Even is Equanimity ... !!!

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Friends:

Balanced Equanimity is the last & Tenth Mental Perfection:

 

Equanimity characteristically induces & promotes a quite impartial neutrality...It's function is just to look upon things with an even unreactive indifference!It's manifestation is the gradual stilling of both any attraction & any repulsion..It's proximate cause is seeing, that all beings inherit the results of their actions.It's effect is utter purification & perfection of all other good mental qualities,by ending both discontent & delight, thereby providing the necessary equal calm required for their complete assessment, development & fulfilment.

 

 

Equanimity means Unaffectable..Equanimity means Unprovokable..Equanimity means Undisturbable..Equanimity means Unexcitable..Equanimity means Imperturbable..Equanimity means Disengaged..Equanimity means Disentangled..Equanimity means Detached..Equanimity means Immovable..Equanimity means Unbeatable..Equanimity means Untemptable..Equanimity means Wholly Immune..Equanimity means Indifferent..Equanimity means Impartial..Equanimity means Unbiased..Equanimity means Disinterested..Equanimity means Balanced..Even like a smiling mountain!Cool Calm is the ultimate Balm! The Fourfold Equanimity (Upekkha): If Indifferent towards both:Internal states & external phenomena,Living beings & lifeless things,Past, present & future events,Material & Immaterial things,How can one be hurt, upset,disturbed or distressed ?

Calm is his mind.Calm is his speech.Calm is his action.So is the Tranquillity;So is the Equanimity;of one freed by the Insightof right Knowledge... Dhammapada 96 Although a man is richly dressed and adorned,if he is in peace, at ease, in equanimity, calmed,composed, controlled, celibate and harmlesstowards all beings, then verily he is a Holy One,a recluse, a bhikkhu, a sage ... Dhammapada 142 Equanimity towards one's own internal mental states -that is indeed a link to Enlightenment.Equanimity regarding external phenomena & conditions -that is indeed also a link to Enlightenment. Samyutta Nikaya V Bojjhanga-samyutta.

Such noble friend finally developsthe link to awakening that is Equanimityduring awareness of in- & -out breathing,which protect against damaging mental states,tends to detachment, to ceasing, tends to release & culminates in complete self-surrender...If, friends, awareness of in- & -out breathing,is so cultivated and so made much of, it isindeed of great fruit, of great advantage! One whose awareness of breathing in- & -out is perfected, well developed, and gradually brought to refined growth thus, according to the teaching of the Buddha, such one illuminates the entire world, just like the full moon freed from clouds. Samyutta Nikaya V Anapana-samyutta.

The Blessed One said:Now how, Ananda, in the discipline of a Noble One is therethe unsurpassable development of the senses?There is the case where, when seeing a form with the eye,there arises in a monk what is agreeable, or what is disagreeable,or what is both agreeable & disagreeable. He recognizes that:This agreeable thing has arisen in me, or this disagreeable thing...or this both agreeable & disagreeable thing, has arisen in me:And that is constructed, conditioned, coarse & dependently co-arisen!But this is peaceful, this is exquisite, namely even & equal equanimity!Instantly, that arisen agreeable or disagreeable thing ceases,and equanimity takes it's calm stance!Just as a man with good eyes, having closed them, might open them;or when open, might close them, that is how quickly, how rapidly,how easily, no matter what it refers to, equanimity makewhatever arisen agreeable thing... or disagreeable thing...or both agreeable & disagreeable thing cease right there,and equanimity takes it's even stance!In the discipline of The Noble One, this is called the unsurpassable development of the senses with regard to visible forms cognizable by the eye. Similar is the supreme development of the other senses. MN 152

With the fading of rapturous joy, he remains in equanimity,aware & alert, still physically sensitive to bodily pleasure.He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Onesdeclare: 'In aware Equanimity, one abides in pleasure...' With the stilling of pleasure & pain as with the earlier disappearanceof elation & frustration, he enters & remains in the fourth jhana:sole awareness purified by equanimity, - neither pleasure nor pain -This is called right concentration...

The elimination of both sensual desires & of discontent,the ejection of laziness, the calming of all regrets,just this pure equanimity being aware of all mental properties exactly at the moment they appear:That I call the direct knowledge of releasethe breakthrough from ignorance. Sutta Nipata V 13: Udaya's Questions

Equanimity is 'Tatra-majjhattata', which designates the evenly balancedkeeping to the moderate middle of all things. It has as characteristic, that it effects the balance of consciousness and mental properties as a single function of single taste, which prevents both overt excessiveness and any lack or insufficiency. Equanimity thereby puts an end to biased partiality bymanifesting moderation well within range of the properly reasoned midway. Visuddhimagga XIV

The Buddha once explained: I would make my bed in a charnel ground, with a skeleton for my pillow..And cowherd boys came up and spat on me, urinated on me, threw dirt at me, and poked sticks into my ears! While others, exultant & thrilled brought me offerings of food, caskets of perfume & incense and garlands of flowers!Yet I do not recall, that I ever showed any partiality towards any of them...I was the same to them all! Neither arousing any fondness nor any aversion! This was my ultimate perfection of equanimity... MN 12 Lomahamsanapariyaya The Hair-raising Presentation Cariyapitaka III 15

 

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