Equanimity

What is equanimity ?

Evenness of mind; that calm temper or firmness of mind which is not easily elated or depressed; patience; calmness; composure; as, to bear misfortunes with equanimity."

Equanimity comes from Latin aequanimitas, "impartiality, calmness," from aequanimus, "impartial, even-tempered," from aequus, "even" + animus, "mind, soul."

http://www.buddhanet.net/ss06.htm

Contemplation on The Four Sublime States

4. Equanimity (upekkha)

Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind, rooted in insight.

Looking at the world around us, and looking into our own heart, we see clearly how difficult it is to attain and maintain balance of mind.

Looking into life we notice how it continually moves between contrasts: rise and fall, success and failure, loss and gain, honour and blame. We feel how our heart responds to all this happiness and sorrow, delight and despair, disappointment and satisfaction, hope and fear. These waves of emotion carry us up and fling us down; and no sooner do we find rest, than we are in the power of a new wave again. How can we expect to get a footing on the crest of the waves? How shall we erect the building of our lives in the midst of this ever restless ocean of existence, if not on the Island of Equanimity.

A world where that little share of happiness alloted to beings is mostly secured after many disappointments, failures and defeats; a world where only the courage to start anew, again and again, promises success; a world where scanty joy grows amidst sickness, separation and death; a world where beings who were a short while ago connected with us by sympathetic joy, are at the next moment in want of our compassion - such a world needs equanimity.

But the kind of equanimity required has to be based on vigilant presence of mind, not on indifferent dullness. It has to be the result of hard, deliberate training, not the casual outcome of a passing mood. But equanimity would not deserve its name if it had to be produced by exertion again and again. In such a case it would surely be weakened and finally defeated by the vicissitudes of life. True equanimity, however, should be able to meet all these severe tests and to regenerate its strength from sources within. It will possess this power of resistance and self-renewal only if it is rooted in insight.

What, now, is the nature of that insight? It is the clear understanding of how all these vicissitudes of life originate, and of our own true nature. We have to understand that the various experiences we undergo result from our kamma - our actions in thought, word and deed - performed in this life and in earlier lives. Kamma is the womb from which we spring (kamma-yoni), and whether we like it or not, we are the inalienable "owners" of our deeds (kamma-saka). But as soon as we have performed any action, our control over it is lost: it forever remains with us and inevitably returns to us as our due heritage (kamma-dayada). Nothing that happens to us comes from an "outer" hostile world foreign to ourselves; everything is the outcome or our own mind and deeds. Because this knowledge frees us from fear, it is the first basis of equanimity. When, in everything that befalls us we only meet ourselves, why should we fear?

If, however, fear and uncertainty should arise, we know the refuge where it can be allayed: our good deeds (kamma-patisarana). By taking this refuge, confidence and courage will grow within us - confidence in the protecting power of our good deeds done in the past; courage to perform more good deeds right now, despite the discouraging hardships of our present life. For we know that noble and selfless deeds provide the best defence against the hard blows of destiny, that it is never too late but always the right time for good actions. If that refuge, in doing good and avoiding evil, becomes firmly established within us, one day we shall feel assured: "More and more ceases the misery and evil rooted in the past. And this present life - I try to make it spotless and pure. What else can the future bring than increase of the good?" And from that cer-tainty our minds will become serene, and we shall gain the strength of patience of equanimity to bear with all our present adversities. Then our deeds will be our friends (kamma-bandhu).

Likewise, all the various events of our lives, being the result of our deeds, will also be our friends, even if they bring us sorrow and pain. Our deeds return to us in a guise that often makes them unrecognizable. Sometimes our actions return to us in the way that others treat us, some-times as a thorough upheaval in our lives; often the results are against our expectations or contrary to our wills. Such experiences point out to us consequences of our deeds we did not foresee; they render visible half-conscious motives of our former actions which we tried to hide even from ourselves, covering them up with various pretexts. If we learn to see things from this angle, and to read the messages conveyed by our own experience, then suffering, too, will be our friend. It will be a stern friend, but a truthful and well-meaning one who teaches us the most difficult subject, knowledge about ourselves, and warns us against abysses towards which we are moving blindly. By looking at suffering as our teacher and friend, we shall better succeed in enduring it with equa-nimity.

Consequently, the teaching of kamma will give us a powerful impulse for freeing ourselves from kamma, from those deeds which again and again throw us into the suffering of repeated births. Disgust will arise at our own craving, at our own delusion, at our own propen-sity to create situations which try our strength, our resistance, and our equanimity.

The second insight on which equanimity should be based is the Buddha's teaching of no-self (anatta). This doctrine shows that in the ultimate sense deeds are not performed by any self, nor do their results affect any self. Further, it shows that if there is no self, we cannot speak of "my own". It is the delusion of a self that creates suffering and hin-ders or disturbs equanimity. If this or that quality of ours is blamed, one thinks: "I am blamed" and equanimity is shaken. If this or that work does not succeed, one thinks: "My work has failed and equanimity is shaken. If wealth or loved ones are lost, one thinks: "What is mine has gone" and equanimity is shaken.

