vitakka
Initial application
[ vee-TUK-ka ]
Seeing it in life
Vitakka mounts the mind upon an object. As a jhāna factor it opposes sloth-and-torpor.
In short
Lifting the mind onto the object — first jhāna factor.
The analysis
Vitakka lifts and mounts the mind onto its object — the first movement of directed thought, distinguished from the sustained examination that follows (vicāra). As the first jhāna factor, vitakka opposes thīna-middha, providing the initial lift that gets the mind onto its meditation object. It's dropped at the second jhāna, once the mind no longer needs this initiating movement to stay with its object.
Where it sits
Vitakka pairs with vicāra as the first two of the five jhāna factors, together sometimes glossed simply as 'thinking' in its most basic directed sense.
The first movement of the mind toward a problem — before working it through, just the initial turning-and-landing on it — is vitakka; what follows, staying with and turning it over, is vicāra.
Commonly mistaken for
Discursive rumination. Wholesome vitakka is a brief directing movement, not the extended looping of anxious thought.
The same as vicāra. They're paired but distinct: vitakka is the initial mounting, vicāra the sustained examination that follows it.
Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha II, IX.
Related terms