Re: Vivicca

Hi Jim,

Yes, vic is the correct root. In fact, vivicya in Sanskrit is etymologically related to viveka - the former means “having secluded” and the latter means “seclusion”.

vi + vic + lyap = vivicya

The whole first phrase of the jhāna formula has to do with secluding oneself from something.

There are many etymological connections. vicati is the verb for the vic dhātu in the parasmaipadī form. It is an ubhayapadī dhātu - at least in Paninian Sanskrit. It has the meaning of including, or containing - in this context. For example:

ghaTo udakam vicati

The pot contains water

In a recent issue of an Indian Sanskrit monthly magazine that I subscribe to, I remember seeing this usage:

so grāmavidyālayo bālāH api vicati

That village school includes girls too

Now the vi prefix acts as a negation:

vi + vicati = preclude, seclude, cause to be without

Now, as it happens, vicati has another meaning too. It also means to comprehend or understand something. For example:

so bahūn granthān vicati (Skt)

so bahave ganthe vicati (Pali)

He comprehends many scriptures

In this context, translating vicati as “contains” or “includes” would not make much sense. So because of this other meaning of comprehension, now you can see how vic dhātu has to do with both vicāra and vicaya. When we read a little about the kāraka of the vic dhātu, we understand that both the meaning of containing/including, and comprehending are related, because comprehending something has to do with holding it in the mind.

On a sidenote: this clearly shows that in ancient India, the act of holding something in the mind, the act of memory - or sati - often translated as mindfulness, was crucial for the purpose of comprehension. And when we hold something in mind (vicāra) as the main and central theme (ekaggatā) for long periods of time, secluded from distracting objects, then there is concentration on that object. So it is possible to see why in the Suttas jhāna and sati always go together. To native speakers of Pali, these etymological connections between, vicāra and vicati would have been only too obvious, and they could not have seen satipatthāna and jhāna as separate forms of meditation, but as directly connected aspects of the same meditation.

Thanks,

Balaji