The Goldsmith

Start with thoughts of goodwill—a wish for happiness, your happiness, the happiness of others.

As we all know, goodwill is the first of the brahmaviharas, and the last is equanimity. Sometimes people interpret that as meaning that equanimity is the highest of them, the one you’re trying to get to.

But the Buddha never taught equanimity on its own. It always has to be based on goodwill or the other factors of concentration, to make sure that it doesn’t turn into apathy, doing nothing at all.

That’s why, when the Buddha gives instructions on the factors for awakening, he says the factor that’s always useful is mindfulness: keeping in mind what you’re supposed to be doing.

One of the things you want to keep in mind is that you’re trying to bring the mind into a balanced state of concentration. You have to figure out first where you’re out of balance and then bring things back into balance.

The calming factors—like concentration, calm, equanimity—are for times when the mind is hyperactive and has too much energy, so you do what you can to calm things down. So right now, if you find that your mind is hyperactive, breathe in a calming way. As for whatever comes up, try to not get upset by it.

It’s in cases like this that the Buddha would teach his son to make his mind like earth. People toss trash on the earth, but the earth doesn’t get repulsed by it, doesn’t worry about it. That’s the kind of equanimity you want.

But if your mind is already dull and lacking in energy, that’s not what you want at all. You need something more energizing, in which case the Buddha recommends analyzing what’s going on in the mind, trying to figure out what you should be doing, what you should be abandoning. Then actually do the abandoning and do the developing, until you get a sense of energy coming from that.

So equanimity isn’t always the best thing to have. It has its time and place.

And even when it has its time and place, it has to be mixed with other things as well. This morning, we talked about the qualities the Buddha said to develop when you deal with other people and you have the intention to help them. Equanimity is one of them, but it can’t be the only one. If you’re just equanimous about whatever, then you’ll let people do whatever they want, and they’re never going to learn. If you raised your children with equanimity and nothing else, there’s not much they would learn. They’d turn into monsters. You have to be harsh with them sometimes, you have to be strict with them, you have to be proactive.

So, equanimity is just one of many good qualities. You also have to have kindness, goodwill, and endurance, and you have to learn the right time and place to put them to use.

The Buddha gives the analogy of a goldsmith. The goldsmith sometimes puts the gold into the fire, sometimes he takes it out and blows on it to cool it down, and sometimes he just looks at it.

If he were to put it in the fire all the time, the gold would get burnt. If he just sat there and looked at it, nothing would happen. If he blew on it all the time, it would cool down, but it would harden—into what? Whatever it was to begin with.

So, the goldsmith has to learn how to balance all of these activities so that they’re just right, so that he can get the gold ornament he wants. After all, if you’re a goldsmith, you do have a purpose in mind. In the same way when you meditate, you do have a purpose.

Some people say you should try to do nothing at all and have no idea of your going anywhere, but the Buddha is not one of those people. He very much had a goal in mind in his quest, and he found it through a lot of effort, but he also learned how to balance his effort with concentration and equanimity. That’s what the image of the goldsmith stands for. The effort is putting the gold in the fire. Blowing on it is getting the mind into concentration to cool it down. And equanimity is like looking at it to see what needs to be done.

So, you balance all these three. If you do nothing but get the mind still and concentrated, nothing happens. If you just look at it, nothing happens. If you spend all the time making a lot of effort, you get worn out. You have to stop and reflect.

Remember what the Buddha said about nourishing the Dhamma. You start out with commitment, but then you also have to reflect. If you just work, work, work at the Dhamma without looking at the results, you wear yourself out. You have no sense of what’s just right. When the Buddha calls the path a middle way, it’s not only middle, but it’s also just right.

That requires a lot of discernment, along with a lot of commitment and reflection. So just as becoming a goldsmith is a skill that takes some time and strong powers of observation, becoming a good meditator requires the same qualities.

We’re not just here to watch or to be aware. We’re here to be aware of what we’re doing that’s causing suffering and how we can stop it. That requires putting the gold into the fire sometimes.

So, be ready with your full range of skills and learn what’s the right time and the right place for them, realizing that equanimity is one of those skills, but not the only one. And it’s not the ultimate skill. It’s one that has to find its place in a complete course of training.