Search results for: "Equanimity"
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- 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 …
- Start with Goodwill… And finally, there’s equanimity, which is not indifference, but simply the realization that you can’t make everybody be as happy or skillful as you might like them to be, and if you try to push and push and push in that direction, it’s a waste of time. So you try to develop an attitude of stability, not getting upset, just being …
- 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 …
- Catch Yourself Lying to Yourself… Watching the mind doesn’t mean just watching whatever comes up and being passive or accepting or equanimous about it. It means looking for deceit, which is a different process entirely. Meditation is basically a process of catching yourself doing things that you didn’t notice you were doing, that you were ignorant of. And ignorance usually comes from two different sources. One is …
- To Delight in the Path… As for delight in developing, of course, that means delight in developing skillful qualities—things like mindfulness and alertness, based on goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. There are lots of good qualities you can develop in the heart and mind. Then the Buddha says you try to delight in seclusion—delighting in the fact that you’re not being bombarded all the time …
- Eyes in the Back of Your Head… There’s going to be a sense of form, a feeling of pleasure or equanimity, and then the perception that keeps you there. Then there’s the running commentary. This is sankhara, fabrication, and that can exist on many levels. In the beginning of concentration, when you’re actively working through the body, it’s pretty blatant. On the more subtle levels of concentration …
- The Limits of Old Kamma… This means that when you’re accepting the situation in the present, it’s partly accepting the limitations and learning how to be equanimous about them, but also accepting that there are lots of potentials for freedom here. If you really want true happiness, you try to make the most of those. The Dhamma is not for people who want to be told they …
- Holding On to the Path… You’re left with equanimity. At the same time, your perception of the whole process changes. You begin to see the breath in the body not so much as in-and-out breathing, but as a quality of energy that fills the body. So you change your perceptions as well. In the third set, when your focus is on the mind, you sensitize yourself …
- Birth Is Suffering… in other words, resolve on goodwill or equanimity, as may be appropriate, trying to have goodwill for all, even people who are really difficult. The purpose of this is to pull you out of the different sides of conflicts in a way that’s not escapist, in a way that actually is good for the people involved in the conflict. If you can help …
- For Goodness’ Sake… generosity, virtue, renunciation, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, goodwill, and equanimity. Goodwill stands out as good-heartedness. A lot of the others, though, are types of strength, which we may not associate with a good heart, but for the heart to be truly good requires strength. If you start out with good intentions but you can’t carry them through, they don’t really mean …
- Working Hypotheses… Even if it’s just the idea that you want to stay with a broad awareness, trying to be as equanimous and non-reactive as possible, that is a choice you’re making. When you hold on to that perception, that too is an activity. Then you want to look at the results. If the results are good, stick with what you’re going …
- Customs of the Noble Ones… having a very strong sense of what you really want in life, then using the practice of concentration, using the practice of stilling the mind with a sense of ease, well-being, and ultimately equanimity, to keep you on the path, to keep you energized all along the way. When you have this kind of energy, then you can let go of all the …
- Restraint… But remember that even measureless goodwill, measureless compassion, measureless empathetic joy, measureless equanimity are forms of restraint. You develop these measureless attitudes so as to be very careful about what you do. You realize if you really have goodwill for all beings, you don’t want to harm them. That means you have to say No to any random thoughts, any random words, acts …
- Shaping Your Breath, Shaping Your Life… As the Buddha says, you train it in discernment, you train it in virtue, you train it in the unlimited (by which it means unlimited goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity), and you train it so that it’s not easily overcome by pleasure or pain. With that state of mind, any past bad karma, when it yields its results, is barely going to …
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