The English word „mindfulness“ translates the Pali sati and its Sanskrit equivalent smṛti — terms whose meaning has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate (Sharf, 2014). Both carry the original sense of „remembering“ or „bearing in mind“; in the Vedic tradition, smṛti referred to the recollection of sacred texts. In the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, however, sati takes on a more specific meaning: sustaining awareness of present experience in a way that reveals the true nature of phenomena (Sharf, 2014).
The Chinese rendering, niàn 念, reflects a related intuition. The character combines jīn 今 („now,“ „this moment“) with xīn 心 („heart-mind“) (Karlgren, 1923).
References:
Karlgren, B. (1923). Analytic dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese. Paul Geuthner.
Sharf, R. H. (2014). Mindfulness and mindlessness in early Chan. Philosophy East and West, 64(4), 933–964. https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.2014.0074
atiyoga
The Sanskrit term atiyoga — from ati („topmost“) and yoga („union,“ from the root √yuj, „to yoke“) — is attested in 8th-century Indic tantras such as the Sarvabuddhasamāyoga, where it denotes the stage of practice in which „the true nature is fully experienced“ (van Schaik, 2004, p. 180). Its identification as a distinct vehicle, the ninth and highest of the Nine Yānas in the Nyingma classification of the Buddhist path, was a Tibetan development consolidated in the 10th century by gNubs chen Sangs rgyas ye shes, in whose bSam gtan mig sgron the terms rdzogs chen (Dzogchen) and Atiyoga first became fully synonymous (van Schaik, 2004, pp. 178, 195–199).
The Tibetan term Dzogchen (rdzogs pa chen po, abbreviated rdzogs chen) translates as the „Great Perfection“ or „Great Completeness.“ Rdzogs pa means „complete“ or „perfect,“ and chen po means „great“ (van Schaik, 2004, p. 167). The name reflects the central tenet of the tradition: that all qualities of awakening are already complete (rdzogs) and primordially present (ye nas) — not produced through effort, but spontaneously accomplished (lhun gyis grub) from the very beginning (van Schaik, 2004, p. 168).
Reference:
van Schaik, S. (2004). The early days of the Great Perfection. Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 27(1), 165–206. https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8947