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Samatha (Pali; Skt. ) has been translated as "calm," "composure," "peace," "quiet," "quietude of heart," "resolution," "serenity" and "tranquillity."

In Buddhism's 2,000-year-old Pali Canon, samatha is a mind-stabilizing state needed to achieve liberation from suffering. In the post-canonical Theravada commentaries, the notion of samatha is further extended to describe certain meditation subjects or "vehicles" by which one attains the concentrated mental state of samatha (see samatha meditation).

In the Pali Canon
In the Pali Canon's Sutta Pitaka, samatha arises from the steadying, unification and concentration of the mind. Samatha is frequently mentioned in terms of the "internal serenity of mind" (ajjhatta ceto-samathassa) and the "stilling of all mental formations" (sabba-sakhāra-samatho). Throughout the Canon it is said that samatha developed in tandem with insight (vipassana) leads to nirvana (nibbāna).

In a similar vein, in the Canon's Abhidhamma Pitaka, samatha is identified as a wholesome mental state (dhammā kusalā) described in part as "the concentration which is a factor in the Great Awakening" (samādhi-). Samatha is also used to describe a serene quality in other mental states, including both right concentration (sammā-samādhi) and wrong concentration (micchā-samādhi).

Internal serenity of mind
In the Tatiya-samādhi Sutta ("Third Concentration Discourse," AN 4.94), it is discussed as to what a monk should do who has not yet "attained the internal serenity of mind" (lābhī ajjhatta ceto-samathassa, below translated as "internal tranquillity of awareness"). The response is:
 * ... [H]e should approach an individual who has attained internal tranquillity of awareness... and ask him, 'How should the mind be steadied? How should it be made to settle down? How should it be unified? How should it be concentrated?' The other will answer in line with what he has seen & experienced: 'The mind should be steadied in this way. The mind should be made to settle down in this way. The mind should be unified in this way. The mind should be concentrated in this way.' Then eventually he [the first] will become one who has attained ... internal tranquillity of awareness....

Thus, implicitly the internal stilling of thought (ajjhatta cetosamatha) is achieved through the steadying (sahapeti), composing (sannisādeti), unification (ekodi) and concentration  (samādahāti) of the mind.

Expand: A similar sequence of development &mdash; steadying, unifying and concentrating the mind &mdash; is used throughout the Canon to allude to the development of the four material absorptions (rupajhana), the four immaterial aborptions (arupajhana) and "signless" concentration (animitta) ... see for instance SN 40.1 through SN 40.9 (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1302-1308).

Stilling all formations
"Stilling all mental formations" () is a threshold experience for the attainment of Nibbana. Epitomizing this accomplishment, the following narrative formula (stated here in English and Pali, where  is rendered as "the resolution of all fabrications") can be found in over a dozen discourses:

For instance, this formula can be seen in the Samadhi Sutta ("Concentration Discourse," AN 10.6) whereby the Buddha instructs Ananda that there is a type of concentration beyond the four material and immaterial jhanic attainments:
 * "As he was sitting there, [Ananda] said to the Blessed One, "Lord, could a monk have an attainment of concentration such that he would neither be percipient of earth with regard to earth, nor of water with regard to water, nor of fire... wind... the dimension of the infinitude of space... the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness... the dimension of nothingness... the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception... this world... nor of the next world with regard to the next world, and yet he would still be percipient?"....
 * [The Buddha replies:] "There is the case, Ananda, where the monk would be percipient in this way: 'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.'...."

One way of further contextualizing this stilling of all formations is within the central Buddhist framework of Dependent Origination. In this framework, as represented in the diagram to the right, karmically ladened "formations" are the second nidāna or cause in this samsaric chain, arising from suffering's ultimate condition, ignorance (avijjā). Formations condition the arising of life-perpetuating consciousness which in turn conditions bodily and mental processes, then sensory experiences, next resultant feelings, and ultimately culminating in "the whole mass of suffering" (kevalassa dukkha-khandha) inherent in birth, aging and death. Therefore, conversely, with the cessation of the formations, one's samsaric existence ends and all suffering ceases.

