Samatha (Pāli; Sanskrit: śamatha), refers to the practice of "Tranquility" or "concentration" meditation. Buddhism somewhat considers meditation in general to be an act of concentration on a particular object and/or idea. Therefore, meditation from other religious traditions are sometimes refered to as a variation of samatha meditation that differ in the focus of concentration; such as breathing, scriptual passage, mantra, religious picture, a rock, body (as a representation of death), and so on. In this sense, samatha is not a Buddhist meditation.

For Buddhists, it is commonly practiced as a prelude to and in conjunction with Vipassanā meditation (insight

Samatha lead to states of meditative absorption or concentration called Jhana which is often translated as state of tranquility or bliss. Thus, it furthers the right concentration aspect of the Noble Eightfold Path.

Shamatha is also used in Tibetan Buddhism.

Samatha