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Pliancy



(Sanskrit prasrabdhi प्रश्रब्धि; Tibetan shin sbyangs ཤིན་ཏུ་སྦྱང་བ་)

In meditation traditions, pliancy is a technical term that refers to "serviceability of mind and body," a quality that marks the establishment of meditative stability or serenity, the ninth degree of Shamatha. When this quality is developed, the mind and body willingly obey the consciousness, especially in regard to meditation. 

"What is pliancy? It is a serviceability of the body and mind due to the cessation of the continuum of physical and mental dysfunctions, and it has the function of dispelling all obstructions." —Asanga, Compendium of Knowledge

"...due to the unserviceability of the body and mind, even when you want to strive to eliliminate afflictions, you do so arduously and with distaste, like someone unable to engage in work. When pliancy is achieved, this tendency stops, and your body and mind become very easy to employ. Such complete physical and mental serviceability arises to a slight degree from the time that you start to cultivate concentration. This gradually increases until it finally turns into pliancy and one-pointed meditative serenity." —Tsong Khapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path