Fall 2011 Shamatha Retreat

Equanimity - the "crown jewel" of the Four Immeasurables In both Shamatha and the Four Immeasurables, we cultivate balance and a sense of "evenness of heart." The Four Immeasurables are immeasurable only if they flow out evenly, without partiality or bias. They cultivate “virtues of the heart” and an understanding of causality. They help us overcome the dehumanizing tendency to only see others as a means of fulfilling our hedonistic desires – it becomes an “I” v.s. “it” relationship. We often respond to people’s agreeable, disagreeable, or neutral appearances. The fusion of appearances with a person is a delusion. We also fuse ourselves with aspects of ourselves (e.g. behaviors, mental afflictions, etc.). Meditation(48:07): Cultivating equanimity by reviewing our own lives and working with positive and negative times. Then doing this with others (one we “like”, one we “don’t like,” and one to whom we have neutral feelings. False Facsimile of Equanimity is “Aloof Indifference” (sometimes called “