Equanimity and Temperance

Another Wednesday rolls around and I’m still sick. I wrote about the illness last week. Honestly, I’m still cool with it, ya’ll. There is no reason to resist, because that will not change the situation. The only thing that resistance creates is suffering. Am I right, Buddha?

Approaching the Buddha state on a rock in the woods.

I was taking a walk through the woods recently and visited a Buddha statue that someone put out there. I have no idea who’s land this Buddha statue is on, but it’s Vermont and I feel pretty safe visiting the land of someone who puts out a Buddha statue. I’ve gotta trust the vibes!

There is a little trail that spurs off of a town class IV road that leads to the Buddha. I got curious about this trail about a year ago and decided to give it a wander. I thought perhaps it was a short cut to some other trails that I like to walk in this wooded area, but nope! It just deadends at this big rock with a little Buddha statue on top.

This act of following my curiosity and being lead to a mystical rock with a Buddha on top was an awe inspiring experience at the time. It’s one of those things that I still look back on in wonder. I was not expecting the trail to lead to such a statue at all! It made me feel like the world holds deep magic that could spring up at any point. I felt like I was being rewarded for being open to that magic and was lead a wonderful surprise.

The wonderful Buddha state in the woods.

I’m not a religious person, but if I had to choose a religion to follow it would either be Wicca or Buddhism. Really, I’ve created a spiritual practice that is highly personal and involves the teachings of both witchcraft and Buddhism. It felt like I was lead to this statue to remind me of the teachings of Buddha. Principally, I like to dedicate myself every day to the four divine abodes or Brahmaviharas: loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

Maybe it was this desire for equanimity during difficult times of illness that brought me to the Buddha statue recently. I find a peace in nature that calms me and makes life easy to accept. And then the wisdom of the Buddha reminds me not to create more suffering in my life by resisting what is. I do feel a little weird that I don’t know who put this statue here and wouldn’t want to run into or interrupt someone’s spiritual practice at the rock. But I trust my intuition to only take me there when it is an ok time.

I don’t really have a point to my rambling this morning, I just wanted to share the Buddha statue with you in the hopes that it inspires you to find a touchstone in this world that reminds you to be equanimous and accept all that life is at this moment. “This is what it’s like right now,” those are the words of my dharma teacher that echo in my head when I meditate. This is what it’s like right now.

This Buddha looks extremely content.

What is your life like right now? Are you sick or are you well? Are you riding high or are you low? Are your needs met or are you lacking in some way? All in all, you’re breathing in and you’re breathing out and that is as much as you can hope for to experience being alive. I’m breathing in and out with a lot of coughing, sneezing, and mucus involved, but it’s still happening on the regular. I will heal and recover as time and energy allows. That is just the way that it goes.

And as a last little nod to this blog ostensibly being about tarot, equanimity always brings to mind the Temperance card in the tarot. Temperance is about balance, all things in moderation. There is no need to rush or push, you can flow and accept what things are like right now. Sometimes I will have health in abundance and other times I will fall far short of being well. This balance of all things, brings peace and contentment. There is a calmness here, a gentleness in the flow of life.

My word of the year is Content. I thought about this word a lot in the beginning of the year and it really settled into my bones. Then I forgot about it for a while, coasting along on this inner knowledge of “alrightness” in my life. Now, as I am challenged by a second week of feeling like a big pile of crap, the word comes back to me. Everything is fine as it is. This is what it’s like right now. And that is ok.

But I do need to go and find some tissues, so I’ll see you next week!