🌿 Wednesday Evening — 27 May 2026

Upekkhā Evening — Full Plan

Total: ~90 min · Theme: Upekkhā / Equanimity

Sequence

1. Opening & Welcome (5 min)

• Greet the room, brief settling
• Announcements
• Name tonight's theme: upekkhā / equanimity
• Handoff to Amy

2. Mindful Movement — Amy (10 min)

• Amy leads movement and brief settling

3. First Sitting — Energy & Soft Gaze (20 min)

Lengthened from this morning's 10-min sit. Ends with a bridge into the talk and second sitting.

I. Settling into Posture (3 min)

• Alert meditation posture — not just comfort, but a dignified upright
• Joseph Goldstein's image: a spine "as straight as we can manage, without being tight"
• Stack of quarters — a loose stack, not a paper roll
• Three big breaths in through the nose, brief hold, slow exhale
• Wiggle out any tightness — soft, not clenched
• Allow breath to return to normal

II. Establishing Awareness (3 min)

• Sitting and knowing we're sitting
• Connection with the earth — grounded
• Breezes, lack of breeze, warmth, cool
• The sensation of clothing on the body
• Whatever's present, allow it to be present and aware of it
• Silent rest

III. Teaching — Energy Without Agitation (2–3 min)

• Meditation often gets framed as becoming calm and peaceful — that isn't always the case
• We're really allowing ourselves to be present in the moment
• If that moment is calm, so be it. If it's drifty or sleepy — also normal. Even meditation leaders drift
• Tonight's practice: bring a little extra energy
  • Not agitation — too much, unfocused
  • Not sleepiness either
  • A middle place: alert and soft

IV. First Weather Report (2 min)

• A weather report of the body as it is
• Just feeling how we are — what's present?
• Silent

V. [Poem Space — slot 1] (1–2 min)

Optional reading. Let it sit in silence afterward.

VI. Soft-Gaze Practice (3 min)

• Gently open the eyes — not wide, not focused
• Half-lidded, looking down
• Not naming what we see — just allowing a bit more light in
• Sit this way, curious

VII. Second Weather Check (1 min)

• How is this different?
• More energy? Nothing changed? More relaxed, even lethargic?
• All are fine
• Silent

VIII. Return: Eyes Closed (2 min)

• Close the eyes again
• Settle
• Check the internal weather once more
• Silent

IX. Bridge to the Evening (1–2 min)

The seam between this sit and what follows — opens the door to the talk.

• We adjusted just a little this morning — a touch of energy, a softening of the gaze
• That alert steadiness isn't separate from what we'll practice next — it's the ground
• In the talk and second sitting, we'll practice meeting what's here without adjusting it
• The bridge: sleepy equanimity collapses into indifference. The alertness we cultivated is what makes real upekkhā possible — warm steadiness, not cold distance
• Carry this alert, soft quality with you through the talk

X. Bell (≤1 min)

• A few quiet breaths
• Invite the bell
• "No need to hurry back"

4. Bio Break (7–10 min)

5. Dhamma Talk — Upekkhā (15 min)

I. Context + Transition (1 min)

• Acknowledge Amy's movement and the first sitting
• Bridge from first sit: the alert energy we just touched is the ground for tonight's theme — sleepy equanimity collapses into indifference; the energy we cultivated is what makes real upekkhā possible
• Common misconceptions of equanimity: numbness, detachment, indifference
• Reframe: warm steadiness, not cold distance

II. What Upekkhā Actually Means (2 min)

• "Staying steady with what's happening"
• "Not pushed around by every gust of experience"
• "Meeting the moment without collapsing or fighting"
• Not passivity or resignation
• A capacity of the heart, not a technique

III. Sutta Anchor — AN 10.208 (2 min)

• Brahmavihāra Sutta reference
• Quote: "A mind like the earth — not shaken by contact with the pure or the impure."
• Earth receives everything
• Not numb → vast
• Upekkhā as inner vastness
• Invite memory: "Some of you may remember how this landed last year"

