Meditation On Equanimity: When The World Feels Chaotic

In today's world, we have so many choices. We have so many preferences. We have so many discomforts and needs around what we need to feel happy, fulfilled, grateful, and loved. The Buddhist principle of equanimity is finding a space between one inhalation and exhalation, and the space between one mental fluctuation and the next. A space of nothingness, presence, and the absence of preference, need, or emotion.

How can we find ourselves there more and more?

Transcript

Yeah welcome and make yourselves comfortable so whatever you need to do to sit up with an alert spine and soft shoulder soft belly or if you need to lie down to feel restful during this time do so and I speak about equanimity in today's meditation and this brief talk before we get into the meditation because in the nature of our social climate our connection to the material world now more than ever an equanimous mind is so important and for those of you that are curious about what equanimity really means and this idea in the spiritual world of being equanimous where it comes from where this first touched me is within the four Brahma viharas so these are like the attitudes the four attitudes from the Buddhist perspective on how to live a more fulfilling and contented life so if you are able to embody these four Brahma viharas these four attitudes then we can ease our individual suffering and our collective suffering and the fourth one is equanimity and so what does equanimity mean so in Buddhism this refers to a state of mental balance and even-mindedness so it's considered this attitude to be that of a sublime and divine abode of the mind meaning just a sensational beautiful place to rest in the mind when we can embody equanimity so it involves maintaining an inner calm and steadiness regarding any external circumstances so we become less reactive to our environment and more responsive whatever may come up we allow to come whatever may go we allow to go so why embodying this fourth Brahma vihara this fourth attitude in Buddhism why is it so important and especially in today's social context what I know for myself and as we go into this meditation is that our current climate is very pulling it's very tethering it's constantly pulling us out of our human bodies and into our minds very much into the mind and the left brain which is very cognitive which is very celebrated in our current society it believes that it is life so my left brain forms language it performs my ability to communicate with the external world and so what it sees and what it creates through language it believes is existence but the right brain which is connected to the body which is the Soma the body that's connected to the earth this is our connection to life this is pre-verbal this is without words and formless that feeling that we have and we have become so tethered to our cognitive way of experiencing life that we've forgotten a lot about the body we've gone into that left brain way of living our lives and we've become disconnected to nature and so we can see terrible things we can see horrible things happen and it's not from a transcendental state that we're experiencing it it's from a dissociative state I believe and they can be seen to be very similar meaning if I'm not responsive to my environment and I see war happening and famine and deforestation I can pull myself into the metaverse I can go into my left brain way of thinking I can connect with the external world through social media through movies through music I can leave nature behind in a sense and be pulled into the metaverse and feel as if I'm not reacting to the environment that I'm in this transcendental state I am in a peaceful place because I am not affected by these things but in reality what I think human beings have become so good at is we've become very dissociative as we've turned our backs from the problem we are not transcendental we're on the exact opposite end of the spectrum and we have forgotten how to feel we've become very dissociative because if we were able to feel the amount of pain that exists in the world the amount of suffering that there is it would be too much to experience it would be too overwhelming and for those of us that are empathic it is it can feel very overwhelming so we shut that down so this act of cultivating equanimity of coming into an equanimous nature is choosing to feel it all we're not choosing just to feel the joy we're not choosing to just feel the ecstasy we're not choosing to just feel the comfort we're choosing to feel everything we're choosing to love the entire world but maybe not liking the entire world so this is important to note I've said this to many people before and they've given me this look on their face like what and I said well I love everyone but I don't like everyone and they said what do you mean by that and I said well I believe in my own way of believing that human beings are inherently good and that is a Buddhist perspective it's also a perspective in many different theologies many religions many spiritualities many systems of thought I believe that humans are inherently good but humans do really terrible things they act out terrible actions that create a lot of pain we have to take accountability for that but I believe somewhere inside our center core the thing that is connected to what is divine and something that I love that somebody said to me this week devine and if you are familiar with yogic philosophy at all deva is the feminine principle deva is the the feminine principle in all of us and so someone said devine instead of divine and I love that because they were saying when we are connected with that feminine principle of compassionate love that is divinity and I just I love that play on the words but what I want to share here today and what I want us to open up to experiencing is that more equanimous nature in the mind that doesn't pit ourselves against someone that we let our masks come off that we come out of our roles and that we drop into deeper compassionate love for all but we don't excuse poor behavior so we don't like all behavior we don't like what we see in the world but we send love and we stop burning bridges and we start building them so that we can see on either side of the the borders where the pain is the suffering that can create so many terrible actions because again I do believe that we all stem from a place of of inherent goodness so that being said if your eyes aren't already shut down close the eyes down come into your wonderful feeling body choose to be here for our time together in this meditation and begin to tune into the breath equal inhalations and exhalations from the nostrils and as you inhale and exhale I want you to count on each of the exhales so we inhale up and out one we inhale again and exhale out two and I want you to continue up to ten try not to lose your way and if you do start again at one this is where we create a sharper mind a more present body relaxing the forehead the muscles around the jaw the shoulders the belly let the hips sink into the earth and stay with your count find your center that unscathed good core that is within you that is non-preferential it sees no good or bad that just is that is present that gives compassion to all that responds to life instead of reacts we continue to count and just drop ourselves deeper and deeper into our core into our truth into our divinity you might even as you're counting upwards and when you get to ten you can start over again at one but just noticing the breath moving in and out of the nostrils noticing where you can soften the body and then let go of counting and just soften more bring into mind and visualize or see if you can sense somebody that you are neutral to maybe it's a neighbor maybe it is a clerk at a nearby convenience store or grocery store someone that you don't particularly have any good feelings towards or bad feelings quote-unquote just neutrality you know that they exist that they walk in the world see them standing or sitting in front of you