subverbal: (not in Eng. dictionary)
✅
EBT compliant definition of 'subverbal':
mental co-activities (citta Saṅ-khārā) that underlie thoughts you think
V&V💭 before you say them out loud (vāca).
The most frequent subverbal activity terms used by the Buddha,
is perceptions (sañña) and attention (manasi karoti) to perceptions.
✅samādhi nimittas, Dhamma, sati and Dhamma-vicaya span the whole range from verbal to vitakka and subverbal activity.
Example: After
V&V💭 ceases in first jhana,
S&S🐘💭 continues as subverbal mental processing from 2nd jhāna on up.
Even in Abhidhamma,
31asb🧟 and
Vimt. use verbal recitation of body parts as the entry into that meditation,
and mental recitation
V&V💭 continues into first jhāna,
then becomes
S&S🐘💭 (subverbal) in 2nd jhana on up.
AN 9.41: See the perceptions and attention that underlie vitakka (thinking) referenced in 2nd and first jhana.
MN 18,
AN 4.41: hierarchy of viññana, vedana, sañña, vitakka.
MN 20 this is a 2nd and first jhāna context - vitakka Saṅ-khārā underlie and precede vitakka (directed thoughts)
AN 3.60 meditator with mind reading superpower can "hear" mental talk
V&V💭 of first jhāna meditators,
and can directly perceive the mind of the subverbal mano-saṅkhārā of meditators in 2nd jhana and above.
⛔ vitakka in first jhāna does not mean "placing the mind" or "initial application", as late Abhidhamma and other heretics attempt to redefine it.
Vitakka whether in first jhāna or not always means directed thoughts that are
verbal in nature,
communicable, linguistic words of a language,
thoughts you think before you say them out loud.
Heretics in
LBT redefined jhāna, and claim that vitakka is not only subverbal, but is a frozen state where mental processing is not possible.
They claim the Buddha did not have existing words to describe subverbal activity.
As you can see from above, there's already a rich selection of existing terms to describe subverbal activity happening in jhāna and samādhi context: mano-saṅkhārā, vitakka-saṅkhārā, cetana, manasi karoti applied to sañña (aka citta-saṅkhārā), sampajāno.