"samāhita" is past participle of "samādhi": you wouldn't know it reading Sujato's translations of suttas

 

past participle definiton:

the form of a verb, 
typically ending in -ed in English, 
which is used in forming perfect and passive tenses and sometimes as an adjective, 
e.g. looked in have you looked?, lost in lost property.

samādhi = undistractible-lucidity [with regard to four noble truths, reality, etc.]

samādhi is not "stillness", is not "serenity" (passaddhi or samatha is more properly described as 'serenity' or 'stillness').

If you had to make a connection between "stillness" and "samādhi" in the four jhānas,

you could say the defilements and hindrances are temporarily stilled.

But it's improper to translate with a single word, "samādhi" <-> "stillness",

because the sutta passages would make no sense.

Sujato sometimes translates samādhi as "immersion",

sometimes "stillness",

sometimes "serenity".

With "samāhita", which is the past participle of "samādhi",

he has even a few more translation beyond "immersed", "stilled", "serene".

I believe he also translates "samatha" with some of the same english words he used for "samādhi".

I saw at least one instance of "a-samāhita" ("not-in-samādhi"),  where he has "scattered", which is actually correct.

The problems Sujato's translation of samāhita and samādhi causes

If you go purely by his English (without pāḷi text next to it),

1. you can't tell if "serene", "still", is referring to samatha or samādhi.

2. and even if you did know if he specifically means samādhi or samatha, the sutta passage is too terse to make any sense of, 

i.e. what is a meditator supposed to do with "stillness"? 

What does being serene and still have to do with developing asubha for example?

It's rather antithetical, those two things (stillness vs. developing vivid detailed perceptions on foulness of body).

My correct samādhi translation yields practical, clear, sensible meditation instructions

SN 8.4, Snp 2.11

Nimittaṁ parivajjehi,	Turn away from signs
subhaṁ rāgūpasañhitaṁ;	that are attractive, provoking lust.
A-subhāya cittaṁ bhāvehi,	Develop [realization of the] unattractiveness [of the body]
ekaggaṁ su-samāhitaṁ.	With an undistractible-&-lucid mind in singular focus.

(as opposed to a distracted and un-lucid mind chasing the 5 cords of sensual pleasures and being deluded by them)

Sujato's translation of same passage is vague, even paradoxical

Turn away from the signNimittaṁ parivajjehi,that’s attractive, provoking lust.subhaṁ rāgūpasañhitaṁ;With mind unified and serene,Asubhāya cittaṁ bhāvehi,meditate on the ugly aspects of the body.ekaggaṁ susamāhitaṁ.

You can be "calm" while meditating on the ugly aspects of the body,

but "serenity" suggests more of the pleasant abiding mode of the jhānas,

rather than the vipassana mode of the jhānas developing insight into the four noble truths (while in jhāna).

Sujato's translation also gives the impression asubha development is something you do once in a while.

Whereas my correct translation, where I have "undistractible lucidty" for samādhi,

and "undistracted & lucid" for samāhita,

everywhere uniformly everywhere in the suttas, not confusing and antithetical differing translations according to (imaginary differing) context,

one sees that developing asubha is part of the 4 noble truths, 

part of lucidity ("yathā bhūta") that one assiduously practices

with sati and ♾️ 24/7 samādhi . ALL THE TIME, every day of the year,

not just on special occasions.

Prove it to yourself - read the suttas in pāḷi + english

plug in "undistractible-lucidity" everywhere you see the terms samādhi and samhita,

and see that it make the passage coherent, illuminating, useful (you can actually apply that sutta instruction in your day to day, moment to moment practice).

Plug in Sujato's "immersed", "still", "serene", 

see that you can't tell if he's talking about samatha, passaddhi, or samādhi,

and then even after you check against the pāḷi and make the correct corresspondence,

you still can't tell what you're supposed to do with that sutta instruction,

because it's too terse, too vague, or uses a heretical understanding of jhāna and samādhi

that came 500 years after the EBT (early buddhist teachings).

If you study biographies showing the daily, moment to moment practice of  modern enlightened Thai masters like Ajahn Mun, Maha Boowa, Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Dtun (living arahant in Thailand),

you'll see they do the sutta passage as I have translated all the time.

Their mind is always undistractible, lucid, penetrating the nature of reality, seeing the unattractiveness of the body.

They aren't sitting around for hours at a time in a frozen disembodied stupor.

Ācariya Mahā Boowa

  arahant : Arahattamagga • Arahattaphala: The Path to Arahantship

Ajahn Chah

  Stillness Flowing : biography by Ajahn Jayasaro

Ajahn Dtun Thiracitto

  Dtun : collection of his books

Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo

  Craft of the Heart : first book he wrote, like an intro catalog.
  Keeping the Breath in Mind : masterpiece on breath meditation.

Ajahn Mun

  Ajahn Mun Biography - Venerable Ācariya Mun Bhūridatta Thera, A Spiritual Biography
  Paṭipadā : Paṭipadā