On indifference

[Robyn Williams]

Equanimity? 

 

"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, honour and dishonour, 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."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upekkha

 

"Mindfulness is the basis of Equanimity. The development of Equanimity comes
in the full experience of the "cascading tidal waves" of feelings, not its
suppression. Only when one is fully able to experience oneself does one
start to develop Equanimity. If one suppresses one's feelings, Equanimity
does not arise. What arises is the lack of feelings mistaken as equanimity."
www.serve.com/cmtan/buddhism/equanimity.html

 

 

:0)

Robyn

Fremantle

Western Australia

 

 

 


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