Equanimity

"[W]hen a Westerner discusses, say, Hindu-ism or Buddhism, he is always conscious of the fundamental differences between these ideologies and his own. He may admire this or that of their ideas, but would naturally never consider the possibility of substituting them for his own. Because he a priori admits this impossibility, he is able to contemplate such really alien cultures with equanimity and often “with sympathetic appreciation. But when it comes to Islam - which is by no means as alien to Western values as Hindu or Buddhist philosophy this Western equanimity is almost invariably disturbed by an emotional bias. Is it perhaps, I sometimes wonder, because the values of Islam are close enough to those of the West to constitute a potential challenge to many Western concepts of spiritual and social life?"

"Be not uneasy, discouraged, or out of humour, because practice falls short of precept in... particulars. If you happen to be beaten, come on again, and be glad if most of your acts are worthy of human nature. Love that to which you return, and do not go like a schoolboy to his master with... ill will. ...[Y]ou must apply to philosophy... as those who have sore eyes make use of a good receipt. And when you are thus disposed, you will easily acquiesce in reason, and make your abode with her. ...[P]hilosophy will put you upon nothing but what your nature wishes and calls for. But you are crossing the inclinations of your nature. Is not this the most agreeable? And does not pleasure often deceive us under this pretence? ...[W]hat is ...more delightful than greatness of mind, and generosity, simplicity, equanimity, and piety? And once more, what can be more delightful than prudence? than to be furnished with that faculty of knowledge and understanding which keeps a man from making a false step, and helps him to good fortune in all his business?"

"Remember that the term Rational was intended to signify a discriminating attention to every several thing and freedom from negligence; and that Equanimity is the voluntary acceptance of things which are assigned to thee by the common nature; and the is the elevation of the intelligent part above the pleasurable or painful sensations of the flesh, and above that poor thing called fame, and death, and all such things. If then, thou maintainest thyself in the possession of these names, without desiring to be called by these names by others, thou wilt be another person and wilt enter into another life."

"I perform, sir, the rite of equanimity. I abandon all bad activity for the course of my life, threefold by threefold, in mind, body and speech. I will not perform nor cause anybody to perform nor approve anybody performing any bad action. I repent of it, sir, I censure, reject and abandon myself."

"[M]an cuts out for himself a manageable world: he throws himself into action uncritically, unthinkingly. He accepts the cultural programming that turns his nose where he is supposed to look; he doesn't bite the world off in one piece as a giant would, but in small manageable pieces, as a beaver does. He uses... "character defenses": he learns not to expose himself, not to stand out... to embed himself in other-power, both of concrete persons and of things and cultural commands; the result is that he comes to exist in the imagined of the world around him. He doesn't have to have fears when his feet are solidly mired and his life mapped out in a ready-made maze. All he has to do is to plunge ahead in a compulsive style of drivenness in the "ways of the world" that the child learns and in which he lives later as a... grim equanimity."

"Unless plutocracy can persuade the majority of the people to close up the public schools and make illiterates of the next generation, and unless it can also persuade them to give up the electoral franchise, plutocracy is doomed. So much is clear. And that is the reason why we Socialists can look with such equanimity and complacence into the future. The future belongs to some form of Socialism."

"Vermont sort of demands humility and equanimity. No one really cares if you’re fancy or high achieving, and if you lead with that energy you will learn quickly that it’s unwelcome. There’s a coldness here that shocked me for years—but I’ve learned to appreciate the authenticity. No one’s faking much of anything; there’s no lipstick on the pigs here."

"By letting go of happiness and unhappiness, as a result of the earlier disappearance of pleasure and pain, I lived having attained the pure equanimity and mindfulness of the fourth absorption, which is free of happiness and unhappiness."

"When a monk abides [in equanimity], if his mind inclines to talking, he resolves: ‘Such talk as is low, vulgar, coarse, ignoble, unbeneficial, and which does not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, peace, direct knowledge, enlightenment, and Nibbāna, that is, talk of kings, robbers, ministers, armies, dangers, battles, food, drink, clothing, beds, garlands, perfumes, relatives, vehicles, villages, towns, cities, countries, women, heroes, streets, wells, the dead, trivialities, the origin of the world, the origin of the sea, whether things are so or are not so: such talk I shall not utter.’"

