Vitakka, vicāra, pīti, sukha or upekkha, ekaggata are cetasikas that can influence the mind to be fixed
on an object. They can be developed and strengthened by samatha-bhāvanā which is actually a form of mental training. Our mind is normally not
tranquil or calm. It is constantly agitated by five hindrances (nìvaraäas): namely,
sensuous desire (Kāmacchanda),
illwill (vicikicchā).
Sensuous desire influences the mind
to be wandering about sensuous objects which it has enjoyed before. Ill-will
agitates the mind by taking notice of disagreeable things. Sloth and torpor,
restlessness and remorse, and skeptical doubt (vicikicchā).
Sensuous
desire influences the mind to be wandering about sensuous objects which it has
enjoyed before. Ill will agitates the mind by taking notice of disagreeable
things. Sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and skeptical doubt blind
the mental vision and disturb the concentration.
Lord Buddha compared sensuous desire
with water mixed with manifold colours, ill will with boiling water, sloth and
torpor with water covered with agitated water whipped by the wind, skeptical
doubt with turbid and muddy water. Just as in such water one can not perceive
one’s own reflection, so in the presence of these five hindrances, one can not
clearly see one’s own benefit, nor that of others, nor that of both.
These hindrances can be overcome and
temporarily dismissed by tranquility-meditation (samatha bhāvanā). We may choose pathavī-kasina (earth-circle) as an object of
meditation. A tray of about one span and four inches (about one foot) in
diameter is filled evenly with dawn-coloured clay or earth. This object is
placed on a suitable stand so that one can look at it comfortably.
Now the five factors of jhāna are being developed slowly. The initial application
(vitakka) directs the mind towards the object (earth-circle); it temporatily
inhibits sloth an torpor. Sustained application (vicāra) sustains the mind on the object by examining the
object again and again; it temporarily inhibits skeptical doubt (vicikicchā).
In the first jhāna, all the five jhāna-factors are present. Then by meditating on the
pathibhāga-nimitta
of pathavi-kasina further and eliminating the lower jhāna-factors one by one, a person can attain the higher
jhānas. He attaines the second jhāna when vitakka is eliminated, the third jhāna when vicāra is further eliminated, the fourth jhāna when pīti is also eliminated, and finally the fifth
jhāna when sukka is replaced by
upekkhā.
On the other hand the 27 mahaggata
cittas are known as the lokiya jhāna cittas. Combining these with the 40 lokuttara jhāna cittas we get 67 jhāna cittas.
Among these, there are 11 first jhāna cittas, 11 second jhāna cittas, 11 thirth jhāna cittas, 11 fourth jhāna cittas, and 23 fifth jhāna cittas.
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