Our trilingual glossary combining entries from all of our publications into one useful resource, giving translations and definitions of thousands of terms, people, places, and texts from the Buddhist canon.
ཞི་གནས། | Glossary of Terms
ཞི་གནས།
zhi gnas
śamatha
- Term
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other technique being “special insight.”
(Note that the term “tranquility” has also been used in this translation to render other terms related to zhi ba.)
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
- 止
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other technique being special insight.
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation that focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other being special insight.
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other technique being “insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other technique being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other technique being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Meditation of peaceful stability.
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other technique being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation that focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other being special insight.
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the two primary forms of meditation in Buddhism, the other being insight.
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, it focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as one of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other technique being “extraordinary insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
- 止
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other technique being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Remaining with the object of meditation single-pointedly without distraction; the cause of higher meditative states.
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other technique being special insight (Skt. vipaśyanā, Tib. lhag mthong).
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other technique being “insight” (vipaśyana).
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, centering on a peaceful focus. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other technique being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, with the other being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the basic forms of Buddhist meditation, which focuses on calming the mind. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other being “special insight.”
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Pacification or calm abiding.
- Tranquility
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
- Calm abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Refers to the meditative practice of calming the mind to rest free from the disturbance of thought. One of the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation, the other being insight.
- Calm abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Meditation technique to calm the mind.
- Calm abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
One of the two primary forms of meditation in Buddhism, the other being special insight.
- Calm abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
The first of the two main branches of Buddhist meditation, aiming at rendering the mind stable, subtle, and pliable.
- Calm abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Sometimes also translated as “mental quiescence.” Refers to a calm state without thought, or the meditative practice of calming the mind to rest free from the disturbance of thought. One of the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation, the other being transcendent insight (vipaśyanā, lhag mthong).
- Calm abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Refers to the meditative practice of calming the mind to rest free from the disturbance of thought. One of the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation, the other being special insight (vipaśyanā, lhag mthong).
- Calm abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Single-pointed meditative concentration developed through the techniques of settling the mind (Rigzin 352).
- Calm abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Refers to the meditative practice of calming the mind to rest free from the disturbance of thought. One of the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation, the other being insight.
- Śamatha
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Meditation of peaceful stability.
- Śamatha
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
Meditation of peaceful stability.
- Meditative calm
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
The meditative practice of calming the mind to rest free from the disturbance of thought. One of the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation, the other being insight (Skt. vipaśyanā; Tib. lhag mthong).
- Mental quiescence
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
“Mental quiescence” is a general term for all types of mind-practice, meditation, contemplation, concentration, etc., that cultivate one-pointedness of mind and lead to a state of peacefulness and freedom from concern with any sort of object. It is paired with “transcendental analysis” or “insight,” which combines the analytic faculty with this one-pointedness to reach high realizations such as the absence of self (see “transcendental analysis”). “Mental quiescence” and “transcendental analysis” were coined by E. Obermiller in his invaluable study “Prajṅa Pāramitā Doctrine, as Exposed in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra of Maitreya” (Acta Orientalia, Vol. XI [Heidelberg, 1932], pp. 1-134).
- Mental stillness
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
- Peaceful meditation
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
The first of the two main branches of Buddhist meditation (along with “expanded vision”) aiming at developing insight into the nature of reality.
- Quiescence
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha
- Tranquil abiding
- ཞི་གནས།
- zhi gnas
- śamatha