"Sapphire produces peace of mind and equanimity. It chases out evil thoughts by establishing healthy circulation. It opens barred doors to the spirit. It produces a desire for prayer. It brings peace, but he who would wear it must lead a pure and holy life."

"Adversity, if a man is set down to it by degrees, is more supportable with equanimity by most people than any great prosperity arrived at in a single lifetime. Nevertheless a certain kind of good fortune generally attends self-made men to the last. ...[I]t often happens that the grandson of a successful man will be more successful than the son—the spirit ...having lain fallow ...ready for fresh exertion in the grandson. A very successful man, moreover, has something of the hybrid in him; he is a new animal, arising from the coming together of... unfamiliar elements and... the reproduction of abnormal growths, whether animal or vegetable, is irregular and not to be depended upon..."

"Soon after the time of Açoka, the great Buddhist emperor of the third century before Christ, India became the theater of protracted invasions and wars. Vigorous tribes from the North conquered the region of the upper Pan jab and founded several states, among which the Kingdom of Gandhâra became most powerful. Despoliations, epidemics, and famines visited the valley of the Ganges, but all these tribulations passed over the religious institutions without doing them any harm. Kings lost their crowns and the wealthy their riches, but the monks chanted their hymns in the selfsame way. Thus the storm breaks down mighty trees, but only bends the yielding reed. By the virtues, especially the equanimity and thoughtfulness, of the Buddhist priests, the conquerors in their turn were spiritually conquered by the conquered, and they embraced the religion of enlightenment."

"What I find terrifying is the detachment and equanimity with which we view and discuss an unbearable tragedy. We all know that if Russia or China were guilty of what we have done in Vietnam, we would be exploding with moral indignation at these monstrous crimes."

"Nor can the violation of the Great Church be listened to with equanimity. For the sacred altar, formed of all kinds of precious materials and admired by the whole world, was broken into bits and distributed among the soldiers, as was all the other sacred wealth of so great and infinite splendor. [...] Nay more, a certain harlot, a sharer in their guilt, a minister of the furies, a servant of the demons, a worker of incantations and poisonings, insulting Christ, sat in the patriarch's seat, singing an obscene song and dancing frequently."

"Newspapers are meant to be provocative, outrageous even. Striking the right balance between the law and politics is never going to be easy. If that front page helped raise consciousness about this vital debate, then I can face my maker with equanimity."

"If there is love, there is hope that one may have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, real peace. If the love within your mind is lost and you see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education or material comfort you have, only suffering and confusion will ensue."

"Equanimity: ...a state of even-mindedness, an unbiased mind toward others. Normally, one's attitude... is... affected by viewing them as friends, enemies or strangers. ...[O]ne regards others as... equal and gets rid of partiality... With equanimity you have the same attitude towards friends, enemies and strangers."

"Having made pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat the same, you engage in battle for the sake of battle; thus you shell win and not incur sin. (Bhagavad Gita, Ch II, verse 38) Here, Sri Krishna is saying that if has neither desire for heaven nor for sovereignty over the earth, then he should achieve equanimity of the mind. With equanimity of the mind one can achieve success in the war of life. Without it, one cannot remain unaffected by the pairs of opposites and will be continually tossed about by the waves of egocentric likes and dislikes."

"But the fact remains that you can't fully appreciate Chinese gastronomy without sharing in the pleasures of the quite, the plain, the qingdan as well as the sweet and sour and spicy. Plain dishes are like the empty space that frames and highlights a work of art, They are the necessary corrective to the wild excitements of flavour, restoring physical balance and mental equanimity."

"Having convinced herself that Mr Casaubon was altogether right, she recovered her equanimity, and was an agreeable image of serene dignity when she came into the drawing-room in her silver-grey dress—the simple lines of her dark-brown hair parted over her brow and coiled massively behind, in keeping with the entire absence from her manner and expression of all search after mere effect. Sometimes when Dorothea was in company, there seemed to be as complete an air of repose about her as if she had been a picture of Santa Barbara looking out from her tower into the clear air; but these intervals of quietude made the energy of her speech and emotion the more remarked when some outward appeal had touched her."

