Dear Friends, One of the question themes explored in Questions and Answers was about maintaining equanimity in the midst of social injustice, the climate crisis, etc. Jill reiterated that equanimity is not about making us immune to the visceral responses that may arise. She says “We want to keep our aliveness, our humanness, our responsiveness, and use the… Read More »
Dear Friends, In insight meditation, we often practice cultivating four specific qualities of the heart: kindness (a.k.a. metta, loving kindness, goodwill, friendliness), compassion, joy (particularly joy in the joy of others, a.k.a. mudita), and equanimity (having a balanced perspective). In some circles, my fellow practitioners and I have discussed that this list could include a fifth quality: gratitude.… Read More »
Dear Friends, Christina Feldman outlines several foundations of joy. We’ll look at two of them today – integrity and appreciation. Integrity What do we mean by integrity? Christina says, “Integrity is not a set of rules laden with value judgments of right and wrong, good and bad. The Buddha described integrity as thoughts, words, and acts rooted in… Read More »
Dear Friends, Ānanda was a long-time attendant of the Buddha, and he’s one of my favorite characters from the suttas. He often asks the questions that we’d want to ask, or says the things that we’d say, and the Buddha gives a teaching to him – and by extension, to us. At one point, Ānanda says to the… Read More »
