18  vicāra

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dvitīyād dhyānāt prabhṛtyā bhavāgrād a-vitarkā a-vicārāḥ / [abhidharmakośabhāṣya, 22] “In the higher stages up to and including the last stage, these same are free from both vitarka and vicāra.” [Pruden 96]

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18.0.1 overview

Vicāra’s belongs to the semantic domain of Thought, where it finds two semantic applications: its core meaning of “reasoning” and a terminological specialization of it as “a caitasika dharma”.

in the former, broader sense, vicāra is indicates deliberate analytical investigation and logical examination.1

In the latter sense it denotes a mental factor associated with maintaining focused attention and sustained application of mind, particularly in meditative contexts.2

semantic tree

18.0.2 frequency & register

Vicāra is a high-frequency word in our corpus, with a markedly skewed genre distribution that sees term highly concentrated in śāstra literature, especially f the commentarial period. This distribution suggest a primarily scholastic register of this word, not only for its terminological application as node in the taxonomy of dharmas, but also in the its wider sense of reasoning or analysis e.g.:

eṣāṃ ca vistareṇa vicāro madhyamakāvatār^ādibhyo avaseyaḥ // [prasannapadā, 80]
“A detailed investigation of these topics can be had in the Madhyamakāvatāra and other works.” [Sprung 124].

Figure 18.1: frequency relative to other words in the corpus

Figure 18.2: genre frequency

Figure 18.3: genre frequency

18.0.3 context

Several collocational patterns reveal vicāra’s role into Buddhist technical vocabulary. The most prominent is the compound vitarka-vicāra (initial and sustained application of thought). This compoud represents a fundamental dyad in Buddhist meditation theory, where it refers to the two types of thought characteristic of the first dhyāna.

Another significant pattern involves the privative formations a-vicāra (without vicāra) and related compounds like a-vitark-ā-vicārā (without vitarka and vicāra). These expressions typically describe higher meditative states where discursive mental activity has been transcended, as exemplified in the Śrāvakabhūmi: “sa vitarka-vicārāṇāṃ vyupaśamād adhyātma-saṃprasādāc cetasa ekotī-bhāvād a-vitarkam a-vicāraṃ samādhi-jaṃ prīti-sukhaṃ dvitīyaṃ dhyānam upasaṃpadya viharati” (through the calming of vitarka and vicāra, through inner confidence, through the unification of mind, he attains and abides in the second dhyāna, which is without vitarka and vicāra, born of samādhi, with joy and happiness).

Figure 18.4: collocations wordcloud

18.0.4 connotation

Vicāra’s semantic prosody is predominantly neutral, with significant negative associations and minimal positive ones. The negative prosody typically appears in contexts describing advanced meditative states where vicāra is transcended or absent. For example, from the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya: “dvitīyād dhyānāt prabhṛtyā bhavāgrād a-vitarkā a-vicārāḥ” (from the second dhyāna onward to the peak of existence, [they are] without vitarka and without vicāra).

This entry is based on version 6 of of the Visual Dictionary of Buddhist Sanskrit, see data at zenodo.org/records/13985112

  1. […] tasmād evaṃ vicāreṇa n ^ āsti kiṃcid a-hetutaḥ / bodhicaryāvatārapañjikā 268
    “Therefore on examination in this way nothing exists without a cause.” [Oldmeadow 142ab]↩︎

  2. prathamaṃ dhyānaṃ pañcāṅgam / pañcāṅgāni vitarko vicāraḥ prītiḥ sukhaṃ citt^aikāgratā ca // abhidharmasamuccaya 32
    “The first absorption consists of five factors. These five factors are: reasoning, deliberation, joy, happiness (ease), and one-pointedness of mind.” [Boin-Webb 150]↩︎