''Passaddhi'' is a

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

noun (Sanskrit: 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). In

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, ''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 ''Pīti'' in Pali (Sanskrit: ''Prīti'') is a Mental factors (Buddhism), mental factor (Pali:''cetasika'', Sanskrit: ''caitasika'') associated with the development of ''Dhyāna in Buddhism, jhāna'' (Sanskrit: ''dhyāna'') in Buddhist meditation ...

'') and precedes concentration (''

samādhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...

''). ''Passaddhi'' is identified as a wholesome factor in the following canonical contexts: * ''kāyapassaddhi'' is one of beautiful mental factors in Theravāda Abhidhamma tradition * ''cittapassaddhi'' is one of beautiful mental factors in Theravāda Abhidhamma tradition * the seven factors of enlightenment (''sambojjhangas'') * meditative absorptions ('' jhanani'') * transcendental dependent arising (''lokuttara- paticcasamuppada'')

Canonical references

In various Buddhist canonical schema, the calming of the body, speech and various mental factors is associated with gladness (''pāmojja'', ''pāmujja''), rapture (''pīti''), and pleasure (') and leads to the concentration needed for release from suffering.

Meditative calming

Calming (') bodily and mental formations is the culmination of each of the first two tetrads of meditation instructions in the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

's famed Anapanasati Sutta:

''Sati, pāmojja, pīti, passaddhi, sukho''

A number of discourses identify the concurrent arising of the following wholesome mental states with the development of

mindfulness Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through exercises, of sustaining metacognitive awareness towards the contents of one's own mind and bodily sensations in the present moment. The term ''mindfulness'' derives from the Pali ...

(''sati'') and the onset of the first ''jhana'': :* ''pāmojja'' or ''pāmujja'' ("gladness" or "joy") :* ''pīti'' ("rapture" or "joy") :* ''passaddhi'' ("tranquility" or "serenity" or "calm") :* ''sukho'' ("happiness" or "pleasure"). By establishing mindfulness, one overcomes the

Five Hindrances In the Buddhist tradition, the five hindrances (; Pali: ') are identified as mental factors that hinder progress in meditation and in daily life. In the Theravada tradition, these factors are identified specifically as obstacles to the jhānas ...

(''pañca nīvaraṇi''), gives rise to gladness, rapture, pleasure and tranquillizes the body (''kāyo passambhati''); such bodily tranquillity (''passaddhakāyo'') leads to higher states of concentration (''samādhi'') as indicated in this Pali-recorded discourse ascribed to the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

: Alternately, with right effort and sense-restraint, '' paññā'' ("wisdom," "discernment") is fully realized, and the ''jhana''-factors arise:

Enlightenment factor

Passaddhi is the fifth of seven factors of enlightenment (''sambojjhanga'') that lead to deliverance from suffering. Among the factors of enlightenment, serenity (''passadhi'') is preceded by rapture (''

'') and leads to concentration (''

'') as further described by the Buddha in the Anapanasati Sutta: :"For one enraptured at heart, the body grows calm and the mind grows calm. When the body & mind of a monk enraptured at heart grow calm, then serenity as a factor for awakening becomes aroused. He develops it, and for him it goes to the culmination of its development. :"For one who is at ease — his body calmed — the mind becomes concentrated. When the mind of one who is at ease — his body calmed — becomes concentrated, then concentration as a factor for awakening becomes aroused. He develops it, and for him it goes to the culmination of its development."

Jhanic attainment

In describing one's progressive steps through the absorptions ('' jhanani''), the Buddha identifies six sequential "calmings" (''passaddhis''): # With the first jhana, speech (''vācā'') is calmed. # With the second jhana, applied and sustained thought ('' vitakka- vicārā'') is calmed. # With the third jhana, rapture (''pīti'') is calmed. # With the fourth jhana, in-and-out breathing (''assāsa-passāsā'') is calmed. # With the cessation of perception and feeling, perception and feeling ('' saññā- vedanā'') are calmed. # With the ending of mental fermentations (''āsava''), lust, hatred and delusion (''rāga-dosa-moha'') are calmed.

Arahantship condition

Passaddhi is a "supporting condition" for the "destruction of the cankers" (''āsava-khaye''), that is, the achievement of Arahantship. More specifically, in describing a set of supporting conditions that move one from samsaric suffering (see

Dependent Origination A dependant (US spelling: dependent) is a person who relies on another as a primary source of income and usually assistance with activities of daily living. A common-law spouse who is financially supported by their partner may also be included ...

) to destruction of the cankers, the Buddha describes the following progression of conditions: # suffering ('' dukkha'') # faith ('' saddhā'') # joy (''pāmojja'', ''pāmujja'') # rapture (''pīti'') # tranquillity (''passaddhi'') # happiness (''

sukha ''Sukha'' (Pali and ) means happiness, pleasure, ease, joy or bliss. Among the early scriptures, 'sukha' is set up as a contrast to 'preya' (प्रेय) meaning a transient pleasure, whereas the pleasure of 'sukha' has an authentic state o ...

