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vitakkānaṁ

vitakka

genitive plural of vitakka (m.)

1. thought
2. applied attention
3. initial mental direction

Built from

• vi — prefix · apart, asunder
  Marks directed, distinct mental activity; the prefix's sense of separation and clarity extends to intentional thought directed toward an object.
• takka — root · reasoning, thinking
  Related to Sanskrit tarka 'logic, reasoning'. In Pali meditation psychology, vitakka is the coarser phase of mental direction, preceding vicāra (sustained attention).

Analysis. vi- (apart, asunder) + takka (construction/reasoning), literally 'thinking apart or applied thinking'; a technical term in meditation describing the first phase of mental application before sustained attention (vicāra).

Etymology. The prefix vi- (apart, in different directions) combines with takka, related to Sanskrit tarka 'reasoning, logic'. The spatial sense of vi- 'apart, asunder' extends to the deliberate direction of mind toward an object, as opposed to undirected mental flux. In vipassanā contexts, the clarity of vitakka—thinking that steps forth distinctly—mirrors the perceptual sharpness of the vi- prefix.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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