Let us begin by stating clearly that the base of Buddha's Meditation System was rooted in Brahminic Meditation of the Jhanas. However, having allowed those roots to nourish his tree of meditation, when it was time to develop his own path he managed either by accident or design to graft quite a different branch onto the Brahminic main trunk.
What was sought in the Mantras and Brahmanas was the cosmic ideal. What was to be reached was a "oneness" with Brahman. This included a freedom from impediments "here and now." It had inherent within it the idea that there is an adequacy in the present life to perfect oneself, becoming Brahman. This Moksha, or release, does not consist in becoming something new, but reveals the Brahmic Nature which is hidden.
Now do not make the mistake of believing that this Brahmic Nature is at all similar to the Buddha Nature.
CULTIVATION OF VAIRDGYA (Detachment)
This entails as a prime objective in Upanishadic discipline the removal of the base of all evil. This Detachment is an attitude towards the world which arises from the elimination of all selfish Identity impulses. Evil, being due to the misconception of the Nature of Reality as Brahman, when removed produces the acquisition of Correct Brahmic Knowledge (jnana).
It is not surprising therefore to discover that meditation was an essential tool, along with study with a proper master and continual mental reflection upon what had been learned in order to attain an intellectual conviction.
The highest form of meditation was Nididhyasana, a spiritual perception.
One method was that of CONCENTRATION, the method of directing one-pointedness at meditation topic with the idea of becoming one with the phenomenon, and the second REALIZATION, in which sympathetic imagination is cultivated, and is effectively the power to place oneself in the body-mind state of another, this being clearly an essential vehicle for Brahmic Realization. Different targets of meditation may be selected, but each is examined for oneness as if being viewed by Brahman himself.
Each meditation topic then is introduced after clear organization and preparation into the meditation and viewed on the basis of Imagined Brahmic Realization, which eventually, when much sincere meditation has been accomplished, becomes cognitive certainty.
Each Jhana topic is introduced and VITAKKA is applied and then VICARA sustains that target.
VITAKKA AND VICARA
In both the cases of concentration and realization, the topic of the meditation is entered into the Sampaticchanna. The normal continuation follows with the selection of Adhimokka and the placing of the mind towards the object through Manasikara.
Now the important transition is when the topic actually enters clearly in Vitakka. Now here there is no verbal connection but the topic enters here by way of verbal description. It is then assembled correctly and rapidly and the sustained attention in Vicara takes place.
All meditations require this verbal mental state and when Vicara is applied all the mental connotations, all connections with words, concepts and phrases disappear and what remains is the support, which is non-verbal, that the topic normally requires.
When the pre-programed task is for concentration then the sustaining process examines all the non-verbal characteristics of the topic and these are later extracted by memory and become a usual part of the process of gaining knowledge that is free from impediments.
When the realization meditation is programmed, the same event occurs with Vitakka, but when Vicara comes into play then it is Brahman-oneness which examines the meditation topic.
BUDDHA'S SYSTEM
We must ask now two questions: what led Buddha to modify or ignore the traditional processes of Vitakka and Vicara, and second, what actual modifications took place in his meditations that had never been accomplished before.
Critical to these questions is clearly to understand the mind of Buddha, which in one way or another changed this idea of Brahman-oneness. The information historically with respect to the early life of Buddha is very sparse so we must look at the available history and determine the point at which this can occur.
Various reports and Sutras place his age at his meditation beneath the rose-apple tree anywhere between several months and twenty nine years old. If we deny the romantic fiction of the possibility of the early years before sixteen, then the range of these events must be between sixteen and twenty nine years of age. If we examine the major events in his life at this time we find the following potential candidates:
1. the completion of his formal education
2. his competitions with reference of the qualities of a warrior
3. the selection of a wife
4. the arrival of a son
5. the encounters with illness, old age, and death
6. his experiences of disgust at typical palace behavior
One point should be mentioned here. That experience with illness, old age and death had one great effect. He declares, "I was cured of my intoxicating madness over youthfulness, healthiness and liveliness."
This gives us another view of his state of being as a Prince that is seldom revealed.
We must determine the date of his sitting under the rose-apple tree on the basis of the mental state that allowed him to deviate from the traditional Jhana meditations.
CHANGES IN HIS BELIEF
We must remember that the event in some way or other must have shaken his faith in his own belief system, forcing him to look for alternatives that were not the Brahman realization. This does not mean that he rejected the Brahman realization but that he found that system ineffective in answering these questions.
A review of the list would indicate that the sitting under the rose-apple tree took place after the encounters with illness, old age and death, which would make his age between twenty and twenty five, which is certainly an auspicious date for a person with his aversive characteristics to question all established ideas and concepts.
This then would explain the reason for his mind to explore other horizons. The question now is how did his Jhana meditation vary from the traditional. Certainly he did enter the meditation in the normal way at Vitakka that is assumed the normal operation. The difference then arose in the manner in which he manipulated Vicara.
BRAHMINIC MEDITATION
Traditionally Vicara in normal concentration examines the non-verbal characteristics of the topic and in the realization meditation the mental Brahman-oneness is replaced by a simple letting go of both Vitakka as the applied attention and Vicara as the sustained attention. Sitting then with zest, the meditator enters a subconscious area where verbal conceptualization ceases and cognitive experiences reveal themselves.
Brahmic realization then allows the "Experience of Brahman" relative to the meditation topic. The problem is that the concept of Brahman in itself is chained to duality (Brahman and non-Brahman) so the meditator is unable to leave the abstract "last conceptualization", which remains cognitive. In other words, useful as it may be as a cognitive motivation, it does not release the meditator from cognitive dominion.
Buddha's meditation, to the contrary, for some reason, without the inner certainty of Brahmic realization as the ultimate realization, was left "floating" within zest. Remaining within that trance Buddha discovered a different experience. That experience he made no attempt to define and he simply accepted it without mental examination.
When asked much later in his life why he did not continue penetrating that zone at that time, his reply was that he "dreaded" the probability of encountering his own "clinging to phenomena of Samsara." This then explains his attempt to purify his body-mind by austerity for so many years and also his aversive reaction to Palace delights that led finally to his seeking a new path of realization, without denial of the Brahmic realization as a potential.
However he had made the first faltering step within a completely new zone of higher meditation.
It is that zone of higher meditation that became the base of the future Jhana and Samatha meditations and Vipassana. In later Samatha and Vipassana meditations Vitakka and Vicara were specifically modified to provide different forms of Buddha Dharma exploration of perception, memory and cognition.