[Buddha-l] Tibetan word for "meditation"

[Richard Hayes]

On Monday November 20 2006 13:42, Malcolm Dean wrote:

> Would anyone with a Tibetan-English dictionary and, say, Tibetan 201,
> please simply look the word "meditation" up and tell us all what the
> entry says?

Good heavens.This question has been answered repeatedly in quite a bit of 
detail, but your obsession (prapanca) remains. So let me tell you what my 
trusty Tibetan-English dictionary says.

sgom-pa (bhaavanaa) 1) originally to fancy imagine; now to contemplate 
systematically; to entertain; to reproduce in one's mind. Four degrees of 
meditation are distinguished: lta-ba [seeing]: contemplation; sgom-pa: 
meditation proper; spyod-pa: consummation; and 'bras-bu: fruition.

The entry goes on to say that sgom-pa requires three things: clarity, lack of 
wavering and tranquillity.

The Sanskrit words most often translated as "meditation" are dhyaana (from 
dhai, to think, ponder, imagine, call to mind) and bhaavanaa (from the 
causative of bhuu, to become; the causative means to make something come 
about, to cultivate and refers to the cultivation in oneself of virtue or 
positive mental states). Bhaavanaa is usually translated as sgom-pa.

Go meditate on these philological morsels. Then go find the person who told 
you that the Tibetan word for meditation just means paying attention. Then 
tell him "You're fired!"

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico