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 * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
