Equanimity

Equanimity (Skt. upekṣā; Pali upekkhā; Tib. བཏང་སྙོམས་, tang nyom, Wyl. btang snyoms) — one of the fifty-one mental states defined in Abhidharma literature. According to the Compendium of Abhidharma, it belongs to the subgroup of the eleven virtuous states. It is also one of the four immeasurables, and in meditation practice, it is the eighth antidote, which is the antidote to the fifth fault of (over-application). For the later, see the five faults and eight antidotes.

Definitions

In the Khenjuk, Mipham Rinpoche says:

• Tib. བཏང་སྙོམས་ནི་ཆགས་སྡང་གཏི་མུག་མེད་པར་སེམས་རྣལ་དུ་གནས་པ་སྟེ། ཉོན་མོངས་པའི་སྐབས་མི་འབྱེད་པའི་ལས་ཅན་ནོ།
• Equanimity is the mind resting naturally, free from attachment, anger and delusion. Its function is to avoid giving occasion for the destructive emotions to arise. (Rigpa Translations)
• Equanimity is the mind resting naturally, free from attachment, anger and delusion. Its function is to avoid giving occasion for the disturbing emotions [to occur in one's stream-of-being]. (Erik Pema Kunsang)

Alternative Translations

• Evenness or Impartiality (Padmakara Translation Group)