Equanimity - that quality of mind which is balanced, steady, and non-reactive - is developed by learning to open skillfully to the full range of our experience. It is equanimity which allows the heart to feel safe enough to open to our own difficult states, and the difficult states of others. Deep equanimity is " the peace that passes understanding", a wisdom and equipoise which can hold it all.

An exploration into the nature of insight and how it unfolds in practice on both personal and more universal levels.

Understanding our temperament can help to personalize habituated tendencies.

Our relationship with sense pleasure is complicated. Moving towards what is pleasant is instinctual,and we need to be able to experience what is pleasant without clinging, fear or attachment in order to be whole. Yet pleasant vedana (sensation) is not a reliable goal or guide on the spiritual path. Pleasure - like all conditioned things - has its limitations and does not work well as the orienting principle in our practice and lives. Like the Buddha, we need to be able to swim upstream, and not be limited by our conditioning towards ease.

At the end of retreat, there are often concerns about how to take "this" back home. If we define "this" too narrowly, with a dualistic mind, we will miss the chance to practice effectively when we return to the conditions of lay life.Lay life is different, and offers the opportunity for practice which is broader, more dynamic, and more relational than that done on retreat. The Buddha himself saw his teachings as useful and beneficial to lay people as well as monastics, sometimes in surprising applications. Some of his teachings for lay people are discussed, clarifying that the 8 Fold Path can be practiced outside of silent retreat, in daily life.

This talk, given at the close of the annual 3-month retreat at IMS, examines the practice of Loving-kindness as an expression of the deepest wisdom.