The Pāli word jhāna can refer either to meditation in general, or to one specific type of advanced meditative state. Jhāna originally comes from the verb jhāyati, meaning to meditate, and the traditional word for meditator is jhāyim. Some have playfully compared the word jhāna to the verb jhāpeti, which means to burn up, because jhāna practice literally “burns up” mental defilements.1
