Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, a global museum dedicated to bringing greater awareness and understanding of Himalayan art to people around the world.I'm your host, Tashi Chodron.
Every Thursday, we offer a meditation session at New York Insight Meditation Center that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubens collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher.
This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice.The description of each episode includes information about the theme for that week's session and an image of the related artwork.
Our Mindfulness Meditation Podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine, and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism.
And now, please enjoy your practice. Hello, everybody.Tashi Delek.Welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts Mindfulness Meditation Program at New York Insight Meditation Center.
I am Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm delighted to be your host today.
The Rubin is a global hub for Himalayan art, and we are so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation.
Inspired by our collection, we will first take a deep look at the work of art we have chosen for today.We will hear a brief talk from our teacher, Lama Aryadroma, and then we will have a short sit, 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her.
Let's take a look at the theme for this month and the art for today's session. The theme this month is openness, and the art for today's session is this beautiful Padma Sambhava, dated 15th century.
It's about 7 x 5 x 3.5 inches, and this is a silver and gilt copper alloy with inlays of turquoise and coral, a beautiful ritual object.The connection to the theme, the theme of openness, Padmasambhava is emblematic of the theme of openness.
And this beautiful sculpture, Padmasambhava, is one of the most revered figures within Tibetan Buddhism.He's honored for bringing Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th century of the Common Era.
Padmasambhava is the Sanskrit word and in Tibetan he's often referred to as Guru Pema Jungne or Guru Rinpoche. Guru Pema Jhune means lotus born, Guru Rinpoche means precious teacher.
Guru Rinpoche is birthed from a lotus in the land of Odyana and Guru Rinpoche is the precious master, founder of Tibetan Buddhism and the Buddha of our time.
Whereas Buddha is known primarily for having taught the teachings of the Sutra vehicle, Padmasambhava came into this world, and to Tibet in particular, in order to teach the tantras.
While Buddha Shakyamuni exemplifies the Buddha principles, the most important element in the Sutrayana path Padmasambhava personifies the guru principle, the heart of Vajrayana Buddhism, and he is therefore known as the second Buddha, Sangye Nyipa.
Padmasambhava manifested in eight different forms, in peaceful and in fierce, wrathful form.Padmasambhava hid many treasures, and treasure-revealers were born to reveal treasures to benefit beings from then until now.
According to the Kama tradition, Padmasambhava was born in northern India as the son of a king or minister.In the Therma tradition, he is a lotus-born emanation of the Buddha Amitabha.His name literally means lotus-born.
This remarkable sculpture of Padmasambhava is an example of Tibetan metal craftsmanship at its best.Padmasambhava is recognizable by his distinctive hat, is often referred to as lotus hat, an elaborate dress.
His clothing combines the three yanas, the Theravada, the Hinayana, the Mahayana and the Vajrayana elements.As we gaze upon this magnificent sculpture, let us be open to receive a higher level of wisdom and direction from within.
Now let's bring on our teacher for today.Our teacher is Lama Arya Droma.Lama Arya Droma is an ordained Buddhist teacher in the Karma Kajuk tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, who has completed over a decade of monastic study and meditation training.
She emphasizes Vajrayana Buddhism and Buddhist principles, making them relevant in our everyday lives. helping us to cultivate loving-kindness and compassion, and bringing about a transformation of contentment and a genuine sense of well-being.
Lama Aryadhoma, thank you so much for being here, and please help me in welcoming Lama Aryadhoma.
Hello and welcome everyone.Thank you all for being here today.I'm really, really happy to be here.This is my first time in this space, so I'll have to do a little adjustments.I welcome you all with open heart, and this is how I was welcomed today.
So this open heart welcome to everyone.Thank you for your time and all your energy put in.
to being here this is wonderful to see all of y'all so here we have this wonderful art collection Padmasambhava and Padmasambhava as Tashi mentioned he is a very revered Buddha in the Tibetan tradition
in the Indian tradition and he's very enigmatic and as you see he's also always the sculptures of he's very handsome and you know the mudras that he has one of the mudras is like so and this is a mudra which says to you know to calm all the obstacles to put everyone
you know, all the obstacle makers to keep them all subdued.And so this is Padmasambhava's, you know, he's an Indian Buddhist who brought the most revered teachings to Tibet, which is the Vajrayana Buddhism.
