śamatha (Skt.); zhi gnas (Tib.). “An advanced degree of meditative concentration in which attentional stability and vividness have been developed to the point that one can fully engage in the cultivation of insight, or vipaśyanā” (Wallace, 2018, p. 223).

Shamatha may be translated as “calm abiding” or “meditative quiescence.” The practice of shamatha primarily employs two mental faculties: mindfulness and introspection.