Could we avoid using untranslated terms from eastern languages? The name “vipassana” may be useful as a search term, but it’s worse than useless for understanding what it actually refers to. If you called it “affect monitoring meditation”, a lot more people would understand what you meant. This is a general problem in all English writings about meditation: they’re full of untranslated words that make them seem mystical, but hinder comprehension.
Using the common name for the practice seems appropriate, rather than making up a new name and pretending we’re reinventing a wheel. But that would seem to require capitalization for Vipassana. Perhaps a title of “Vipassana—Affect Monitoring Meditation” would be more useful. (I know it would be more likely to prompt me to read the article than either part alone.)
Could we avoid using untranslated terms from eastern languages? The name “vipassana” may be useful as a search term, but it’s worse than useless for understanding what it actually refers to. If you called it “affect monitoring meditation”, a lot more people would understand what you meant. This is a general problem in all English writings about meditation: they’re full of untranslated words that make them seem mystical, but hinder comprehension.
Using the common name for the practice seems appropriate, rather than making up a new name and pretending we’re reinventing a wheel. But that would seem to require capitalization for Vipassana. Perhaps a title of “Vipassana—Affect Monitoring Meditation” would be more useful. (I know it would be more likely to prompt me to read the article than either part alone.)
Making up a new, explanatory name and acknowledging the common name aren’t mutually exclusive; just put the old name in a parenthetical note.
The word translates to “insight” and the term “insight meditation” is sometimes used for this form of mediation.