Search results for: "Equanimity"

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  2. The Equanimity of a Victor
     … It’s in this context that we develop equanimity: the equanimity of a searcher, the equanimity of a warrior. The searcher is the sort of person who has a clear idea of what he or she wants and realizes that this may take time and may require skill. That’s what you have to be equanimous about: accepting the reality of the situation and … 
  3. A Boxing Lesson
     … He had to be resilient and equanimous about the criticisms that were sent his way, but his equanimity didn’t stop him from making big changes in the world. This means that the equanimity he taught is not a do-nothing equanimity. It’s a strength. It goes together with endurance, and it goes together with goodwill. When you realize that, then it’s … 
  4. Equanimity & Action
    The reflection on equanimity focuses on karma: All beings are the owners of their actions, heir of their actions, born of their actions, related through their actions, and have actions as their arbitrator. In other words, the actions that we’ve done and we’re doing are the things that lead to happiness, lead to sorrow, lead to ease, lead to difficulty. Why should … 
  5. Understanding Goodwill & Equanimity
    Understanding Goodwill & Equanimity February 2, 2018 The sublime abidings start with goodwill and end with equanimity. In a sense, there’s a hierarchy there. Equanimity is more peaceful than goodwill. But without the goodwill, equanimity turns into indifference and coldness, which I don’t think is what the Buddha had in mind when he was teaching equanimity. You have to start with goodwill, a … 
  6. Factors for Awakening
     … Another point worth noticing is that the equanimity you ultimately arrive at is not just ordinary, garden-variety equanimity. It’s what the Buddha calls equanimity not of the flesh. You start out with equanimity of the flesh, which means keeping the mind calm in the face of whatever sensory input there is. This falls in with the Buddha’s recommendations to Rahula: When … 
  7. The Desire for Things to Be Different
     … Which means when you start thinking about equanimity, remember the Buddha’s pattern for teaching equanimity. You don’t just go straight to equanimity. Think of those different lists that talk about developing equanimity: You develop equanimity through insight. You develop equanimity through concentration. You develop equanimity as part of the brahmaviharas. Equanimity comes after you’ve made a difference in your mind, after … 
  8. Educating Equanimity
     … Only when you realize that you can’t—that’s when you have to develop equanimity. But it’s good to develop equanimity beforehand, to have it in reserve. This means that when we’re spreading equanimity to all beings, it doesn’t mean we’re just indifferent to all beings. It means that we want to be able to call on equanimity when … 
  9. Feeding on Right Resolve
     … So this equanimity isn’t the equanimity that gives up on things—it’s the equanimity that puts aside things that are impossible, and looks for the area where you can possibly help. As for equanimity in the factors for awakening, that’s basically one of the factors of concentration. And as the Buddha said, if you did just equanimity, equanimity—just be the … 
  10. Frustrated Desires
     … Be equanimous. But that kind of equanimity is what the Buddha calls householder equanimity—realizing that you can’t get the kind of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations you’d always want, so you learn to have equanimity when things don’t go the way you want them to go. Notice, though, that householder equanimity is a limited kind of equanimity. It … 
  11. Large-hearted Equanimity
     … So we need equanimity as our backup. ** There are many levels. There’s the ordinary, everyday equanimity, when you simply decide, “I’m not going to react. I’m not going to let myself get upset by situations that I don’t like,” and you maintain that through force of will. But the equanimity that the Buddha praised starts with the equanimity of the … 
  12. To Stay the Course
     … And this is where equanimity comes in. Equanimity is something that the Buddha never teaches on its own. It’s always part of another set of qualities. If you’re just simply equanimous, accepting things as they are and just being okay with that, you go nowhere. The Buddha’s image is of being like a goldsmith. The goldsmith has to put the gold … 
  13. Concentration Work
     … There’s worldly equanimity and unworldly equanimity, and then even more-unworldly-than-unworldly equanimity. That’s one system. Worldly is simply being equanimous about things arising at the senses. Unworldly is the equanimity of the fourth jhana. And the more-unworldly-than-unworldly is the equanimity that comes after awakening. Then in another explanation there’s equanimity based on multiplicity—that’s everything … 
  14. Help Others, Help Your Mind
     … He asked the monk, “Why aren’t you fixing the roof?” The monk said, “I’m practicing equanimity.” Ajaan Chah said, “That’s the equanimity of a water buffalo. You’re a human being. Fix the roof.” So equanimity on its own is never taught. It’s never extolled. Equanimity always comes with other qualities. Goodwill is one of them. We also see equanimity … 
  15. Slogging Through Difficulties
     … Remind yourself that patience and equanimity are perfections. Equanimity is also a factor for awakening. Patience, as the Buddha said, is the ultimate austerity, the fire of austerity that burns away the defilements of the mind. So even if you don’t feel that you’re developing anything else in the practice, you are developing patience, you are developing equanimity. Those are important qualities … 
  16. Injustice
     … This means looking at the areas where you feel aversion, where you feel upset over the injustices of the world, and you have to learn how to bring your mind to equanimity in areas where you can’t be of help. Even where you can be of help, you have to be coming from equanimity. This doesn’t mean that you don’t care … 
  17. Skillful Distress
     … The Buddha has a similar map, what he calls the different types of joy, distress, and equanimity. There’s householder joy, householder distress, householder equanimity. And then there’s renunciate joy, renunciate distress, renunciate equanimity. Most of us, when we come to the path, start out with householder distress: things in our lives—sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, ideas—that have us upset … 
  18. Unlimited Compassion, Limited Resources
     … So even though the Buddha had goodwill for everybody, he also had to have equanimity for everybody, and he had to balance the two. And the same with us: When we’re practicing the sublime attitudes, we practice goodwill for everybody, compassion for everybody, empathetic joy for everybody, but also equanimity for everybody. That last one is our grounding, to remind us that not … 
  19. Karma & the Sublime Attitudes
     … You may have noticed in the chant that with goodwill, compassion, and empathetic joy, the phrases all begin with “may, may, may.” “May this happen.” “May they be this way.” With equanimity, though, there’s simply a statement of fact: People will receive the results of their actions for good or for ill. Equanimity is the reality check for the other three. When we … 
  20. Equanimity & Endurance
     … And one of those, paradoxically, is equanimity. We usually think that what the other person needs right now is a lot of goodwill, a lot of warmth. That may be part of it, but in order to provide skillful warmth, skillful help, skillful goodwill, it has to be backed up by equanimity: the ability to step back and rely on that part of the … 
  21. Equanimity
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