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Strange words

After 2,500 years, it seems like there should be lots more people using and benefiting from the training presented by Buddhist meditation.

Buddha camUsing jargon and words from another language mainly causes confusion. For most people  words they don’t know become barriers to understanding or acceptance of ideas. Strange words mostly reduce the transmission and influence the ideas could have if explained in plain English (or whichever language you use).

What made me think about this lately is reading about Buddhist meditation. Probably all of the of the non-English words used could have be substituted with plain, easy-to-follow English. There’re heaps of Buddhism books around for the folks who want to dig deeper into ornamental, arcane, or historical words and ideas.

Even the word Buddhism could be removed. Most English readers have a deity in mind when they hear the word Buddha, whereas Buddhist meditation isn’t about the Buddha, it’s more a mental training or psychology passed on by the Buddha with refinements and guidance added over the eons by advanced practitioners.

After 2,500 years, it seems like there should be lots more people using and benefiting from  the training presented by Buddhist meditation. Practicing meditation is the thing. Reading about Buddhism is just entertainment. And that’s ok, but who knows, maybe using more plain language to present meditation might lead to more happiness and less suffering in the world?