Equanimity

Brahma-Vihara (Divine abidings) is a much talked about subject in this world especially among the Westerners seeking peace and happiness in life who like to learn the Buddha’s teachings of this set of divine abidings. They are known as Metta (loving kindness), Karuna (empathy, compassion), Mudita (sympathetic or appreciative joy) and lastly Upekkha (mental-equilibrium, equanimity). The purpose of this post is to discuss Upekkha (equanimity) at length and how to derive that mindset. These four divine abidings are also found in Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a text composed long after the start of Buddhism and substantially influenced by Buddhism.

Divine abidings are nothing but being mindful of our character when situation arises that are capable of creating immeasurable amount of joy or unmanageable level of pain and sufferings. It is about creating awareness that awakens a state of mind that harmonizes our human nature with righteousness inherent in us.

Equanimity is the capacity to remain unaffected by the pleasure and pain we endure in life. Many times, we misunderstand equanimity as not feeling the pain or pleasure. That is far from truth. It is about creating awareness that pleasure or pain are byproducts of our own actions performed and accepting them with grace and with an attitude of gratitude. Equanimity enables us to work with rather than against the changing world. This mindfulness gives us self-confidence and presence of mind to handle constantly changing circumstances around us with increased determination and acceptance. It helps to avoid tension in our mind and remain calm in all situations.

Meditation techniques suggest how to bring in equanimity through control of mind and become mindful of our inherent nature and the character that wishes to adapt to the righteousness. We have to consistently remember that if we suffer a pain, it is not because of our inability to handle a situation but it is because of our past actions and reconcile that it is due to something beyond our control. Does it mean that we should do no action to stop the pain? Of course, not.

Life is like a river and the banks of the river are pleasure and pain. If the river indulges in experiencing either side of the bank too much, it would not achieve its destination of reaching the ocean. Similarly, life should be conducted to remain within the borders of pain and pleasure and continue to pursue the goals of life to achieve the ocean of love. At the same time, indifference to pain or sufferings is not good either. It is equivalent to distancing ourselves from the reality of life. This attitude prevents us from being involved or engaged in life with freedom and the attitude of love of life.

The fear of facing the consequences of our actions creates pain as well. We have come to the world to pursue our passions and achieve our goals and we can’t do that without performing actions. Such actions could cause joy or pain to us. When it causes pain, we should be able to learn out of that experience and must be able to forgive ourselves if it is due to bad actions. If it is pain caused by actions of others that are not controlled by us, we should be able to forgive them internally and move on.

There are so many examples around us in nature that would explain how to be mindful of our attitude to remain calm and accept reality. For example, we all go through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The nature around us endure the changes according to the season without any complaints. The trees around us don’t feel elated when it is lush green in color or don’t feel ashamed for losing all the leaves when it is time to do so. They are ready to let go the leaves when it is time to shed them.


Our human mind also functions like mother/child relationship. It gets attached and would like to cling on to the secured environment of mother’s arm which is pleasure. It refuses to endure the pain when it is time to cut the chord and face the world. Equanimity is not about not experiencing sadness or happiness or altogether eliminating them from life but remaining calm unaffected by both feelings. It is not the same as not feeling them. It is about loving the uncertainty of life and learning to accept them as it is. When pleasure gives hope in life that it could happen again, the pain gives us faith that it was not going to last long.
Dwelling in pleasure or pain makes us go to the past and future. We have to realize life is a gift and living in the present moment with equanimity is the best way to enjoy that gift.

 

Dear Saisakthi,

Thank you for liking this post.

Viswa

 

Dear Smt Jayasala,

Thank you for your response. It is my humble view that someone who is aspiring for equanimity should first understand the difference between real and unreal. Once one overcomes that maya, pleasure and pain become immaterial. Mind that creates maya that we are this BMI and feels pleasure and pain is also the cure to get out of it.

It is our thoughts that connect a series of experiences into what we call as life. If we are able to go above the mind, we raise to the level of equanimity. The divine abidings are not the end but means to the end of achieving liberation. One who excels in building a great character is in fact doing a great service to the society. No effort made to build character goes down the drain.

Viswa

 

Dear Neetu,

I am so thrilled after receiving your response to this post. What a great compilation of thoughts comparing trees behavior with the life of human beings. You articulated it lot better than I did in my original post.

Like trees, our strength comes from inside of us deep rooted and not visible outside. People only see the lush green or dried out part of our life but not the strength we possess as they are all hidden. More we learn to handle our experienced in a balanced fashion building a great character, our inner strength keeps increasing. Even a high speed hurricane storm can't uproot our character.

I believe looking at the tree above the surface is like looking at the Body, Mind and Intellect ("BMI") complex. That part is only what we perceive and what others perceive we are. That is why learned people say, "You are not what you think you are (Mind), You are not what others think you are (Body) and you are actually the Supreme Being (Blissful Soul)". We have to realize the strength comes from our deep-rooted beliefs and character. Once we learn to look at the world inside, the peripheral impacts and the feeling of a doer handling the seasons would disappear understanding the strength is coming from within.

I have nothing but admiration for what you have so nicely articulated. Every one of your responses make me feel why I was not like that at your age. Please keep your responses coming and I for sure learn a lot out of your responses. I am the one who is luckier.

Viswa

 

Dear Smt Srinivasan:

Thank you for your visit to this post. Equanimity can only be achieved if our dependency in this world becomes zero. One should be devoid of ego, desires, attachments and selfishness. As Balajee mentioned below, there is a very thin line between equanimity and indifference and if that line gets crossed very often, one would fail in the attempt achieve equanimity. The only way to stabilize the mind is to tame it through the process, of control, alter and delete and raise above the mind. The mind becomes sublime, if our heart dominates the life.

It is hard but fortunately, we have many exemplary people in our great nation who have successfully achieved that exalted state of mind. As you rightly said, the only reason for that is their patience, perseverance and penance.

Viswa



Viswa

 

Dear Balajee,

You are right. One who remain in the same state of acceptance of the pair of opposites with stable mindset is also called Sthitha Prajna. At that stage, dependency on the world is reduced to zero. As I mentioned above, they have no desires, attachments, ego and selfishness. As you rightly said, the indifference is just the other side of equanimity and it is not that hard to cross the line. At this state of mind, one should consider the body as an instrument to serve the fellow beings, the mind as a tool to think only virtues and the intellect to eliminate the desires, attachments, ego and selfishness.

Once a person losses his body-consciousness, he feels oneness with all beings including inanimate objects and he thrives in the ocean of love.

Viswa