To begin,
Take a few deep breaths,
Just breathing deeply,
Naturally.
Focus on letting your belly be soft and relaxed,
The rest of your body settling and grounded.
And as the body relaxes,
The body becomes more grounded,
More settled.
Let the mind also become grounded,
Settled,
Relaxed,
Calm.
And bring your attention to your heart,
To the center of your chest.
As we do these meditations,
Sometimes stressful feelings and emotions can arise.
When this happens,
You can let go of any thoughts and reflections,
And return to your breath.
Find sanctuary in the sensations of your body relaxing the mind calming,
Before returning to your object of meditation.
We're going to cultivate Upakka,
That's the Pali word that we translate as equanimity.
This is the ability to accept what arises as the result of karma,
Of causes,
Of conditions.
All compounded phenomena,
That is everything that arises dependent on other phenomena,
Including human beings,
Come and go based on causes and conditions.
To accept this,
To realize this,
Is to become equanimous,
To be able to experience that which is pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral,
Without losing grounding and peacefulness.
This doesn't mean that there are no likes or dislikes,
No preferences.
It means that we can quickly release attachments and aversions,
So that our minds are not pulled towards stress and harm.
Let's begin with a neutral person.
We may have cultivated goodwill for this person with the thought,
May they be happy and well.
And then we may have had compassion for them with the thought,
May they be free from suffering,
And have shared gladness in their good fortune with the thought,
May they enjoy their blessings.
And now we recognize that happiness,
Suffering,
And blessings are the result of past actions.
We use this contemplation.
All beings are owners of their karma,
Their actions,
Their deeds.
Only by their choices are they happy.
Will they be free from suffering or lose their blessings?
So reflect on this with regard to your neutral acquaintance.
They are the owners of their karma.
By their choices they are happy.
They are free from suffering or they lose their blessings.
Now bring this thought to your loved one.
This can be hard to do,
But truly caring for someone includes letting them live out their own karma.
We come into this world as a result of causes and conditions.
No one can experience the results of our actions for us,
What we do,
We inherit.
And we can't live someone else's karma for them or control the outcome of their actions.
So reflect on your loved one with this thought.
They are the owners of their karma.
Only by their choices are they happy,
Freed from suffering,
Or do they lose their blessings.
Bring this same thought to your friend.
Even when we wish happiness,
Blessings,
Freedom from suffering for someone that we like,
We may have some difficulty when we realize that they have had misfortune.
Our good will and compassion can even overwhelm us with grief or confusion.
If we recognize that they are experiencing the results of their actions,
This helps us temper our care for them with our understanding that they have to live their own truth.
So with your attention on your friend,
They are the owners of their karma.
By their choices they are happy,
They are freed from suffering,
Or they lose their blessings.
Let's turn our attention to the hostile person.
The awareness of the role that karma plays in an individual's nature can help us have equanimity for our adversaries.
Consider a wave on the ocean.
It's easy to see a wave as a phenomenon that arises from causes and conditions.
We know that at any moment in a wave's existence there is form.
Sea water,
Dissolved salt and minerals,
Seaweed,
Plankton,
And things like that.
And the wave arises as form but also dependent on energy,
The action of the moon's gravity,
The strength and direction of the wind,
The movement of the earth.
At any point in a wave's existence there is no way that it could be in some other place or some other shape.
It is as it is because of the conditions on which it depends.
For that to happen,
Previous causes would have to have been different,
And then the wave would not be the same wave.
If you took a big bucket and tried to remove a wave from its causes and conditions,
You no longer have a wave.
You have a big bucket of water,
Something else entirely.
If you change a cause,
You have a different phenomenon.
In the same way,
A human being is a conditioned phenomenon.
At no point in human life could one be at a different place or in a different form.
Apply this idea to your hostile person with this thought.
They are the owners of their karma.
By their choices,
They are happy,
Or they are freed from suffering,
Or they lose their blessings.
Let's bring this idea to yourself with the thought,
I am the owner of my karma.
By my choices,
I am happy,
I am freed from suffering,
Or I lose my blessings.
What we identify as our self is more like a wave than a thing.
It's constantly in motion.
As soon as we think we have grasped it,
It has changed.
But unlike a wave,
A human being's causes and conditions include our own actions of body,
Speech,
And mind.
We can't change what and where we are right now,
But we can make choices that affect our future existence.
I am the owner of my karma.
By my choices,
I am happy,
I am freed from suffering,
Or I lose my blessings.
I am happy,
I am freed from suffering.
Finally,
Let's contemplate this truth with regard to all beings.
All beings are the owners of their karma,
Their actions,
Their deeds.
Only by their choices are they happy,
Or they become free from suffering,
Or lose their blessings.
Sit with this contemplation for a few moments,
Reflecting on this relative to the beings in your world.
To end this meditation,
Let your attention again settle into your body.
Feel yourself grounded,
Calm,
At peace.
All around you,
Phenomena rise and fall,
Come and go.
In this constant change,
You can remain grounded,
Peaceful.
The bell will ring twice to end the meditation.
I encourage you to bring your hands together in front of your heart,
And be glad that you spent this time developing your spiritual life.
