tummo means A Tibetan Buddhist discipline supposed to create heat in the body. It carries an Arena rating of 1393, earned across 35 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, tummo ranks #187 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #718 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #2,225 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #2,332 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words.
Why “tummo” is a great word
TUMMO — [Noun] A Tibetan Buddhist discipline for generating intense, yogic heat through breath control and visualization. Borrowed from Tibetan གཏུམ་མོ (gtum mo), literally meaning 'fierce woman'. Unlike drod, which denotes the mundane warmth of a hearth or fever, or caṇḍālī, which roots the practice in Indian tantric scripture, tummo is the culturally embodied Tibetan art of spiritual combustion. It is the hermit melting a ring of snow in a Himalayan blizzard, the visualized inner fire ascending the central channel to dissolve thought, and the literal steam rising from damp blankets in the cold—a voluntary forge where the self is both fuel and flame.
Etymology
Borrowed from Tibetan གཏུམ་མོ (gtum mo, literally “fierce woman”).
noun
- A Tibetan Buddhist discipline supposed to create heat in the body.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- khecarimudra 52% match — The Hatha yoga practice of curling the tip of the tongue back into the mouth until it reaches above the soft palate and into the nasal cavity, intended to seal energy within the head. vs tummo →
- cauma 51% match — Great heat, as of the body in fever. vs tummo →
- tukdam 49% match — An advanced state of meditation believed to be attained by some experienced meditators following their deaths. vs tummo →
- dantian 49% match — Any of various focal points within the body for the flow of chi energy. vs tummo →
- torma 49% match — A figure, made mostly of flour and butter, used in tantric rituals or as an offering in Tibetan Buddhism. vs tummo →
- thermotherapy 49% match — The use of heat to treat disease vs tummo →
- thermotic 49% match — Of or relating to heat; produced by heat. vs tummo →
- kundalini 48% match — An energy said to lie coiled at the base of the spine and to be released by yoga. vs tummo →