Buddhist view of equanimity

[Korpo]

This is taken from a translation of the Visuddhimagga:

Suppose this person is sitting in a place with a dear, a neutral, and a hostile person, himself being the fourth; then bandits come to him and say 'Venerable sir, give us a bhikkhu' [Buddhist monk], and on being asked why, they answer 'So that we may kill him and use the blood of his throat as an offering', then if that bhikkhu thinks 'Let them take this one, or this one', he has not broken down the barriers. And also if he thinks 'Let them take me but not these three', he has not broken down the barriers either. Why? Because he seeks the harm of him whom he wishes to be taken and seeks the welfare of the other only. But it is when he does not see a single one among the four people to be given to the bandits and he directs his mind impartially towards himself and towards those three people that he has broken down the barriers.

Equanimity is a quality where you treat each being equal, and by this I mean equally well. An often-overlooked aspect of equanimity is portrayed here by means of drama - bandits threaten a monk to pick one of a company of four to be sacrificed.

Some spiritual traditions value "good" people over "bad" people and most people prefer this person over that person - so three varieties of people are present in this company of four besides the monk - a dear, a neutral and a hostile one, representing the range of feelings you could have for anyone. So, externalised is the whole range of the feeling range, and equanimity would require treating them equally. This goes beyond judgement.

But it goes farther than that. Many spiritual traditions value self-sacrifice, offering oneself up for the benefit of others. What this specific story highlights is that you (here the monk or spiritually aspiring person to identify with) are also completely included in the idea of equanimity. So, if you want to act from the ideal of equanimity you cannot offer yourself up as sacrifice for others, since you also are just the same feeling, sentient being as each other. You're no more and no less.

To honor this ideal you can neither judge others better or worse or more deserving or less deserving, and neither can you judge yourself in a similar way.

This concept is sometimes even counter-intuitive for many people, but I found it represented under another name as well - the "greater good of all." Many people would think that to mean a group distinct from themselves, even though "all" includes you, me and everyone. Or at least everyone in a given situation. If you honor the greater good of all in your intentions, everybody is served and you are never forgotten either. This balances your needs against everybody else's.

Oliver

[Neil Templar]

equanimity is also a very good tool for dealing with any life issues that may arise in oneself.
knowing that whatever you are experiencing, whether it be pleasant or not, is impermanent, one can exercise equanimity.
simply observing and not reacting inappropriately, thus avoiding the generation of further karma.

Oliver i think you'd really get alot out of a Vipassana retreat.
i know you have problems with sitting for long periods, but they do allow chairs for folk with pain issues.
http://www.dhamma.org

[Korpo]

Hey, Neil.

Even if I had not issues with sitting, I have actually come to realise I have many issues with the practice of Buddhism. There are several elements present in such retreats that make me not want to participate.

Now I only have to work that pang of guilt I experience over that decision...

Be well,
Oliver

[Neil Templar]

don't feel guilty, remain equanimous!

i'm actually planning on doing another when i get back to the UK. some time in the spring i think, depends on work i guess.
it was actually equanimity that i had problems with. i found it hard to feel energetic sensations without reacting by stimulating and moving them around.

i would say to you tho - at these retreats, your only focus is doing the meditation.
they don't go into any other aspects of Buddhism, it's all about impermanence and equanimity. that's all. at least for the new students, that is.
i suspect as you progress you delve deeper into the Buddhist teachings..

i was even surprised at how much food, and what variation we got.
a very rewarding experience indeed.

[Korpo]

Yeah, see, I don't agree with the Buddhist practice of meditation anymore... The disagreement is at many levels. I think I understand what they try to do, and I think that it is not that helpful anymore, so I'm pursuing something different for now.

Which is actually not easy, you know, because I actually tended to believe the basic tenets about meditation of Buddhism like gospel. And it does not make them wrong, I'm just currently looking for a different approach.

Oliver

[Tom]

Equanimity is being able to remain stable in the middle of a variety of experience, without being forced to react impulsively. The "near enemy" of equanimity is nonparticipation. Equanimity is not about escaping from experience or refusing to be emotionally involved in your life.

[Timotheus]

[Tom]

There is a saying that if you have to ask if you've just been insulted, you probably have been. Of course, I won't know without a translation.

i agree with korpo, though perhaps coming from a differing angle.

for myself, it comes down to that preparation of the bride for the coming of the bridegroom. buddhist practice is bride preparedness alone. of course this is christian themed pov, but a healthy one that has weighed buddhism in practiced understanding to the outcomed arrival.

thus, having arrived, i no longer need to sit in this vehicle (bridal dress) that brought me to my destination (I do).

that destination being the equilibrium of the 'marriage' of two within myself as "I".

ref: Solomon's Song of Songs - "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine", so sayeth a Lover.

tim

[Timotheus]

[Tom]

You're still not going to translate, are you?

Whatever this bride, groom, gown thing is, it is plain you are saying that you have put Buddhism side by side with Christianity and found Buddhism only does half the job. It isn't clear what that job is.