Actually we have a new moon tomorrow, unrisen yet, behind the clouds, which means the opposite of full moon. I called it Chinese New Year, but it's celebrated outside of China too, so it's called lunar new year in English.
Equanimity is a hard meditation, the higher up ones are less grounded, but the culmination is important.
There's a giant fly in my room. This summer was a weird fly summer, it was like Amityville Horror. The flies in my mind are politics, and the horrible things Trump is doing. He's such an asshole.
The other annoyance when I'm meditating is snot and boogers. I blow my nose before I start and sometimes again.
Equanimity for me is also an important precursor for powerful love, and not reactionary or clingy love, which is metta, karuna, mudita and a million others things including mindfulness, awareness. Love is attention, consideration, being prioritized.
There's also a layer of equanimity in stability and basic happiness, in ethics and devotion.
Equanimity helps in the calming of the body, skandhas and mind.
I can always find a layer of happiness, even if it's a thin layer amongst pain and chaos, and I can always find a layer of equanimity even amongst turmoil and reactivity. Even as someone's yelling at me, and I'm muttering, "I don't like being yelled at," there's a layer of equanimity.
The reaction to Mara is different than the Christian reaction to the devil. It's more of a smiling nice try, more just ignoring distractions and keeping focused and mindful.
Books I want to read and finish:
Vimuttimagga
Visuddhimagga
The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime by Zhiyi
Right Concentration (currently reading)
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā by Nagarjuna
Tranquillity and Insight by Amadeo Sole-Leris
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