1.7. Enlightenment Factor of Equanimity

[Full title: The Seven Factors of Enlightenment—(7): Equanimity (upekkhā-sambojjhaṅga or upekṣā-bodhiyaṅga)]

Upakkhā derived from the root īkṣ, to see, the term upakkhā literally means “looking on”. But in the phraseology of Buddhist philosophy it assumes different shades of meaning in different contexts. It conveys, therefore, such a variety of meanings as hedonic neutrality, indifference, disinterestedness, equanimity, zero-point between joy and sorrow, neutral feeling, feeling which is neither pain nor pleasure, neutral middle term between friendliness (anunaya) and repugnance (paṭigha) and impartiality.

Three principle types of upakkhā can be distinguished. The first is the upakkhā of sensation or physical sensibility (anubhava-upekkhā). This state is described as the neutral feeling or zero-point between bodily pain and pleasure (kāyika dukkha sukha). The second type is indriyappabhedau-pekkhā which refers to the neutral middle term between joy (somanassa) and grief (domassa). In other words, it is upekkhā of mental pleasure and pain. Of these, the former is sensational while the latter is emotional. But, both are hedonic in character. The third type of upekkhā is usually referred to as tatramajjhat-tatā-balance of mind or mental equipoise. As Shwe San Aung remarks, “It is intellectual and not hedonic and appears as a nuance in conscious experience, when the object is of a higher kind than those which evoke the hedonic upekkhā”.^[1] This type of equanimity is to be found in the saṅkhārupekkhā or indifference to the world and brahmacariyupekkhā or religious equanimity. This feeling of indifference is fostered by balance of mind or equanimity (tatramajjhattatā) and is different from the neutral aspect of feeling, or zero-point between pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow. It is, in other words, a mental attitude of a more exalted nature. It is this third type of equanimity which, when develop-ped to perfection, constitutes upekkhā as a constituent of enlighten-ment.

The factors that bring about upekkhā sambojjhaṅga are called in the Saṃyutta Nikāya^[2] the upekkhā sambojjaṅgaṭṭhāniyā dhammā, which, according to the commentary,^[3] are the same as the majjhattakā dhammā; factors that bring about balance of mind.

According to Ven. Buddhaghosa, there are five such factors, viz.

1, maintenance of neutral-lity towards living beings (satta majjhattatā);

2, maintenance of neu-trality towards formations (saṅkhāra majjhattatā);

3, avoidance of persons who adopt a discriminative attitude towards beings and formations (satta saṅkhāra kelāyana puggala parivajanatā);

4, association with persons who maintain neutrality towards beings and formations (satta saṅkhāra majjhatta puggala sevanatā) and

5, resoluteness upon equanimity (tadadhimuttatā).^[4]

The first, i.e. sattamajjhattatā comes about by two ways: by reviewing the fact that one is heir to one’s own kamma (kammassakataṃ paccavekkhaṇatā) and secondly, by considering that from the point of view of ultimate truth (paramatthato) there is no living-being to speak of (nissatta paccavekkhaṇatā).^[5] Conviction of these facts, it is said, does not give rise to any form of discrimination towards livingbeings. Saṅkhāra-majjhattatā or neutrality towards formations too comes about by two ways: The first is called assāmikabhāva paccavekkhaṇatā or the reflection on the fact that in truth none can claim ownership for any object. The things one possesses, it is said, do not behave according to the dictates of owner, but they follow the inexorable laws of decay and destruction. The second is called the tāvakālika bhāva paccavekkhaṇatā or meditation on the fact that all phenomena, both psychical and physical, are in a state of constant flux.^[6] To understand things in their true perspective is what is emphasized here. Such knowledge, says, Ven. Buddhaghosa, eliminates all forms of egotism and brings about an attitude of neutrality towards all phenomena.

Five practices that lead to the arising of Upekkhā:

1. Detached attitude toward beings: When you are attached or partial to beings or persons, you do not have equanimity or neutrality. To develop equanimity, you need to have a detached attitude toward all beings. This is brought about by reflecting on beings as the possessors of their own deeds, thinking, “I am reborn here on account of my own kamma, which I have accumulated in the past, and I will depart from here on account of my own kamma. Who then is the being I am attached to?” You can also reflect on beings in the highest sense, “In reality no living being exists. To whom then can I be attached?

2. Detached attitude toward things: When you realize that you are attached to a thing, you can develop equanimity be reflecting on the ownerlessnes and temporariness of things. Ownerlessness may be reflected on in this way, “This thing will get old, decay, and one day be thrown away,” To think, “This thing cannot last long, It will decay in a short time,” is reflecting on the temporariness of things.

