Mindfulness Meditation With Lama Aria Drolma 04/18/2022

The Rubin Museum of Art presents a weekly meditation session led by a meditation teacher from the area, with each session focusing on a specific work of art. This podcast is a recording of a Mindfulness Meditation online session and a 20-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion. The guided practice begins at 17:03.

Transcript

Welcome to the mindfulness meditation podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Art.

We are a museum in Chelsea,

New York City that connects visitors to the art and ideas of the Himalayas and serves as a space for reflection and personal transformation.

I'm your host,

Dawn Eshelman.

Every Monday we present a meditation session inspired by a different artwork from the Rubin Museum's collection and led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area.

This podcast is a recording of our weekly practice currently held virtually.

In the description for each episode,

You will find information about the theme for that week's session,

Including 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 now,

Please enjoy your practice.

Hello,

Everybody.

Welcome,

Welcome to mindfulness meditation online with the Rubin Museum of Art.

I'm Dawn Eshelman.

I'm happy to be your host today.

Thanks so much for being here and joining us.

We are a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in New York City,

And we're so glad to have you all join us.

This is our weekly program where we combine art and meditation online.

So we take inspiration from our collection and choose a different artwork to look at together each week.

And that's what you've been looking at as you've been coming into our Zoom room here.

And we'll look together again in a couple of instances.

We'll actually look at the artwork together here in just a moment.

Then we will hear a brief talk from our teacher.

Today we have the wonderful Lama Arya Drolma,

Who I'll introduce to you in just a moment.

And then we'll sit together for 15 to 20 minutes guided by Lama Arya.

Here we are coming to you in spring and in a kind of beautiful,

Meaningful time of year for many.

Those of you who had holidays over the weekend enjoyed them.

We're talking here this month in mindfulness meditation about healing and what healing means to us.

Because what we're learning about healing is that it means so many different things to so many different people.

And even what's healing for one person might be triggering for another person.

And so it's important for us to really identify the things in our lives,

In our experiences that are healing for us.

So let's take a look at the theme and the art for today.

Again,

We're talking about healing and we're looking at a Tibetan Bodhisit prayer beads.

So these are from Tibet,

19th century.

And the medium here,

I love the description of this,

Phoenix Eye Bodhi seed.

So it's a seed,

Right?

Rudraksha and bronze.

So a little bronze in there amidst the seeds.

And this is the object that we're bringing to you today to describe or to represent healing through a daily practice.

And this is a Tibetan prayer bead strand that exemplifies this simple but traditional structure of prayer beads used by Tibetan Buddhists.

There are typically 108 beads here,

And they can be used universally for all types of practices but are really said to be especially suitable for practices that increase expansion.

And oftentimes they're grouped by sections and there are separator beads that help the practitioner feel the count as they move along and make sure they're on the right count.

And then typically there is a bead of a different type or a different texture called the guru bead.

You can see that here.

The symbolism of the guru bead varies,

But generally signifies this ultimate truth.

And it's really meant to connect and be the sort of beginning and end here,

Mark the cycle.

And it's understood as a formless dimension of the Buddha's enlightened body.

So we'll bring on our teacher today,

Lama Aryadhrama,

Who will tell us a little bit more about her own practices daily and otherwise.

And we're so delighted to have Lama Aryadhrama back with us.

She is an ordained Buddhist teacher in the Karmakayu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism who has completed over a decade of monastic study and meditation training.

She's the graduate of the traditional Tibetan Buddhist retreat program spanning three years and three months,

An advanced cloistered meditation training program at Palpantuktung Choling Monastery in New York.

Lama Aryadhrama teaches worldwide,

Leading retreats,

Workshops,

And corporate meditation programs.

And she's a popular guest speaker at universities and organizations.

She emphasizes Vajrayana Buddhism and Buddhist principles,

Making them relevant in our everyday lives,

Helping us to cultivate love and kindness and compassion and bringing about a transformation of contentment and a genuine sense of wellbeing.

Welcome Lama Aryadhrama.

How are you?

Hello,

Hello,

Dawn.

Thank you for the lovely introduction and hello and welcome everyone.

And thank you all for joining in today.

I'm absolutely always so delighted to be here with you all and happy Easter everyone.

And it's so lovely to have the blessings to remind us constantly about miraculous and blessings.

So happy Easter.

