Search results for: "Equanimity"
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- The Humble Way to Awakening… And sometimes the doing means simply treating it with equanimity, trying not to identify with it. Simply watching it as an event that comes and goes. That is a kind of action. You decide to take that approach and then watch what happens as a result. You may notice that there are changes in the pain. Sometimes it flares up and sometimes it dies …
- Sources of Lasting Happiness… Non-reactivity he termed equanimity. Being fully present he called alertness—which is a quality you are trying to develop, but the mindfulness is the part that keeps reminding you, in this case, to stay with the breath. As you’re staying with the breath, what are you going to do with it? You watch it for a while as it comes in, goes …
- Complaining Rights… If they’re not receptive, you’ve got to develop some equanimity. But you’re operating from knowledge, rather than from a quid pro quo, thinking, “I sympathize with you; you’ll sympathize with me.” Sympathy is not necessarily a bad thing, but our desire for it, our demand for it, can often get in the way of solving the problem of our suffering …
- Stay… But at the same time, you also want to be continually working on improving what you’ve got in terms of your powers of concentration, equanimity, stillness, serenity—all the factors of awakening— bringing them all into balance. So it’s not just a matter of dealing with everyday problems. You’re also dealing with deeper problems in the mind: Why is there suffering …
- Turning Points… In fact, he discovered as he pursued that path that it led to a state of concentration with total purity of mindfulness and equanimity. The mind was clear, malleable, and bright. This is how right concentration became the first factor of the path the Buddha discovered. The other seven factors clustered around that as he developed right concentration and then tried using it in …
- Investing in Noble Wealth… empathetic joy, equanimity around the breath, so that when you start extending these attitudes to other people, they really are embodied. They’re not just words. That’s wealth for the mind as well, that understanding. This is where discernment comes in. It comes in at the end of the list but you actually need it all the way along. Then there’s learning …
- Reading Your Meditation… At the same time, you try to develop attitudes of unlimited goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. Learn how to develop those attitudes for everybody. This is another inspiring theme that you might want to work on if you find you have trouble settling down in the present moment. Try to develop these attitudes so that you can call on them whenever you need …
- Right Effort… mindfulness as a factor for awakening; analysis of qualities, i.e., analyzing things into skillful and unskillful; persistence; rapture; serenity; concentration; and equanimity. These are qualities that, if they haven’t arisen yet, you want to give rise to them. When they have arisen, you want to develop them. Notice that the Buddha’s attitude here is not that you simply watch these things …
- Rooted in Desire… After all, as you practice, it’s not the case that you have nothing but equanimity. Concentration can give rise to pleasure, it can give rise to joy. Even before you get to concentration, the Buddha says you want to gladden the mind. So you gladden it with things that are in line with the Dhamma. Gladden it with generosity; gladden it with virtue …
- Understanding Happiness… You’re also able to live with equanimity in areas where you can’t make any difference in the world, because you realize that your happiness doesn’t have to depend on things out there. It’s more an internal issue. So when you understand the issues of suffering and the issues of happiness, that’s what makes happiness possible—even in the midst …
- Up for the Challenge… Think about the better pleasures in the higher levels, the deva realms.” And once the person gets his mind set on the deva realms, then you say, “Okay, the Brahma realms even higher, based on infinite goodwill, infinite compassion, infinite empathetic joy, infinite equanimity. Set your mind on them.” Here you are: The body’s falling apart, and you’re supposed to set your …
- The Challenge of Right View… Their only cure was that you just sit there and try to be very equanimous in the face of the pain so that you don’t create any new karma. When there’s no new karma, the old suffering just burns itself out. That’s the end. The funny thing is that that teaching is promoted as a Buddhist teaching nowadays, that you burn …
- Infinity… This is where thinking about all animals leads beyond goodwill, empathetic joy, compassion, and equanimity. It goes to samvega. That’s a sense of terror at the prospect of having to go through all this again and again. It leads to a sense of having enough of all this and wanting to get out. That gives you good motivation for meditating, getting the mind …
- The Most Important Thing to Be Doing… We also have the contemplation of goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. Sometimes thinking about those attitudes, extending them to all people, can help the mind to settle down. There’s also contemplation of aging, illness, and death, to remind you that this really is serious business. Death does pose dangers. Aging, illness: They all pose dangers to the mind. Because if we’re …
- Monotasking… There was a time when a monk told the Buddha he was already practicing breath meditation, and the Buddha asked him, “What kind of breath meditation are you doing?” And the monk said, “I just let go of any thoughts of the past, put aside any hankering after the future and then, with equanimity, stay with the present moment as I breathe in and …
- You Can Make a Difference… You start by developing the brahmavihāras—trying to develop goodwill for all, compassion for all, empathetic joy for all, equanimity for all. You learn to be virtuous, develop discernment, and train your mind so that it’s not overcome by pleasure or by pain. That skill of not being overcome by pleasure or pain relates directly to the practice of concentration. We do try …
- Teachings to Rahula… You’ve chosen to be equanimous and non-reactive. Sometimes that’s skillful and sometimes it’s not. You want to get used to the fact that everything you experience is the result of past actions and your present actions and the results of your present actions combined. Secondly, if you follow the Buddha’s instructions to Rahula and get used to being skillful …
- Harmless & Clearheaded… You can listen to the Dhamma and hear all the wonderful things the Buddha has to say about goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity, concentration, discernment, and release. It’s good to hear about those things, because it opens our minds to possibilities that we might miss otherwise. It expands the range of our imagination. But simply hearing about them is not enough. As with …
- Coming into the Present… If you realize we all come with problems, we all come with bad narratives, and there’s no need to hold on to them, then it’s easier to handle your difficulties with a lot more equanimity, a lot wiser perspective. So this is how we come into the present moment: one, through our perceptions; and two, if we discover that we can’t …
- One Thing Clear Through… Even if your goodwill isn’t yet a solidly based universal goodwill founded on concentration, radiate whatever goodwill you can manage—or compassion, empathetic joy, or equanimity when it’s appropriate. But always think about what you can give out, rather than what you can take in. That puts your relationship to the world on a much better footing, a much more solid footing …
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