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Upekṣā (Sanskrit/Devanāgarī script: उपेक्षा; Pali: Upekkhā), is the Buddhist concept of equanimity. The Tibetan equivalent is བཏང་སྙོམས་ btang snyoms. This is a purifying mental state cultivated through meditation on the Buddhist path to prajñā (wisdom) and bodhi (enlightenment). The analogous term in Greek philosophy is ataraxia.
[edit] Pali literary contexts
Table:
Jhāna-related factors. |
| |
first
jhāna |
second
jhāna |
third
jhāna |
fourth
jhāna |
sensuality
(kāma),
unskillful
qualities
(akusala
dhamma) |
secluded
from,
withdrawn |
|
|
|
applied
thought
(vitakka) |
accom-
panies
jhāna |
stilled |
|
|
sustained
thought
(vicāra) |
rapture
(pīti) |
seclusion-
born;
pervades
body |
samādhi-
born;
pervades
body |
fades
away
(as does
distress) |
|
pleasure
(sukha) |
pervades
physical
body |
aban-
doned
(as is
pain) |
pure,
mindful
equanimity
(upekkhā-
sati-
pārisuddhi) |
|
[internal
confidence,
mental
unification] |
equani-
mous,
mindful |
neither
pleasure
nor pain;
permeates
body with
pure mind |
|
Table's sources:
|
|
Buddhist
Perfections |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Colored items are in both lists. |
|
|
In the Pali Canon and post-canonical commentary, upekkha is identified as an important step in one's spiritual development in a number of places:
- It is one of the Four Sublime States (brahmavihara), which are purifying mental states capable of counteracting the defilements of lust, avarice and ignorance. As a brahmavihara, it is also one of the forty traditionally identified subjects of Buddhist meditation (kammatthana).
- In the development of meditative concentration, upekkha arises as the quintessential factor of material absorption, present in the third and fourth jhana states.
- In the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga), upekkha is the ultimate factor to be developed.
- In the Theravada list of ten paramita (perfections), upekkha is the last-identified bodhisatta practice.
[edit] Contemporary exposition
American Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote:
- “The real meaning of upekkha is equanimity, not indifference in the sense of unconcern for others. As a spiritual virtue, upekkha means equanimity in the face of the fluctuations of worldly fortune. It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being of one's fellow human beings. True equanimity is the pinnacle of the four social attitudes that the Buddhist texts call the 'divine abodes': boundless loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. The last does not override and negate the preceding three, but perfects and consummates them.”[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Bodhi (1998).
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
