➥ vavakaṭṭha and vūpakaṭṭha.

• for vūpakaṭṭha:
  • withdrawn
  • withdrawn [from human fellowship, sensuous pleasures, and spiritually unwholesome factors]
• for kāyavūpakāsena vūpakaṭṭho:
  • physically withdrawn [from human fellowship]
• for gaṇasmā vūpakaṭṭho:
  • withdrawn from human fellowship
• for cittavūpakāsena vūpakaṭṭho:
  • psychologically withdrawn [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors]
• for vavakaṭṭhaṁ cittaṁ hoti:
  • psychologically withdrawn [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors]

Vavakaṭṭha and vūpakaṭṭha

Vavakaṭṭha and vūpakaṭṭha are past participles from vavakassati. Vūpakaṭṭha is possibly a ‘re-translation’ of vavakaṭṭha, says PED. The words are identical in meaning, and interchangeable:

• cittena vivekapoṇena vivekapabbhārena vavakaṭṭhena (AN iv 233).
• cittena vivekapoṇena vivekapabbhārena vūpakaṭṭhena (MN iii 111).

But there is a difference: Vavakaṭṭha is rare, occurring just 5 times in the suttas, always with citta. Vūpakaṭṭha occurs 133 times in a variety of contexts.

Vivekakaṭṭha: error

We follow Bodhi in reading vavakaṭṭha for vivekakaṭṭha (NDB n.1687; n.1694, re passages at AN iv 224 and AN iv 233). He says that ‘since compounds with viveka precede this word, it is easy to see how the original word could have undergone mutation.’ The sequence at AN iv 224 is: vivekaninnaṁ cittaṁ hoti vivekapoṇaṁ vivekapabbhāraṁ vavakaṭṭhaṁ.

Vapakassati: error

PED says vapakassati (AN iii 393-4) should read vavakassati.

Vavakassati and vavakāsituṁ: their objects

Vavakassati and its infinitive vavakāsituṁ either have an explicit object, or an object that can be easily identified from context:

1) When he lives apart from the Teacher or a companion in the religious life of the standing of a teacher

Yato ca kho so vavakassateva satthārā vavakassati garuṭṭhānīyehi sabrahmacārihi… (AN iii 393)

2) Bhikkhus, possessed of five factors a bhikkhu is not fit to live apart from the monastic community.

Pañcahi bhikkhave dhammehi samannāgato bhikkhu nālaṁ saṅghamhā vavakāsituṁ. (AN iii 145)

3) On what grounds is there schism in the community of bhikkhus? Bhikkhus proclaim what is not the teaching to be the teaching, and visa versa… On these ten grounds they [legalistically] withdraw and separate [from the resident community of bhikkhus]. They perform legal acts separately and recite the Pātimokkha separately. It is in this way, Upāli, that there is schism in the community of bhikkhus.

Kittāvatā nu kho bhante saṅgho bhinno hotī ti? Idhūpāli bhikkhu adhammaṁ dhammo ti dipenti dhammaṁ adhammo ti dīpenti… Te imehi dasahi vatthūhi avakassanti vavakassanti āveni kammāni karonti āveni pātimokkhaṁ uddisanti. Ettāvatā kho upāli saṅgho bhinno hotī ti. (AN v 74; Vin.2.204)

4) Now at that time the bhikkhunī Thullanandā, having ordained her pupil neither withdrew her [from her husband’s whereabouts] nor had her withdrawn. Her husband seized her.

tena kho pana samayena thullanandā bhikkhunī sahajīviniṁ vuṭṭhāpetvā neva vūpakāsesi na vūpakāsāpesi. Sāmiko aggahesi. (Vin.4.326)

Vūpakaṭṭho: its objects

The two kinds of ‘withdrawal’ are 1) of body and 2) of mind, as the following quote shows:

• When one has heard the teaching from [excellent] bhikkhus one dwells withdrawn in two ways: physically withdrawn [from human fellowship], and psychologically withdrawn [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors].

tathārūpānaṁ bhikkhave bhikkhūnaṁ dhammaṁ sutvā dvayena vūpakaṭṭho viharati kāyavūpakāsena ca cittavūpakāsena ca. (SN v 67)

Kāyavūpakāsa: source of its parenthesis

Where necessary, we parenthesise kāyavūpakāsa (‘physically withdrawn [from human fellowship]’) in accordance with the following quote:

• A bhikkhu dwells alone, withdrawn from human fellowship.

bhikkhu eko gaṇasmā vūpakaṭṭho viharati. (MN iii 110)

Cittavūpakāsa: source of its parenthesis

We parenthesise cittavūpakāsa (‘psychologically withdrawn [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors]’) in accordance with the following quotes:

1) A certain bhikkhu who had gone for his daytime abiding in a woodland grove ‘kept thinking unvirtuous, spiritually unwholesome thoughts associated with the household life.’

