Sri Lanka, Feb. 17 -- In Buddhism, passaddhi refers to tranquillity of the body, speech, thoughts and consciousness on the path to enlightenment. The associated verb is passambhati (to calm down or become quiet). Calming bodily and mental formations is the culmination of each of the meditation instructions in the Pali Canon's famed Anapanasati Sutta.

In my understanding of Buddhism, the Buddha made a distinction between physical and psychological solitude. For him, psychological solitude meant isolating the mind from negative thoughts and emotions. The more appropriate reasons why one might seek solitude, the Buddha said, included because one's wants are modest (appicchatau), for contentment (santunnhiu) and leading one to examine onesel...