Dear Biloo and Scott,

I am very reluctant to understand jhaana from yogana, not matter how
closely related they are. As I mentioned earlier, the Sanskrit
equivalent of jhaana is dhyana, a word which can be found in any
good Sankrit dictionary.

dhyana [ dhyâ.ana ] n. meditation; religious contemplation: -
tatpara, a. lost in thought; -dhîra, a. absorbed in thought; -para,
a. id.; -yoga, m. deep meditation, religious ab sorption; -vat, a.
devoted to religious medi tation; -sthita, pp. absorbed in thought.

dhyāna n. meditation, thought, reflection, (esp.) profound and
abstract religious meditation.

Ven. Dhammadhiro and Nina had both given good explanations of jhaana
in earlier mails. The English word 'absorption' is only a word of
choice for some English translators. I would leave jhaana
untranslated as 'jhana'.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Scott Duncan wrote:

"Firstly Jhanna is a cognate of a Sanskrit word yoJana, more at
concentration that absorption."