Book 4 - The Four Divine Virtues - Equanimity
By Ajahn Amaro
“Who is pulling the STRINGS?’
There are forces at work in the universe which pull the
strings, as if we were being operated like puppets. But what are the forces
which may be manipulating our lives, and how does all this work?
The Five Nayamas or Laws of Nature
The first is utu-niyrama. Utu literally means ‘weather’ or ‘temperature,
seasons and other physical events’. This is a physical universe. We
experience the results of the way matter works.
The second is bija-niyama. Bija
literally means ‘seeds’, so as human beings, we are subject to the laws of
biology, genetics, we have a human body, we need to breathe.
The third is kamma-niyama. This means causes and effects of our own
acts. This refers to the laws that govern the way effects take shape as a
result of the personal choices that we make.
The fourth is citta-nigayam. This is the laws of psychology, how
the mind works, how we think, the way the memory works, the whole of the
psychological realm.
The fifth is dhamma-niyama. This is the laws of nature. This is
the laws of how the realms of form, time, space and mind all operate –
including the unconditioned, the unborn, the unoriginated, uncreated, the
timeless and formless – the all-encompassing and all-embracing laws of reality
at its most fundamental level. Dhamma-niyama is how all these integrate and
uphold the reality of the way things are.
“Who is pulling the STRINGS?”, the Buddhist answer would
be: ‘Wrong question’. ‘Who?’ is the wrong question. It’s not a matter of who
but rather of understanding how these different forces, these different laws
that contribute to our experience, operate and function in relationship to each
other.
The Buddha teaches that what happens to us is not up to the
gods, their moods and their rewards or punishment, but more to do with the
actions that we take, with directing our minds towards what is skillful, what is
wholesome. The ethics of Buddhism are psychological, insofar as we are the
ones who create our rewards and punishments.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
This falls to the laws of causes and effects, kamma-niyama. In one’s past life, he or she might have done
something bad such that in this life, bad things happen to him or her. The
world is pre-conditioned but not pre-determined, and the future is conditioned
by the choices we make here and now.
How can I use these ideas to improve my life?
Within that natural order, we have the capacity to make
changes, to have an effect. We are able to choose, and this is what makes the
possibility of liberation open to us.
The Buddha’s advice is rather for us to exchange trying to
find happiness through getting what we like, for learning how to find happiness
through liking what we get – or at least not finding fault with it. If we can
make that shift in attitude and learn how to be open and at ease with that we’ve
got, with how life is, then we can find a tremendous quality of harmony, peacefulness,
and freedom. There is the vast serene radiance of upekkha or what we call ‘Equanimity’.
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