Search results for: "Equanimity"
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- Putting Aside the World… So the equanimity here is informed by goodwill. This is why the Buddha teaches those four attitudes—universal goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity—as a set. They all come together. It’s a question of knowing which one to emphasize at which time, but they all work together. We have equanimity because we have goodwill; we have goodwill because we have equanimity. These …
- An Exercise in Sensitivity… But this is a different kind of equanimity. You see that it’s actually more desirable than the strong feelings of rapture and pleasure, but it’s an equanimity that comes after you’ve been satisfied with the rapture and pleasure: the equanimity that comes when you’re well-fed. Someone offers you some food, you say, “Well, no thanks, I’m already well …
- Brahmaviharas & Noble Truths… But he had to take an equanimous attitude: willing to look at the drawbacks of sensual desire until he was willing to admit that, yes, he did have to give it up if he wanted to find a higher happiness. That’s what equanimity is in the four brahmavihāras: the reality principle. The first three are wishes: May all beings be happy, may they …
- The Lessons of Equanimity… And learn how to have equanimity in every instance. That one is hard, because there are a lot of things we’d like to have happen, but you look at the world around you and there’s a lot happening that you can’t change. So you have to develop some equanimity for that. There’s always the possibility that things could get really …
- In Accordance with the Dhamma… But then equanimity comes in, and it’s not a wish. It’s a statement of fact. All beings are the owners of their actions, heir to their actions. And it’s in seeing this statement of fact that you get the clear vision you need for discernment. So as Ajaan Fuang used to say, goodwill has to have equanimity or else it burns …
- A Mind Like Earth… So keep your desires focused on the causes, and your patience and equanimity for the results, and you’ll find it a lot easier to keep on the path. If you’re going to be patient and equanimous about everything, it’s pretty hopeless. The idea that we just accept everything as it is and that’s what awakening is, just being with things …
- Reflecting on Karma… When we have the chant about the brahmaviharas, the chant on equanimity says that all beings are the owners of their actions. In the context of the brahmaviharas, that’s what that reflection is for: developing equanimity. You start out with goodwill and you realize that as long as you have ill will for anybody, you can’t be trusted. So you’ve really …
- A Committed Relationship… Similarly with equanimity: We need equanimity in order to deal with difficult situations, but you don’t want to be equanimous about everything that comes along, “You know, the mind isn’t getting concentrated, well, I’ll be equanimous about it. Greed has moved in: I’ll be equanimous about it." Well, that doesn’t work. When things outside aren’t going well, the …
- More than a Sliver of Mindfulness… Even the equanimity has a sense of well-being because it comes after the pleasure. It’s not the hungry equanimity of just telling yourself, “I’ll be okay with whatever comes up.” It’s equanimity that’s been well-fed, that’s at peace, what Ajaan Fuang would call large-hearted equanimity, as opposed to the small-hearted equanimity that just grits your …
- Questioning & Acceptance… Is it possible to find a happiness that has no problems at all? Because acceptance and equanimity often involve having to put up with things that are unpleasant. But equanimity is not nibbana. The Buddha’s very clear on this. He says you can get stuck on equanimity, and that can prevent your gaining awakening. You have to go beyond equanimity and break through …
- Samvega… Under the sublime attitudes we have pretty much the same passage, but in that context, the reflection on karma is for equanimity. So put those ideas together: Equanimity is what offers us hope. We can watch what’s going on in the present moment and learn from it, to the point where we work ourselves free. Equanimity isn’t indifference. It’s just the …
- Brahmaviharas at the Breath… That’s another lesson you learn about equanimity: It goes along with being inquisitive. It’s not, “I don’t care.” It’s, “I don’t understand, and I want to find out.” *That *kind of equanimity will take you far. So you learn a lot of lessons about the brahmaviharas by applying them to the breath as you’re sitting here. You bring …
- Metta Can Hurt… Ajaan Fuang commented that* mettā* needs upekkhā or equanimity if it’s not going to turn into a source of suffering. This is why the brahma-vihāras* *come in a set. Mettā keeps upekkhā from becoming cold and heartless. You go through the first three before you get to the fourth one. The equanimity is where you can go when you look at the …
- What Should I Do?… You try to figure out, “What is the skillful approach here?” Then, when you run up against resistance, you step back to observe—that’s when you exercise equanimity. And remember, equanimity in this case is realizing that everybody has his or her own karma, and there’s only so much we can do for other people. But simply watching is not going to …
- Choose Your Battles… This also requires the ability to be equanimous about things that you can’t do anything about—and equanimous about things you could do something about but would actually get in the way of your larger goals. This is a part of equanimity that’s often overlooked. Sometimes there are things you can change, but if you make that change, you win that battle …
- Abandoning & Developing… Then you develop a state of equanimity, which here is a nourished equanimity. All too often, we’re told, “Just be equanimous about things. Accept things as they are. Learn how to be okay with whatever.” But look at the world. It’s hard to be okay with all the horrible things that are happening if you don’t have an inner resource to …
- Renunciate Grief… Household emotions are ordinary joy, sorrow, and equanimity. When you get sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, or ideas that you like, that’s householder joy. Household sorrow is when you get things through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind that you don’t like. As for equanimity, it’s when the mind is equanimous in the face of sights, sounds, smells …
- Equanimity & Exertion… The Jains believed that if you just were equanimous about everything that came up—good, bad, indifferent—that’s all you had to do. They particularly liked to be equanimous about pain. They felt that if you could stare the pain down and just be with it without reacting in any way whatsoever, you’d be burning off your old karma. That would be …
- Keeping Your Head… It means, of course, that you have to have some equanimity about the things that are not your duties, that don’t fall to you. Otherwise, they fritter away the time and the energy needed for things that really do fall to you. I think this is one of the problems in our society: We tend to see equanimity as indifference and indifference as …
- More than Just Letting Go… That’s lazy.” But once you’ve chosen the area where you’re going to help, the other areas are where you develop equanimity. This is why we develop infinite equanimity: Not that we’re going to be infinitely equanimous all the time with regard to everything, but we have to be able to develop equanimity in places where it’s difficult. You see …
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