Agony and Ecstasy

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mental sloth (thīna) and physical torpor (middha), bringing about
stagnation instead of progress. In this sustained application there
is no more need of initial, analytical, deductive thought (vitakka),
and the emphasis and characteristic is from now on to preserve,
maintain and increase this spiritual interest, till it can grow into a
delightful zest and spiritual joy (pīti), the object of the third stage
of absorption (jhāna).
Physical and mental laziness, the hindrance (nīvaraṇa) of indolence
(thīna-middha), which was discussed earlier, can be overcome
by concentration on the various postures of the body. Thus, concentration
on walking, on the physical reaction of the body, will
keep both body and mind alert. The guidance of thought towards a
concentration-object can be dispensed with, but the progress of the
process, set in action by initial thought (vitakka), has to be maintained.
It is not just the continuation of the original reverberation of
the bell after being struck, for this stage is essentially a sustenance
of that initial movement. It is characterised by examination of details,
and hence it largely operates in the investigating consciousness
(santīraṇa). While initial application (vitakka) grasps the object as
a whole, such as seeing a person in the distance without knowing
whether that one is a man or a woman, so sustained application
(vicāra) will distinguish the qualities of being virtuous or not, rich
or poor, noble or humble (Vis. M. viii.). Applied thought in the
beginning stage merely considers and observes; but sustained application
searches and investigates. When drawing a circle with a
compass, the fixing of one point in the centre is like initial application,
while the drawing of the circumference with the other point is
sustained application (Atthas. I. iv. 1).
We may continue this simile a little further: when the circumference
is drawn, the circle will remain even when the point in the
centre is withdrawn. Even so, application can remain as investigation
(vicāra) without the further help of repeated initial application
(vitakka). This happens in the second state of mental absorption