The term "insight meditation" refers both to a spiritual practice shared by all forms of Buddhism, and to a particular historical Buddhist tradition. The word "insight" is a common translation of the Pali word vipassana, which means "clear seeing". Developing "clear seeing" helps people live their lives with growing skillfulness and ease.
As a spiritual practice, insight meditation helps cultivate the qualities of mindfulness and equanimity, which in turn foster the deepening of wisdom and compassion, the gateways to liberation and freedom.
As a spiritual tradition, insight meditation draws on the accumulated wisdom of the Theravadin Buddhist lineage as practiced over centuries in the monasteries of Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka, and as transmitted over the last thirty years to teachers in the West.
Source: http://seattleinsight.org
Revised 6/18/2004