated as "discernment," "sustained thinking," and so on. In the Theravada tradition, it is defined as the sustained application of mind on an object.
In the Mahayana tradition, vicara is defined as a mental factor that finely scrutinizes to discern the specific details.
Vicara is identified as: One of the six occasional mental factors within the Theravada Abhidhamma system. It is one of the four changeable mental factors within the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings and one of four or five mental factors present in the first jhana (Sanskrit dhyana). It is closely associated with the mental factor vitakka.
Explanations
From a Theravada point of view, American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi explains: "The word vicara usually means examination, but here it signifies the sustained application of the mind on the object.
"Whereas vitakka is the directing of the mind [cittas] and its concomitants [cetasikas] towards the object, vicara is the continued exercise of the mind on the object.
The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga IV, 88) defines vicara as follows: "...Sustained thinking [sustained application of mind] (vicaraṇa) is sustained thought (vicāra); continued sustenance (anusañcaraṇa) is what is meant. It has the characteristic of continued pressure on (occupation with) the object. Its function is to keep conascent (mental) states (occupied) with that. It is manifested as keeping consciousness anchored (on that object).
Nina van Gorkom explains: "Vicāra is not the same reality as vitakka. Vitakka directs the citta [mind] to the object and vicāra keeps the citta occupied with the object, “anchored” on it.
However, we should remember that both vitakka and vicāra perform their functions only for the duration of one citta ["mind moment" with "mind" being the "stream of cittas"] and then fall away immediately, together with the citta. Both the Visuddhimagga and the Atthasālinī use similes in order to explain the difference between vitakka and vicāra.
Vitakka is gross, and vicāra is more subtle. We read in the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification IV, 89): "...Applied thought (vitakka) is the first compact of the mind in the sense that it is both gross and inceptive, like the [initial] striking of a bell.
"Sustained thought (vicāra) is the act of keeping the mind anchored, in the sense that it is subtle with the individual essence of continued pressure, like the [sustained] ringing of the bell..." More
