Cattāri Brahmavihārā

I can’t remember who it was (possibly Bhante Y. Rahula from Bhavana Society) but I recently heard a Dhamma talk wherein the bhikkhu giving the talk said that one can’t practice equanimity. He went onto to say that equanimity is the result of practicing all the other aspects of the path which is why it’s often found at the end of several lists given by the Buddha such as the 4 brahma viharas and the seven factors of enlightenment. I’m not quite so sure if agree with the venerable especially because I’ve heard many other bhikkhus give Dhamma talks on the cultivating of upekkha as a divine abode but my uninformed opinion is just that: an uninformed opinion.

Anyway, despite any misgivings I may have had it certainly seems reasonable that simply repeating the traditional formulae is completely ineffectual in arousing the state of onlooking equanimity. While I have obtained some results from the recollection of the phrases with the preceeding three brahma viharas I simply cannot imagine how to do so when it comes to equanimity. So, I did a little experiment this morning. Here’s what I did:

After my morning puja, refuges and precepts rather than doing my mala practice I decided to simply spend the 35 minutes doing a mindfulness of in and out breathing. The only difference was that I would remind myself that I was practicing equanimity with regard to whatever arose. Interestingly, I was able to maintain more poise and interest in whatever arose although I should point out that whenever any of the hindrances arose I did take action to remove them in whatever ways I deemed necessary.

All in all, it was interesting to experiment with equanimity as a ground of receptivity to phenomena and I think I may continue with variations of this practice on days that I want to devote to the consideration of upekkha. May you all be well, happy and peaceful;!