And Vajrayana Buddhism, Vajra means diamond and the diamond path is a very straightforward path where Vajrayana Buddhism, it is one of the highest teachings in Tibetan Buddhism where one can become enlightened in one lifetime.
So Padmasambhava, he's also known as the second Buddha and when Gautama Buddha or Siddhartha when he did his teachings at least in seven sutras and texts he referred to the coming of Padmasambhava as the second Buddha.
So he's extremely revered and the monastery that I am from you know we have the Maitreya Buddha the statue and we have a wonderful statue as well of Padmasambhava and Vaitara that is you know just to say how revered he is and apparently even if you glance at the art
Even if you glance at a picture, the saying in the Buddhist tradition is you will always be born in a higher realm.Higher realm would be more like a human being in your next life to come. Padma Sambhava is a Sanskrit word.
Padma is lotus and Sambhava literally means the nature, the origin.So the nature of Padma
the lotus even though it's you know the lotus is in the muddy waters the lotus never has any stain so that's what padmasambhava is that's what our mind is our mind is so spacious so
blissful, that nothing can stick to it, just like no obstacles, nothing can stick to it.The real, the true nature of the mind is so spacious, so blissful, so wonderful, just like what the lotus is.
And that's what he symbolizes, that living being, fully enlightened, walking on earth,
teaching and even today all the teachings remains in its originality, the true form that if you were to practice you know there is you could you can become enlightened in one lifetime.
So today's theme is openness and one of the essence of Padmasambhava, there is no space to confine him, just like our mind.Our mind is extremely spacious and that's why we can always have calm, we can always have peace, we can always be blissful.But
in day-to-day life, because of all the things that happens in the world, we get carried away with the story.And that's why meditation is possible.That's why one can have peace.
So coming back to openness, how do we fit this theme into who Padmasambhava is?So with Padmasambhava is known to have this open nature, which means
that if we are devotional and even if we think of Padmasambhava, apparently he will appear in front of us.That's the nature of his power.And this is a little esoteric, so bear with me.
So coming back to openness, today's mindfulness meditation, the theme is openness.
Today I thought about you know what would be something really important for us to have as you know what is going on around the world, the election time and everyone's mind is going a little bit chaotic and I think you know it would be nice to have
an open acceptance for your own peace of mind.What do we need at the end of the day?The end of the day as we go home, as we settle down, it would be wonderful for us to have a peaceful state of mind.
A peaceful state of mind is a blissful state of mind.A blissful state of mind is a happy state of mind.So having that incorporating openness.I'll give you a small example today.Today I had coffee crisis all day long.
You know, I came out of the train and I said, I'm going to have a lovely cup of coffee.So I went to this nice store and got myself a coffee and I barely moved a few directions and my coffee spilled, fell all over me.And I said, Oh, no, what do I do?
I couldn't go back and get another coffee because I had moved away.So I accepted that with openness, saying, OK, you know, because I knew the theme today is going to be openness.So, you know, accepting that with openness.
And I see somebody smiling because, you know, someone who walked in here said she also had crisis with her garment today, you know.And so the coffee incident happened. And then I said, OK, I'm going to get another cup of coffee.
So I came in all the way here and there was a lovely Japanese store.I got myself another cup of coffee.I turned around again.The coffee fell all on me.So I call it the coffee crisis.But I was so aware because, you know, it spilled all on me.
And as I was walking the street, I got some glance likewise, you know, the wet, huge wet stain on my skirt.But I said, no, let me accept it with openness.And it really worked.And so then I came here and I went into the room.
And again, the little coffee I had spilled on me as well again.And literally, there was a huge stain here, just five minutes before I could walk in. So again, reminding myself, have an open state of mind.
You know, luckily it'll dry up and nobody will notice.So this is really important, the point of accepting the present moment with openness.Whatever is happening in your life, It's really crucial, it's really quite amazing.
You know, when the coffee spilt on me, it was hot, it was uncomfortable.It had that so many attributes to that coffee spilling on me.Accepting that at that present moment, saying it's okay, this happened. You know, it just relaxed me.
