‹ Back to the text

upekkhako

upekkhaka

masc nom sg of upekkhaka (adj); masc nom sg of upekkhaka (noun)

1. mentally poised; mentally balanced; equanimous; non-reactive; looking on; disregarding; lit. onlooker
2. who is mentally poised; who is mentally balanced; who is equanimous; who is non-reactive; lit. onlooker

Built from

• upa — prefix · near, alongside
  Spatial proximity; in meditation, the stance of standing close to experience without clinging or aversion. Cognates: Greek hypo-, Latin sub-, English up.
• ikkh — root · look, see
  From an Indo-European root for vision and eye. Cognate with Sanskrit īkṣ- (to see) and Greek ὀφθαλμός (eye).
• ka — ending · agent, one who
  Nominal suffix forming an agent noun or descriptive adjective: "one who looks", hence "one who watches, stands aside".

Analysis. upa + ikkha + ka: upa- (near, alongside) + √ikkh- (look, see) + -ka (agent nominal suffix). Lit. "one who looks on from close by"; the spatial sense of upa- (approach, nearness) carries into the meditative stance of standing aside yet present to experience.

Etymology. From upa- (up close to, near) + √ikkh- (to look, see), cognate with Sanskrit īkṣ- and Greek ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmos, eye, lit. "that which sees"). The prefix upa- keeps its concrete sense of proximity: equanimity is looking at experience from close beside it, neither grasping nor pushing away. The -ka suffix forms an agent noun or descriptive adjective.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version