Equanimity and the Loving Eye

Loving attention—paying attention to others motivated by care, respect, and kindness—is central to both Mahayana Buddhist philosophy and feminist ethics. This chapter develops an account of loving attention and addresses two challenges: whether such attention can be accurate (the accuracy problem) and how it can be cultivated (the cultivation problem). To answer the cultivation problem, the author argues that the Buddhist skills of equanimity and mindfulness are essential for transforming from an unloving, arrogant perceiver into someone capable of loving attention. Equanimity, in particular, is a necessary component for understanding this moral and psychological development.

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Abstract

AbstractThe subject of this chapter is loving attention, a way of paying attention to others that is motivated by care, respect, and kindness. This way of attending, integral to Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of mind and ethics, is also central to many influential feminist conceptions of moral perception. Drawing on both traditions, the chapter offers an account of loving attention and considers two challenges to that account: the accuracy problem and the cultivation problem. In response to the latter problem—how it is possible to develop loving attention and what that development might entail—the chapter argues that the Buddhist moral psychological and epistemological skills of equanimity and mindfulness help construct a more compelling account of the cultivation of loving attention. These skills, especially equanimity, are necessary components for understanding how one could change from an unloving, arrogant perceiver to someone who can lovingly attend to others.