WITH SO MANY things cancelled, precarious, indeterminate and unhealthy for all living beings, maybe it’s time for us to appreciate the old Buddhist/Taoist wisdom of equanimity.
Focusing our thoughts away from the extremes and pulling in towards a middle path in all things can be comforting.
Tensions and tragedies are all over the news.
Many of them come from self-reinforcing extremes that feed on themselves and each other.
All things will pass — these too. Impermanence applies to them all. Impatience with the process does nothing but add to the tension. But we can be glad for their eventual passing.
Focusing on people, publications, and opinions that agree with our strongest ideas will just drive us further into our troubles with those of differing opinions.
We need to calm our judgmental selves before we can be able to truly listen to the other sides of the stories.
Even in terms of morality issues, there may be different ways of thinking than our own. And now would be a good time to engage in a period of cooling off, pull our own ideas more out of the spotlight and simply sit in the room where we are.
The Equinox, which is Tuesday, is an ideal reminder to focus on our own personal balance in sync with the current balance of the earth’s trajectory.
After all there is really mostly gray when both light and dark are present. The wisdom that the ancients touted comes from deep within, when we are solidly centered in a not too cold and not too hot position.
The ancients’ admonition to let the cold kill you and let the heat kill you is aimed at our over zealous egos’ clinging to absolute right and wrong.
We probably need, now more than ever, to find our true centers where equanimity can lead us to actual wisdom. So:
Think Equanimity for the Equinox.
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Kristen Larson is the fully transmitted founding teacher in NO Sangha (North Olympic congregation) in the Zen lineage of the world wide Diamond Sangha.
