Equanimity – the Balancer in Life and a Factor of Enlightenment

Equanimity (upekkhā) can manifest in many forms, ranging from remaining calm when provoked or under stress to deep stillness and peace experienced during meditative absorptions.

We shall explore the many facets of equanimity in our one-day retreat that is focused on comprehending and developing this important and influential mental factor.

Equanimity is one of the four divine abodes (brahmavihāra), a prominent factor in the third and fourth meditative absorption (jhāna), and one of the seven enlightenment factors (sambojjhanga).

We definitely need equanimity in our daily life, especially when facing stressful and anger triggering situations. Equanimity enables us to maintain our mental equipoise and composure. With equanimity we can respond wisely and skillfully in difficult and challenging situations.

Furthermore, when equanimity is developed to the strength of an enlightenment factor it can precipitate our attainment of the various stages of the path to liberation. As a factor present in all four jhānas (meditative absorptions) it is conducive to our attainment of concentration and tranquility.

Our retreat time table

Morning

• 9.00am: Beginning instructions and guided Equanimity practice.
• 10.00am: Walking meditation
• 11.00am: Sitting meditation

Lunch

• 12.00 noon: Lunch and Rest

Afternoon

• 1.30pm: Sitting meditation
• 2.30pm: Walking meditation
• 3.30pm: Sitting meditation

Sharing and close

• 4.30pm: Dhamma Talk and Discussion
• 5.45pm: Conclusion and Sharing of Merits

Our meditation will be geared towards cultivating equanimity. I will give instructions at the beginning of every sitting and walking meditation, guiding and directing us towards understanding the mental quality of equanimity and knowing how to develop and strengthen it.

We need to make strong two mental factors in our lives – joy and equanimity. This means throughout the day we are either joyful, cheerful, happy or calm, peaceful, equanimous. That’s the way we want to be. On Jan 30 we had a one-day retreat focused solely on the cultivation of joy (muditā). Now it is most fitting that we follow up with this retreat to develop equanimity as a complement to joy.

I look forward to seeing all of you on zoom on Saturday, March 13. I trust we will have a beneficial and fruitful time practising and developing equanimity together.

With much mettā,

Visu

About Visu Teoh

Visu Teoh believes in living with joy and equanimity, taking all the ups and downs in life in cheerful stride. A former Buddhist monk, Visu has been teaching Dhamma and leading retreats since 1991. He owes deep gratitude to his teacher, the late Sayadaw U Pandita of Myanmar, and many other great teachers with whom he has been fortunate to meet and study with on his Dhamma path. Visu is happily married to Barbara and presently resides in Ulm, Germany. His teachings can be accessed at his website.