➥ ajjhupekkhati:

• for ajjhupekkhati:
  • passively observe
• ajjhupekkhitvā: passively observe
• ajjhupekkheyyāmā: passively observe
• ajjhupekkhissatha: passively observe
• ajjhupekkhitabbo: passively observe
• ajjhupekkhato: passively observe
• ajjhupekkhitā: passively observe

Illustration: ajjhupekkhati, passively observe

A goldsmith should focus on three methods of working, not exclusively, but from time to time: blowing, sprinkling, and passively observing.

kālena kālaṁ abhidhamati kālena kālaṁ udakena paripphoseti kālena kālaṁ ajjhupekkhati).

Because:

• Exclusively blowing means the gold will burn up

ekantaṁ abhidhameyya ṭhānaṁ taṁ jātarūpaṁ ḍaheyya

• Exclusively sprinkling with water will cool it

ekantaṁ udakena paripphoseyya ṭhānaṁ taṁ jātarūpaṁ nibbāyeyya

• Exclusively passively observing will stop the gold coming to full perfection

ekantaṁ ajjhupekkheyya ṭhānaṁ taṁ jātarūpaṁ na sammā paripākaṁ gaccheyya. (AN i 256)

Bhikkhus, if a bhikkhu does six things, he cannot become one who realises unsurpassed freedom from inward distress. What six?

abhabbo anuttaraṁ sītibhāvaṁ sacchikātuṁ

• If he checks not the mind when it should be checked

cittaṁ na niggaṇhāti

• exerts not the mind when it should be exerted

cittaṁ na paggaṇhāti

• gladdens not the mind when it should be gladdened

cittaṁ na sampahaṁseti

• does not passively observe the mind when it should be so observed

yasmiṁ samaye cittaṁ ajjhupekkhitabbaṁ tasmiṁ samaye cittaṁ na ajjhupekkhati. (AN iii 435)

➥ ajjhupekkhitvā: (main article see: ajjhupekkhati)

Illustration: ajjhupekkhitvā, passively observe

• ’Bhikkhus, if one’s clothes or head were on fire, what should be done about it?’

• ’Bhante, if one’s clothes or head were on fire, to extinguish one’s blazing clothes or head one should arouse extraordinary eagerness, endeavour, vigour, exertion, resolution, mindfulness, and full consciousness.’

• ’Bhikkhus, one might passively observe one’s blazing clothes or head, pay them no attention (ajjhupekkhitvā amanasikaritvā), but in order to understand the four noble truths according to reality, if they are not understood, one should arouse extraordinary eagerness, endeavour, vigour, exertion, resolution, mindfulness, and full consciousness.

Ādittaṁ bhikkhave celaṁ vā sīsaṁ vā ajjhupekkhitvā amanasikaritvā anabhisametānaṁ catunnaṁ ariyasaccānaṁ yathābhūtaṁ abhisamayāya adhimatto chando ca vāyāmo ca ussāho ca ussoḷhi ca appaṭivānī ca sati ca sampajaññañca karaṇīyaṁ. (SN v 440)

➥ ajjhupekkheyyāmā: (main article see: ajjhupekkhati)

Illustration: ajjhupekkheyyāmā, passively observe

A deer-catcher was frustrated in his attempts to catch a certain herd of deer. The deer were eating the bait without being caught. But he realised that if he scared away this herd of deer, all the other deer would be scared away too. So he and his companions decided:

• Suppose that we were to passively observe the fourth herd of deer?

Yannūna mayaṁ catutthe migajāte ajjhupekkheyyāmā ti

… So deer-catcher and his companions passively observed the fourth herd of deer.

ajjhupekkhiṁsu kho bhikkhave nevāpiko ca nevāpikaparisā ca catutthe migajāte. (MN i 155)

➥ ajjhupekkhissatha: (main article see: ajjhupekkhati)

Illustration: ajjhupekkhissatha, passively observe

When Venerable Udāyī contradicted Venerable Sāriputta three times, Sāriputta was surprised that none of the bhikkhus applauded him.

