Search results for: "Equanimity"
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- The Path of Action… Sometimes they talk about the aggregates, sometimes he talks about sense-media; sometimes they stress equanimity, other times they stress effort. Attempts to map out the whole teaching and make it into a consistent system have always been problematic. There’s no final word on what Buddhist philosophy should be. People keep coming up with new ideas, new interpretations, new frameworks. But the Buddha …
- Detail Work… You can think about unlimited goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity, in very vague terms, like a big cloud of goodwill. But it’s also possible to think about them in more specific terms. For instance, you can think of all the people you know who are in the east: Spread goodwill to them. Then ask yourself, “Who do you know who’s in the …
- Why We Bow Down… a state of good concentration, a state of equanimity.” But the Buddha said No, there’s something more, something better, which comes from not fabricating at all. Believing this requires a lot of dispassion. It requires that we accept a lot of value judgments about things we tend to hold on to very dearly, particularly when it tells us that they’re not worth …
- Resisting the Germs of Defilement… rapture, serenity, concentration, and equanimity. Those can help build up a lot of resistance. But the first three factors—mindfulness, analysis of qualities, and persistence or right effort—are the factors that help you recognize the germs that you didn’t recognize before, the things that you for a long time thought were okay or normal, but now you suddenly realize are the beginning …
- Not Resolved on Self… Or if you can’t muster goodwill, work on equanimity. Being resolved on harmlessness means finding your happiness in ways that don’t cause long-term harm to anybody. This relates to the practice of virtue. So right resolve is basically taking the insights that come from the four noble truths and applying them to your practice of virtue, concentration, and the discernment that …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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 …
- 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.
- 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 …
- 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 …
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