"The most extraordinary man... is John Dalton... He is generally styled... the Father of Modern Chemistry... Yet this man... is earning... a penurious existence by teaching boys the elements of mathematics, with which he is so totally occupied, that he can hardly snatch a moment for the prosecution of discoveries which have already put his name on a level with the courtly and courted Davy. But the remarkable thing is that this simple and firm-minded man preserves all the original simplicity and equanimity of his mind, and calmly leaves his fame, like Bacon, to other nations and future ages."

"And how has it come, this slowly growing faith in Perfection for Perfection's sake? Surely thus. When the... world awoke one day to find that it no longer believed... in future life for the individual—when it began to feel: "I cannot say more than that... Death may be nothing"... And, since it found that it desired to go on living... it began to inquire why. And slowly it perceived that there was, inborn within it, a passionate... sacred instinct to perfect itself... because Perfection was desirable, a vision to be adored and striven for... the very essential Cause of everything. And it began to see that this Perfection, cosmically, was nothing but perfect Equilibrium and Harmony; and in human relations... perfect Love and Justice. And Perfection began to glow... like a new star, whose light touched... all things as they came forth from Mystery, till to Mystery they were ready to return. ...There has crept into our minds once more the feeling that the Universe is all of a piece. Equipoise supreme; and all things equally wonderful, and mysterious, and valuable. We have begun... to have a glimmering of the artist's creed, that nothing may we despise or neglect—that everything is worth the doing well... that... God, Perfection, is implicit everywhere, and the revelation of Him, the business of our Art."

"I would submit too to our distinguished countrymen who occupy high offices that their giving up their offices will bring the struggle to a speedy end and would probably obviate the danger attendant upon the masses... If the title-holders gave up their titles... holders of honorary offices... their appointments and... high officials... their posts, and... would-be councillors boycott the councils, the Government would quickly come to its senses and give effect to the people’s will. For, the alternative... would be... despotic rule... probably... military dictatorship. The world’s opinion has advanced so far that Britain dare not contemplate such dictatorship with equanimity. The taking of the steps suggested by me will constitute the peacefullest revolution the world has ever seen. Once the of Non-co-operation is realised, there is an end to all bloodshed and violence..."

"Diane di Prima, revolutionary activist of the 1960s Beat literary renaissance, heroic in life and poetics: a learned humorous bohemian, classically educated and twentieth-century radical, her writing, informed by Buddhist equanimity, is exemplary in imagist, political and mystical modes. ...She broke barriers of race-class identity, delivered a major body of verse brilliant in its particularity."

"No doubt you are right, my best of friends, there would be far less suffering amongst mankind, if men―and God knows why they are so fashioned―did not employ their imaginations so assiduously in recalling the memory of past sorrow, instead of bearing their present lot with equanimity."

"In our study of , we began as sadists trying to produce abnormality. Today, we are psychiatrists trying to achieve normality and equanimity."

"It cannot well be denied that Jackson possessed every... attribute which makes for success in war. Morally and physically he was... fearless. He accepted responsibility with the same equanimity that he faced... bullets... He permitted no obstacle to turn him aside from his appointed path... [F]rom the day he first smelt powder in Mexico until he led that astonishing charge through the dark depths of the Wilderness his spirits never rose higher than when danger and death were rife about him. With all his gentleness there was much of the old about Stonewall Jackson, not indeed the lust for blood, but the longing to do doughtily and die bravely, as best becomes a man."

"Of Pallas Athena, glorious goddess, first I sing, the steelyeyed, resourceful one with implacable heart, the reverend virgin, city-savior, doughty one, Tritogeneia, to whom wise Zeus himself gave birth out of his august head, in battle armor of shining gold: all the immortals watched in awe, as before Zeus the goat-rider she sprang quickly down from his immortal head with a brandish of her sharp javelin. A fearsome tremor went through great Olympus from the power of the Steely-eyed one, the earth resounded terribly round about, and the sea heaved in a confusion of swirling waves. But suddenly the main was held in check, and Hyperion’s splendid son halted his swift-footed steeds for a long time, until the maiden, Pallas Athena, took off the godlike armor from her immortal shoulders, and wise Zeus rejoiced."