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter holiday.

So this month,

The theme is healing.

Definitely very much needed in the world today.

And the artwork I selected is the Tibetan Bodhisit prayer beads that Dawn has explained.

And it looks so beautiful and it looks so old,

Which means that someone has really used it for reciting mantras and prayers.

And it's so special.

It's a very special Bodhisit prayer bead.

And I wish I could own one of it,

But I can just wish I could have something like that.

It's so precious.

And the prayer beads has been used for thousands of years in different spiritual traditions,

But the prayer beads made from the Bodhisit are extremely special because it represents the ancient victory under which Buddha attained enlightenment.

Since the Buddha got enlightened under a Bodhi tree,

It makes the Bodhi seeds very,

Very special,

Very spiritually significant.

And our children will be talking after the meditation about the special prayer beads in depth.

And Dawn has already introduced you to what the prayer beads is in the Indian and the Buddhist tradition.

We call it a mala,

Which means a garland.

And so we use it constantly to recite mantras and as a counter.

Most often,

You know,

They tell us,

OK,

When you do a mantra,

You know,

When I was doing my three and a half year retreat,

They say,

Oh,

We have to complete hundred thousand mantras.

And I'm like,

What?

So that's where the mala comes in handy.

And then you can put counters on it.

And it's each mala holds something very special to us.

And so before I did my three and a half year retreat program,

Our teacher took us to India on a spiritual pilgrimage to visit all the holy sites of Buddha.

And of course,

We went to the Bodh Gaya where Buddha got enlightened and we sat under the Bodhi tree and Rinpoche and all of us.

We recited prayers and we were doing the prostrations and reference to the sacred place.

And you can literally feel the divine presence.

It's a feeling of absolute joy,

Peace and love.

We all seated on the floor on the bare earth.

And it was so peaceful and so fulfilling that I just didn't want to leave that place.

There were so many tourists from all different countries and you could see their faces filled with faith and devotion.

And definitely without a doubt,

This place was a healing place that we all felt that great presence of the divine.

And this period during this pandemic and all that's going on around the world today,

There's been an absolutely during the pandemic,

Especially,

There's been an absolutely awakening of sorts.

People are searching for something more meaningful.

They want to connect to a deeper spiritual belief.

There's a sense of wanting to connect to something greater than life,

A larger consciousness.

There's a great spiritual transformation,

A shift.

People had time to think about what is really important.

What is the meaning of life?

What do you know?

We wanted something more meaningful,

Something that gives our lives a purpose.

When you're faced with crisis and when you witness death,

It is inevitable that there is an awakening.

Today,

As we are facing this chaotic world,

This unpredictable world,

My go to safe place that brings me a sense of wellbeing is prayers and meditation.

But it's just not any meditation.

It's invoking the blessings of the divine beings,

Asking for grace and help to protect us and to ask for their blessings,

For their divine blessings that comfort us and that holds us in safety.

And here in the monastery,

Every Wednesdays,

We come together to chant the medicine Buddha for its healing flowers,

Not only for ourselves,

But for the whole universe.

We pray.

And today,

As we face this unpredictable world,

I want the healing to begin for all of us.

I want to invoke the blessings of the divine beings and medicine.

Buddha comes to mind and is known for his healing powers.

He's the king of healing.

And so for a mindful meditation today,

I want to invoke the blessings of medicine Buddha.

I will recite the medicine Buddha mantra,

Which is very powerful.

And we can do a meditation on the mantra first,

And then we'll do a meditation on the visualization of medicine Buddha to invoke the blessings and healings.

So it's very simple.

I'll guide you with the mantra meditation and teach you how to use the prayer beads.

If you don't have a prayer bead,

That's okay.

You can listen to the mantra and it's very simple.

Here is my prayer bead,

And it's very simple.

And I constantly use this.

I've recited many mantras and the way to use the mantra,

You know,

Typically,

As Dawn mentioned,

There are 108 beats.

And basically,

You hold it on the left hand.

We Tibetan Buddhist,

We hold it in the left hand and just move one bead at a time.

And each bead when you move,

You'll recite a mantra,

Whatever the mantra may be,

The deity you may be praying to.

And then you can also breathe in and breathe out and focus your attention with your hands,

With your fingertips on this.

Because when you meditate,

You need a focus and then you can focus on your breath.

This time you can focus on your breath and as well as the prayer beads.

