Buddhism Stack Exchange
Buddhism Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [samatha]

The Buddhist practice of calming the mind through practices such as mindfulness of breathing and other one pointed practice's. Contrast to Vipassana.

Samatha (Pāli), (Sanskrit: शमथ, śamatha[note 1] is the Buddhist practice (bhavana) of the calming of the mind (citta) and its 'formations' (sankhara). This is done by practicing single-pointed meditation most commonly through mindfulness of breathing. Samatha is common to all Buddhist traditions.

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What can I do to help avoid laxity while meditating lying down?

My upper back muscles are not strong enough yet to support seated meditation, so I use supine/savanana posture sometimes. My mind falls into short dream states, like hypnagogia, very easily in this posture, however. Any tips for overcoming this…
MattF
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Wallace's samatha practice, based on Padmasambhava: Am I doing it right?

I have been practicing a path that may be too advanced for me, in that I'm not even sure if I'm doing it properly. It is a path outlined by Alan Wallace in one of his retreats. The following is the relevant portion from the podcast transcript (it's…
MattF
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Meditating to feel calm

I have often read that you shouldn't meditate to try and have a pleasant experience because meditation is about "letting go" and cultivating equanimity etc and not about trying to feel something else. But then what is samatha? It's tranquility ie…
Arturia
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Qi gong and shamata

My teacher says that the Buddha said there are four ways to practice Shamata; sitting, walking, standing and lying down. Which one of these produces best are the most effective in you experience? I also practice Qi Gong every day. Is it an idea to…
Mr. Concept
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