Shamatha

Shamatha is a Buddhist meditation practice that cultivates calm, stable attention. It commonly uses sustained attention to an object, such as the breath, while noticing and releasing distraction.

Meditation object: A chosen focus, such as the breath, that anchors attention during meditation. Shamatha practitioners repeatedly return attention to a chosen object.
Samadhi: A Buddhist term for meditative collectedness or concentration. Shamatha cultivates the collectedness commonly called samadhi.
Vipassana: A Buddhist meditation practice cultivating insight into experience and its characteristics. Vipassana emphasizes insight, while shamatha emphasizes stabilizing attention.
Tibetan Buddhism: A form of Buddhism shaped by Tibetan texts, institutions, and contemplative traditions. Tibetan traditions teach shamatha through detailed stages and meditation instructions.
Mindfulness: The capacity to notice present experience clearly without immediately reacting to it. Mindfulness detects wandering so attention can return to its shamatha object.
Pali Canon: The collection of scriptures preserved by Theravada Buddhist traditions. Early Buddhist accounts of concentration and mindfulness appear in its discourses.
Shikantaza: A Zen practice of just sitting without selecting a particular meditation object. Its open, nonselective approach contrasts with shamatha’s commonly chosen focus.
Theravada: A major Buddhist tradition grounded in the Pali Canon and practiced widely in South and Southeast Asia. Theravada meditation systems include concentration practices related to shamatha.
Attention: The cognitive process of selecting information for focused processing. Shamatha trains sustained attention as its central mental capacity.
Four foundations of mindfulness: A Buddhist framework for contemplating body, feelings, mind, and mental phenomena. These practices can support the clear observation accompanying stable attention.

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