The Eight Worldly Winds: Gain and Loss

The Buddha identified eight “worldly winds”—also called the eight conditions, vicissitudes, obsessions, preoccupations, or worldly dharmas—as the tethers that keep us spinning within the wheel of samsara. They are four pairs of opposites: gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, and pleasure and pain.

The first pair, gain and loss, keeps us chasing what we want and holding tight to keep it. Whether we’re seeking health and wealth or love and longevity, our hope for gain and fear of loss blows us this way and that, like wind whipping saplings in a storm. But, as is also true of wind, the nature of all things is to flow and change. So to work with gain and loss we cultivate first acceptance of the fact that things don’t last, followed by gratitude and appreciation. Instead of focusing on what we lack, we can be thankful for all the many things we still have and are able to enjoy. Just as wind needs a motivating force—temperature, air, pressure—desire has no power on its own. When we feed neither want nor dread, our thoughts slow like air on a quiet day, both bright and clear.

 “Equanimity is a teaching not only of poise but of grace, a deep knowing that life will not stand still for any of us, and that to rely upon stability is a recipe for agitation and anxiety.”

  –Christina Feldman

Tip: Expecting life to not change inevitably creates disappointment. Instead, we can move at the speed of impermanence by training ourselves to shift and let go as change presents itself in our lives. We can learn to move with instead of against that change, seeing that the stability we’re looking for lies in our own ability to flow, not freeze.

“We can appreciate our family and those who love us. We can appreciate the beauties of nature. . . . So be content. Practice being content and appreciating what you already have.”

–Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Tip: Appreciation is a powerful antidote to both desire and disappointment, and a simple corrective against our brain’s deeply rooted negative bias. Spend some time each day noticing and appreciating the many gifts at your disposal, from material goods all the way to your mind’s ability—and willingness—to even think about such things.

You who know the world, take
             gain and loss,
Or bliss and pain, or kind words and abuse,
Or praise and blame—these eight mundane concerns—
Make them the same, and don’t disturb your mind.
–Nagarjuna

♦

This is the first installment of our series on the eight wordly winds: gain and loss, praise and blame, fame and insignificance, and happiness and suffering. A printable version is available here.