While the stilling of mental formations is a requisite for Nibbana, as will be explored further below, the ultimate attainment of Nibbana requires the co-development of higher wisdom borne of insight (vipassana).

Samatha vs. passaddhi
In the Pali Canon, while a distinction is not always clearcut, samatha is rarely applied to the pre-jhanic calming of the body and thoughts; for such calming, the word passaddhi (and its verbal form, passambhati) is generally used. Put another way, passaddhi is often described as preceding concentration (samadhi) whereas, in turn, concentration is often mentioned as a precursor for samatha.

As an example, it is passaddhi-related passambhaya ("calming"), not samatha, that is referenced in this well-known passage from the Anapanasati Sutta (MN 118, stated in English and Pali): This excerpt illustrates that, in the Canon, technically speaking, when such meditation techniques are related to the notion of samatha, samatha is not used to describe the actual act of calming the body, mental processes or consciousness; but, as indicated in aforementioned discourses, samatha is itself a liberating mental state that arises from the concentration that is achieved as a result of this technique. In the words of the later commentaries (see in more detail below), a technique such as this can become a "vehicle" (yāna) for samatha.

Serenity and insight
The Buddha identified two paramount mental states, used in tandem, that lead to the arahant-preceding extinction of mental "taints" (āsava) and the attaining of Nibbana: serenity (samatha) and insight (vipassana).

Underlining their centrality, the Kāla Sutta ("Time Discourse," AN 4.146) states in its entirety (in Engilsh and Pali): The very next discourse, Dutiya-Kāla Sutta ("Time [2] Discourse," AN 4.147) states that these four times lead to the gradual destruction of mental taints (), the achievement of which is synonymous with arahantship.

Additionally, in the Ākankheyya Sutta ("If a Bhikkhu Should Wish," MN 6), the Buddha repeatedly identifies just five things that can bring a monk everything from the respect of other monks to final deliverance:
 * keeping the precepts (sīlesvevassa)
 * applying oneself to internal mental serenity (ajjhattaṃ ceto samathamanuyutto)
 * not neglecting jhanic meditation (anirākatajjhāno)
 * being endowed with insight (vipassanāya samannāgato)
 * frequenting solitary places (brūhetā ).

Similarly, in the Nandaka Sutta ("To Nandaka Discourse," AN 9.4), the Buddha states that a monk should be accomplished (paripūretabba) in four limbs (aga):
 * faith (saddho)
 * virtues (sīlavā)
 * attainment of internal mental serenity (lābhī ajjhattaṃ cetosamathassa)
 * attainment of higher wisdom of insight into phenomena (lābhī adhipaññādhammavipassanāya)

Without one of these limbs, a monk is like a lame four-footed creature (pāṇako catuppādako).

In the brief Vijja-bhagiya Sutta ("Partake of True Knowledge Discourse," AN 2.30), it is stated that, when serenity is developed, the mind (citta) is developed, then lust (rāga) is abandoned and the mind is liberated (ceto-vimutti). When insight is developed, wisdom (paññā) is developed, then ignorance (avijjā) is abandoned and there is "liberation by wisdom" ().

Furthermore, in one of the Canon's more memorable metaphors, in the Kimsuka Sutta ("Kimsuka Tree Discourse," SN 35.245), the Buddha analogizes serenity and insight to "the swift pair of messengers" who deliver the message of Nibbana via the Noble Eightfold Path.

Likewise, in both the aforementioned Tatiya-samādhi Sutta ("Third Concentration Discourse," AN 4.94) and the Samatha Sutta ("Serenity Discourse," AN 10.54), it is stated:
 * "... [T]he person who gains both internal serenity of mind and the higher wisdom of insight into phenomena should establish himself in just these wholesome states and make a further effort for the destruction of the taints."

Moreover, in this Samatha Sutta it states that if one has attained either serenity or insight but not the other, then one should establish (patiāya) themselves in the one they have attained and then they should practice (yogo) the one they lack so that at a later time they attain both.

