Dana and sila can be performed without right understanding or with right understanding. When they are performed with right understanding they are  of a higher degree of kusala. Bhavana, mental development, is another way of kusala and this cannot be cultivated without right understanding.

There are two kinds of bhavana : samatha bhavana or tranquil meditation and vipassana bhavana or the development of insight. Both forms of bhavana need right understanding, but the right understanding in samatha is different from the right understanding in vipassana. Samatha and vipassana have different aims and their ways of development are different. The aim of samatha is calm. In samatha defilements are temporarily suppressed, but they cannot be eradicated.

Samatha is a way of cultivating kusala cittas. Those who see the disadvantages of akusala want to develop more conditions for kusala. There are not always opportunities for dana and sila, but if one has understood how to develop samatha, there are conditions for calm, even in one's daily life. What is calm? Is it enjoyment of nature, listening to the bird's song, being in quiet surroundings? What we in conventional language call 'calm' is not the same as the calm which is developed in samatha. The calm which is developed in samatha has to be wholesome, because samatha is a way of mental development. When there is attachment there is no calm. One may have attachment to silence and if there is no development of right understanding, one is
likely to take for wholesome calm what is not really wholesome calm. One may think that when there is neither pleasant feeling nor unpleasant feeling, but indifferent feeling, there must be calm. Indifferent feeling can arise with kusala citta, but also with akusala citta. It can arise with lobha-mula-citta (citta rooted in attachment) and it arises always with moha-mula-cita (citta rooted in ignorance). Since it is extremely difficult to know exactly when the citta is kusala and when it is akusala, a fine discrimination of one's cittas is necessary for the development of samatha. Thus we see that right understanding is essential.

There is calm with every kusala citta1. When we are generous or when we observe sila, one is free from lobha, dosa and moha and that is calm. When one has right understanding of the characteristic of calm, one can develop more calm and that is samatha.

If one has right understanding of characteristic of calm and of the meditation subject there can be conditions for more and more calm. We see that the understanding which is needed in samatha is not a merely theoretical understanding. One has to know from experience the characteristic of calm and one has to know precisely when the citta is kusala and when it is akusala.

During the sessions we discussed many times the word meditation. Generally one thinks that sitting in a quiet place and trying very hard to concentrate is tranquil meditation or samatha. One may try very hard to concentrate, but which types of cittas arise during such moments? Does one concentrate with aversion, because concentration is hard to achieve? Does one concentrate with attachment and with ignorance? There may be wrong view when one thinks of 'my concentration'.

We should remember that concentration or 'one-pointedness' (ekaggata cetasika) arise with every citta. Its function is to focus on one object. When there is seeing, there is concentration on visible object. When there is aversion, there is concentration on the object of aversion. When there is dana, there is concentration on the object of dana. When there is sila, there is concentration on the object of sila. When one develops samatha there is also concentration on the subject of samatha and there is no need to think of concentration. If one aims for concentration there is bound to be attachment or aversion.

When there is right understanding of object of samatha and there are conditions for more and more calm, there will also be a higher degree of concentration, without there being the need to try. If one is able to develop calm of samatha it is due to conditions; one has developed it previously.

There are many degrees of calm. In the Buddha's time there were people who had conditions for the attainment of jhana (absorption-concentration). At the moment of jhanacitta there are no sense-impressions and attachment; aversion and ignorance are temporarily subdued.

Can samatha be developed in daily life? When one does not lead a secluded life and does not have conditions for jhana, there can still be moments of calm in daily life. The 'Visuddhimagga' (Chapters IV-XII) describes forty meditation subjects which can be a condition for calm.

The contemplation of a corpse can for some people be a condition for aversion. But if one thinks of this subject with right understanding there can be conditions for kusala citta with calm. One may realise that our body now is not different from a corpse: it consists of rupas which do not know anything and which do not belong to a 'self'. These rupas arise and fall away, they are impermanent. Thus one sees that it is right understanding, not concentration which conditions calm.

Mindfulness of breath is another object among the forty meditation subjects (kammatthana).  The 'Visuddhimagga' explains that this subject is extremely difficult, one of the most difficult subjects. There should be right understanding of breath, otherwise citta cannot become calm. What we call breath are the 'rupas' (physical phenomena) which are conditioned by citta (consciousness). Bodily phenomena can be conditioned by kamma, by citta, by temperature or by food.

