Search results for: "Equanimity"

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  2. Why We Practice the Way We Do
     … The more deeply it goes into the concentration, it finally arrives at a state of equanimity where it’s really solidly based. It’s not easily shaken by anything. It’s on that basis that you can look at things really clearly in the mind. The Buddha divides these seven factors for awakening—mindfulness, the analysis, right effort or persistence, a sense of refreshment … 
  3. A Skillful Heart
     … Endurance, equanimity when equanimity is needed, determination, truth: All of these perfections are needed to make sure that your goodwill is not just a floating idea, but that it actually informs everything you do and say and think. That way, your heart is not just a good heart, and you’re not just a good-hearted person. You become a skillful-hearted person. That … 
  4. Determined to Stay with the Breath
     … patience and equanimity. Equanimity is when you’re able to just watch what’s happening and no react. Patience is your ability to endure. If something comes up, and you say, “I can’t stand this any longer,” ask yourself, “Is this killing you?” Well, no. The things the Buddha has you endure are basically physical pain, uncomfortable situations, and unkind words. You have … 
  5. Listening to the Practice
     … There’s also compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. You need all four in order to keep things in balance. For example, when you’re practicing goodwill for yourself, a good way to practice is right here with the breath. You’re perfectly free to breathe in whatever way feels good. It’s a very immediate, very visceral way of showing goodwill for yourself. Instead … 
  6. Determined to Make a Difference
     … Then we come to equanimity—there’s no may there. Everything else is may this, may that, may this, but there’s no may with equanimity. It’s* *simply a statement of fact: All living beings are the owners of their actions. One of the implications of that statement is that there are a lot of things that you can’t change—given people … 
  7. Head, Heart, & Gut
     … When you can think in those terms, then it’s easy to maintain your calm, to be patient and equanimous. You’re patient with the difficulties—the sore knees and the sore backs—and the frustrated desires, and equanimous when you think about how long it’s going to take. That’s where it’s helpful to think of how long samsara is if … 
  8. At Home with the Breath
     … You could start with the thoughts we had just now about goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. These are thoughts that induce a sense of well-being. You remind yourself that you do wish other beings well. Your goodwill may not be totally universal yet, but you can work on that. The extent to which you can feel compassion for people who are suffering … 
  9. Conviction & Persistence
     … We’re learning to be equanimous and accepting.” The Buddha teaches us to be equanimous about some things and not equanimous about others. As he once said, the secret to his success as a meditator was, one, discontent with skillful qualities—in other words, not resting on his laurels, not saying, “Well, this is good enough.” There’s always the question, “Where is there … 
  10. Two Guardian Meditations
     … There are many levels of equanimity. The most basic is the level that comes simply from making up your mind that you’re not going to react to anything that comes up in terms of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, ideas. You aren’t going to let yourself get upset by the negative things that are happening in the world, the negative things … 
  11. Multi-Dimensional Dhamma
     … He asked the monk living in the hut, “Why aren’t you fixing the roof?” The monk replied, “I’m practicing equanimity, learning how to sleep in the half of the hut that’s still sheltered.” Ajaan Chah said, “That’s the equanimity of a water buffalo. Fix the roof.” So when you’re looking at the practice, you have to look at many … 
  12. Mindfulness 2.0
     … So a lot of his teaching had to do with equanimity and patience. He probably saw that Westerners lacked these qualities and that they needed them to be reinforced before they could really get started on anything further in the practice. Our society’s in sore need of equanimity and patience, which is why a lot of what gets sold as mindfulness nowadays is … 
  13. Success by Approximation
     … Beyond that, there are levels of concentration, levels of equanimity, levels of right view. These things will progress as you go on the path, until the mind is totally free of passion and aversion. But to get there, you have to be passionate about the path. And your initial motivation may have a bit of aversion in it. You’re averse to suffering: That … 
  14. Hunker Down
     … As that passage on equanimity reminds us, there are certain times where it’s simply the force of karma that the situations are going to be bad. There’s not much you can do about them. But the important things are that you maintain your equanimity and learn how to hide out. Come out when there are times you actually can make a difference … 
  15. Disconnecting
     … That means that their goodwill, compassion, and equanimity are total and pure. Of course, even their lives aren’t totally perfect. They can stay there for a while and then they fall back down. But it makes you think about nibbāna, where the Buddha says there’s no need to feed at all. There’s no hunger, no nostalgia, no regret. Because that’s … 
  16. Helping Others
     … At the same time, when you’re helping other people, you develop qualities inside that are going to be good for your own practice—endurance, equanimity, goodwill, sympathy—as you develop these qualities in helping other people. Notice that the Buddha includes endurance in there, because, as he says, it’s not going to be easy. Sometimes the people we love the most are … 
  17. Rewriting the Mind’s Song
     … Because those attitudes of unlimited goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity are Brahma attitudes—the attitudes of a being on a very high level. And you would like to bring your mind up to that level. Otherwise, you’re on the human level, which has lots of ups and downs—goodwill and then ill will, then goodwill and then ill will. Usually, we’re … 
  18. Your Intentions Come First
     … Then we have the reflections on goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity, to remind us that we want a happiness that’s true, something that really lasts and doesn’t harm anyone. The equanimity also reminds us that there is only so much we can do in the world, and that if we want true happiness, we need to go beyond kamma. So these … 
  19. Mindfulness of Death
     … Then the Buddha has you go on and do the same thing with feelings of pleasure and feelings of equanimity. In other words, if you’re able to get the mind into deep concentration at that point, you realize that these states, too, are dependent on the body. The pleasure of jhana, the equanimity of jhana: They, too, are things you have to let … 
  20. Freedom from Fear
     … On the other hand, if you have strong ideas about what you should be doing, realizing that this is where your happiness lies, then it’s a lot easier to have equanimity with regard to other people—patience, endurance. As the Buddha said, if you develop these qualities, it’s beneficial for other people and it’s good for you, too. That’s because … 
  21. You’ve Got Friends
     … This is one of the reasons why we think of thoughts of goodwill for all beings, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity—all the brahmaviharas—to all beings before we meditate to open up the mind to a little bit of infinity, at least for a few moments. That’s infinity in space. Also think, as the Buddha says, of the inconceivable beginning of time. Which … 
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