IV. Everyday Equanimity — We Already Know This (3 min)

• Normalize: equanimity seems advanced
• Examples of micro-upekkhā:
  • Traffic → nothing to do but wait
  • Child meltdown → you stay steady
  • Being sick → moment you stop fighting
  • Long walk/bike → body tired, mind steady
  • Washing dishes → just doing the next thing
• "We're not creating equanimity — we're recognizing and strengthening what's already here"

V. Why It Feels Harder in Meditation (2 min)

• Meditation removes distractions → everything louder
• Sensations vivid, emotions unbuffered
• Urge to fix, escape, indulge becomes obvious
• Paradox: where equanimity is most needed, it feels least available
• This is training, not failure

VI. Practicing Upekkhā in Real Time (3 min)

Three touchstones:

1. Notice push/pull — Leaning toward? Leaning away?
2. Let the breath be ordinary — not deep, not special; a place to rest
3. Phrase: "This is how it is right now." Recognition, not resignation

VII. Upekkhā and Death — A Personal Bridge (1.5 min)

• Browsing at the bookstore — a poetry title caught my eye
• Jisei: Japanese death poems
  • Final poems as clarity, not drama
  • Equanimity at the threshold
• As a senior, this is not abstract — it lands differently now
• Not morbid → honest, grounding
• Equanimity becomes most meaningful when facing impermanence

VIII. [Poem Space — slot 2] (1 min)

Default below (Ryōkan); substitute or precede with jisei if desired.

Showing up,
I start to walk.
Leaving,
I turn to look back —
the path remains.

• Simple acknowledgment of the way things are
• No fear, no clinging
• The flavor of upekkhā

IX. Closing the Talk (30 sec)

• "Equanimity isn't the absence of difficulty — it's the absence of struggle with difficulty."
• "You don't have to feel equanimous to practice equanimity."
• Transition into the second sitting

6. Second Sitting — Push/Pull & "This Is How It Is" (20 min)

X. Settling (2 min)

• Comfortable, upright posture
• Contact points: seat, feet, hands
• Breath natural, unforced
• "Let the body be the body; let the breath be the breath"

XI. Establishing the Field (2 min)

• Whole-body awareness
• Soft, wide attention
• "Awareness like a soft light filling the room"
• Nothing to fix

XII. Introduce Equanimity Frame (1 min)

• "Meeting experience as it is"
• "Noticing push/pull"
• "Letting things be here without struggle"

XIII. Primary Practice — Push/Pull (5 min)

• Observe tendencies: grasping, resisting, tightening
• Quiet labels if helpful: pulling, pushing, tightening, softening
• Return to breath as needed
• Emphasize gentleness

XIV. Resting in Ordinary Breath (3 min)

• Breath as a resting place
• Nothing special
• Breathing happens on its own
• Let breath be the anchor for equanimity

XV. Equanimity Phrase (2 min)

• Phrase: "This is how it is right now."
• Use with sensations, emotions, wandering mind
• Recognition → space

XVI. Opening to the Whole Field (2 min)

• Widen awareness: body, breath, sounds, thoughts, emotions
• Let everything arise and pass
• "Just notice what's here and let it be here"

XVII. [Poem Space — slot 3] (1 min)

Optional closing reading. A jisei here can land especially well — clarity at the threshold meeting "this is how it is right now."

XVIII. Closing (2 min)

• Return to body sitting
• Contact points again
• Sense breath in whole body
• "Notice any steadiness present — even subtle"
• "Equanimity grows from these small moments of allowing"
• A few breaths of quiet → bell

7. Q&A / Reflections (10 min)

• Open the space for questions, reflections
• Listen for places where the bridge between adjusting (first sit) and allowing (second sit) might need clarifying
• Close with thanks

Poem Slots Summary

Three slots distributed across the evening — use any, all, or none:

• Slot 1: mid first sitting (after first weather report, before soft-gaze)
• Slot 2: talk Section VIII (currently Ryōkan; substitute or pair with jisei)
• Slot 3: late second sitting, before closing

If reading one from each of three sections of the jisei collection: slot 1 / slot 2 / slot 3 maps cleanly to early / middle / late in the arc.

Related Notes

• Equanimity Dhamma Talk 20260401
• Upekkha Dhamma Talk
• Upekkhā 10 Minute Meditation
• Karuna Talk and Sitting