• Venerable Udāyī contradicts me for up to the third time, and not a single bhikkhu applauds me.

yāva tatiyampi kho me āyasmā udāyī paṭikkosati na ca me koci bhikkhu anumodati

The Buddha rebuked Venerable Ānanda:

• ’Ānanda, would you just simply passively observe an elder bhikkhu while he is being harassed?

atthi nāma ānanda theraṁ bhikkhuṁ vihesiyamānaṁ ajjhupekkhissatha

… Truly, Ānanda, compassion does not develop in allowing an elder bhikkhu to be harassed’

Na hi nāma ānanda kāruññampi bhavissati theramhi bhikkhumhi vihesiyamānamhī ti. (AN iii 194)

➥ ajjhupekkhitabbo: (main article see: ajjhupekkhati)

Illustration: ajjhupekkhitabbo, passively observe

’What kind of person should be passively observed, not associated with, followed, and honoured? Someone who is ill-tempered, who when anything, however trifling, is said to him becomes upset. Why so? Because he might curse or abuse or do some injury:

• Therefore this kind of person should be passively observed, not associated with, followed, and honoured’

tasmā evarūpo puggalo ajjhupekkhitabbo na sevitabbo na bhajitabbo na payirupāsitabbo. (AN i 126-7)

A wood fire (kaṭṭhaggi) must from time to time

• be kindled

kālena kālaṁ ujjaletabbo

• passively observed

kālena kālaṁ ajjhupekkhitabbo

• quenched

kālena kālaṁ nibbāpetabbo

• discarded

kālena kālaṁ nikkhipitabboti. (AN iv 45)

➥ ajjhupekkhato: (main article see: ajjhupekkhati)

Illustration: ajjhupekkhato, passively observe

He discerns thus: “When I confront the source of this suffering with effort, by confronting it with effort [the suffering] fades away.

So evaṁ pajānāti imassa kho me dukkhanidānassa saṅkhāraṁ padahato saṅkhārappadhānā virāgo hoti

When the source of this suffering is passively observed, through developing detached awareness, [the suffering] fades away.

imassa pana me dukkhanidānassa ajjhupekkhato upekkhaṁ bhāvayato virāgo hotī ti. (MN ii 223)

➥ ajjhupekkhitā: (main article see: ajjhupekkhati)

Illustration: ajjhupekkhitā, passively observe

At that time he abides contemplating the nature of certain objects of the systematic teachings, fully consciously, and mindfully, having eliminated greed and dejection in regard to the world [of phenomena].

dhammesu dhammānupassī bhikkhave tasmiṁ samaye bhikkhu viharati ātāpī sampajāno satimā vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṁ

With the abandonment of greed and dejection, seeing [certain objects of the systematic teachings] carefully with discernment, he is one who carefully, passively observes.

so yaṁ taṁ abhijjhādomanassānaṁ pahānaṁ taṁ paññāya disvā sādhukaṁ ajjhupekkhitā hoti. (MN iii 84)

’Whenever, Ānanda, the mind becomes collected in a bhikkhu whose body is tranquil and joyful, on that occasion the enlightenment factor of inward collectedness is aroused in the bhikkhu;

Yasmiṁ samaye ānanda bhikkhuno passaddhakāyassa sukhino cittaṁ samādhiyati samādhisambojjhaṅgo tasmiṁ samaye bhikkhuno āraddho hoti

‘Whenever, Ānanda, a bhikkhu carefully, passively observes his mind thus collected, on that occasion the enlightenment factor of detached awareness is aroused in the bhikkhu.

Yasmiṁ samaye ānanda bhikkhu tathā samāhitaṁ cittaṁ sādhukaṁ ajjhupekkhitā hoti upekkhāsambojjhaṅgo tasmiṁ samaye bhikkhuno āraddho hoti. (SN v 332)