Dear Friends, Continuing with Sally Armstrong’s talk, “Facets of Equanimity,” looking at some of the ways equanimity might be experienced in our meditation practice. She states, “Any moment of true or clear mindfulness has equanimity in it.” You can hear this balance of equanimity in the definitions of mindfulness Sally shares. Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of… Read More »
Dear Friends, Turning now to Sally Armstrong’s talk, “Facets of Equanimity,” which looks at some ways to categorize the many ways equanimity is part of our meditation practices. Sally again mentions her list of lists. I don’t have her handout, but it likely incorporates items similar to those listed here:https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/dhamma-lists/ I appreciate her invitation that each of us… Read More »
Dear Friends, To finish Kamala’s talk, “The Five Spiritual Faculties’ relationship to Equanimity” with the fifth faculty of wisdom. Kamaly says the calm and steady collected mind can “pierce through the illusion of solidity and permanence.” She says, “When [the mind] pierces through the illusion of permanence, the deep understanding and wisdom of impermanence is known. Not theoretically,… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with Kamala’s talk, “The Five Spiritual Faculties’ relationship to Equanimity,” and the fourth faculty of concentration. Several teachers, talks, and articles on this subject frequently comment that the word “concentration” may not be the best translation for samadhi. When I was on retreat with Susie Harrington last August, she said that the word “concentration” has… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with Kamala’s talk, “The Five Spiritual Faculties’ relationship to Equanimity,” and the third faculty of mindful awareness. Kamala reminds us that sati, the word often translated as “mindfulness” has as it root an aspect of memory – of remembering to be mindful. She calls it a “powerful” mindfulness because it’s the type of present moment… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with Kamala’s talk, “The Five Spiritual Faculties’ relationship to Equanimity,” and in particular her comments on the faculty of effort and energy. This effort and energy is balanced. Kamala shares an analogy from Sayadaw U Tejaniya: This is not like a 100-yard dash, it’s more like a marathon. Kamala describes the qualities as patient and… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with Kamala’s talk, “The Five Spiritual Faculties’ relationship to Equanimity“ Kamala gives a brief overview of the five faculties, and then delves into each in more detail. Today, we’ll look at the overview and touch into the first – in Pali, it’s called saddha, which is often translated as faith. Kamala’s talk describes how the… Read More »
Dear Friends, I’ll start today with Kamala’s next talk in the retreat, on the topic of The Five Spiritual Faculties’ relationship to Equanimity. Kamala starts the talk by sharing a teaching she received from Sayadaw U Pandita: Equanimity is like a chariot being pulled by five horses. In the lead is Mindful Awareness. Behind that are a pair… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with the talk from Kamala Masters, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes” and adding another “good news Monday” segment… In the talk, Kamala shares a quote from Don Juan to Carlos Castaneda and then relates that to equanimity: This is what Don Juan said to Carlos Castaneda, “The art of being a spiritual warrior is… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with the talk from Kamala Masters, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“ Kamala poses a second question we can ask ourselves.How can we stay aware yet compassionate towards ourselves when we do react? She says, We oftentimes judge ourselves after [reacting]. Then we’re paralyzed again, because we did or said something, it caused a kerfluffle,… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with the talk from Kamala Masters, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“ Kamala poses a question we can ask ourselves.How can we stay open and connected when it’s so hard? One equanimity phrase she introduces to help foster this openness and connection is from Ajahn Sumedho:“It’s like this.” Kamala explains, Just taking in what’s going… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with the talk from Kamala Masters, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“ Kamala mentions the eight worldly conditions. They are: Gain and loss Fame and disrepute (when Adrianne Ross was in Saskatoon last October, she described this as “being seen and being ignored”, which might be more relateable) Praise and blame Pleasure and pain Here’s… Read More »
Dear Friends, Kamala Masters starts her talk, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“, with a quote from Howard Thurman: How may we work in the world courageously and intelligently, on behalf of a decent world, without despair and complete fatigue? What are the resources available for … rehabilitation and renewal? That [we might] be able to look out… Read More »
Dear Friends, For the next few days, I’m listening to the next talk from the Equanimity and Awareness Retreat, given by Kamala Masters, titled “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“. However, before diving right into the talk, I thought I’d share how, for me, Kamala exemplifies living with equanimity. I haven’t had the opportunity to sit with Kamala… Read More »
Dear Friends, Just a few concluding reflections on Sally Armstrong’s talk, “The roles of mindfulness, metta and equanimity in our practice“. Here are Sally’s closing comments in this talk: That’s the possibility of these practices. Landing in the present moment, knowing what’s happening, in our direct experience. Feeling that connectedness with the external, with other, with the world,… Read More »
