Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Equanimity

"We start the meditation with thoughts of goodwill [mettā] to clean out our minds from all the stories of the day: “ This person did that, that person did this.” Or the stories of the year or the stories of your lifetime. Think about that statement at the end of the chant just now: “Those who are capable of making an end.” That’s what we’re trying to do: Put an end to suffering. It means putting an end to a lot of stories we keep dragging out. After all, those stories are what keep us going, especially if they involve some wrong that we want to right. That would mean we’d have to come back. And, of course, what usually happens when a wrong gets righted is that some more wrong gets done. Then the other side decides that they’ve been unfairly treated, and it goes back and forth like this. There are many stories in the commentaries about issues going back and forth to the point where you lose track of who started it. So it’s best to think in ways that can put an end. One of the be...

"If you look deep into the mind, you find that there is a quality of just knowingness — that it doesn’t matter what happens, there’s a knowing. Things can come falling down all around you and there’s still that knowing. Our problem is that we identify with all the things that can fall down — that can be shaken, perturbed. And so in the meditation we’re trying to find our way to that spot of unperturbed knowing. Even though it may not be the deathless, it’s a good place to be: good, strong equanimity; a good, solid foundation inside. And we’re taught our lesson about that property of knowingness by looking at the properties in the body. You’ve got the earth, water, fire, the energy of the breath. These are basic properties that let you know that you’ve got a body here. And they’re always there. Sometimes one may be more predominant than the others, but they’re always there all the time. So when you see that the breath is constant — even when it’s still, there’s an element of still ...

“To maintain its health, the mind needs its own place to rest: not just resting in sleep, resting with alertness, awareness. That kind of place requires several skills. One is the skill of just being able to be quiet. Another is the skill of being able to cut away your interest in things outside. Some people find this to be the scary part of the meditation. We’ve been taught to believe that our goodness consists of our being concerned about things outside, and here we are telling ourselves that, for the time being, those things don’t matter. As they say in the forest tradition, the sky could be falling but we’re going to stay right here and not let it get to us, because we need a part of the mind that things don’t get to. That’s our sanity. That’s our safety.” ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu “No One in Charge”

“There’s no telling how many people will be willing to search for true happiness, and you can’t make your happiness depend on their choices. If your happiness depends on the choices of other people, it’s going to be very unstable. You’ve got to make your happiness depend on your choices. Which means that when it comes to the choices of other people, you have to be equanimous. You have to keep your head so that you can make your choices well. Because that’s the area where you do have some responsibility and do have some power to make a change.” ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu “Keeping Your Head”

“Equanimity is never recommended as a good thing on its own. This is perhaps the most important point of tonight’s talk, so I’ll repeat it: Equanimity is never recommended as a good thing on its own. It’s always recommended in conjunction with right effort and other skillful qualities. In terms of equanimity on the path, this fits in with the Buddha’s observation — which we discussed under the topic of persistence — that the causes of suffering fall into two types: those that go away simply when you look at them with equanimity, and those that go away only when you exert any of the three types of fabrication against them. For instance, there are cases where lust goes away when you simply watch it steadily. It’s as if it’s embarrassed to show its face. There are other times, though, when you stare at your lust and it stares right back, not the least bit embarrassed. That’s when you need to make a concerted effort to get rid of it. You have to use your discernment skillfully to determin...

“Even the Buddha couldn’t save other people; there were many people he couldn’t even teach. He taught only those who could be taught — in other words, those who were willing to take responsibility for their own sufferings.” ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu “You Can't Eat the Buddha” (Meditations5)