As you might see above, there's a new feature on Buddhism and equanimity, which is something I'm working on personally. Well, sort of working on it. At least, I've recognized I need to work on it. That's a start.
Anyway, after I wrote the article I found a post by NellaLou at Buddha Cabaret that begins with a quote from Insight meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal about equanimity, part of which I also had used in my article. In brief, it says equanimity is about not getting pulled off center by attraction or aversion. And to do that, it helps to be able to see the big picture and not get stuck in one side or another.
Being plugged into the Internet is an unavoidable part of my livelihood, which means I spend the day soaking in news and opinions. It's like working in a glue factory; it's all easy to get stuck in. This is why equanimity is called for.
NellaLou's post is about identity politics in contemporary America, and I don't want to wade too deeply into politics on this blog. But it seems to me that American politics has gone beyond mere "identity" and slid all the way into "tribal." And loyalty to one's tribal talking points displaces all facts and reason. This is not going to end well.
Yeah, it’s good for people who are aware of the need to do it to work on equanimity. I’m included in that.
Indeed, the political atmosphere is decidedly fractured to the point that most realistic political discussions are drowned out by the pundits with there list of daily talking points. The question is, how much does Buddhism influence ones political leanings? Can politics and Buddhism combine without risking taking on strong opinions that can detract from one’s practice?
Equanimity certainly is key, and perhaps the practice of equanimity can help maintain a level head as a Buddhist in such a political oven that we live in today.
One thing I’ve found useful in the cultivation of equanimity is playing with a Chittamatra/Mind-Only epistemology in relation to phenomenal appearances. Here’s a very brief description of this view, from The Adornment Of The Middle Way:
The Chittamatra approach emphasizes the fact that no matter how real and solid external objects may seem, all experience of them — including our knowledge about them and their apparently objective constitution — occurs wholly within the sphere of consciousness.
This carries the important implication that even if one accepts the objective existence of phenomena separate from the mind, their extra-mental mode of existence, if such there is, is by definition unknowable. To reach beyond the mind and to experience phenomena exclusively from their side, in a complete self-contained objectivity, is as impossible as it is for us to climb out of our own skin. Indeed, the very suppositions that there is a “mind” and that there is a “world,” and that there is a separation between the two, are themselves mental events.
The dynamics of attraction and aversion depend upon the realist assumption that observed objects (of the “external world”) exist in separation from the consciousness observing them. Deprived of this assumption, attraction/repulsion have no basis; and equanimity begins quite naturally to emerge.
“This is not going to end well.”
That is one thing that greatly concerns me. Another thing that concerns me is that it may not end at all. That the current trends, sans facts and reason, will continue to escalate. I can say this is true not only in America. I see it escalating in India and Canada too.
These “tribes” are based on birth, belief and behavior. Sometimes these can be at odds with one another within the same person. It is not surprising then that the levels of stress, diagnoses of psychological dysfunction and incidences of misunderstanding in word and deed are amplified.
Once we grow accustomed to this level of tension, it’s not going to matter who becomes a target for derision. The physiological effects of sustaining such a state, in my opinion, will have become addictive in time. People get off on letting out steam in this fashion after a while. It becomes a power trip.
We are globally still at a point to turn it around, or that is my perhaps naive hope, but it’s going to take some incredibly strong and ethical leadership. Another Gandhi or MLK or other truly iconic figure. Unfortunately there don’t seem to be any on the horizon.
[thanks too for the mention]
All compounded things end eventually; the question is, how much pain will humanity inflict upon itself before it does?
As we’re seeing in some U.S. states, the extremist “principles” being pushed by the “tribe” do not support sustainable governing or economies. So the second question is, will the end come before a massive political, economic, and environmental collapse, or after? I guess we’ll find out.
Hi, When the mind is like an open sky, thoughts and phenomona of the day pass through like a bird leaving no trace of its path. Desire and aversion are like fog that block this freedom. Practice, Devotion, and Lovingkindness dissolve this fog. So I think the best way to have equanimity is to have this freedom.
“Tribes” have always existed in our culture. They just happen to be more visible and active due to the wonders of modern technology. Today we have political and corporate entities who profit off of agitating these groups. But in the end I see it as being more theater than anything else.