so bhikkhu divāvihāragato pāpake akusale vitakke vitakketi gehanissite. (SN i 197)

2) Those ascetics and Brahmanists who live physically withdrawn from sensuous pleasures but whose hankering, love, infatuation, thirst, and passion for sensuous pleasures has not been fully abandoned and quelled internally… are incapable of knowledge and vision [of things according to reality], and supreme enlightenment.

ye hi keci samaṇā vā brāhmaṇā vā kāyena ceva kāmehi vūpakaṭṭhā viharanti yo ca nesaṁ kāmesu kāmacchando kāmasneho kāmamucchā kāmapipāsā kāmapariḷāho so ca ajjhattaṁ na suppahīno hoti na suppaṭippassaddho… abhabbāva te ñāṇāya dassanāya anuttarāya sambodhāya. (MN i 241)

3) Secluded from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors, a bhikkhu enters and abides in first jhāna, which is accompanied by thinking and pondering, and rapture and physical pleasure born of seclusion [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors].

Idhāvuso visākha bhikkhu vivicceva kāmehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṁ savicāraṁ vivekajaṁ pītisukhaṁ paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati. (MN i 301)

Vūpakaṭṭha: with no object

When vūpakaṭṭha has no explicit object, the considerations above show that it is a combination of kāyavūpakāsa and cittavūpakāsa, therefore needs a combination of their parentheses:

• Bhante, it would be good if the Blessed One would explain the teaching to me in brief, so that, having heard the teaching from the Blessed One, I might abide alone, withdrawn [from human fellowship, sensuous pleasures, and spiritually unwholesome factors], diligently, vigorously, and resolutely applied [to the practice].

sādhu me bhante bhagavā saṅkhittena dhammaṁ desetu yamahaṁ bhagavato dhammaṁ sutvā eko vūpakaṭṭho appamatto ātāpī pahitatto vihareyyanti. (SN iv 145)

Vūpakaṭṭha, viveka, and paviveka: a comparison

Viveka applies to the mind, and means seclusion [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors]. Paviveka means physical seclusion. Vūpakaṭṭha, if unqualified, means viveka plus paviveka. See Glossary sv Viveka and sv Paviveka.

Physical seclusion implies the striving for mental seclusion

That the Buddha regarded living secludedly (pavivitta) to be inseparably linked to the development of seclusion [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors] (viveka) is discussed sv Paviveka.

Vavakaṭṭhaṁ: assigning its object

Vavakaṭṭha always has the same explicit object. So, in its five occurrences it has only one meaning:

• Vavakaṭṭhaṁ cittaṁ hoti: psychologically withdrawn [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors]

➥ gaṇasmā vūpakaṭṭho: (main article see: vavakaṭṭha)

Illustration: gaṇasmā vūpakaṭṭho, withdrawn from human fellowship

‘At present I am living crowded by bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs, by male and female lay followers, by kings and royal ministers, by non-Buddhist ascetics and their disciples.

ahaṁ kho etarahi ākiṇṇo viharāmi bhikkhūhi bhikkhunīhi upāsakehi upāsikāhi raññā rājamahāmattehi titthiyehi titthiyasāvakehi.

How about if I lived alone, withdrawn from human fellowship?

Yannūnāhaṁ eko gaṇasmā vūpakaṭṭho vihareyyanti.

He resorts to a secluded abode: the forest, the root of a tree, a mountain, a grotto, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a quiet grove, the open air, a heap of straw.

So vivittaṁ senāsanaṁ bhajati araññaṁ rukkhamūlaṁ pabbataṁ kandaraṁ giriguhaṁ susānaṁ vanapatthaṁ abbhokāsaṁ palālapuñjaṁ. (AN iv 436)

➥ cittena... vavakaṭṭhena: (main article see: vavakaṭṭha)

Illustration: cittena... vavakaṭṭhena, psychologically withdrawn [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors]

In this regard, the bhikkhu living secludedly may be visited by bhikkhus, bhikkhunīs, laymen, laywomen, kings and kings’ ministers, and non-Buddhist ascetics and their disciples.

idha bhikkhave bhikkhuno pavivittassa viharato bhavanti upasaṅkamitāro bhikkhū bhikkhūniyo upāsakā upāsikāyo rājāno rājamahāmattā titthiyā titthiyasāvakā.

In that case, the bhikkhu, mentally inclining, verging, and drifting towards seclusion [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors], psychologically withdrawn [from sensuous pleasures and spiritually unwholesome factors], taking delight in the practice of unsensuousness, is one whose words are exclusively connected with religious inspiration.

Tatra bhikkhu vivekaninnena cittena vivekapoṇena vivekapabbhārena vavakaṭṭhena nekkhammābhiratena aññadatthu uyyojanikapaṭisaṁyuttaṁyeva kathaṁ kattā hoti. (AN iv 233)