A Meditation on Equanimity and Peace

"To cultivate the qualities of peace and equanimity, sit in a comfortable posture with your eyes closed. Bring a soft attention to your breath until your body and mind are calm. Reflect for a moment on the benefit of a mind that has balance and equanimity. Sense what a gift it can be to bring a peaceful heart to the world around you. Let yourself feel an inner sense of balance and ease. Then with each breath begin gently repeating such phrases as:

Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I calm my mind.
May I be balanced.
May I be at peace.


"Stay with these phrases until you feel quiet in your body and mind.

"Then broaden the sense of calm into a spacious equanimity. Acknowledge that all created things arise and pass away: joys, sorrows, pleasant and painful events, people, buildings, animals, nations, even whole civilizations. Let yourself rest in the midst of them.

May I learn to see the arising and passing if all things with equanimity and balance.
May I be open and balanced and peaceful.


"When you have established a sense of equanimity and peace, begin to picture, one at a time, your loved ones. Carefully recite the same simple phrases:

May you learn to see the arising and passing of all things with equanimity and balance.
May you be open and balanced and peaceful.


"Let the image of each loved one be surrounded with peace. Continue as best you can, breathing gently, patiently wishing peace, repeating the phrases no matter what arises.

"As the quality of equanimity and peace grows you can gradually expand the meditation to include others. Start with your benefactors, those who have cared for you. Picture each person in turn, reciting inwardly the same phrases, offering a blessing of peace as you continue. Then gradually expand the circle of the meditation to systematically include friends, neighbors, neutral people, animals, all beings, the earth.

May you learn to see the arising and passing of all things with equanimity and balance.
May you be open and balanced and peaceful.


"Finally, you can include the difficult people in your life, even those that you might consider your enemies, wishing that they too find equanimity and peace.

"As you reflect on each person, it is traditional to acknowledge that all beings are heirs to their own karma. All beings receive the fruits of their actions. Their lives arise and pass away according to the deeds created by them. We can deeply care for them, but in the end we cannot act for them nor let go for them nor love for them. If it is helpful in freeing the heart, you can recite:

Your happiness and suffering depend on your actions and not on my wishes for you.

"Reflecting with wisdom on beings and their deeds, you can now picture each one and return to these simple phrases:

May you learn to see the arising and passing of all things with equanimity and balance.
May you be open and balanced and peaceful.


"Continue this practice as long and as often as you wish, breathing and resting the heart in natural great peace."