The practice
Notice how experience is constantly being sorted into pleasant and unpleasant, and how attention leans towards one and away from the other. Stop placing it in either. Hold the middle where neither pull is being followed and let that be where you rest.
What it works on
The text locates reality between the two rather than in the pleasant one, which is a more demanding instruction than it first appears. The practice is not equanimity as a mood; it is declining to complete the sorting at all.
Notes
- Do this on ordinary sensations first. Applying it to real pain is a much later stage.
Practise gently
Shoonyaka offers educational and contemplative material, not medical, psychological or religious authority. Nothing here diagnoses or treats any condition. Stop any practice that leaves you dizzy, frightened or unwell, and treat a strong reaction as a reason to rest rather than to push on.