Arenât vitakka and vicara removed in the 2nd jhana?
There are vitakka and vicara cetasika which accompies all type of consciousness. Whether they are kusala or akusala depends on the type of citta. In meditation if oneâs mind is not wandering I assume it is a kusala citta.
If an academic, rather than a skilled practitioner was describing the dhamma, I could see them starting with five jhana factors of the first jhana and reducing one by one, for each successive jhana, thereby arriving at 5 Rupa jhana. Real practice is more messier, and jhana factors alter unpredictability- one needs to go in to the jhana and see actually what changes.
Thereâs no clear mention of jhana in the AN8.63, just variations in the jhana factors. I believe these are advanced samadhi practices that one does when one has gain good control over these factors. Yesterday I conducted a discussion in the local temple on the seemingly simple Ananpanasati sutta (MN118). The stages became increasingly complex quickly, the deeper the practice got, but people were quick to identify them with signs of superficial levels of progress.
The fivefold jhÄna theme is based on a jhÄna having both vitakka and vicÄra, and the second (fivefold) jhÄna having only vicÄra.
When this concentration has been developed and cultivated by you in this way, then you should develop this concentration with thought and examination; you should develop it without thought but with examination only; you should develop it without thought and examination. You should develop it with rapture; you should develop it without rapture; you should develop it accompanied by comfort; and you should develop it accompanied by equanimity.1765
â transl., Bhikkhu Bodhi
Here is Bhikkhu Bodhiâs footnote:
Mp: âThis is the meaning: âWhen, bhikkhu, you have developed this fundamental concentration of loving-kindness in such a way, you should not be satisfied merely with this much, but you should attain four and five jhÄnas [in the fivefold jhÄna scheme] in regard to other meditation objects. Thus you should develop it according to the method âwith thought and examinationâ and so forth.ââ While, in the jhÄna scheme of the NikÄyas, the transition from the first to the second jhÄna is marked by the simultaneous elimination of thought (vitakka) and examination (vicÄra), other texts distinguish samÄdhi as threefold: as with thought and examination, without thought but with examination, and without thought and examination (see DN 33.1.10, III 219,19â20; MN 128.31, III 162,13â16; SN 43:3, IV 360,11â13). This middle stage of samÄdhi gave rise, in the Abhidhamma, to a fivefold scheme of jhÄnas that inserts, after the first jhÄna, a second jhÄna that is without thought but with examination. This scheme then renumbers the second, third, and fourth jhÄnas of the fourfold scheme as the third, fourth, and fifth jhÄnas to obtain a fivefold scheme. The samÄdhi with rapture (sappÄĢtika) includes the first and second jhÄnas (of the fourfold scheme); that without rapture (nippÄĢtika) includes the third and fourth jhÄnas. The samÄdhi with comfort (sÄtasahagata) is the third jhÄna, and the samÄdhi with equanimity (upekkhÄsahagata) the fourth jhÄna.