bernd the broter:
But now I'm rather coming to the conclusion that this is just a small part of what acceptance is. In MCTB it says that acceptance is a necessary requirement to enter equanimity. But I DID enter equanimity several times (and am currently in it) but I'm certainly not accepting of my experience here and now.
So what does it all mean? Is acceptance just another skill (like equanimity, insight, metta, ...) which needs special training?
If so, how is it done?
Acceptance is equanimity-as-a-skill, maybe with some metta thrown in. It can happen as a result of insight practice, but it's a hard way to procced when you have that kind of anxiety coming up.
The fact that you experienced equanimity-as-an-insight-stage in one setting does not mean you have developed equnamity-as-a-skill to the extent you need for all circumstances in your life. For circumstances which cause anxiety, it is probably easier to first develop metta for those circumstances and the experience of the anxiety. I find that provides the stability necessary to do the insight work.
