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Discourse on Equanimity and Potetential for a Buddhist and Christian Dialogue

Thich Nhat Hanh · November 30, 1988 · Sravasti, India · Monastic talk

Upekkha, or equanimity, is the practice of letting go and seeing that everything contains everything else. In the flower, one sees the garbage, and in the garbage, the flower; a good gardener knows garbage can be recycled into a rose. Equanimity is non-discrimination, refusing to take sides even in conflict, just as right cannot exist without left. It involves accepting all feelings, including anger, recognizing them as energy to be transformed rather than enemies to be combated.

Understanding non-dualism is essential for understanding Upekkha. Good and evil, Buddha and Mara, are interdependent, helping each other stand out like day and night. In a story depicting a dialogue between the Buddha and Mara, the Buddha welcomes Mara warmly as an old friend. Mara expresses exhaustion with his role of speaking in riddles and wearing paper clothes, while his disciples speak of liberation. Conversely, the Buddha shares the difficulties of his own role, being turned into a commercial item and worshipped for donations. They realize that each must play their own role well, without the intention to exchange them.

The insight of non-duality serves as a bridge for dialogue between Buddhists and Christians, addressing the ontological separation between Creator and creature. While traditional views separate God from the world, theologians like Paul Tillich view God as the ground of being, similar to water being the ground of all waves. Life and death are also non-dual; life is made of a series of deaths, and death of a series of lives. By viewing God through the lens of Mother Nature or the Earth, who brings beings to life millions of times, the distance between these spiritual traditions narrows, allowing for a balance of Yin and Yang.