3rd May 2026
After a joyous April exploring the Lamp Transmission Record by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, we are delighted to have the NTI Lecturers join the community for the month of May to share their wisdom.
Toby Mendelson kicks off the month by exploring “Equanimity as the basis for compassion, scepticism as the basis for emptiness. Enacting the two truths in everyday life”
Compassion (relative truth) and wisdom (ultimate truth) are the two wings of the great Mahayana bird. How do we cultivate and utilise these wings? Great compassion is underpinned by equanimity (upkesha) – the mind which treats every single living creature impartially. This is a lofty goal, but working towards it can transform our most intractable problems which tend to arise when we hold some close and others distant. Wisdom is the mind which sees all things as empty of inherent nature. Again, this is a lofty goal, but it becomes more real and practical when we gently apply scepticism to the endless ideas, opinions and judgements we naturally tend to proliferate. Applying scepticism means: not assenting to a fixed conclusion. This leads us into a space of openness where realising the empty nature of thoughts becomes natural and effortless.
- When in your life have you been able to move out of a friend-enemy dynamic and into a space of equanimity and compassion? What enabled it?
- Have you ever argued passionately for a particular moral, metaphysical or political position and then, some years later, found yourself adopting precisely the position you argued against? What do you think can be learned from this?