We cling to life, to our body, to our possessions. However, our life depends on this small factor which is breath. So long as we are breathing in and out we are alive, but when our last breath has been drawn out there is the end of this life. Of what use are then our possessions to us, of what use are all the things we are clinging to? When one is mindful of breath with right understanding, there can be moments of citta with calm. Those who have conditions for jhana can develop calm to the degree of jhana. However, if this subject is not developed in the right way it is not bhavana. If there is no precise knowledge of the moments of akusala citta and of kusala citta, one is bound to take for bhavana what is not bhavana. Do we like our breath and do we have desire to watch it since that gives us a pleasant sensation? That is not calm, but clinging.

Breath is very subtle and not everyone is able to be mindful of it. It is hard to know when it is breath which appears and when it is not breath but what we call oxygen. Breath can be perceived where it touches the nosetip or the upper lip. When one follows the movement of the abdomen it is not mindfulness of breath. If one has no conditions for calm with this subject, one should not force oneself. For the development of samatha one should choose the right subject, that is, the subject which can condition kusala citta with calm. It depends on the individual which subject is suitable. That is why there are forty meditation subjects of samatha.

The recollection of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha are also objects of samatha. One may pay respect to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha because one has been taught to do so, without right understanding of the virtues of the Buddha and his teachings. The citta may be kusala, but it is not bhavana. Right understanding of the object is necessary for bhavana. If there is right understanding of the Buddha's virtues and of his teachings, there may be conditions for citta to be very calm and clear, free from lobha, dosa and moha, for many moments. Such moments can occur in daily life, it is not necessary to go to a quiet place. It is right understanding which is necessary, and if this is lacking, a quiet place will not induce calm. If one sits in front of a Buddha statue and repeats the word 'Buddha, Buddha', without right understanding, kusala citta may arise, but it is not bhavana.

The 'brahmaviharas' (divine abidings) of lovingkindness (metta), compassion (kuruna), sympathetic joy (mudita) and equanimity (upekkha) are objects of samatha, but they cannot be developed without right understanding of the characteristics of these virtues. One may recite the 'Karaniya Metta Sutta' in the morning, but if one does not develop metta when one is in the company of other people can one know the characteristic of metta? If one does not know the characteristic of metta how can one then develop it as an object of samatha?

When one is in the company of other beings one should develop metta and one should find out when there is attachment, which is akusala, and when there is metta, which is kusala. The difference between attachment and metta should be known very precisely.

One may wonder whether it is possible to develop metta towards one's relatives, because is there not bound to be attachment to them? We can develop metta towards them when we do not see them as members of the family who belong to us, but as human beings who we would like to treat with kindness and consideration.

As to the subject which is compassion, are we sure when there is true compassion? We may take for compassion what is aversion. For example, when we see someone kicking a dog, aversion is bound to arise. When there is true compassion, there cannot be aversion at the time. The kusala citta with compassion is without attachment and without aversion. When there is true lovingkindness, true compassion or, the other brahmaviharas, calm can be developed with these subjects and then calm can increase. That is bhavana.

If we have right understanding of samatha bhavana it is a way of kusala which can be practised in our daily life. Therefore it is worth while to study the forty subjects of meditation which are explained in the 'Visuddhimagga'. We may have thought that they can be applied only when one leads a secluded life. We read in the scriptures that many monks in the Buddha's time lived in the forest. This does not mean that everybody has to go to the forest or to a secluded place. Monks who lived in the forest did so because it was natural for them, it was their inclination. They developed samatha to a high degree and they could attain jhana because they had conditions for such a high degree of calm. But even if one does not usually live in a forest, one may still have conditions for moments of calm in one's daily life. Today there are not many people who can attain jhana, it is not known whether there is anybody who can. However, even if one cannot attain jhana, it is valuable to have calm in stead of akusala cittas. Samatha is a high degree of kusala.

Another meditation subject is 'Parts of the Body': 'Hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin...' Are there no parts of the body appearing during the day? Instead of attachment or aversion we can have moments of calm if there is right understanding of this object. We are attached to the body and we think that it is beautiful, but when we consider parts of the body we may see that there is no beauty, only elements. When we wash our hair or cut our nails, there can be moments of calm while considering 'parts of the body'. This meditation subject can be developed in daily life.

Before the Buddha's enlightenment samatha was the highest form of kusala. As we have seen, right understanding is necessary in samatha. The right understanding in samatha knows the difference between kusala ciltta and akusala citta very precisely and it knows the right conditions for calm. Samatha is a way to be temporarily freed from lobha, dosa and moha. However, the right understanding in samatha does not know realities as impermanent, dukkha (suffering) and anatta (not self), and it does not eradicate defilements. Thus, the right understanding in samatha is different from the right understanding which developed in vipassana. Only the wisdom which is developed in vipassana can eradicate the wrong view of self and the other defilements.