samatha
Calm meditation
[ SUH-ma-tha ]
Seeing it in life
Samatha bhāvanā develops the jhānas by focusing on one of the forty traditional subjects (kammaṭṭhāna).
In short
Cultivation of concentration through a single object.
The analysis
Samatha bhāvanā develops the jhānas through sustained focus on one of forty traditional meditation subjects — including the breath, colour kasiṇas, contemplations of the body, and the brahmavihāras. The aim is unification of mind deep enough to suppress the five hindrances and produce jhāna.
Where it sits
Samatha produces the stability that supports vipassanā's clear seeing — a mind still scattered by the hindrances has difficulty sustaining the close attention insight practice requires.
The settling that develops through repeatedly returning attention to a single anchor — the breath, most commonly — session after session, rather than through a single dramatic effort, is samatha's ordinary, gradual character.
Commonly mistaken for
Relaxation in the general sense. Samatha is specifically the cultivation of unified, stable attention on a chosen object.
The complete practice on its own. Traditionally paired with vipassanā, calm alone is considered insufficient for the deeper aims of insight.
Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha IX; Visuddhimagga III–XI.
Related terms