And that is the importance of accepting that present moment.And also understanding that change is going to happen all the time.As you see right now, there's leaves changing colors.So change is in the nature.So accepting change.
As I walked in today, you know, this is my first time here, I could only marvel at all the wonderful things.The guy downstairs opened the elevator doors, welcome, it's the 12th floor.I walked in, so many beautiful people I met.
I met Solomon, who's like, I welcome you with open heart.So this openness to change is so, to welcome change, to have an open mind. So today's mindfulness meditation will be on an open state of mind.
So when we start the mindfulness meditation, there are two important factors.There are many teachers who will give you different meditation techniques and they all Fine.
In my tradition, the meditation, how I was trained, I'm going to give you those information.So when you start the mindfulness meditation, there are two important aspects.One is your body posture.
The second is your mind, because the mind does the meditation.Coming to your body posture, It's wonderful to have a relaxed body.But then it's also important to have a straight back.And if you're leaning on the chair, just come a little forward.
But most importantly, it's important to be relaxed.If you can't straighten your back, if you have any pain, that's absolutely OK.Relax into it. So in the scriptures, you know, the back apparently has to be as straight as an arrow.
So what I do is I straighten my back as much as I can, and then I just relax into it.The hands, you can just keep the palms down on your knees like that, wherever they reach like this.Keep your legs a little part parallel to the ground.
That means you are very, you feel grounded. And then you could slightly tuck your chin like that, lower your gaze, or you can close your eyes.So here we will start with a guided mindfulness meditation.
so the mind is important keep your mind's attention on your breath and just observe your breath going in and going out and to start to come to the present moment let's just start by taking three deep breaths so the first breath let's breathe in deeply inhale
and until you feel it in your stomach and then exhale with a sigh which would be like letting go of all your tension and coming to the present moment and continue breathing and now the second breath inhale deeply
And as you exhale, just breathe out all your worries and concerns.And relax.And be in this present moment.And continue breathing.And now let's take the third breath very deeply and exhale deeply.
Letting go of all your tension that you're carrying, being in this present moment.And now breathe normally.Inhale and exhale.And keep your mind's attention just observing your breath very gently.And we'll sit so for a few minutes.
Keep your mind's attention on your breath.Just observe your breath going in and coming out.And as you exhale, visualize the breath filling this entire space in the sense of openness.And just relax in that present moment of awareness.
And notice if your mind has wandered off into some storyline.Just say, thinking, drop that storyline and bring your mind's attention back to that breath.Just observing that breath gently.
And as you breathe out, visualize your breath filling this entire space in a state of openness and just relax at that present moment of awareness.
It doesn't matter how many times your mind has wandered off, but it matters when you notice it and then say, thinking, let it go, let the thought go, and bring your mind back to observing your breath, focusing very gently on your breath.
Relax your shoulders and relax your body now. Inhale and exhale.Keep your mind's attention on your inhalation and exhalation.And as you exhale, visualize your breath filling this entire space with an open heart.
And rest in that present moment of awareness. Your mind has wandered off into a thought.The minute you catch yourself thinking, drop that storyline.Again, bring your mind's attention to simply observe the breath.Inhaling and exhaling.
We have few more minutes and now just pay more focus on your breath.Be that observer, just breathing in and breathing out.
And as you exhale, visualize your breath filling this entire space with just an open mind, receptive to all the changes that will happen in your life, new experiences, emotions, allowing everything to come into existence and being all right with it.
okay relax now slowly open your eyes and you can slowly roll your neck very gently and your shoulders and come back to this present moment and now Tashi
Thank you, thank you so much for that, La Maria. That concludes this week's practice.To support The Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a friend of The Rubin at rubinmuseum.org slash friends.
If you are looking for more inspiring content, please check out our other podcast, Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic paths to enlightenment and what it means to wake up.
Season four, hosted by Isabella Rossellini, delves into the Buddhist concept of attachment and explores how the practice of letting go can transform our experience of the world.Available on November 12th, wherever you listen to podcasts.
And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work around the world, visit rubinmuseum.org.Thank you for listening.Have a mindful day.
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