Image: Artist unknown
“Etymologically, the Sanskrit term [for meditation] connotes the notion of ‘cultivation,’ while its Tibetan equivalent gom carries the idea of developing ‘familiarity,’ together implying the idea of some kind of repetitive process of cultivating a familiarity, whether it is with respect to a habit, a way of seeing, or a way of being,” writes Thupten Jinpa, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s chief English translator. “In its actual usage, however, the term gom is applied not only to the process of ‘cultivation’ or ‘development of familiarity,’ it is also applied to the resultant states achieved through such processes. So, in this sense, meditation can refer both to the practice of disciplined cultivation as well as the cultivated result of such a discipline…”
From Mandala December 2006 – January 2007