3. Avoiding people who are egotistical toward other living beings: Such people cherish their sons, daughters, and so on, when they are lay people, and pupils, teachers, and the like, when they are recluses. They are so attached to them that they attend to their needs and cannot let them do any work or use them to do any work. When somebody comes and asks them to send a son or a pupil to have some work done, they will say, “They are no made to do even their own work; if they were made to do this work, they would get tired.” People, egotistical in this way, are to be avoided.

4. Avoiding people who are egotistical with regard to things: When they are asked to loan something, such people will say, “Even I myself do not use it, how can I loan it to you?”

5. Inclining toward equanimity: Inclining and bending your mind toward having equanimity in all postures will help to achieve these qualities.

When equanimity the enlightenment factor is developed, the middle way (majjhimapaṭipadā) becomes more significant than ever before. At this stage, one starts to wipe out the levels of participation to the point where things reach equilibrium on their own, where there is letting go and release. Without arriving at right concentration, one cannot develop equanimity which is the skill needed for understanding reality–for it is in the process of mastering the skill of concentration through mindfulness that true insight arises. At this stage, the mind does not make or shape anything at all. It does not become attached to any manifestation of good or bad. Neutral and unperturbed, it does not approve or disapprove of anything. Once the mind has followed these steps from the first to the sixth and come to be still with a spacious sense of relaxation, not fastening onto any sign, preoccupation, or anything at all, it has reached to a state where equanimity as a factor of enlightenment is developed.

According to commentary tradition, this stage of equanimity is called equanimity of insight (vipassan-upekkhā). With full development of equanimity of insight, one can set up insight in the neutral state in comprehending the objects experienced through the six sense faculties without allowing the mind to be overcome by lust, hate or delusion. This means one enters into equanimity regarding formations (sakhārupekkhā) which is the climax of mundane stages of insight knowledge. In this respect, the development of upekkhā the enlightenment factor signifies the cultivation of the mind in responding to the objects experienced through the sense faculties, which the Buddha declares to be the supreme development of faculties (anuttarāindriyabhāvanā).^[7]

This developing requires a supreme effort aimed at full and conscious mastery of mindfulness, concentration, and discernment to the point of aloofness or no-identification (atammayatā), a state in which the mind stays without being attached to anything in the world. When all seven of the enlightenment factors develop themselves in full measure within the heart, they all come together at a single point in a single moment, issuing in clear knowing and release (vijjāvimutti).^[8]

When one has fully developed upekkhā the enlightenment factor, attachment even to the path itself is abandoned as stated in the famous raft simile of the Buddha. In other words, the path of right practice itself is eventually abandoned after it has been brought to the culmination of its development. Because a practitioner has to use causal factors in order to split up the causal system, one has to make use of factors that eventually have to be transcended. Conditioned mental factors are put into service to reach an unconditioned goal which is a state of release so total that no conditioned phenomena can encompass it; it is by virtue of upekkhā that even skillful factors themselves are transcended.

Many people have misunderstood this point, believing that the Buddha’s teachings on non-attachment required that one relinquish one’s attachment to the path of practice as quickly as possible.

In terms of the famous raft simile, one abandons the raft only after crossing the ocean.

“I have taught you the Dhamma like a raft, or
The purpose of crossing over, not for the
Purpose of holding onto. Knowing the
Dhamma to be like a raft, you should let go
Even of skilful qualities, to say nothing of those
That are not.”

Equanimity (upekkhā) is developed as one learns to keep his heart open through the changing circumstances of life as well as the practice. In the Abhidhama, equanimity is indicated by the term tatramajjhattatā, neutrality. It is difficult to remain calm and undisturbed when touched by the vicissitudes of life, but the one who cultivates this quality of equanimity is not upset. Amidst the vicissitudes of life–pain and loss, good repute and ill repute, praise and censure, pleasure and pain, one who has successfully developed upekkhā never wavers. He is as firm as a solid rock which is unshaken by words. Of course this is the attitude of the Arahants.

An attitude of non-reactive acceptance also brings the quality of equanimity, producing a non-reactive clarity that allows one to stay balanced. This is an important quality especially when undertaking activities in both meditative and non-meditative spheres. Without equanimity one can get drawn into one-sided reactiveness shaped by his own views, opinions old habitual patterns. Without equanimity, it is easy for one to get out of balance, thinking one is always right and other people are in the wrong.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Compendium of Buddhist Philosophy, p. 230

[2]:

SN V, p. 105

[3]:

SA, p. 141

[4]:

SA, p. 164

[5]:

Ibid

[6]:

SA, p. 164

[7]:

Paṭis-A, p. 268

[8]:

Vism, p. 281