You know,

Before I go further with the meditation,

You know,

I mentioned the Bodhi tree where Buddha got enlightened.

And it's such a presence there and such a sacred place for all Buddhist and all people from all over the world from different spiritual tradition.

So one day I had a friend who was visiting me and she said,

Oh,

I have this beautiful present for you and you're a Buddhist nun.

So I don't know what to what to give you.

And but my mind was saying,

I like presence.

And my Buddhist mind was saying,

No,

Don't be attached to anything.

So she brought me this gift and it was all packed and the paper was all gold.

And then she opened,

I opened the paper and she was right there and there was a velvet box and I was like,

Oh my God,

This is certainly a gold bar.

And then I opened it and I was like,

It was such a beautiful gift.

And this was it.

It was a leaf from that Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya.

And it's really my prized possession.

And so this is how meaningful it is,

You know,

And to have a prayer bead made from a Bodhi tree,

It's even more amazing.

So as I mentioned,

Here is my mala,

Which I've used a lot.

And so we can basically just move one bead at a time when you meditate and put your focus on this.

And this is really,

You can use the wrist mala,

Or you can even use,

Obviously a lot of people now have these prayer beads and it's so soothing and so wonderful to use this.

And this process,

When you use the mala,

Creates a very positive spiritual energy.

So please note,

Before I start the mantra practice,

The medicine Buddha mantra,

And the sadhana,

The prayers,

The full text,

It is one of the highest yoga tantras,

The Anuttara yoga Tantra.

And one needs an empowerment from a qualified Rinpoche.

I do not qualify to be a realized master.

So I cannot give you the empowerment.

I'm merely just invoking the blessings of medicine Buddha for so we can heal,

You know,

To ask the blessings of the divine beings to heal us,

To keep us safe.

So this is just a short practice,

And it's perfectly fine to invoke the blessings and do the short meditation without the empowerment.

But for a long practice,

As we do here in the monastery,

Then you need an empowerment from a highly qualified Rinpoche.

So let me start the mantra meditation.

And I will recite the mantra.

All you have to do is focus your attention on the mantra and do the breathing.

So let's start meditation now.

So please sit comfortably.

And if you can sit upright,

That's perfect.

Thinking about sitting upright,

You know,

Puts your attention and focus and breathe in normally.

And I'll guide you to this.

If you have a prayer beat with you,

Just like this,

You can use your index finger and thumb to slightly grasp the beat through your fingertips.

Move the beat one by one,

Breathing slowly in and out in your at your pace.

And with each movement,

We will recite the mantra.

And this is not going to be the full mala.

I just recite a few mantras and pause and we can start.

I'll start the meditation that way.

The mantra I'll be reciting is the Medicine Buddha mantra.

And it's called and this is how the mantra goes.

Teyata om bhekanse bhekanse.

Maha bhekanse rasa samokate.

And so we can move one more beat.

And if you don't have this prayer beat,

That's all right.

Just listen to the mantra.

It has a lot of blessings and healing.

Just listening to the mantra.

And as I recite the mantra,

Just listen to the sound.

I just let's meditate to the sound.

And it's okay if there are sounds,

Other sounds as well.

Just inhale and exhale.

Breathe naturally.

And then just rest in its awareness.

Teyata om bhekanse bhekanse.

Maha bhekanse rasa samokate.

So inhale and exhale.

And just with an open mind,

Listen to the mantra.

And let everything drop and rest your awareness.

Teyata om bhekanse bhekanse.

Maha bhekanse rasa samokate soha.

Rest your mind.

Rest in the awareness.

Breathe in and breathe out normally at your own pace.

Teyata om bhekanse bhekanse.

Maha bhekanse rasa samokate soha.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Rest your awareness.

Drop all your other thoughts.

And feel the blessings from the mantra.

The mantras are very potent.

Teyata om bhekanse bhekanse.

Maha bhekanse rasa samokate soha.

Gently breathe in and breathe out.

And just rest with an open mind in its awareness,

Putting your attention on your breath.

When you're doing this meditation at home,

You can simply do three mantras,

Recite the mantras three times,

Seven times,

21 times,

Or the full 108 beats,

Each time reciting the mantra.

And then when you finished with the one,

The mantra,

Pull in the second beat and the third and the fourth and the fifth and so on.

