EQUANIMITY PHRASES from SIM Senior Teacher John Travis:

May I accept things as they are.
May I remain in peace, and let go of expectations.
May I find the inner resources to remain present and be kind to myself and others.
May I see my limits compassionately, just as I see the limitations of others.
No matter how I might wish things could be otherwise, things are the way they are.
Whether I understand it or not, things are unfolding according to karma.
I wish you happiness and peace, but cannot make your choices for you.
I will care for you, but cannot keep you from suffering.
All beings are the owners of their own karma. Their happiness and unhappiness depend upon their actions, not my wishes for them.
Although I wish only the best for you, I know that your actions, not my wishes for you, will determine your happiness or unhappiness.
I care about your pain, but cannot control or eliminate it.
May I offer love, knowing I cannot control the course of your life, suffering or death.
May I offer my care and presence without conditions, knowing they may be met by anger, gratitude or indifference.

Discursive, subtle states of mind are difficult to isolate which makes it difficult to utilize methods to lessen their negative impact on us. They just seem to be “us”, who we are. Even though they are almost always “invisible”, you can count on experiencing their results… anxiety and more anxiety! The Buddha describes these troubling subtle states of mind as the Ten Fetters. He offers an approach, a sort of “To-Do List” on how to mentally address the Fetters, and what happens when we undertake the process of recognizing them. Tonight we will do a brief overview of the Ten Fetters and their unique properties. We’ll spend additional time on the first fetter, which is the illusion we each have concerning our own personality, or “personality view”. We will explore this first fetter through a few brief mental exercises.

It can be hard to maintain an open-hearted balance in a world where we have access to immense suffering in every corner of the globe. We may be closed down into paralysis or panic. And yet our practice calls us to engage the suffering, the world’s and our own, with compassion. How can we withstand and even thrive as the “worldly winds” blow around us?  The quality of Equanimity can be the refuge we seek. We will explore Equanimity (upekkha in Pali) as one of the Paramis, as well as its place in the Brahmaviharas and the Seven Factors of Awakening.

(Part 7 of 10 of a series on The Paramis)

We rightly place strong emphasis on mindfulness of the body and mindfulness of mind states in our practice of meditation and everyday awareness. These are the first and third ways of establishing mindfulness as described in the Satipatthana Sutta, one of the core teachings of our Insight tradition. Sometimes overlooked is the Second Foundation of Mindfulness: mindfulness of feeling tone (vedana in Pali). A feeling tone of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral accompanies every experience, physical or mental. Unnoticed, these feeling tones can escalate to desire, aversion, or delusion and cause us to suffer. When noticed, they can lead us to expand our range of situations where we can feel okay, regardless of outside circumstances. On this evening, we will explore vedana in our guided meditation and in the dharma talk and following discussion. Rich encourages you to practice noticing vedana in the week leading up to this evening, so you can report directly from your experience in the discussion session. If you are unfamiliar with the practice and need instruction, email Rich Howard.

A commitment to speaking the truth brings a sense of trust and safety to our relationships, and we reinforce this commitment when we take the fourth precept of refraining from harmful speech. Truthfulness (sacca in Pali) is also one of the Paramis, and it is said that this commitment to speak the truth was never broken by the Buddha on his way to awakening. As the same time, we are surrounded by a society which seems to thrive on untruthful, deceptive, or exaggerated communication. On this evening, we will look at various aspects of Truth in the Buddhist teachings, up to the profound Four Noble Truths, and explore how we can incorporate a commitment to truthfulness in our daily lives.