How to develop calm in daily life?

How to develop calm (samatha bhavana) in daily life?

Now comes the all-important question of what we are to meditate upon. The subjects of development of calm (samatha bhavana) are classified in the books under forty heads. In the old days a man wishing to practise Kammatthana (subjects of meditation) would go to some great man who had practised long, and had so attained to great spiritual knowledge, and by virtue of his spiritual knowledge that Arahat (full enlightened one) could tell which of the forty categories would best suit the aspirant.


Now-a-days this is hardly possible, as so few practise this Kammatthana; and so it is next to impossible to find anyone with this spiritual insight. So the best thing to do will be to practise those forms of meditation which will most certainly increase the highest qualities in us, the qualities of Lovingkindness, and Pity, and Sympathetic joy, and Indifference (the Four Sublime States or Brahma-viharas) to worldly life and cares; those forms of Sammásati (right mindfulness) which will give us an accurate perception of our own nature, and the sorrow, transitoriness, and soullessness of all things in the Samsara Cakk, and those forms which will best calm our minds by making us think of holy and beautiful things, such as the Life of the Buddha, the liberating nature of the Dhamma He taught, and the pure life which is followed by His Bhikkhus (monks).

- from The Training of the Mind

   by Venerable Ananda Metteyya

Venerable Ananda Metteya, the second westerner ever to take the saffron robe, and without him, Buddhism would not have entered the Western world as it did!

 "Samatha Bhavana"

Samatha means calm, calm from all defilements of lobha, dosa, and moha (greed, hatred, and delusion). It is the concentration of one's mind to a suitable meditation object which brings about more peace.

The development of samatha is actually the development of kusala (wholesomeness) accompanied by panna (right understanding). Thus it should be studied carefully so that there can be right understanding of it.

For the development of samatha one has to apply oneself to a suitable subject of meditation. There are forty meditation subjects which can condition calm and they are the following:

10 kasina exercises, which are, for example, coloured disks, a piece of earth, light.

10 loathsome subjects, (in Pāli: asubha), the 'cemetery meditations'.

10 recollections, comprising the recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, virtue, generosity, deities, and also the recollections which are: mindfulness of death, mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of breathing and the recollection of peace (nibbāna).

The perception of repulsiveness in nutriment.

The definition of the four elements (earth, water, fire and wind).

4 brahma-vihāras (divine abidings) comprising of: lovingkindness (mettā), compassion (karunā), altruistic joy (muditā) and equanimity (upekkhā).

4 meditation subjects for the development of the arūpa-jhānas (immaterial absorptions).
Not all subjects are suitable for everybody; it depends on the individual which subject is a means for him to become calm. If there is right understanding of the way to become calm by means of a suitable meditation subject, calm can grow even in our daily life.

Mettā (lovingkindness) and karunā (compassion), for instance, can and should be developed in our daily life when we are in the company of other people and then there are kusala cittas (wholesome consciousnesses) arising instead of akusala cittas (unwholesome consciousnesses).

Recollection on the Dhamma also includes reflection on the teachings and this is beneficial for everybody; it helps one to begin to understand one's life. While we reflect with kusala citta on the teachings or on one of the other meditation subjects, there are moments of calm if we do not cling to calm.

- Dhammahome