To establish equanimity as an unshakable state of mind, one has to give up all possessive thoughts of "mine", beginning with little things from which it is easy to detach oneself, and gradually working up to possessions and aims to which one's whole heart clings. One also has to give up the counterpart to such thoughts, all egoistic thoughts of "self'", beginning with a small section of one's personality, with qualities of minor importance, with small weaknesses one clearly sees, and gradually working up to those emotions and aversions which one regards as the centre of one's being. Thus detachment should be practised.

To the degree we forsake thoughts of "mine" or "self"' equanimity will enter our hearts. For how can anything we realize to be foreign and void of a self cause us agitation due to lust, hatred or grief? Thus the teaching of non-self will be our guide on the path to deliverance, to per-fect equanimity.

Equanimity is the crown and culmination of the four sublime states. But this should not be understood to mean that equanimity is the nega-tion of love, compassion, and sympathetic joy, or that it leaves them behind as inferior. Far from that, equanimity includes and pervades them fully, just as they fully pervade perfect equanimity.


This chapter is the English translation of Gujarati Book
http://www.angelfire.com/co/jainism/chap09.txt
Title - Sadhak and Sathi
Author - Shri Atmanandji (Dr. Soneji)

CHAPTER - 9 EQUANIMITY (SAMATA-NI SADHANA]

Every person in his lifetime almost constantly feels pleasure and pain by experiencing happiness and sorrow, respect and disrespect, interest and lack of interest, cold and heat and so on. Unruffled by all these, when one tries to live in a spirit of peace with a balanced mind, one is said to practice equanimity. In the present context, it is proposed to think over and analyze the subject from a philosophical point of view. Real equanimity can be attained to at a very high level of spiritual development. Its genuine attainment is possible only when an aspirant has passed through various stages of spiritual progress (Sadhana).

IMPLEMENTING THE MEANS OF EQUANIMITY:

Genuine equanimity cannot dawn in the life of an aspirant until the knowledge of the self (Atma-jnana) is attained. The very basis of equanimity is pure thoughts and feelings, which in turn, are dependent on self-knowledge. Now, if knowledge of the self is to be acquired, a clear distinction between the self and non-self with its practice in day-to-day life is imperative. The three best means to accomplish this task are:
1. Company of noble persons and saints.
2. Cultivation of specific virtues.
3. Self contemplation (meditation).

Each of these means should be grasped thoroughly. As the synergistic combination of the above three is practiced, discriminative power evolves, resulting in self-contemplation and self-realization. With that, the Sadhana of equanimity develops more and more. It is thus necessary that every aspirant cultivates universal friendship with all living beings, becomes indifferent to sensual objects of the world, gives up evil thought processes, and attains equanimity by vision and contemplation of the absolute Reality. When a saintly aspirant attains this state and progresses further, he experiences a unique inner peace and oneness with his soul. This is the best and the most praiseworthy attainment of a spiritual life known as equanimity. Knowledge and detachment are the horses of the chariot of this great hero. Humility is the charioteer, discrimination is his body-guard, forgiveness is his armor, patience is the shield, austerity and self-control are the bow and arrow, and pure intellect is his sword. When the well-organized army of this well-equipped soldier attacks the fort of the enemies, their armies break down and run away in the very first attack. As all the enemies, such as passion, arrogance, anger, greed, lust, and jealousy, start running helter-skelter, their commander-in-chief, that is, infatuation gets absolutely confused. In no time, he is compelled to surrender to this great soldier, the victorious aspirant (Sadhaka), the city of equanimity and flees away forever. Thus every aspirant has to put in great and firm effort in order to win over his original abode of equanimity. This equanimity is known by several names such as equality, quietude, Samadhi, Yoga, tranquility of mind, the state of self-experience, self-realization, and Nirvikalpa Samadhi.

AN EQUANIMOUS PERSONALITY: The vision and speech of a person who has attained equanimity undergoes a basic and complete transformation. Consequently, divinity is reflected within him at all places, at all times and in all activities of his life. In his heart, he experiences that all the living beings in the world are alike to his own self, and this feeling and experience of his is reflected in the day-to-day activities of his life. As he has realized his own self (Atma) to be the best and the highest, he experiences no attraction or attachment towards worldly objects. He might be garlanded with flowers or rocks, respected or insulted, given a gold or a copper coin, a sandal or cow dung may be applied to his body, and he is neither pleased nor displeased. To him, a residence in a palace or a crematorium, forest or a magnificent house, are just the same. However he prefers to reside in a lonely place where his spirit of non-attachment remains undisturbed and intact. There he experiences constantly the proximity of his true and real self in the form of true knowledge and divine bliss. He experiences his supreme self repeatedly. The hard fact is that there are no words to describe the loftiness and greatness of this superhuman being with magnanimous and divine knowledge. However, his real personality is far beyond speech and mind. These are grand ascetic persons endowed with equanimity. The land on which they place their foot-steps, verily becomes a holy land and therefore it becomes a place of pilgrimage. Their presence is always surrounded by an atmosphere of peace, equanimity, friendship, and sacredness. It becomes almost a magical atmosphere surcharged with such holiness that even the most wicked people and violent animals give up their wickedness and violence and adopt a spirit of unity and friendship. These truth seeking aspirants who are inspired by the keen and pure desire to seek knowledge and bliss of the self, resort to their vicinity and company. There is no surprise if they win eternal bliss. We, the ordinary people of the world, deserve only to take the dust of their feet on our heads with a spirit of great reverence.

