tatramajjhattatā
Equanimity (of mind)
[ tat-ra-mud-JHUT-ta-taa ]
Seeing it in life
Tatramajjhattatā keeps associated states in balance, preventing deficiency or excess. As upekkhā it is a brahmavihāra and the seventh factor of enlightenment.
In short
Balance of mind — neutrality toward objects.
The analysis
Tatramajjhattatā keeps the associated mental factors in balance, preventing deficiency or excess among them — a stabilizing cetasika distinct from upekkhā-as-vedanā (neutral feeling), even though both are commonly translated 'equanimity.' As upekkhā-brahmavihāra, this factor is the fourth and final divine abiding; as a factor of enlightenment, it's the seventh, balancing the six preceding factors.
Where it sits
Tatramajjhattatā is one of the twenty-five beautiful cetasikas, and its role is specifically regulatory — ensuring other wholesome factors don't tip into excess.
The steadiness that keeps enthusiasm for a project from tipping into anxious overexertion, or calm from sliding into disengagement, is tatramajjhattatā doing its quiet balancing work.
Commonly mistaken for
Neutral feeling (upekkhā-vedanā). Same English gloss, different cetasika — this is a wholesome balancing factor.
Emotional flatness. It regulates other factors toward balance; it doesn't flatten or remove them.
Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha II, IX.
Related terms