The subject of this meditation is equanimity. How to practice equanimity at the base of everything we do. We usually think of equanimity as something we aspire for when we experience anger or hatred, but we can also practice equanimity in every action we do. Equanimity, Upeksha in Sanskrit, comes from the root Upeks, meaning to look, to perceive, to overlook, to wait patiently, to abandon. Thich Nhat Hanh said that Upeksha is to overlook – like seeing the vista from the top of the roof: it gives you a larger view, so you have more “equality” about the details. For example, TNH gave us the exercise of seeing ourselves and the one we love (or hate) in 300 years, when we are barely even ashes: how does that affect our anger, seeing it from the perspective of in 300 years? Does it give us a sense of compassion?

In Chinese Upeksha was translated as She (捨) – to let go, to abandon. So we get a slightly different emphasis. To have “equal view” I have to be able to let go of my attachment to a particular view, to stop emphasizing that view…

We have practiced the first 3 exercises before, with less emphasis on equanimity and more emphasis on developing the ability of observing the mind.
The fourth exercise is new. I found this exercise with the eyes to be particularly useful in touching equanimity

(1) The first exercise is to be aware of the breath. I place my hand on my abdomen or chest and pay attention to my breath. When I notice that other thoughts have replaced my awareness of the breath in the foreground of the mind, I switch hands and start again to be aware of the breath.

(2) Awareness of sound. I simply allow myself to be aware of sounds. There are always some sounds, even in the most quiet places. And we are not able to control the sounds – they come and go without our control. I try to isolate the foreground of my awareness and be with the sound as it is, knowing that naming the sound, is no longer just the sound, but a thought that was triggered by the sound. When I notice that am no longer with sound, and the mind now is engaging with other thoughts, I touch my ear (or ears) and start again (recommit) to letting go of everything else that might arise, and concentrate on sound.

(3) Awareness of touch. Holding a small stone in my hand, I bring my attention to the contact of the stone with my hand. I try to be with just that contact, no analysis (e.g. the stone is cold, warm, heavy, light, smooth, etc.), but just the sense of the stone in my hand. I let everything else recede/stay in the background. When I notice that other thoughts have taken over the foreground of the mind, I switch the stone and place it in the other hand, and start again to become aware of the contact

These 3 exercises, give us a sense of just how much happens in the mind, constantly and how much variation there can be between the foreground and the background, with constant movement between them. As I place my breath/sound/touch in the foreground, there is lots of stuff still happening in the background, and I notice that inevitably something will come to the foreground. As it does, I might ask myself, is this close enough to signal the “switch” (switch hand, touch my ear)? So it teaches us the myriad of levels of “foreground/background” and the myriad of possibilities of thoughts that can arise.
I simply note this, and when I am aware that I am no longer with the object I chose for meditation, I simply come back to it, no judgment. As the Sutra of the Four Establishment of Mindfulness says – when the practitioner has lost awareness and becomes aware that s/he lost awareness, that means he/she now has awareness (it is phrased a little differently but basically saying that). So we develop a sense of equanimity to all that takes place in our minds… We set out to be attentive to X (breath, sound, touch), so we have some “attachment” and we see that there is lots of other options. We can select the option we want (breath, sound, touch), when we are aware of what is going on, and it can be gentle, without attachment (anger, resentment, or violence – if we want to apply it to equanimity in relationship to emotional situations).

(4) In the fourth exercise, we bring our attention to sight. We open our eyes and each time the out-breath turns to an in-breath, we reset our eyes and allow ourselves to rest on another spot. We might notice that we start to choose the next spot, even before the out-breath has completed, so we let go of choosing, allowing the eyes to rest wherever. Whatever we see, we allow it to just come in to the eyes, rather than send the eyes to it, and we initiate a reset (a switch) with each new breath.

This gives us a sense of being able to see everything, one thing at a time while still seeing the larger view. It is a bit like drawing the larger picture from all the details at random: we have the fill picture the whole time, and yet at any moment we might have one detail a bit more in the foreground.

In walking meditation, especially outdoors, we can reset the eyes with each step. This is a bit easier than in sitting and gives a sense of a larger vista (because outside there is a larger picture than say in front of the cushion). Again developing a sense of equanimity, letting go, non-grasping.