Hip Glossary: Vipassana

vipassana Vipassanā (Pāli) or vipaśyanā (Sanskrit) means "insight". While it is often referred to as Buddhist meditation, the practice taught by the Buddha was non-sectarian, and has universal application.

Vipassanā is a Pali word from the Sanskrit prefix "vi-" and verbal root √drś. It is often translated as "insight" or "clear-seeing," though, the "in-" prefix may be misleading; "vi" in Indo-Aryan languages is cognate to our "dis." The "vi" in vipassanā may then mean to see apart, or discern. Alternatively, the "vi" can function as an intensive, and thus vipassanā may mean "seeing deeply". In any case, this is used metaphorically for a particularly powerful mental self-perception.

A synonym for "Vipassanā" is paccakkha, "before the eyes," which refers to direct experiential perception. Thus, the type of seeing denoted by "vipassanā" is that of direct perception, as opposed to knowledge derived from reasoning or argument.