'') # concentration (''

'') # knowledge and vision of things as they are (') # disenchantment with worldly life (''nibbidā'') # dispassion (''virāga'') # freedom, release, emancipation, deliverance (''vimutti'') # knowledge of destruction of the cankers (') In the

Pali literature Pali literature is concerned mainly with Theravada Buddhism, of which Pali (IAST: pāl̤i) is the traditional language. The earliest and most important Pali literature constitutes the Pāli Canon, the authoritative scriptures of Theravada school ...

, this sequence that enables one to transcend worldly suffering is referred to as the "transcendental dependent arising" (''lokuttara- paticcasamuppada'').

Abhidhammic wholesome state

In the Abhidhamma Pitaka's Dhammasangani, the first chapter identifies 56 states of material-world consciousness that are wholesome, including "lightness of sense and thought," upon which the text elaborates: :What on that occasion is repose of sense (''kayāpassaddhi'')? :The serenity, the composure which there is on that occasion, the calming, the tranquillizing, the tranquillity of the

skandha ' (Sanskrit) or (Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings, clusters". In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (), the five material and mental factors that take part in the perpetual process of craving, cli ...

s of feeling, perception and syntheses — this is the serenity of sense that there then is. :What on that occasion is serenity of thought (''cittapassaddhi'')? :The serenity, the composure which there is on that occasion, the calming, the tranquillizing, the tranquillity of the skandha of intellect — this is the serenity of thought that there then is.

Post-canonical Pali texts

''Passaddhi'' is referenced in the

Visuddhimagga The ''Visuddhimagga'' (Pali; English: ''The Path of Purification''; ), is the 'great treatise' on Buddhism, Buddhist practice and Theravāda Abhidhamma written by Buddhaghosa approximately in the 5th century in Sri Lanka. It is a manual condens ...

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 ngthe 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 ranquillity"Buddhaghosa & (1999), p. 132 (square brackets included in original text). According to Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), ''op. cit.'', similar information is found in the Vibhanga- Atthakatha 282.

Notes

Sources

* Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans., ed.) (1980). ''Transcendental Dependent Arising: A Translation and Exposition of the Upanisa Sutta'' (The Wheel No. 277/278) ( SN 12.23) Kandy:

Buddhist Publication Society The Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) is a publishing house with charitable status, whose objective is to disseminate the teachings of Gautama Buddha. It was founded in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1958 by two Sri Lankan lay Buddhists, A.S. Karunaratn ...

. Retrieved 11 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" (1995) at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel277.html. *

Buddhaghosa Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravādin Buddhist commentator, translator, and philosopher. He worked in the great monastery (''mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajyavāda schoo ...

, Bhadantacariya & Bhikkhu (trans.) (1999). ''The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga''. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. . * Nyanaponika Thera (trans.) (1983, 1998). ''Rahogata Sutta: Secluded'' ( SN 36.11). Retrieved 09 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.011.nypo.html. * Rhys Davids, C.A.F. (trans.) (1900). ''A Buddhist manual of psychological ethics or Buddhist Psychology, of the Fourth Century B.C., being a translation, now made for the first time, from the Original Pāli of the First Book in the Abhidhamma-Piţaka, entitled Dhamma-Sangaṇi (Compendium of States or Phenomena)''. Lancaster: Pali Text Society. Reprint currently available from Kessinger Publishing. . * Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). ''The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary''. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for this dictionary is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. * Sri Lanka Buddha Jayanti Tipitaka Series (SLTP) (n.d.-a). ' (in

) ( MN 118). Retrieved 13 Jul 2007 from "Mettanet - Lanka" at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/2Majjhima-Nikaya/Majjhima3/118-anappanasati-p.html. * Sri Lanka Buddha Jayanti Tipitaka Series (SLTP) (n.d.-b). ' (in

) ( DN 9). Retrieved 14 Jul 2007 from "Mettanet - Lanka" at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/1Digha-Nikaya/Digha1/09-potthapada-p.html. * Sri Lanka Buddha Jayanti Tipitaka Series (SLTP) (n.d.-c). ' (in

) ( DN 2). Retrieved 14 Jul 2007 from "Mettanet - Lanka" at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/1Digha-Nikaya/Digha1/02samannaphala-p.html. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). ''Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life'' ( DN 2). Retrieved 14 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1998). ''Rahogata Sutta: Alone'' ( SN 36.11). Retrieved 09 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.011.than.html. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2003). ''Potthapada Sutta: About Potthapada'' ( DN 9). Retrieved 14 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.09.0.than.html. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2006). ''Anapanasati Sutta: Mindfulness of Breathing'' ( MN 118). Retrieved 09 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html. * Upalavanna, Sister (n.d.). ''Aṅguttara Nikāya, avakanipāta 006. Khemavaggo – Section on Appeasement'' ( AN 9.6). Retrieved 10 Jul 2007 from "Mettanet - Lanka" at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara6/09-navakanipata/006-khemavaggo-e.html. {{Buddhism topics Theravada Buddhist meditation Wholesome factors in Buddhism Pali words and phrases