"The transition from tenseness, self-responsibility, and worry, to equanimity, receptivity, and peace, is the most wonderful of all... shiftings of inner equilibrium... of... centre of energy... [T]he chief wonder... is that... it so often comes about, not by doing, but by... relaxing and throwing the burden down. This abandonment of self-responsibility... antedates theologies and is independent of philosophies. Mind-cure, theosophy, stoicism, ordinary neurological hygiene, insist on it as emphatically as Christianity... and it is capable of entering into closest marriage with every... creed. Christians who have it... in... 'recollection,' and are never anxious about the future, nor worry over the outcome of the day. Of Saint Catharine of Genoa... 'she took cognizance of things, only as they were presented to her in succession, moment by moment.' To her holy soul, 'the divine moment was the present... and when the present moment was estimated in itself and in its relations, and when the duty... in it was accomplished, it was permitted to pass away as if it had never been, and to give way to... the moment... after.' Hinduism, mind-cure, and theosophy all lay great emphasis upon this concentration of the consciousness upon the moment at hand."

"Worry means... inhibition of associations and loss of effective power. Of course, the sovereign cure for worry is religious faith... The turbulent billows of the fretful surface leave the deep parts of the ocean undisturbed, and to him who has a hold on vaster and more permanent realities the hourly vicissitudes of his personal destiny seem relatively insignificant... The... religious person is accordingly unshakable and full of equanimity, and calmly ready for any duty that the day may bring forth."

"A small but significant number of angry and historically minded women comprehend the women's revolution in the visionary sense of an end to the catastrophic brotherhood and a return to the former glory and wise equanimity of the matriarchies. We don't know how this will take place exactly, nor the resultant nature of the new social forms, we know that it will take place, and in fact that the process of its development is now irreversibly underway. Of supreme importance in this process is the recovery by modern woman of her mythology as models for theory, consciousness, and action.... The Swiss patrician Jacob Bachofen was one of the first to discover "the female era at the lower seam of history, with its sacerdotal, political, and economic female dominion." …. The fruits of this research were until recently unavailable except to a few initiates and they now form a cornerstone of the second wave in the feminist revolution...."

"Lord Liverpool... is much more entitled to the gratitude and admiration... than some statesmen who have enjoyed... more... He was one of that class of Ministers... patient, prudent, and patriotic; careless of his own fame, so that... measures were pursued which he considered for the public good; shunning... popular applause; and by his clear common sense... unselfishness, and... equanimity, solving problems and surmounting difficulties which more brilliant men are wont either to create or to exasperate."

"Remember that good times and bad times will be part of your life equally, and you have to learn to handle both with equanimity. Make the most of life's opportunities and learn from every opportunity, and challenge that life brings along"

"I replace melancholy by courage, doubt by certainty, despair by hope, malice by good, complaints by duty, scepticism by faith, sophisms by cool equanimity and pride by modesty."

"A day will come when the idea that for the sake of food the people of the past raised and massacred living beings and with complete equanimity displayed their flesh in bits and pieces in shop windows, will no doubt inspire the same revulsion that the cannibalistic meals of the Americans, Oceanians, or Africans inspired in the travelers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries."

"The wisely cultivated man, conscious how insignificant a drop he is in the vast stream of life, learns his limitation, and accepts events with modesty and equanimity."

"Some find they can practice effectively by bringing attention to the arising of like, dislike and indifference in their meditation practice and daily life. Others are able to use the power of loving kindness, compassion, equanimity, or devotion to change the way they experience things. And still others develop or naturally have enough capacity in awareness that they experience attraction as delight, aversion as clarity, and indifference as non-thought."

"The 'taking love' leads to feelings of attachment, jealousy, anger, and childish self-absorption, while the 'giving love,' intrinsic in the tenets of Buddhism, encompasses the whole enjoyable realm of love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity."

"We age inevitably: The old joys fade and are gone: And at last comes equanimity and the flame burning clear."

"And the third [personal ideal] has been to cultivate such a measure of equanimity as would enable me to bear success with humility, the affection of my friends without pride, and to be ready when the day of sorrow and grief came, to meet it with the courage befitting a man."

"Let me recall to your minds an incident related of that best of men and wisest of rulers, Antoninus Pius, who, as he lay dying, in his home at Loriam in Etruria, summed up the philosophy of life in the watchword, Aequanimitas. … Natural temperament has much to do with its development, but a clear knowledge of our relation to our fellow-creatures and to the work of life is also indispensable. One of the first essentials in securing a good-natured equanimity is not to expect too much of the people amongst whom you dwell."

"Aequo animo poenam, qui meruere, ferunt. (They bear punishment with equanimity who have earned it.)"

