MA 101 and MA 102, the agama parallels for MN 19 and MN 20 are prime examples of B. Analayo's fraudulent translation of vitakka

 

MA 101 T 26.101 增上心 T i 588a03 MN 20
MA 102 T 26.102 念 T i 589a11 MN 19

Let's look at MA 102 first

MA 102 念

• MA 102 念
  • Thoughts (vitakka)
    • (simile of cowherd keeping cows in line with stick)
  • (Thinking inclines mind in a direction)
  • (This is either first jhana, or close to it right here)
  • (Allow myself thoughts about Dharma)
    • (simile of cowherd sitting with peaceful thought of just, “cow”)
  • (Skip to STED Second Jhana because Dhamma Vitakka above is first jhana!)
  • (3rd jhana)
  • (4th jhana)
  • (purified, imperturbable 4th jhana directed to realize nirvana)
  • (simile of deer hunter)

Much like MN 125, They omit standard first jhana formula, skipping right to second jhana, making it

incontrovertible that the jue (vitakka)  and guan (vicara) from first jhana are equated with

the nian (vitakka) in the section above second jhana, with the 3 types of kusala skillful vitakka thoughts. Another interesting difference between MA 102 and MN 19, is they explicitly call these kusala thoughts "Dharma Vitakka".  

我生 無欲念已，復生念向法次法；生無恚念、無 害念已，復生念向法次法。	[If] a thought without sensual desire arose in me, I further [allowed] thoughts to arise that were inclined toward the Dharma and in accordance with the Dharma. [If] a thought without ill-will, . . . [or] a thought without cruelty arose, I further [allowed] thoughts to arise that were inclined toward the Dharma and in accordance with the Dharma.
所以者何？	Why was that?
我不 見因此生無量惡不善之法。	[Because] I did not see that countless evil and unwholesome states would arise because of [such thoughts].

Here's an STED first jhana formula from another sutra in MA, MA 2, so you can see exactly what chinese characters are being used for V&V.

(first jhāna)

復次，Fù cì	“Furthermore,
聖弟子離欲、 shèng dìzǐ lí yù,	the noble disciple parts with desire (欲 kāmehi)
離惡不 善之法， lí è bùshàn zhī fǎ	and parts with evil (惡) or un-wholesome (不-善) Dharmas (之法).
有覺、有觀，yǒu jué, yǒu guān,	With thought (覺 vitakka) and investigation (觀 vicāra),
離生喜樂， lí shēng xǐlè,	this seclusion produces joy (pīti 喜) and happiness (sukha 樂),
得初禪成就 遊，dé chū chán chéngjiù yóu,	and he attains the accomplishment of the first meditation (禪 zen, jhāna).
是時，聖弟子名葉還生，猶三十三天晝度 樹葉還生也。	The noble disciple then is called ‘leaves growing back again’ like the leaves growing back on the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven’s Pārijāta Tree.

Conclusion for MA 102

The different original Chinese translators for the Agamas in their canon, when translating from sanskrit to Chinese,  following Sarvastivada Abhidharma convention, treated the vitakka and vicara for first jhana as being different in some way from ordinary vitakka and vicara as discursive thinking, and so they chose the different Chinese words jue and guan to reflect the difference from the ordinary vitakka 'nian' 念 that they usually use outside first jhana. 

But in MA 102, by eliminating the first jhana formula and jumping directly to second jhana, they are unequivocally stating that the kusala Dhamma vitakkas jue and guan are exactly the same as 'nian' 念 , when they are kusala/skillful and in line with Dharma. 

So this basically blows away B. Analayo's fraudulent translation of jue and guan in first jhana as [directed] awareness and [sustained] contemplation.

There are a whole lot more serious problems with that translation, I'll just point out one big one here. In BDK MA translation volume 2, which contains many juicy suttas that clarify the role of vitakka in jhana, they also use the same English word contemplation  to translate satipatthana's frequent anu-passana, for example, "contemplating the body as a body".

Which leads to this logical absurdity. Once first jhana ends, one would not be able to satipatthana in 2nd jhana or above, because one is now without vitakka and vicara (B. Analayo's 'contemplation')

(analysis of MA 101 + MN 20 to be continued later)