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In Buddhism, vitarka (; ; ), "applied thought,"(initial) inquiry," and vicāra ( and ; ), "investigating what has been focused on by vitakka, are qualities or elements of the first dhyāna or jhāna.
In the Pali canon, Vitakka-vicāra form one expression, which refers to directing one's thought or attention on an object ( vitarka) and investigating it ( vicāra), "breaking it down into its functional components" to understand it and distinguishing the multitude of conditioning factors implicated in a phenomenal event."
The later Theravada commentarial tradition, as represented by Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, interprets vitarka and vicāra as the initial and sustained application of attention to a meditational object, which culminates in the stilling of the mind. According to Fox and Bucknell vitarka-vicāra may also refer to "the normal process of discursive thought," which is quieted through absorption in the second jhāna.
Vicāra (Sanskrit: विचार) - "investigation," "subsequent discursive reasoning and thought, i.e., investigating what has been focused on by vitakka." Its roots are:
Vitarka investigates things roughly, while vicāra investigates things exactly. According to Dan Lusthaus, it is
According to Polak, in the Pali Canon vitarka and vicāra are mostly related to thinking about the sense-impressions, which give rise to further egoistical thought and action. The stilling of this thinking fits into the Buddhist training of sense-withdrawal and right effort, culminating in the equanimity and mindfulness of dhyana-practice.
Ulrich Timme Kragh explains vitarka (discernment) and vicāra (discursiveness), as understood by the Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra, thus: discernment is "the cognitive operation that is responsible for ascertaining what is perceived by the senses by initially labeling it with a name", while discursiveness is "the subsequent conceptual operation of deciding whether the perceived sense-object is desirable and what course of action one might want to take in relation to it".Ulrich Timme Kragh (editor), The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners: The Buddhist Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet, Volume 1 Harvard University, Department of South Asian studies, 2013, p. 72.
According to Chaicen, "Samadhi with general examination and specific Dhamma vicaya means getting rid of the Five hindrances, such as greedy desire and hatred, to stay in joy and pleasure caused by nonarising, and to enter the first meditation and fully dwell in it."
While initially simply referring to thought, which is present at the onset of dhyāna, the terms vitarka and vicāra were re-interpreted by the developing Abhidharma and commentarial tradition. In Theravāda, vitarka is one of the mental factors that apprehend the quality of an object. It is the "initial application of attention" or the mind to its object, while vicāra is the sustained application of the mind on an object. Vitarka is regarded in the Theravāda tradition as an antidote for thina-middha (sloth and torpor), one of the five hindrances.
Martin Stuart-Fox explains, referring to Rhys Davids and Stede, when vitarka-vicāra are mentioned in tandem, they are one expression, "to cover all varieties of thinking, including sustained and focused thought. It is thinking in this inclusive sense that the meditator suppresses through concentration when he attains one-ness of mind and thus moves from first to second jhāna".
Theravāda tradition:
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