Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c9.s3.23

c9.s3.23

Of the process of ideation the Canon has nothing systematic to tell. Initial consideration (vitakka) is distinguished from further reflective investigation (vicāra); attention (manasikāra) and reflection are insisted upon, while ethical considerations emphasize the importance of mindfulness (sati) which is also associated with memory as the condition of it, but there is no attempt to explain memory. Self awareness, deliberate intellectual activity leading to self possession (sampajañña) is also important in an ethical aspect, while in other terms regarding investigation stress rests on the element of volitional effort in inquiry (vicaya, vīmaṃsā, cintā). Ethical again is the motive which discourages such deliberate speculation (cintā) on the range of Buddhaship, the intuitive powers of one sunk in meditative ecstacy, the working of the act, and the nature of the world.¹ For higher intellectual activity we find the terms gnosis (jñāna) and insight (paññā), the latter fated to be deified in the later conception, but either term may be used of inferior knowledge. In Jhāna and Samādhi we have forms of that deep concentration in meditation which are essential elements in the latter stages of the path of salvation. Their importance is great, and like the other terms for the higher knowledge they indicate the essential nature of such knowledge, an intuition of the whole quite distinct from a discursive process of reasoning.