Vicikitsa (Sanskrit, also vicikitsā; Pali: vicikicchā; Tibetan Wylie: the tshom) is a Buddhist term that is translated as "doubt" or "indecision".
It is defined as being of two minds about the meaning of the Four Noble Truths; it functions as a basis for not becoming involved with wholesome activities.
[1][2] Vicikitsa is identified as: Nina van Gorkom explains: The reality of vicikicchā is not the same as what we mean by doubt in conventional language.
[3]The Atthasālinī (II, Part IX, Chapter III, 259) defines vicikicchā as follows: ...It has shifting about as characteristic, mental wavering as function, indecision or uncertainty in grasp as manifestation, unsystematic thought (unwise attention) as proximate cause, and it should be regarded as a danger to attainment.
[1]Herbert Guenther explains: Indecision [vicikitsa] is the mental event in which one oscillates between two extremes concerning the four truths and the relationship between one's action and its result.