“Because your mind moves like a river, it does not rest without the foundation of meditative serenity; a mind that is not in meditative equipoise cannot understand reality just as it is. Also, the Bhagavan says, ‘With meditative equipoise, you know reality just as it is.’”

— Kamalaśīla, First Stages of Meditation, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, v.3, p 21.

ཞི་གནས་
zhi gnas
śamatha

Calm abiding; calming down; quietude; appeasing; serenity (UMA Tibet Dictionary)

Subject Guide Sections

  • Calm Abiding in Tibetan Buddhism
  • Indian Sources
  • Media and Other Resources

JABL Subject Headings

Calm Abiding in Tibetan Buddhism

Tsong-Kha-Pa Blo-Bzang-Grags-Pa. 2002. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Vol. 3. Snow Lion Publications. JABL

Gen Lamrimpa. 2011. How to Practice Shamatha Meditation. National Geographic Books. JABL

Geshe Gedun Lodro and Jeffrey Hopkins, trans. 1998. Calm Abiding and Special Insight. JABL

Zahler, Leah.1997. Meditative States in Tibetan Buddhism. Wisdom Publications. JABL

Indian Sources

Bhāvanākrama
Stages of Meditation
བསྒོམ་པའི་རིམ་པ་
bsgom pa’i rim pa
Kamalaśīla
Tibetan: initial, middling, final
Sanskrit

  • Adam, Martin T., trans. 2002. Meditation and the Concept of Insight in Kamalaśīla’s Bhāvanākrama. Dissertation. McGill University. WorldCat
  • ​​Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, and Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell, trans. 2001. Stages of Meditation: [Commentary]. Snow Lion Publications. JABL
  • Lhundup Sopa, Geshe, Elvin W. Jones, and John Newman, trans. [n.d.] Middle Length Stages of Meditation. (Drepung Goman)
  • Sharma, Paramananda, trans.. 2004. Bhāvanākrama of Kamalaśīla. Aditya Prakashan. JABL

Media and Other Resources

  • Adam, Martin T. 2006. “Two Concepts of Meditation and Three Kinds of Wisdom in Kamalaśīla’s Bhāvanākramas: A Problem of Translation.” Buddhist Studies Review. 23 (1): 71–92. (https://journal.equinoxpub.com)
  • Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV. 2008. Great Treatise on the Stages to the Path of Enlightenment. Lehigh University. July 10-15. Day 5 – Morning.  The Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center and Lehigh University. YouTube
  • “Deepening Calm-Abiding – the Nine Stages of Abiding.” 2022. Terebess
  • Wallace, B. Allen. 2010. The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind. Wisdom Publications. JABL