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Seven Factors of Awakening: Equanimity

Greetings from Redwood City. Clear day, looks like. So this will be the last talk, the seventh talk on the seven factors of awakening.

Before I talk about the seventh factor, the factor of equanimity, a few more thoughts about these factors overall. The Buddha made a remarkable statement about these seven factors, and that is that the continuity and the growth of the Dharma—I think he meant like the growth of Buddhism into the world—is dependent not on what people believe, but is really dependent on people who cultivate these seven factors of awakening. That is where the growth and development of the Dharma is: in the qualities developed in people.

He also said that those who want to be involved with what's ultimate... Some people really want religion to be about what's ultimate: the ultimate truth, ultimate reality, ultimate something. And in Buddhism, some ultimate states of awareness and enlightenment. In one statement the Buddha says if you want to be involved with what's ultimate, be involved with the seven factors of awakening. And remarkably, these are not views, they're not tenets of belief, they're not doctrines. They're qualities that live inside of us that can be cultivated and developed. As I said the first day, this is the sap that runs through that tree of Buddhism.

The Buddha said that if you have a tree in the forest and there are other trees, different species of trees, that are overgrowing it, then there's no light that allows the smaller tree to grow up and become strong. He used that analogy for the hindrances: that if the hindrances are overgrowing the seven factors of awakening, they can't grow; there's not enough light there. But if the hindrances are removed, then there's light that allows the tree of the seven factors of awakening to grow and become strong and big. And so this idea is that we're learning about our inner life, the quality of our inner life, the state that we're in. We're learning and studying it, paying attention to it enough that we can learn to put aside and not be involved in the hindrances. These things are said to cover over, obscure, and hinder the wisdom of the mind and the clarity of the mind. As we uncover, we remove the tree cover of these other trees. Then there are seedlings that are ready to grow and become strong, and these are the seven factors of awakening.

One of the things we can begin studying and become aware of as we practice mindfulness is what enhances the hindrances and makes them grow and develop, and what enhances and develops the seven factors of awakening. We understand the conditions that lead to each. The ancient languages call it the "food" for each. Many things are food, but preoccupation with the hindrances is food for the hindrances to grow. Paying attention to the seven factors of awakening, recognizing them, is the primary food for them to grow. Here the idea is that we have these in us already. These are not foreign ideas. These are not something that none of us have, but some of us have not learned to recognize that they are there.

I've done the exercise of when I've woken up from a nice, refreshing nap, laying down, looking at the ceiling, feeling very content, pretty clear, waking up in a clear state of mind, and just kind of going through and noticing the seven factors of awakening that are there in the ordinary waking up clearly and contentedly from a nap. You might do the exercise if you have something comparable to that, where you're just very content and happy, and the mind is clear and alert, and you have nothing you need to do—maybe sitting under a tree in a park in a time when all things are taken care of for you. Recognize that these factors are already there for you, and then we want to enhance them, develop them, and grow them.

One of the requirements for that is not to be caught up in our thoughts, hates, greeds, desires, or emotions. Not to be caught up in them, to let them be. To let us be that big redwood tree that can sway with the wind and not be knocked over by the wind, and not be a tumbleweed that just blows across the desert because it's not rooted.

So the seventh factor of awakening is equanimity, and equanimity has two primary aspects. One is stability: a sense of balance that can come even from physical stability. If we have a real sense of being physically stable and strong, that sometimes can make us much more resilient to the challenges of life. If we're healthy, feel strong, have eaten well, and maybe done some exercise, there can be a coursing through us of a certain kind of strength and stability. We're much more resilient to what people say to us or what goes on around us. If we're ill, tired, hungry, or agitated in all kinds of ways, then the slightest little thing is too much, and we get pushed over, and it's hard.

And so there is a sense of equanimity that can come from being balanced and stable. The example I just gave is physical stability, but there's also stability in our emotional life, stability in the mind, our inner life. And that comes from practice: as you keep doing mindfulness, keep doing concentration practices, there's a sense of stability with calm. A sense of strength in mindfulness, strength in concentration, strength in being able to let go, strength in the application of practice, showing up, and having confidence. There's a lot of strength that gets developed slowly over time with practice.

And then we have this much more equanimous meaning, that we're not reactive. We don't get obsessed with things or reactive to things. We act, we respond, but it's not on automatic pilot. We're not swirling around, pushed around, triggered so easily by everything that goes on around us. There's a stability so we can gaze upon what's happening before the mind's reactivity takes over. It's not an easy place to come to. The direction of the practice is to come to this place where we can be still, be still and gaze upon everything kindly.

The word gaze is a choiceful word because the word equanimity has in its etymology in Pali—upekkhā^[1]—the meaning of to gaze over, to look, to have an overview of what's going on.

And so the second meaning of equanimity in terms of our practice is the equanimity that comes from having wisdom: having the overview of things to see the conditionality of things. To be able to see what's happening, see our response to it, our reactivity, and to be able to have this broad view or clear view. This gaze. We see what's happening and watch it arise and pass, and come and go without automatically reacting, picking up, or pushing away. So that there can be greater capacity for wisdom, for understanding, for kindness and love to operate. That can't operate if we respond automatically and are triggered and get pushed around by things. If we get angry or sad or upset or collapse, or we quickly take it personally, or use it to define ourselves, or want to defend ourselves, or feel sorry, or whatever we want to do—that gets in the way of this broad open ability to just see and be and not be pushed around by things.

Equanimity, upekkhā, is kind of like the crown jewel of Buddhism. It's a little bit hard to appreciate at first for people who haven't touched into it. It can sound like indifference perhaps, but it's actually a very sublime, rich treasure of an emotional state, almost. It's a whole state of our inner life being allowed to flow and be trusted in a very deep way without being tipped over by it, pushed around by it, distracted by anything, or obsessed by anything. It's a phenomenally generous state to be equanimous because things are allowed to manifest and be as they are in the gaze of that equanimity. This feeling of generosity that's in equanimity, this feeling of love... is such a needed thing in this world and such a beautiful thing for ourselves, to have that equanimity, to allow things to unfold, especially in meditation.

One of the very inspiring aspects of this Dharma practice that we do is the way in which the Dharma not only lives in us, but we are the Dharma. In the sense that Dharma is the inner process, the inner movement towards health that leads us to freedom and liberation. There's a momentum, there's a capacity, there's a natural potential for growth within us that mostly is just getting out of the way so that these processes can unfold and lead us to greater and greater peace, greater and greater wisdom, greater and greater love. So to clear away the hindrances and to recognize the seven factors of awakening is to begin recognizing the Dharma that's within us. And when those seven factors become strong, then in a sense we become the Dharma, or the Dharma becomes us; no difference.

Seven factors of awakening. We offered a word for each of the seven factors, and the word for equanimity is: "Okay. It's okay." There is a way—not to accept, not to condone anything or agree to anything—but there is a kind of "okay, that's how it is," where there's space for things. We can see things before we react. A deep sense of wise, wise okay.

So, mindfulness: to be here. Investigation: to have the question of what? Effort, with the word this, being present for this. Joy, with the word yes. Tranquility, with the word ease. Concentration, with the word steady. And equanimity, with the wisest possible way of saying okay. It's okay.

And altogether, someone here, Tom, wrote "the cultivation." I love the word cultivation for describing this practice because cultivation, for me, is a botanical gardening term. We cultivate and allow the plants to grow. We cultivate ourselves in this practice. May the beautiful trees of equanimity within you grow and flower and be a benefit for all beings. Thank you all very much.