Search results for: "Equanimity"
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- On Your Own Two Feet… He doesn’t say to just be equanimous and non-reactive and accepting of everything. You develop the quality of non-reactivity so that you can observe reliably, and then you start your experiments. As when we’re working with the breath: The calmer you can make the mind, the more easily you’ll be able to observe what actually is healthy breathing and …
- Meaning in a Meaningless Universe… There’s generosity, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, goodwill, and equanimity. These are the qualities that the tradition has said lead to awakening. It’s not a list you’ll find in anything attributed to the Buddha directly. It comes from the Jataka tales, which were later compilations. But they’re all qualities that the Buddha himself, at one point or another …
- Grace & Dignity… that no matter what, you want to do the right thing, the skillful thing that doesn’t harm anyone and that, if possible, can help others and help in your own development of virtue, concentration, discernment, your goodwill, compassion, your empathetic joy for people who are doing good things, your compassion for people who are doing unskillful things, and your equanimity for cases where …
- “My Way”… One of the reasons we meditate is because meditation is a good place to rest the mind so that you can look at your thoughts with a little bit more equanimity, a little bit less sense of “Well, just because I thought this thought, I’ve got to act on it,” or “I’ve got to speak it.” Ajaan Suwat used to have a …
- Doing Nothing… Calm—passaddhi—concentration, and equanimity build on that sense of fullness. The mind settles down to more and more refined levels until it’s really solid. Everything in the body is still. The mind is still. The breath seems still. It’s still because you’re so full of breath energy that the oxygen coming in and out of the pores is enough to …
- Everyday Feeding Habits… Even equanimity in concentration is said to be a very subtle form of pleasure. That’s the food that keeps you going. Of course, you’ll find that, out of the force of habit, you will sometimes drop this food and go for something else. You have to ask yourself, “Why?” This is where insight comes in. Concentration doesn’t solve all the problems …
- The Safety of Jhana… The happiness of jhana, the rapture and the sense of equanimity and ease that come from strong concentration depend on conditions, but they can get you to the unconditioned. As for using pain, that comes under right view. Once the mind is settled down like this, you can look at pain not with the agenda of trying to get rid of it, but more …
- Boxed Stories… There are also the mental qualities of equanimity or concentration, or whatever good mental qualities you’re working on. They’re all right here. Ajaan Lee makes the same point as well: You want all frames of reference to be right present here at the breath. It’s simply that one framework takes precedence, and you see all the other ones in relationship to …
- Pleasure on the Middle Way… You can view these impermanent relations of the world with a lot more equanimity. And a lot more discernment. And a lot less desperation. So the pleasure of concentration is an important part of the path. You can’t do without it. Sometimes you hear that right concentration is an optional part of the path, that you can just go straight for insight. But …
- Heedful, Attentive, Mindful… The qualities you’re trying to develop are mindfulness, the ability to analyze what’s going on in the mind, persistence, rapture, calm, concentration, and equanimity. Ajaan Fuang gives the example: He says, “If you want to see the mind, you don’t just follow it around. You give it something that it likes, and then it’ll be there. And then you can …
- True Values… It develops determination, equanimity. So you look for that kind of work, but you do it for the purpose of your true well-being. That’s something you always have to keep in mind. While you’re here, take advantage of the opportunity to develop these skills. While you’re out there, carry these values with you. Remind yourself of the kind of wealth …
- Goodwill Starts with Gratitude… spreading goodwill to all beings, compassion to all beings, empathetic joy to all beings, equanimity to all. That, too, should be based on the reflection of making your mind like earth. Because there are a lot of beings out there who’ve been unkind to you, unkind to people you love, unkind to people you’re concerned about, but you have to have goodwill …
- The Energy You Broadcast… It can be compassion flowing out, goodwill flowing out, or equanimity. Again, that’s your choice. The Buddha gives an extreme example. You’re pinned down by bandits who’ve taken a two-handled saw and are sawing you into little pieces. You could simply react to that event and get upset, give rise to anger, ill will, frustration: all the unpleasant emotions that …
- Like Earth and Space… Of course, you have to back up your goodwill with equanimity, realizing that for a lot of people, this is going to take time. This is why the Buddha’s instructions to the monks on the Ovada Patimokkha begin with endurance, patience, as a basis for burning away your defilements. As for the instructions to Rahula, on making his mind like earth, he didn …
- Introduction to the Breath… your desire for true happiness and the good qualities you have—goodwill, compassion, appreciation, and equanimity when it’s needed, as well as things like mindfulness and alertness, because you need to be alert to what you’re doing if you want to understand where you’re causing yourself unnecessary suffering. That’s what we’re working on as we meditate: mindfulness and alertness …
- Straightening Out the World… Something pleasant comes up, and you don’t have to give rise to greed; something unpleasant comes up, you don’t have to give rise to anger; when there’s equanimity in the mind, you don’t have to be deluded. These defilements are not necessary. As Ajaan Lee once said, there are two types of suffering in the world: the suffering that’s …
- Space for Sustained Contemplation… When you can think in those ways, then the idea of feeding off the comfort of the breath, feeding off of concentration, feeding off of internal pleasure that comes exclusively from being with the breath, feeding off the equanimity that comes when the mind really settles down, gets more attractive. The same with contemplation of the body: Whatever issues you have around your body …
- Bases for Success… If the rapture and the pleasure seem too much, you can let them go, and there’s simply equanimity. In this way, the mind settles down the way you want it to. You have some success in your meditation. You often hear it said that there are no good meditations or bad meditations, that you’re not supposed to judge your meditation, but that …
- Normalcy… And even though this is a fabricated state of stillness and equanimity, still it’s part of the path—because, after all, the entire path is a fabrication. So we are not trying to induce special experiences. Sometimes they may happen and then the question will be: When they happen, what you do with them? How to get yourself back to normalcy? But if …
- A Good Purpose in Life… generosity, virtue, renunciation, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, goodwill, and equanimity. In our practice, we have to develop all of these qualities and we have to see the opportunity to develop them as something really precious. There was one time when Ajaan Fuang was going to lead a group of his students up to the chedi at the monastery in order to meditate. The chedi …
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