meditation-Buddhism

Meditation on Equanimity

Comment February 27, 2016

Buddha and Sariputta

By Jack Kornfield

Equanimity is a wonderful quality, a spaciousness and balance of heart. Although it grows naturally with our meditation practice, equanimity can also be cultivated in the same systematic way that we have used for loving-kindness and compassion. We can feel this possibility of balance in our hearts in the midst of life when we recognize that life is not in our control. We are a small part of a great dance. Even though we may cultivate a boundless compassion for others and strive to alleviate suffering in the world, there will still be many situations we are unable to affect. The well known serenity prayer says, “May I have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Wisdom recognizes that all beings are heir to their own karma, that they each act and receive the fruits of their actions. We can deeply love others and offer them assistance, but in the end they must learn for themselves, they must be the source of their own liberation. Equanimity combines an understanding mind together with a compassionate heart.

To cultivate equanimity, sit in a comfortable posture with your eyes closed. Bring a soft attention to your breath until your body and mind are calm. Then begin by reflecting on the benefit of a mind that has balance and equanimity. Sense what a gift it can be to bring a peaceful heart to the world around you. Let yourself feel an inner sense of balance and ease. Then begin repeating such phrases as, “May I be balance and at peace.” Acknowledge that all created things arise and pass away: joys, sorrows, pleasant evets, people, buildings, animals, nations, even whole civilizations. Let yourself rest in the midst of them. “May I learned to see the arising and passing of all nature with equanimity and balance. May I be open and balanced and peaceful.” Acknowledge that all beings are heirs to their own karma, and that their lives arise and pass away according to conditions and deeds created by them. “May I bring compassion and equanimity to the events of the world. May I find balance and equanimity and peace.”
When wisdom awakens within you

Comment February 6, 2016

If your mind is happy, then you are happy anywhere you go. When wisdom awakens within you, you will see Truth wherever you look. Truth is all there is. It’s like when you’ve learned how to read – you can then read anywhere you go. ~Ajahn Chah

Photo credit: Randy Neufeldt
Just go into the room

Comment January 28, 2016

Just go into the room, sit in the centre of the room, open the doors and windows, and see who comes to visit. You will witness all kinds of scenes and actors, all kinds of temptations and stories, everything imaginable. Your only job is to stay in your seat. You will see it all arise and pass, and out of this, wisdom and understanding will come. ~Ajahn Chah
When we look to the future

Comment November 25, 2015

When we look to the future, we should learn to be positive. Always seeing the negative side of things will only help to increase our inner difficulties. — Bokar Rinpoche
Continue practice into everyday life

Comment November 20, 2015

Continue practice into everyday life with a single meditation, always keeping in mind the intention to help others in all activities, eating, dressing, sleeping, walking, or sitting. — Jamgon Kongtrul

Ven. Chhuom Bo, an abbot at the Glory Buddhist temple in Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Choose the path that leads to wisdom

Comment November 11, 2015

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom. ~Buddha

Ven. Munindathero Maha Nhor Tepmony
Through meditation

Comment November 10, 2015

As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the impurities of the attributes of delusion, attachment and purity through meditation and attains Reality. ~Adi Shankara
Relax at ease

Comment November 1, 2015

This fresh present knowing,
Unbound by the intellect that clings to meditation,
Is naked unobstructed non-meditation.
Relax at ease
And settle in the state of naturalness.
This is the meaning of realization of meditation.
When thoughts move, let them.
Movement arises and is liberated without a trace.
When there is no movement, don’t search for it.
This is empty luminosity, naked empty awareness.
Tantric practice without suppression or cultivation of thoughts
Brings the accomplishment of the destruction of hope and fear.
There is nothing more to add to this.

Dudjom Rinpoche
From the book “Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche’s Heart Advice”
On Meditation

Comment October 28, 2015

A Dhamma talk by Ajahn Chah

To calm the mind means to find the right balance. If you try to force your mind too much it goes too far; if you don’t try enough it doesn’t get there, it misses the point of balance.

Normally the mind isn’t still, it’s moving all the time. We must strengthen the mind. Making the mind strong and making the body strong are not the same. To make the body strong we have to exercise it, to push it, in order to make it strong, but to make the mind strong means to make it peaceful, not to go thinking of this and that. For most of us the mind has never been peaceful, it has never had the energy of samādhi2, so we must establish it within a boundary. We sit in meditation, staying with the ‘one who knows’.

If we force our breath to be too long or too short, we’re not balanced, the mind won’t become peaceful. It’s like when we first start to use a pedal sewing machine. At first we just practise pedalling the machine to get our coordination right, before we actually sew anything. Following the breath is similar. We don’t get concerned over how long or short, weak or strong it is, we just note it. We simply let it be, following the natural breathing.

When it’s balanced, we take the breathing as our meditation object. When we breathe in, the beginning of the breath is at the nose-tip, the middle of the breath at the chest and the end of the breath at the abdomen. This is the path of the breath. When we breathe out, the beginning of the breath is at the abdomen, the middle at the chest and the end at the nose-tip. Simply take note of this path of the breath at the nosetip, the chest and the abdomen, then at the abdomen, the chest and the tip of the nose. We take note of these three points in order to make the mind firm, to limit mental activity so that mindfulness and self-awareness can easily arise.

When our attention settles on these three points, we can let them go and note the in and out breathing, concentrating solely at the nose-tip or the upper lip, where the air passes on its in and out passage. We don’t have to follow the breath, just to establish mindfulness in front of us at the nose-tip, and note the breath at this one point – entering, leaving, entering, leaving. Continue reading →
Suffering on the Road

Comment October 1, 2015

A Dhammatalk by Ajahn Chah

At the time of the Buddha, there lived a monk who yearned to find the true way to enlightenment. He wanted to know for certain what was the correct way and what was the incorrect way to train his mind in meditation. Having decided that living in a monastery with a large group of monks was confusing and distracting, he went off wandering looking for quiet places to meditate on his own. Living alone, he practised continuously, sometimes experiencing periods of calm when his mind gathered itself in concentration (samādhi), at other times not finding much calm at all. There was still no real certainty in his meditation. Sometimes he was very diligent and put forth great effort, sometimes he was lazy. In the end, he became caught up in doubt and scepticism due to his lack of success in trying to find the right way to practise.

During that time in India there were many different meditation teachers, and the monk happened to hear about one famous teacher, ”Ajahn A”, who was very popular and had a reputation for being skilled in meditation instruction. The monk sat down and thought it through, and decided that just in case this famous teacher really knew the correct way to enlightenment, he would set off to go and find him and train under his guidance. Having received teachings, the monk returned to meditate on his own again and found that while some of the new teachings were in line with his own views, some were different. He found that he was still constantly getting caught into doubt and uncertainty. After a while he heard of another famous monk, ”Ajahn B”, who also was again reputed to be fully enlightened and skilled in teaching meditation; this news simply fuelled further doubts and questions in his mind. Eventually his speculation drove him to go off in search of the new teacher. Having received fresh teachings, the monk left and went away to practise in solitude once more. He compared all the teachings he had absorbed from this latest teacher with those from the first teacher, and found that they weren’t the same. He compared the different styles and characters of each teacher, and found that they were also quite different. He compared everything he had learnt with his own views about meditation and found that nothing seemed to fit together at all! The more he compared, the more he doubted. Continue reading →