Search results for: "Equanimity"
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- Becoming… Sometimes you hear people say: “Try to sit with things simply as they are, right from the very beginning of the meditation, and you can get into a state of equanimity or pure mindfulness. And then you realize that that equanimity is unfabricated. Equanimity and mindfulness: That’s it, that’s the unfabricated.” But that’s not the case at all. Equanimity and mindfulness …
- Patience & Hope… It’s meant to induce equanimity. You think about the fact that people have their kamma, you have your kamma, and sometimes as results of past kamma there are things that can’t be changed, at least not for the time being. So here the reflection on kamma teaches equanimity. It teaches patience. As the Buddha pointed out, the principle that “whatever we do …
- Free from Buddha Nature… That’s where the issues of patience and equanimity come in. Patience, equanimity, acceptance: These are not the goal of the path. They’re qualities you want to learn how to develop as part of the path, habits you want to learn how to develop in cases where the changes take time. You’ve got a mind that refuses to settle down? Well, that …
- Scribe Knowledge, Warrior Knowledge… Once it’s been well fed by pleasure and rapture, it can let the pleasure and rapture go, and then go with just the subtle pleasure of equanimity. That’s when it can see things clearly inside. Because this equanimity is different from the equanimity of just saying, “Well, things don’t matter.” That’s what’s called “householder equanimity” and it’s involved …
- Skillful Desire… When there are areas where you can’t do anything, you learn how to treat those with equanimity, too, so that you don’t waste your energy, energy that you could otherwise devote to areas where you could make a difference. So even equanimity involves clinging, even equanimity involves desire. It’s simply a matter of learning how to use these things skillfully. That …
- The Third and a Half Noble Truth… They say, “Well, there’s nothing to be attained, everything is inconstant, stressful, not self, just learn how to be okay with that and you’ll be fine.” But that’s not the equanimity the Buddha taught. His was the equanimity of a soldier who has to face setbacks and has to accept the setbacks but doesn’t stay with the setbacks. He keeps …
- Right View… But to watch it simply as it comes into being without trying to create something out of it, without trying to destroy it, without even taking delight in the equanimity of watching it: That’s hard. It’s pretty easy to get into a state of equanimity just watching these things, but it takes a lot of insight to realize that equanimity itself is …
- When Things Seem Dark… What there is, is what the Buddha calls household equanimity—the ability to maintain equanimity in the face of sights, sounds, tastes, tactile sensations, and ideas. That last one is probably the hardest. Things come into the mind and they seem to possess the mind. But you learn how to just be aware of them. If you can’t get rid of them yet …
- Refuge… endurance and equanimity. We lack endurance in not being able to stand harsh words; not being able to stand pain, unpleasant sensations. We also lack equanimity, the ability to maintain the mind on an even keel no matter what happens, good or bad. When you’re on an even keel, you see things evenly, and it’s a lot easier to do the right …
- Equanimity Isn’t Apathy… So having established this principle of equanimity, this principle of not letting your mind get elated by good things or depressed by bad things, the Buddha then starts in with the teaching on breath meditation. But he doesn’t teach Rahula to be apathetic about the breath, saying, well, just accept whatever breathing there is. Part of the instructions is to train yourself to …
- Born for the Perfections… generosity or giving, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance, truth, determination, goodwill, and equanimity. The list doesn’t have a progressive nature, which is why I like to discuss it under the headings of determination. There are four qualities that go into determination, and the different *paramis *can fit neatly under the four qualities. The first determination is discernment. That includes the perfection of discernment …
- Grounded in the Breath… As for the qualities needed to put aside greed and distress with reference to the world, the Buddha emphasizes equanimity. As the mind stays with breath and senses satisfaction here, you can be more equanimous about things outside. This is the kind of equanimity that the Buddha recommends: not just telling yourself to be non-reactive, but giving yourself a sense of well-being …
- Tough Goodwill for a Tough World… So it’s a lot easier for them to have unlimited goodwill, unlimited compassion, unlimited empathetic joy, and unlimited equanimity. But it’s not the case that they got there by living in easy worlds. They had to develop their goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity here in this tough human world. So everybody who develops these attitudes has to go through a lot …
- Nourishing & InterestingWe had a visitor this evening who complained that he would go once a year on a vipassanā retreat, learn how to get the mind into a state of equanimity, but then he couldn’t maintain that equanimity when he came back home. He wanted to know what to do. I told him if meditation is just equanimity, it gets dull very fast. If …
- Calming Mental Fabrication… There’s more of a sense of equanimity filling the body, along with a stillness filling the body. The breath settles down and doesn’t seem to move. You’re alert, mindful. This is where mindfulness is pure, equanimity is pure, and everything is perfectly poised. The fact that you’re not breathing is not because you’re trying to stop the breath or …
- The Four-in-One Establishing of Mindfulness… persistence, rapture, calm, concentration, and equanimity. All these things are right here, at least in potential form. This is one of Ajaan Lee’s favorite themes: Everything you need to be mindful of is right here, right now. That’s when your mindfulness is established, when you stay with these things right here, right now. In the texts, the Buddha talks about how when …
- Living Forward, Understanding Backward… Finally, equanimity is for the situations you really can’t help, as when someone is really suffering and there’s really nothing you can do for them. You have to develop equanimity. This is not a hardhearted equanimity, it’s just that you realize you can’t let your happiness rise and fall with theirs, because you’ve got other things you need to …
- The Power of Intention… And other times you simply look at it, i.e., develop equanimity. Equanimity has its time and place, but it’s not all times or all places. You have to learn when to put the effort in, when to be more reflective, when to be more resting. That’s all part of getting this right balance here in the present moment. So when you …
- A Heart Bigger Than the World… But these attitudes have to be backed up by equanimity, remembering that there’s a lot in people’s actions that you cannot change. When they’re being unskillful, or if you’re currently meeting up with the results of your own past unskillful actions, you have to treat that with equanimity. You also have to realize that when you’re dealing with people …
- Turtle Mind… But then there’s the principle of equanimity: “All beings are the owners of their actions.” These are the basic facts, and you have to learn to be okay with the basic facts: knowing when to apply equanimity, when to apply thoughts of goodwill, compassion, or empathetic joy. The first three are there to motivate your actions in thought, word, and deed. The equanimity …
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