Sunday, April 15, 2007 Learning equanimity: Being happy in spite of daily tragedies By Olivia L. Ranido
YOU wake up 15 minutes before you're due at the office. You take a quick shower, not bothering to shampoo your hair. You take the first cab you can get and an hour later, you arrive at the office only to find out that the meeting you're supposed to be in on is rescheduled for tomorrow so you decide to take breakfast but your boss calls you asking why you're still not in the office so you forego breakfast and you dream of having lunch while you're in another meeting so that when you're asked for an opinion, you only manage a long stare and some ahhhs and uhm.. The day is about to end when you check your bag and can't find your Louis Vuitton wallet so you try to borrow money while retracing where you've gone all day and where you've possibly left that wallet and all your ATM cards, credit cards and IDs in it.
When you finally get home, you learn that your cat Nicole, whose been with you for 8 years, died an hour before - a car run over her at the same exact time when you were trying to borrow money from an officemate you don't really like and then, as if that is not enough you realize that you left your N70 Nokia cellphone in the cab on the way home.
You feel like the world is punishing you for all the bad things you've done in the past and has chosen this day to hand you retribution.
Can you imagine yourself staying balanced and "happy" even if everything in your day has gone absolutely wrong, such as the one above?
No way!
Ok, maybe for some loosing a wallet, a cellphone and a cat is not such a big disaster. Some people have lost more than these, in bigger disasters. But does it really matter?
The point is, when we experience pain or suffering, do we lose the balance of our minds such that we are overwhelmed with grief, or fear and become paralyzed? Do we become self-destructive or abusive? Do we react with anger towards ourselves and others?
Is it possible to see through this pain and suffering objectively? Is it really that hard to remain calm, peaceful? Act with love and compassion?
What if I tell you that YES, it is possible and YES, we can all learn to stay balanced and happy even when in the midst of life's tragedies, big or small.
How?
By learning a technique called Vipassana meditation.
It's not new. This technique is 2500 years old and was re-discovered by Siddharta Gautama the Buddha and was preserved and passed on from generation to generation together with his original teachings in countries like Burma, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Everyone can learn this technique regardless of race, sex, or religious beliefs.
Vipassana teaches equanimity by looking inside one's self and observing the littlest sensations and understanding how we automatically react to everyday situations without even thinking about it.
Equanimity enables one to look at life's tragedies and experience the pain that goes with it in a new way.
Every wise person has advised that to know thyself is the key to liberation. But do you really know what it means?
I'd like to put it another way, Sun Tzu said that knowing who the enemy is, is half the battle. Most of the time, the enemy is ourselves.
Knowing oneself is not only about knowing what you like or don't like, what your dreams and goals are, what you love or hate. It's not just about knowing what your skills are, what you're good at, what your interests are, what product or service you can offer the world, or even what kind of God do you believe in, etc. etc.
Vipassana teaches us a way that will make us examine the depths of our mind so you learn to observe your emotions and their corresponding sensations objectively. When we learn to observe and not react automatically, our past conditioning melts away. Hence, we are able to deal with the present moment with awareness and equanimity, we don't get easily blown away with the ups and down of life.
This technique, when practiced diligently and properly, empowers all of us and frees us from all our destructive habits and addictions.
Most of us don't realize it, but we are all victims of our emotions and sensations until we learn how not to react blindly to them. Most of the time we don't even acknowledge them but they are there and it drives our every action. Why we do certain things and not others are borne out of our own decisions, whether conscious or unconscious.
Vipassana empowers one to look beyond the surface so you can learn to not react every time an emotion or sensation, whether pleasant or unpleasant, comes up.
It teaches one the law of nature that everything is ephemeral - that everything rises only to pass away. So there's no use holding on to a solid concept of one's self, to our bad habits, to people and things.
Non-attachment is the key to true and lasting happiness.
If you're interested in enrolling in the 10-day Vipassana meditation beginners' course on April 18-29 at Sico Farm, Dasmariñas, Cavite. For inquiries, please contact: 639-3047; mobile number 0917-8004464, 0916-9708578 or e-mail: info@ph.dhamma.org and visit the website www.dhamma.org to review the Code of Discipline. It's free. Donations, in kind or in cash, are always welcome. (Press release)
