THE GREAT CHRONICLE OF BUDDHAS
1666
laughing among themselves.
When the Bodhisatta saw the unruly children, he thought: ‚Now I have found a good
means of support for fulfilment of Perfection of Equanimity,‛ and stayed in the village.
Seeing him, the mischievous kids tried to make fun of him, who, pretending as though he
could no longer endure them and as though he was afraid of them, ran away. Still the kids
followed him wherever he went.
The Bodhisatta, on the run, reached a cemetery and thought to himself: ‚This is a place
where no one will prevent these mischievous youngsters from doing harm. I have now a
chance to fulfil
UpekkhÈ PÈramÊ
to a great extent.‛ He went into the cemetery and slept
there using a skull as a pillow. Getting an opportunity to indulge in devilry, the foolish kids
went where the Bodhisatta was sleeping and insulted him in various ways, spitting phlegm
and saliva on him and doing other evil things and went away. In this way, they ill-treated
the Bodhisatta everyday.
Seeing these wrong acts done by the wicked children, some wise people stopped them.
With the knowledge that ‚This indeed is a holy ascetic of great power‛, they all paid
obeisance to him with utmost reverence.
The Bodhisatta kept the same attitude towards both the foolish kids and the wise people.
He showed no affection to the latter who honoured him nor aversion to the former who
insulted him. Instead, he took a neutral stance between affection and aversion with regard
to both parties. In this way, he fulfilled the Perfection of Equanimity.
(Though this story is called MahÈ LomahaÑsa JÈtaka, the name MahÈ LomahaÑsa
was not that of the Bodhisatta. It just refers to the effect on those who come to
know of how the Bodhisatta had practised; the horrible story could make their hair
stand on end; hence the story's name MahÈ LomahaÑsa).
Fulfilment of UpekkhÈ
Extinction of hate and love is fulfilment of
upekkhÈ
. (
UpekkhÈ pÈramÊ
signifies stilling of
these two mental states. There is no Perfection of Equanimity unless both are calmed.)
In special affairs, staying in a negligent mood without taking interest in anything leads to
the impairment of
upekkhÈ
. Such an attitude cannot be called
upekkhÈ
. It is only
unawareness which is wrongly thought to be so.
Real
upekkhÈ
is not indifference or unawareness. It sees both good and evil which lead to
happiness and suffering respectively. But he who observes
upekkhÈ
reflects clearly: ‚I am
not concerned with these matters of happiness and suffering; they are the results of their
own good and evil deeds.‛
In the Netti Commentary it is stated: ‚Extreme absent-mindedness appearing as
indifference with regard to various sense objects either good or bad is deceptive. (Delusion
(
moha
), disguised as
upekkhÈ
is deceptive.) Reluctance to perform deeds of merit also tends
to deceive by assuming the appearance of the sublime mode of doing
upekkhÈ
. Indolence
(
kosajjha
), for doing good deeds is also likely to pretend to be
upekkhÈ
.) Therefore, one
should take care of oneself not to be deceived by either delusion or indolence that is apt to
behave like
upekkhÈ
.
Essence of UpekkhÈ
UpekkhÈ
in ultimate sense is a separate entity. It is a mental concomitant (
cetasika
) called
tatramajjhattatÈ
(central position thereof). But all the mental concomitants of
tatramajjhattatÈ
cannot collectively be called UpekkhÈ PÈramÊ.
TatramajjhattatÈ
is a mental
concomitant that is associated with all
sobhana cittas
(‘beautiful’ consciousness); it
accompanies each arising of
sobhana citta
.
TatramajjhattatÈ
which can be regarded as
genuine
UpekkhÈ
PÈramÊ
pays attention to beings and reflects: ‚Happiness and suffering of
beings are conditioned by their
kammas
in which nobody can intervene. They have kamma
as their own property and cause.‛
TatramajjhattatÈ
that arises out of contemplation, not of
beings but of the Three Gems, alms-giving and observance of the precepts cannot
constitute
UpekkhÈ
PÈramÊ
.