[internal
confidence,
mental
unification] equani-
mous,
mindful | ||
 | ||
seclusion-
born;
pervades
body samādhi-
born;
pervades
body pervades
physical
body aban-
doned
(as is
pain) equani-
mous,
mindful mindfull;
neither
pleasure
nor pain | ||
Passaddhi is a Pali noun (Sankrit: prasrabhi, Tibetan: ཤིན་ཏུ་སྦྱང་བ་,Tibetan Wylie: shin tu sbyang ba) that has been translated as "calmness," "tranquillity," "repose" and "serenity." The associated verb is passambhati (to calm down, to be quiet).
Contents
In Buddhism, passaddhi refers to tranquillity of the body, speech, thoughts and consciousness on the path to enlightenment. As part of cultivated mental factors, passaddhi is preceded by rapture (pīti) and precedes concentration (samādhi).
Passaddhi is identified as a wholesome factor in the following canonical contexts:
Post-canonical Pali texts
Passaddhi is referenced in the Visuddhimagga and other Pali commentarial (atthakatha) texts.
Tranquillity's nutriments
In the Visuddhimagga, the enlightenment factors (bojjhangas) are discussed in the context of skills for developing absorption (jhāna). In particular, the Visuddhimagga recommends that in order to develop the skill of "restrain[ing] the mind on an occasion when it should be restrained" (such as when it is "agitated through over-energeticness, etc."), one should develop tranquillity (passaddhi), concentration (samādhi) and equanimity (upekkhā). Towards this end, the Visuddhimagga identifies seven things from which bodily and mental tranquillity arise:
- "using superior food"
- "living in a good climate"
- "maintaining a pleasant posture"
- "keeping to the middle"
- "avoidance of violent persons"
- "cultivation of persons tranquil in body"
- "resoluteness upon that [tranquillity]."