Equanimity
A serene, unshakable balance of mind that meets life's ups and downs without being swept away.
Equanimity (Pali upekkhā) is a deep, even-minded balance that stays steady whether life brings pleasure or pain, praise or blame, success or failure. It is one of the most refined qualities cultivated in Buddhist practice, and it is easy to misunderstand, so the tradition is careful to define it well.
Crucially, equanimity is not coldness, apathy, or not caring. It is the opposite of indifference: a warm, alert composure that sees clearly and responds wisely without being yanked around by craving for the pleasant or aversion to the unpleasant. A classic image is a loving parent watching grown children make their own way — caring deeply, yet not falling apart at every turn of fortune, because they understand they cannot control everything.
Equanimity holds an honored place in two key Buddhist lists. It is the fourth of the "four divine abodes" — the boundless attitudes of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity — where it keeps the other three from tipping into attachment or burnout. It is also the seventh of the seven factors of awakening, the qualities that ripen the mind toward liberation. There it represents a mind so balanced and clear that it rests in things as they are. Far from emotional flatness, it is meant to be the mature flowering of a free and peaceful heart.
Key passages(20)
Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness · Sharon Salzberg
The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S.N. Goenka · S. N. Goenka
The Way to Ultimate Calm: Selected Discourses of Webu Sayadaw · Webu Sayadaw
“I made my bed in a charnel ground, resting on a skeleton. Village louts came up and mocked me in all sorts of ways. Others brought me incense and flowers, and many kinds of cooked food, all thrilled,
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The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
Then the venerable Subhūti asked the Blessed One, “Reverend Lord! In what should great bodhisattva beings who seek emancipation in unsurpassed, genuinely perfect enlightenment abide?” The Blesse
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The Teaching of Vimalakīrti · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
Thereupon, Mañjuśrī, the crown prince, addressed the Licchavi Vimalakīrti: “Good sir, how should a bodhisattva regard all living beings?” Vimalakīrti replied, “Mañjuśrī, a bodhisattva should regard a
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The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
“Now, Śāriputra, what is the bodhisatva’s perfection of patient acceptance, by which he wholeheartedly practices the way of the bodhisatva? Śāriputra, the bodhisatva’s patience comes from a natural a
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“Pūrṇa,” continued the Blessed One, “if bodhisattva great beings who are genuinely following the Great Vehicle constantly rely on and familiarize themselves with four qualities, they will gather all
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The Questions of Sāgaramati · The Tibetan Kangyur (84000)
The Blessed One then spoke to the bodhisattva great being Sāgaramati: “Along these lines, Sāgaramati, when bodhisattva great beings become completely pure, they have a genuinely good motivation and,
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up Equanimity. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- S. N. GoenkaThe Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S.N. Goenka(1987)View on Amazon→
- Sharon SalzbergLovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness(1995)View on Amazon→
- Webu SayadawThe Way to Ultimate Calm: Selected Discourses of Webu Sayadaw(2001)View on Amazon→