Equanimity & Power

As you notice, at the beginning of the meditation we chant the brahmavihārās, the four sublime attitudes: unlimited goodwill, unlimited compassion, unlimited empathetic joy, and unlimited equanimity. We have goodwill for all beings. We feel compassion for all those who are suffering. We feel happy for all those who are happy. But then we have to admit, there are cases where we want people to be happy, but they’re not going to be creating the causes for happiness anytime soon, and we have no power over them. Even in our own lives, there are certain things we just can’t change right now. So in that context, equanimity is an admission of powerlessness: Some things are just beyond us right now, so—at least for the time being—we’ll put them aside.

But there’s another kind of equanimity that we develop in the course of the meditation and that’s different. It’s the equanimity that comes with power. We put aside things outside for the time being right now, because we’ve got work we have to do inside. That’s where we can exercise our power. And that’s where we need a different kind of equanimity.

We start with that image the Buddha uses when he’s teaching Rahula meditation. He starts out by saying, “Make your mind like earth. People throw disgusting things on the earth, but the earth doesn’t recoil.” Similarly with water, wind, and fire: People use water to wash dirty things away, but the water doesn’t get upset. Wind blows trash around, but it doesn’t get upset. Fire burns trash, but it doesn’t get upset. You have to make your mind solid like these elemental properties.

This is an equanimity that comes with endurance—but you don’t just sit there and endure. You want to be able to see the negative things coming up in your mind and not get blown away by them, because you’re going to work with them. To do that, you have to put aside greed and distress with reference to the world. That’s what the equanimity in the four brahmavihārās is all about. You put aside your concerns about the world. But then there’s more.

You now focus on things inside, and you see that things are not quite what you want. The breath may not be comfortable. The mind may be all over the place. You can’t be blown away by that fact. You can’t give up because of that.

The Buddha gives you some confidence. You have tools you can work with. After he taught Rahula to make his mind like earth, he taught him the steps for breath meditation, and those are very proactive. You breathe in ways that give rise to rapture or refreshment. You breathe in ways that give rise to pleasure. Breathe in ways that gladden the mind, steady the mind, release the mind.

So there’s work to be done, and equanimity on this level is like the equanimity of a goldsmith. The Buddha says there are three things a goldsmith has to do. He has to put the gold in the fire. He has to take it out and blow on it. And he has to look at it to see whether he needs to put it in the fire again or blown on some more. In this case, putting it in the fire stands for whatever effort you have to make to get rid of unskillful qualities and develop skillful qualities. Taking it out and blowing on it stands for getting the mind into concentration, letting it settle and cool down with one object. Looking at the gold stands for developing equanimity. You’re looking at your mind to see what still needs to be done.

This is how that equanimity of earth, water, wind, and fire carry over, so that you can have a calm basis for watching your mind. If things are not going well, you don’t get upset, because that doesn’t help. But you don’t just sit there. You look. Equanimity on this level is for the purpose of looking clearly at what’s going on to see if anything needs to be done. It’s equanimity combined with your ability to make an effort.

That means it’s the equanimity that helps control your exercise of power inside. You’re trying to breathe in ways that feel comfortable. Well, what does feel comfortable right now? This is something you have to observe calmly and decide for yourself. When you breathe in, where do you envision the breath coming in? How does it come in? Where does it flow? Can you notice how you’re subconsciously changing it, forcing it in ways that may not be skillful? We’re trying to bring some light into areas of the mind that tend to be subconscious, to bring them up into the light of consciousness so that we can see, “Oh, this is what I’m doing.”

When we talk about breath energy, a lot of people get confused. They say, “What kind of breath energy could be flowing through my body?” Actually, the energy is already there, and your mind is already subconsciously adjusting the way it flows in the body. Sometimes your greed can take over the breath, sometimes your anger, sometimes your fear. They’re doing this already. They move the energies around to press your so that you feel compelled to identify with them and act under their power. You want to be able to see what they’re doing: “Oh, this is how that happens. I’m already moving these energies around.” You have to learn how to move them around in a way that feels good, that compensates for the bad effects of, say, allowing anger or fear to commandeer your breath.

So on this level, equanimity goes together with your efforts—the equanimity of someone exerting power and trying to do it well, trying to be patient and observant at the same time.

Finally, you get the mind to settle down. It feels good being here. You find a way of breathing that feels good as it flows through the body, spreads through the body. You learn to stay with it, to feed the mind off that pleasant sensation.

Some people have a very puritanical attitude toward meditation, thinking that you’re not supposed to enjoy it too much. After all, you’re learning about suffering, right? But remember, this is the path to the end of suffering. The path to the end of suffering involves right concentration, and right concentration has pleasure and rapture; more pleasure, more rapture; pleasure without rapture; and finally, equanimity, when the mind has been fed off of the pleasure of concentration. It’s like the equanimity that comes at the end of a meal. You’ve had enough, the needs of the body are satisfied, and you can rest with a sense of well-being, equanimous at the same time.

So you’re trying to feed the body with the well-being of the breath, to feed the body with the well-being of concentration. You’ve exercised your power — the skills you’ve learned how to develop — and then you can have some equanimity that rests.

Now, you can’t be complacent. You have to realize that there’s more work to be done. But for the time being, you can allow the mind to rest to gather its strength, because the state of equanimity that you develop through exercising your power then becomes the basis for deeper layers of concentration, and for layers of concentration where you can begin to ask questions and to see things clearly.

Think of the Buddha on the night of his awakening. He developed his insights after entering the fourth jhana, after filling the body with pleasure, feeding the body and mind with pleasure, developing the equanimity that comes from having fed the body and mind with pleasure. Then, when his mind was bright like that, he applied it to the different knowledges that led to his awakening. He gained the knowledge that put an end to his defilements and, as he said, he didn’t allow the pleasure that came with that to overcome his mind. As he also said, “Nibbana is the highest happiness,” but there’s equanimity that comes with that happiness, knowing that the job has been done. You’ve exercised your powers as best you can, as best as anybody can. That’s when you can really rest.

So keep this distinction clear in your mind. The equanimity in the brahmavihārās is an admission of powerlessness. For the time being, at least, you’re not going to try to exercise power out in the world. You’re going to put aside any greed and distress you might feel for the world, even though there are a lot of things in the world that are pretty distressing right now. But you realize you have work you have to do inside, and if you don’t do it, nobody else is going to do it for you. And if you don’t do it now, it’s not going to get any easier as time goes by.

You’ve got the opportunity now, so put aside your powers in the world. Learn how to exercise your powers inside, coupling equanimity with the effort that needs to be made to get the mind to settle down, clear out its unskillful habits, clear out its hindrances. Allow the mind to experience pleasure, to feed on the pleasure, and to experience the equanimity that comes from being well-fed, that comes from exercising your powers well. Then apply that equanimity to higher and higher levels of practice, to the ultimate happiness, and the equanimity and peace that comes with that highest happiness.

Keep these different levels of equanimity clear. Be clear about their different meanings. That’ll end a lot of confusion.