Passaddhi

Passaddhi is a Pali 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, 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: the seven factors of enlightenment (sambojjhangas) meditative absorptions (jhanani) transcendental dependent arising (lokuttara-paticcasamuppada) 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. Calming () bodily and mental formations is the culmination of each of the first two tetrads of meditation instructions in the Pali Canon's famed Anapanasati Sutta: A number of discourses identify the concurrent arising of the following wholesome mental states with the development of mindfulness (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 (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: Alternately, with right effort and sense-restraint, paññā ("wisdom," "discernment") is fully realized, and the jhana-factors arise: Passaddhi is the fifth of seven factors of enlightenment (sambojjhanga) that lead to deliverance from suffering.