The Eight Worldly Winds
The Endless Further - Apr 08 2013
Here in parts of Southern
California we’re experiencing high winds, some are damaging winds
of up to 80 mph. They are supposed to strengthen late tonight (I’m
writing this on Sunday evening), and are expected to last into
Monday evening. Officials are warning folks that the winds may down
power lines, trees and large tree limbs, and create dangerous
driving conditions, especially for “high-profile
vehicles.”
It brings to mind the “eight
worldly winds,” that Bandhuprabha described in the
Treatise on the Buddha-Stage Sutra. The eight worldly winds
are praise, blame, success, failure, pleasure, pain, fame, and
disgrace.
Equanimity is said to be a
protection from the eight worldly winds. Upekkha is the Sanskrit word for
equanimity, one of the Four Sublime States that also include
loving-kindness (metta), compassion
(karuna); and sympathetic joy
(mudita)
“Even a happy life cannot be
without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its
meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take
things as they come along with patience and
equanimity.” – Carl
Gustav Jung
Some folks have the idea
that to have equanimity means to be indifferent. Actually,
indifference is the antithesis of equanimity. As the quote by Jung
indicates, equanimity means to have balance, to be even-minded.
It’s a state of mind that is not shaken by the winds of blame,
failure, pain, and disgrace. Nor is it sent too far aloft by
flurries of praise, success, pleasure, or fame.
Wind is wonderful. It
disperses the seeds of plants and fruits throughout the world. The
wind dispels dark clouds. Wind can provide energy, when we let it.
However, wind can also be terrible. It can spread the flames of
fire, bring destructive storms, snap trees and damage
property.
When the eight worldly winds
blow upon us, it is better to be firmly rooted in equanimity like a
mighty oak that can withstand equally mighty gusts, than to be
unstable as grass waving in the breeze.
“Just as a rocky mountain is
not moved by storms, so sights, sounds, tastes, smells, contacts
and ideas, whether desirable or undesirable, will never stir one of
steady nature, whose mind is firm and
free.” – Anguttara Nikaya VI,
55