Search results for: "Equanimity"

  1. Page 32
  2. Large Perspective, Small Focus
     … That reflection on equanimity—realizing that happiness has to be based on your actions—keeps bringing you back from everything out there to what you’re doing right here right now. I know a lot of people like to stay with that larger picture, but the larger picture is there just to give you a sense of perspective. The real work is right here … 
  3. The Pleasure Principle Made Noble
     … They just identify the jhāna as pleasure or equanimity, as the case may be. At any rate, he asked himself why he was afraid of that pleasure, and he realized there was nothing to be afraid of—it was blameless: both in that it didn’t harm anybody and in that it didn’t harm his own mind. In other words, there are some … 
  4. Comfortable as an Outsider
     … We have the chants on the different parts of the body to gain a sense of distance from the concerns of the body, the concerns of consuming; reflections on aging, illness, and death, and the fact that our actions are our only possessions; reflections on goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity. We develop the right attitudes toward the people around us. We wish them well … 
  5. The Creator of Worlds
     … It was here that his equanimity and mindfulness became pure. You’re feeding the mind on skillful pleasures. You’re going to be holding on to this, but it’s a skillful thing to hold on to. You’ve got a sense of well-being that nourishes the mind, so that you don’t have to go feeding in hidden corners, feeding off of … 
  6. Guilt & Shame
     … Thoughts of unlimited goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity all help to strengthen that resolve. So when you find your mind in a spiral of guilt, remind yourself that even though some ways of thinking would encourage that and tell you that it’s a good thing, but the Buddha’s way is not one of them. Because again, the question of justice doesn … 
  7. Learning Through Healing
     … And especially if you’re doing the meditation not just while you’re sitting here, but also as you try to keep the mind centered, alert, and equanimous as you go through the day. You begin to see the different things that have an impact on the mind. You also begin to see the extent to which the mind goes out and creates trouble … 
  8. The Dhamma Bucket List
     … Generosity, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, goodwill, equanimity: Which of these qualities is lacking in your mind? See if you can squeeze some of that out of your activities. And how would you go about developing those qualities? You can develop them in daily life. You can develop them by making up your mind you’re going to make a special donation … 
  9. The Graduated Discourse
     … It can either be the kind of karma that leads to a nice rebirth or pleasant conditions, that trains the mind how to be equanimous, how to be balanced in the face of difficulties, and to live life in a way that minimizes suffering. Or it can be aimed at going beyond suffering altogether. It’s the same practice, but done with a different … 
  10. Precarious Knowledge
     … What is this knowledge doing for the mind? How does its effect it? Does it increase your mindfulness? Does it increase your concentration, your discernment? Does it increase your compassion, your equanimity? If it does, make use of the knowledge to do those things to the mind, because you don’t know how long it’s going to be good. You don’t know … 
  11. Verified Confidence
     … goodwill for all beings, compassion for all beings, empathetic joy for all, equanimity for all. Don’t do it as an idle pastime. Make it part of your genuine motivation: that these attitudes will govern your actions. When you act on these principles, the Buddha said, again, even if there were no rebirth and your karma didn’t have any consequences beyond this lifetime … 
  12. Proactive with Pain
     … This is why we try to develop thoughts of equanimity, realizing that no matter how much we love other people, their kamma is beyond us. No matter how much we might dislike what other people may be doing, their kamma is beyond us. But you also have to realize that you are beyond their kamma as well. There’s a place deep down in … 
  13. Self-Healing
     … Which is why we also balance those expressions of goodwill with expressions of equanimity: “All beings are the owners of their actions.” You have to accept the fact that if you have freedom of choice, well, they have freedom of choice, too. So the things you cannot influence, you have to let go. Focus on the things that you can, and do your best … 
  14. A Mind Like Earth
     … So when the Buddha talks about patience and equanimity, understand what he means. You’re not a clod of earth, but you’re solid like earth. Once you make that distinction, it clears up a lot of issues. And once you follow it through, it clears up even more.
  15. Evaluating Your Practice
     … Patience, of course, requires equanimity, the ability to step back from things and watch them, not to identify closely with things that are causing you to suffer. That requires the mindfulness to remember that you have the choice: If a feeling comes up in the mind and it seems really heavy, really painful, you do have the choice not to identify with it. You … 
  16. Compunction
     … Patience and equanimity: These things are all good for you. These become your perfections. They become your treasures. They become your protection. These are the good qualities you build in the mind. They don’t go anywhere else. They stay with the mind. And that’s the paradox, that the goodness you leave behind in the world is the goodness that goes with you … 
  17. The River of Karma
     … One is developing unlimited goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity – in other words, working on the brahma-viharas. They help to create an unlimited state of mind. The analogy the Buddha gives is of a big lump of salt. If you took that lump of salt and put it into a cup of water, you couldn’t drink the water because there was so … 
  18. At Home with the Breath
     … It’s a lot easier to develop the attitudes we know we should develop toward others—i.e., goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity when that’s called for—when you’re coming from a sense of well-being. As you’re working on concentration, don’t be in too great a hurry to move on to the next stage. Learn to occupy this place … 
  19. When Things Regress
     … Whatever comes up, I’m equanimous in the present as I breathe in and breathe out.” The Buddha said, “Well, there is that kind of breath meditation, but it’s not the kind that’s going to give you good results.” Then he went into the sixteen steps. And remember that one of those steps involves trying to be aware of the whole body … 
  20. Abandoning Effluents (2)
     … Either it has to do with the tendency that some people have when they say, “Well, I’m going to practice total equanimity. No matter what happens, I’ll just put up with it.” There are some things you don’t have to put up with. If you tell yourself, “I’ll just walk through the cesspool if I have to. I’ll walk … 
  21. Dhamma in Vinaya
     … When you get to the higher levels of concentration, they’re based on equanimity. So it’s good to borrow some teachings from the Vinaya every now and then, and to apply them to practice, even if you’re not a monk. Think of how they apply to your daily life, but also of how they apply to your meditation. It’s when you … 
  22. Load next page...