Should we use the term mindfulness when we are speaking of meditation?

I have always felt a bit put-off by the term mindfulness. I find the word mindfulness to be incredibly misleading and prefer not to use it when speaking or teaching about meditation.

As a life-long meditator and seeker on the path of Yoga, I have been taught that the mind is unified and that we do not possess it. Imagining the mind is in my brain or that I own it in any way does not make a bit of sense to me. I prefer the idea that the mind is collective and that we can download and upload to it — like a computer. In this description the brain is more like a hard-drive. In addition for me the state of meditation empties thoughts and dissolves the idea of ownership of the mind.

Often the English language falls short for me in some of the branding and descriptions that only can be truly described in Sanskrit. In this ancient language the word Citta चित्त citta, can loosely be used to label what western psychology calls the mind however is is better understood to be one’s mindset or state of mind. Citta is commonly used to refer to mental process.

Smritypashana स्मृत्युपस्थान SmR^ityupasthAna, is earnest thought. In the Buddhist practice of meditation, it is the constant observation of the sensory experiences that effect future experience.