Is Shamatha complimentary to mindfulness? And Pema Chodron

[gerronwithit]

Hello again. I bought 'How To Meditate' by Pema Chodron and I like the book, it fills-in some of the gaps of Full Catastrophe Living (like how, exactly, to be mindful of emotions).

She says it is instruction in the Shamatha practice tradition. Is this different to mindfulness? The way I see it (if interpreted correctly) is that it is both vipassana (insight) and Shamatha are mindfulness as we are cultivating attention to the present.

Shamatha is narrower in focus than vipassana : the former is to calm the mind via concentration, the latter to see how things really are without our veils of thought, etc. Is this about right?

Also, I like Pema's style, which of her books would any of you folks recommend for worry and anxiety?

[Matt Y]

Hi Gerronwithit,

You're on the right track.

Buddhists usually split meditation practices into two broad categories.

1. Tranquility practices. (Shamatha / Samadhi)
2. Mindfulness practices (Vipassana / Sati)

Shamatha does have a narrower focus and a stronger intention on getting calm. For beginners, this type of practice leads to some degree of physical relaxation and mental / emotional calm. For experts, it can lead to states of absorption (jhana).

Mindfulness practices are not a whole lot different. There's just more emphasis on knowing what you are doing. In other words, there's a metacognitive aspect. You observe what's going on, with less effort on calming yourself down and staying with one focal point.

A simple breath meditation could be considered a tranquility / shamatha practice. However, if you periodically check the quality of your focus, identify and release unnecessary tension or note how your attention wavers; then you could say that you were being mindful, within the context of a shamatha practice.

And of course, you're likely to become quite calm practicing mindfulness too.

Hope that clarifies things for you.

[gerronwithit]

That is a fantastically illuminating answer, thank you!

I have been thinking about this a bit: I wonder whether the practices are as distinct as I initially thought.

I mean, Jon Kabat-Zinn has us just watching our breathing at times yet calls this mindfulness, despite it being the same as what Pema Chodren calls shamatha practice.

And in How To Meditate (a book described as shamata practice) , Chodron includes a body scan (which Kabat-Zinn describes as a mindfulness practice) and also says at one point that we are aiming to build mindfulness with these practices.