GLORY OF EQUANIMITY:

1. May my soul work hard to attain to a spirit of equanimity which is possible by abandoning attachment to the body and by becoming completely detached from all desires, passions and enjoyments.
2. All worldly desires get dissipated by resorting to the spirit of equanimity; ignorance vanishes and the mind comes under control. Therefore let one, be devoted to equanimity.
3. By resorting to the spirit of equanimity, one wins firm and steady happiness, attains the state of eternity, and shatters all the bonds due to Karmas.
4. The Yogi, who is steady and firm in equanimity, keenly feels that this world is mad, misguided, deluded, and asleep.
5. The state of the soul, bereft of infatuation and agitation is the very secret of Supreme Reality; again it is only that who is called equanimity that can lead to liberation (Nirvana). The noblest souls therefore worship and take recourse in this equanimity which is of the nature of supreme righteousness and eternity.

LIVING EXAMPLES OF EQUANIMITY:
(1) Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak was a lawyer and disciple of Mahatma Gandhi who significantly contributed in the struggle for freedom in India. He was famous as a great patriot, scholar, and philanthropist. Utter devotion to his country, simplicity, modesty, religious learning, study of the scriptures, and many other virtues made his life full of fragrance. One day he was busy solving an important problem in his office, it was not easy because the problem was highly complex. Deep concentration was necessary. A servant arrived and told him that his son was in a critical condition and so he should run home. However, Tilak was busy with his work. After some time, his partner himself came and told, "Well Tilak, your son is in a very serious state. Please run home immediately!" Tilak replied, "Well! In the morning I have explained everything to the doctor. He is treating him. What good can I do?" The partner left. When Tilak returned home after completing his work, his son was dead. Tilak changed his clothes and prepared to go to the crematorium as if nothing had happened. Not becoming overwhelmed with sorrow on the death of his eldest son was no small matter. Only rare persons who constantly practice equanimity can keep such great equanimity intact.

(2) About a hundred years ago in the state of Orissa, India; a robber named Ramkhan, had spread terror. Nobody dared even to refer to his name. People were terror stricken and used to tremble by just a reference to his name. Every one wished to be freed from the terror of this robber. Mahatma Harnath was a great saint of the area. He gave courage to the frightened people and said, "Well brothers, no sinner is bad, only sin is bad." With these words, he took the track into the forest where this terrorizing robber lived. With an extremely peaceful composure, detached and fearless vision, and the luster of celibacy, the Mahatma proceeded to the forest where the bandit lived. As he reached the place of his residence, the eyes of Ramkhan fell on the Mahatma and he was immediately transformed. The emotions of the robber to whom killing people was just a game, were transformed. He said, "O great saint! I have committed countless crimes. Now you have come and with you has come the time of my uplift." With these words, he fell down at the feet of the Mahatma. The Mahatma raised the robber and embraced him with love. He said, "Well brother, all sins are destroyed by resorting to the path of God. This leads a person to Supreme eternal delight. May you therefore resort to atonement of your misdeeds, improve your life, and get engrossed in the adoration of the path of God." Ramkhan became a monk and passed the rest of his life in the name of God. This shows that even the lowest of the low get uplifted by the life of these souls endowed with equanimity; sinners can be purified. This is a living example of this reality.

(3) Mahatma Gandhi looked upon Shrimad Rajchandra as his spiritual preceptor. Shrimad Rajchandra had a diamond business in Bombay, but often he used to visit small towns for Yogic practices. In 1954, he came to Kavitha, a small town in the state of Gujarat for his spiritual progress (Sadhana) in seclusion. He preached twice during the daytime but resorted to silence in the evening. At nightfall, he used to sit in meditation all alone in the adjoining fields or on the river bank. He put just one cloth on over his body even in the severest cold. In this state of meditation mosquitoes used to bite him; but he withstood this with his equanimity. Mostly, he would even be conscious of the mosquitoes, but the fact betrayed itself when red swellings appeared on his body. In this manner, Shrimad Rajchandra revealed great soul force by resorting to equanimity even under adverse circumstances, and in the end took to the highest Samadhi. This is indeed, an other worldly power of equanimity.