and just feeling them you can see their eyes looking into their eyes or sensing deep presence with their eyes and repeating in your mind to them your happiness and your suffering depend on your actions and not my wishes your happiness and your suffering depend on your actions and not my wishes repeating this to them with a space of calmness equanimity letting them know this a few times and just notice how you feel in your body as you say this to this person how you feel and your hearts and your breath and your mind soften where you can and then repeat to them I can care for you but I cannot keep you from suffering I can care for you but I cannot keep you from suffering repeating this to them a few times noticing sensing how you're feeling in the body the mind the heart and then you repeat to them may you be undisturbed by the comings and goings of the ends may you be undisturbed by the comings and goings of the ends and repeat to this person a few times this phrase and notice again compassion in your heart in your body for this person that you barely know they carry so much within them and offer to them may you find peace may you find peace let them dissolve away in the space and slowly bring into mind a mentor a teacher someone that you have deep respect for that has given you so much as you sit across from them or stand across from them you repeat to them as well your happiness and your suffering depend on your actions and not my wishes your happiness and your suffering depend on your actions and not my wishes notice how you feel in the body as you say this to them coming into that sublime space of centeredness as you say this to this person I can care for you but I cannot keep you from suffering I can care for you but I cannot keep you from suffering may you be undisturbed by the comings and goings of the ends may you be undisturbed by the comings and goings of the ends may you find peace repeating this a few times to this person again noticing how you feel in the body and the heart now as you stand in front of this person that you hold so much respect and reverence for and you let them fade away let them fade away into the space and now in front of you comes a very difficult person in your life someone that you find challenging and notice as this person comes up how the body reacts if the body is too overwhelmed by emotion it feels too challenged if the body feels that it will shut down you can find someone else that's still challenging and difficult but we don't want to force but if you feel that edge that you can be with it let this person this difficult challenging person be in front of you but maybe a bit further away a little bit of distance so that you can feel safe to feel what you feel secure to feel what you feel and as you look this person in the eyes knowing that just like you they feel pain guilt shame desire repeating to them in that sublime state of centeredness and equanimity your happiness and your suffering depend on your actions and not my wishes your happiness and your suffering depend on your actions and not my wishes a few more times notice how the body tunes in and feels with this person that is difficult and challenging can you come to that deeply centered place and these words feel true to you not just saying them to say them but can you feel them in the deepest part of your heart your happiness and your suffering depend on your actions and not my wishes I can care for you but I cannot keep you from suffering I can care for you but I cannot keep you from your suffering may you be undisturbed by the comings and goings of the ends may you find peace may you be undisturbed by the comings and goings of the ends may you find peace notice what you feel like as you say this to this person that is so challenging and difficult can you say it from that sublime equanimous space may you be undisturbed by the comings and goings of the ends may you find peace in letting this person fade into the space now as you are seated with yourself this being that you are with in your human life this person that you call I and me that you care take this beautiful body this heart this mind you are a steward of this vehicle of divinity and just notice even in your own blood and bones and you fill yourself with compassion let go of any stories any masks any shame any guilt being with yourself in this moment you are the caretaker for this human experience this body and with yourself internally or if it feels right to speak these words out loud you say to yourself my happiness and my suffering depend on my actions my happiness and my suffering depend on my actions repeating this a few times to yourself with that sublime state of equanimity my happiness and my suffering depend on my actions and then repeat to yourself may I accept things as they are may I accept things as they are may I accept things as they are with that equanimous attitude towards yourself that attitude of centeredness calm centered state may I find peace may I find peace generating deep compassion for ourselves deep compassion for ourselves the peace that we desire to see in the world starts right here so more peace to you may I find peace may I accept things as they are my happiness and my suffering depend on my actions just allow yourself to tune into a warm sensation in the body remembering that you can come here any time close the eyes down say these words to yourself generate that deeply equanimous energy towards yourself first let go of good or bad pleasure or pain comfortable or uncomfortable but accepting yourself as you are and now imagine all close friends and family in front of you all the people that you love and respect that you know so well see their faces in front of you surrounding you now all the people that you've ever seen people that have waited on you the people that have driven the buses or the phone the planes that you have been and people that you've passed on the street animals that you've seen walking in the park just let hundreds and hundreds and thousands of faces begin to appear in front of you glittering the space the landscape in front of you friendly and unfriendly everyone that you've ever seen each of these beings feels the deep amount of pain that you feel the ecstasy that you feel the joy the shame the guilt all that is in the human experience is in each of these faces and as you look out over this crowd of beings soften the body soften into your breath and repeat in the mind to them your happiness and your suffering depend on your actions and not my wishes I can care for all of you but I cannot keep you from suffering I can care for all of you but I cannot keep you from your suffering I can care for all of you but I cannot keep you from your suffering and now join them walk into this crowd of beings that you melt into understanding that you are one of them that they are one of you that you are one begin to repeat in the mind to them to yourself may we all accept things as they are may we all accept things as they are may we all find peace may we all find peace may we all find peace and check in with your body and notice any sensations in the body any feelings tensions contractions expansions focus on any areas of the body that may need a little bit of love and care let the world dissolve around you come back to yourself that centered state take a deep breath in hold at the top in that space of nothingness let go again take a deep breath and fill to about 75% hold let go again inhale 75% hold at the top revel in that supply and state of nothingness let everything go exhale and when you're ready you can open your eyes and extend this feeling of strength and centeredness and compassion for yourself for the world for the rest of your day

Reviews

I want to say so much about this experience, but I just can’t find the right words to match the experience. Thank you..I have no other words. ❤️

The place we can create to view our world with clarity and compassion 🙏

Very nice and short Dharma talk followed by a nice equanimity meditation. Well done. Will recommend to others in my sangha.