"Any bodhisattvas whose thoughts are at present concentrated and directed toward the buddhas of the ten quarters, will, if they possess mental concentration, achieve all the exalted practices of a bodhisattva. What is mental concentration? Through compliance with the conditions for reflection on the Buddha, having one’s thoughts directed toward the Buddha; having thoughts that are not disturbed, thereby obtaining wisdom; not giving up energy; joining together with good friends in the practice of emptiness; eliminating sleepiness; not congregating; avoiding bad friends; drawing close to good friends; having energy that is not disorderly; in eating, knowing when one has had enough; not craving robes; not begrudging one’s own life; being solitary and avoiding one’s relatives; keeping away from one’s home village; practicing equanimity, mastering the attitudes of compassion and rejoicing, and the practice of circumspection."

"And rather than make the book unwieldy I have eschewed notes—reluctantly when some obscure passage or allusion seemed to ask for a timely word; with more equanimity when the temptation was to criticize or 'appreciate.' For the function of the anthologist includes criticizing in silence."

"My country has been influenced by the core Buddhist values of non-violence, loving kindness, compassion, equanimity and mindfulness. With this sense of direction, our Government has committed itself "Towards a new Sri Lanka", guided by a vision of peace, where every Sri Lankan citizen may live with dignity and self-respect, in freedom and without fear, free of want, and where every child may enjoy childhood and grow up with hope and expectation."

"It is in no way a digression to mention the horrors of war in connection with massacres of cattle and carnivorous banquets. People's diet corresponds closely to their morality. Blood calls for blood. In this connection, if one considers the various people he has known, there will be no doubt that in general, the agreeable manners, kindness of disposition, and equanimity of the vegetarians contrasts markedly with the qualities of the inveterate meat-eaters and avid drinkers of blood."

"In his comfortable parsonage, he contemplated the misery of the great majority of mankind with equanimity, and pointed out the fallacies of the reformers who hoped to alleviate it. By their own theology, most of the children whom their opposition to birth control will cause to exist will go to hell. We must suppose, therefore, that they oppose the amelioration of life on earth because they think it a good thing that many millions should suffer eternal torment. By comparison with them, Malthus appears merciful."

"However artistic the arrangement of the dinner-table, however immaculate the tablecloth and faultless the dinner-service, the disagreeable thought must... sometimes occur to the artistic mind that the beef was once an ox, the mutton... a sheep, the veal... a calf, and the pork... a pig. We may scrupulously... clean the outside of the cup and platter, but the recollection of the... interior will... cause... disquietude to our aesthetic repose. ...[T]hough we may ...be thankful for any reaction against the gross materialism and vulgarity of modern society, it may be doubted whether any class can be truly aesthetic which does not recognise in its creed the supreme importance of gentleness and humanity. The man who keenly sympathises with the suffering of dumb animals has a more truly aesthetic mind than many of our modern connoisseurs of " high art" who are inexpressibly pained by the sight of an ugly house or... inartistic... furniture, while they view with... equanimity a system of diet which necessitates the very ugly trade of the butcher."

"Felix, quisquis novit famulum Rogemque pati, Vultusque potest variare suos! Rapuit vires pondusque malis, Casus animo qui tulit æquo."

"She seemed able to face with equal equanimity the rigours of fascist cruelty and suppression that she was dealt as a Jew; the problems of practising underground medicine in wartime; the difficulties posed by prejudice and discrimination against women; and the near isolation and challenges of those working at the cutting edge of science."

"It is always painful to part from people whom one has known for a very brief space of time. The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity. But even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been introduced is almost unbearable."

"My fossils, ferns and porcelain (i.e. my hobbies) are an island of sanity in a mad world, an island found by others of my profession who devote a quiet hour to their postmarks, butterflies, stamps or poetry. My palaeontology was a sure restoration of equanimity after the frustrations of working for and with some politicians."

"Water, when it is still, reflects back even your eyebrows and beard. It is perfectly level and from this the carpenter takes his level. If water stilled offers such clarity, imagine what pure spirit offers! The sage's heart is stilled! Heaven and Earth are reflected in it, the mirror of all life. Empty, still, calm, plain, quiet, silent, non-active, this is the centeredness of Heaven and Earth and of the Tao and Virtue."

"Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now."