Search results for: "Equanimity"
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- Ups & Downs… It has to be based on a certain amount of equanimity and a certain amount of conviction. All too often we hear that Buddhism is a religion with no need for faith, no need for conviction, but the simple fact that you’re sitting here working with the mind requires some conviction. Especially when the downs go for a long time: You’ve got …
- The Brightness of Life… So what’s bright in life? The fact that there’s a path, the path leads to the end of suffering, and the end of suffering is not a blank-out or a dull state or just simply learning how to be equanimous about things. There really is another dimension that the mind can touch—a dimension in which there’s an awareness that …
- A Gift of Strength… And because that space you try to create inside—that space of equanimity or a sense of well-being—is something you can develop from within, it doesn’t need to depend on anyone else. It doesn’t have to take anything away from anyone else. That doesn’t mean you’re not being faithful to other people. There’s no human relationship that …
- Goodwill & Gratitude… goodwill without limit, compassion without limit, empathetic joy without limit—along with equanimity without limit to balance out our wish for happiness in cases where it simply is not going to happen right yet. Then you realize there’s no hypocrisy in these attitudes. If you’re looking for true happiness you have to look inside, so it’s not going to involve taking …
- Noble Wealth… So the Buddha asked him, “How do you practice breath meditation?” The monk replied, “I put aside all worries or concerns about the future, all memories of the past, and with equanimity, I breathe in and breathe out”—which sounds like the way breath meditation is taught a lot these days. But the Buddha said, “There is that kind of breath meditation, I don …
- Give of Yourself… those that go away simply when you look at them with equanimity, and those that go away only with fabrications of exertion. But which is which? He wouldn’t say. You have to observe for yourself. And what does it mean to exert a fabrication? In that context, he doesn’t say. He says in other places, and it’s up to you to …
- Responsibilities… But he also says that by helping others, you develop qualities that are good for you—qualities like goodwill, kindness, equanimity, and endurance. So learn to see that the responsibilities you take on *can *be part of your practice, in terms of the qualities you develop. But also remember that you want to keep everything in the context of “you, inside the body.” Don …
- Metta Meditation… The chant on happiness is accompanied by the chant on equanimity: All living beings are the owners of their actions. That’s to remind us that happiness is not simply a matter of affirmation, it’s something you actually have to do. It requires causes, actions that you have to do. And where do the actions come from? They come from the mind, from …
- The World of the Body… As for the perfections, starting with generosity and going down the list—generosity, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, good will, and equanimity—whatever we can do to develop these qualities, they give meaning to life, because they’re the things that will be left when we have to leave the body. So this world we have inside: We put it to use …
- See Your Thoughts as Strange… The Thai ajaans talk about the mind settled in, at ease, at equanimity, as the normal state of mind, or the mind at normalcy—in the same way as when you’re observing the precepts, they say that your behavior is finally at normalcy. But for most of us, that’s not our sense of normal. Distraction is our normalcy. The desires that flow …
- An End to the Stories… When you realize that, you have to develop equanimity so that you can focus on what the real issues are: the ways in which you keep on churning up more issues inside. As the Buddha said, the craving that makes for becoming is a big issue. You make something from that becoming and then you become a being with needs to feed. You live …
- Dhammacentric… And even better than that is equanimity not of the flesh where things can calm down and arrive at an even deeper peace. That’s the basic pattern of those steps in breath meditation dealing with feelings. When feelings calm down, they let you look directly at the mind. You want to get the mind energized so that it feels good inside, gladdened inside …
- Be Observant… When it doesn’t go well, you watch it—not to be equanimous about it, but simply to learn. At the same time, you’re trying to build a good, solid observation platform. If you’re thinking of putting it in a particular part of the body, learn to have several parts of the body where you can place it. Sometimes an emotion can …
- Potentials for Rapture… In addition to the recollections, you might be thinking thoughts of goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, or equanimity: any theme that allows the body to relax, allows the mind to relax with a sense of well-being. Then notice how the breath feels and try to maintain that quality of breath. This practice of paying appropriate attention is very important. It’s what you’re …
- On an Even Keel… But no, you look at the path itself, and you can see that pleasure and equanimity play a huge role in the right concentration. The four jhanas are defined by their feeling tone. You want to develop pleasure, you want to develop rapture, but you have to learn how to do it in such a way that you don’t destroy your concentration. So …
- Wise Choices… There was one time when a monk said to the Buddha,” I do breath meditation.” The Buddha asked him, “What kind of breath meditation do you do?” The monk said, “I put aside thoughts of past and thoughts of the future, and I learn to develop equanimity around the present as I breathe in and breathe out.” As the Buddha said, there is that …
- Cut Through the Narratives… There are also pains of the flesh, pains not of the flesh, feelings of equanimity of the flesh, not of the flesh. Instead of focusing on what they mean to you, he says to focus on what they do to you. Certain pleasures, when you pursue them, just don’t happen. Some do. The pleasure comes and you pursue it. Sometimes pains come and …
- Dangers Outside & In… Expand your compassion, your empathetic joy, your equanimity, as is appropriate. If someone’s attacking you, he says, have goodwill for them. And start your goodwill there, focused on them. We’re often told to start goodwill with yourself, then go to people you like, and then people you’re neutral about, and then people you don’t like. But in a case like …
- In the Driver’s Seat… He said the actions of the past give the same kind of result, which is something very, very different, because if you have a change of heart—which includes developing unlimited thoughts of goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity; training the mind so it’s not easily overcome by pleasure, not easily overcome by pain; training it in virtue and discernment—then the results …
- A Happy Tradition… goodwill for all, compassion for all, empathetic joy for all, equanimity for all. You train your mind not to be overcome by pleasure, not to be overcome by pain. You develop your virtue; you develop your discernment. So, there are skills that can enable you not to suffer, no matter what your past karma is. He’s giving you power. For a lot of …
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