And now I want to invoke the blessings of Medicine Buddha.

While you're doing the meditation,

If you get distracted,

Don't worry,

Just return to whatever the bead you are holding.

And if you lose concentration,

That's okay too.

Meditation is not a race.

There's no finish line.

Meditation is a process of slowly healing and bringing a sense of infinite peace to the heart and mind.

So these are all tools.

The prayer bead is a tool.

The mantra is a tool.

And the whole point is noticing your awareness,

Paying attention to the mind,

Paying attention and focusing on your breath to bring peace and calmness to your mind.

Now we will do the visualization of Medicine Buddha.

So before we start the visualization,

Let's start with a good intention.

And I'll recite a small prayer and the prayer goes like this.

By this practice of Medicine Buddha,

May I and all beings be purified of all pain and suffering and enjoy good health and maybe all attain perfect enlightenment.

Now we invite Medicine Buddha in front of us.

So as you see in the picture,

He's blue in color and visualize the Medicine Buddha right in front of you.

Like a rainbow,

He's not solid.

He's not made of stone,

But he's ethereal.

And the color blue is all healing.

He's the king of healer.

And as he appears,

He's radiating light.

And he gazes at you with compassion and loving kindness.

In his left hand,

He holds a bowl of healing nectar and his right hand symbolizes extreme generosity,

Holding a medicine plant.

So the right hand symbolizes generosity of all kinds of generosity,

Of loving kindness,

Of compassion,

Of giving.

He is everything beautiful gathered into one.

Now you can visualize from Medicine Buddha healing blue light emanating from him to the crown of your head.

And it flows down,

Filling your whole body.

And you are filled with love and light and visualize that you are fully healed.

So we will visualize the Medicine Buddha's light filling your entire body and just sit with this awareness that you are fully healed.

Te ata om bhikanse bhikanse mahabhikanse rasa samokate souha.

You can direct the light to any part of the body which needs more healing.

And just rest in that awareness,

Feeling the all the light of loving kindness,

Compassion and healing from starting from the crown of your head,

Engulfing your whole body.

And also visualize you're fully healed.

And just rest in this awareness.

Te ata om bhikanse bhikanse mahabhikanse rasa samokate souha.

Now from your heart center,

Your body is filled and engulfed with this wonderful light of healing from Medicine Buddha.

And from your heart,

Have that same light go to the whole entire universe and see that everybody,

Every single being is healed and all the pain and suffering has just disappeared.

And just rest in that awareness.

Most of us,

When we see what is going around in the world,

We feel so helpless.

But this meditation,

You can recite the mantra,

Invoke the blessings of Medicine Buddha.

And as he sends you all these light to heal you,

You can also heal the entire universe from your heart.

You fill the whole universe with light.

And you can do it in a second and then rest your mind in that awareness and visualize that everyone is healed.

We are all interconnected and every thought matters.

And this field of consciousness,

Even though when you see pain and suffering,

But when you send forth positive energy,

That field of consciousness can be filled with positive energy.

And that's how the transformation happens.

So if we can all think of these positive thoughts and sending light to the whole universe of healing and blessings,

It's going to be very powerful.

Now that we have done such a meritorious thought and action,

We will dedicate this merit.

So I will recite a short prayer by this practice of Medicine Buddha,

May I and all beings be free from pain and suffering and may I and all beings be fully healed and achieve complete and perfect enlightenment.

And let's rest in that awareness.

All these divine beings who are enlightened by default,

All they want to offer is to help us.

They're all goodness and kindness.

So whenever you feel you need the blessings,

You can invoke the blessings anytime,

Any place,

Just think of them and you can recite the mantra and then just ask for their grace and blessing to heal us and then to heal the entire world.

I thank you all for coming.

If we have loving kindness and compassion,

Our prime concern will always be not to hurt others.

This itself is healing.

According to the Buddhist belief,

A compassionate person is the most powerful healer,

Not only to their own disease and sufferings,

But to all the rest of the world.

So I thank you again.

Have a wonderful day and Dawn back to you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you,

Dawn.

That concludes this week's practice.

If you'd like to support the Rubin in this meditation series,

We invite you to become a member.

If you're looking for more inspiring content,

Please check out our new podcast Awaken hosted by Laurie Anderson.

The 10 part series features personal stories that explore the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up now available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thank you for listening and thank you for practicing with us.