Similarly, in the Yuganaddha Sutta ("In Tandem Discourse," AN 4.170), Ven. Ananda reported that people attain arahantship using serenity and insight in one of three ways:
 * 1) they develop serenity and then insight (samatha-pubbangamam vipassanam)
 * 2) they develop insight and then serenity (vipassana-pubbangamam samatham)
 * 3) they develop serenity and insight in tandem (samatha-vipassanam yuganaddham), for instance, obtaining the first jhana and then seeing in the associated aggregates the three marks of existence, before proceeding to the second jhana.

Abhidhammic mental state (dhamma)
In the Abhidhamma Pitaka, samatha is recognized as a mental state (dhamma) among both those states that are wholesome as well as those states that constitute the aggregate of mental formations (). In addition, the quality of samatha is frequently used to describe various concentrative mental states.

The Abhidhamma Pitaka's Dhammasangani starts by analyzing states ethically: between those states that are wholesome (kusala) and those that are unwholesome (akusala). The first chapter identifies 56 states of material-world consciousness that are wholesome, including samatho (below translated as "quiet"), upon which the text elaborates: This definition is also referenced as denoting "the mark of composure" (samatha-) and the "Peace of the Higher Ideal" ().

In addition, the Dhammasangani subsequently examines states in terms of their psychological category. In this regard, samatha is identified as one of fifty components of the mental aggregate of formations (sankhara-khandho).

Beyond being a mental state (dhamma) unto itself, samatha is also used in the Dhammasangani and Vibhanga adjectivally, as a descriptor for other mental states, especially those dealing with concentration (samādhi). In particular, samatha describes in part the following mental states: self-collectedness (cittassekaggatā), the faculty of concentration ('), right concentration (sammāsamādhi), the power of concentration ('), samatho itself, balance (avikkhepo), and wrong concentration (micchāsamādhi).

In the "Path of Purification" (Visuddhimagga)
Buddhaghosa's 5th c. CE exegetic opus, the Visuddhimagga ("Path of Purification"), analyzes the canonical teachings in terms of the Threefold training of virtue, concentration and wisdom. Throughout this text there are references to how a practice or pursuit is approached differently from the development of either samatha or vipassana. In this way, the text simultaneously underlines the need for both samatha and vipassana in order to achieve liberation while also extending the post-canonical vocabulary for distinguishing these attainments.

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Serenity power
In the chapter on "Purification of View" (Vism. Ch. XXIII), in the section on the "attainment of cessation" (§ 16ff.), ....

 (once in Ch. 22 and multiple instances in Ch. 23, e.g.: Vism XXII, 46; Vism XXIII,20; and, Vism XXIII, 28 [Buddhaghosa &, 1999, pp. 707, 731, 733): "serenity power." The Visuddhimagga mentions different attainments based on differential development of serenity power vs. "insight power" ().

Note: According to a La Trobe search, "serenity power" is found only nine times in the Pali literature: five times in the Patisambhidamagga; once in the para-canonical Petakopadesa; and, three times in the Visuddhimagga.

Serenity meditation subjects
samathakammaṭṭhānaṃ (one instance: Vism VIII,60 [PTS p. 243; Nanamoli, p. 239]): Nanamoli (1975/1991) translates this as "serenity meditation subject." More specifically, it comes up in the following single instance:
 * "Herein, it [the body] is an insight meditation subject that is expounded as elements and a serenity meditation subject that is expounded as repulsiveness."

In Pali literature, this term only occurs in the Visuddhimagga (one time).

The vehicle of serenity
samathayāniko/ena (two instances: Vism XVIII,3 [PTS p. 587; Buddhaghosa & (1999), p. 605] and Vism XVIII,5 [PTS p. 588; Nanamoli, p. 606]): Nanamoli translates this as "serenity vehicle." It comes up early in the chapter on "purification of view" and is contrasted with suddhavipassanāyāniko ("one whose vehicle is pure insight").

In Pali literature, this term only occurs in the Visuddhimagga (twice).