Mindfulness Meditation With Lama Aria Droma 01/30/2023

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 13:25.

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,

Tashi Chodron.

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 supported by the Frederick Lance Foundation for American Buddhism.

And now,

Please enjoy your practice.

Hello,

Everybody.

Tashi Denne.

Welcome.

Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation Online with the Rubin Museum of Art.

I am Tashi Chodron,

And I'm so happy to be your host today.

My,

It's so great to see so many of you joining from all over the five boroughs,

Upper Manhattan,

Brooklyn,

Lower Manhattan,

Westchester,

Queens,

Oh,

My,

Seattle,

Lancaster,

San Francisco,

And someone as far as Finland and Switzerland.

It's so wonderful to see so many of you joining from all over,

Taking advantage of this virtual platform.

Thank you so much.

And so many familiar names on the chat here,

As well as new ones.

Those of you who are new,

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

And we are so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation online.

Inspired from our collection,

We will take a look at work of art from our collection.

We will hear a brief talk from our teacher,

And then we will have a short set,

15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by our teacher.

Now let's take a look at today's theme and artwork.

The theme for this month is interconnectedness,

And the art connection for today's session is this beautiful Vajra bell and the case,

Origin Bhutan 20th century metal alloy and ash wood case.

Bell is about eight and a half into three and a half inches.

Vajra is one and a half,

About two inches.

This beautiful ritual object is on view in the gallery right now.

The connection to the theme is interconnectedness through art,

Sound,

And rituals.

The Vajra in Tibetan is called Dorje,

And the bell in Sanskrit is Ganta,

And Tibetan is Tilbu,

Are the most important ritual objects of Tibetan Buddhism.

Most every monks and nuns has a pair and knows how to use them.

They represent method,

Vajra,

And wisdom,

The bell.

The Vajra came to symbolize a great deal more in Tibetan Buddhist iconography.

It seems the primary significance of the Vajra in Buddhist tantric thought is as a symbol of the indestructible nature of the ultimate truth.

So in this sense,

The term Vajra is often explained as a synonymous with emptiness,

Shunyata,

Which is indestructible.

Also the Tibetan Buddhism that came from India to Tibet in the eighth century by Guru Rinpoche,

The Padmasambhava,

Is often also referred to as Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism,

The indestructible one.

Again,

In other contexts,

Such as when it is found in association with the Vajra and the bell,

As in the case of Vajrasattva deity known as Dorje Sampa in Tibetan,

The Vajra represents skillful means and the active component of the ultimate attainment of Buddhahood,

While the bell represents wisdom.

In Buddhism,

Bells have many important meanings.

They are often used as a call to prayer,

As they can be heard even at great distance.

In fact,

The sound of the bell is also to invoke the deities.

Bells of all sizes are often at the entrance of a temple so devotees can ring for blessing.

Now let's bring on a teacher for today,

Lama Arya Droma.

Lama Arya Droma is an ordained Buddhist teacher in the Karmakaju tradition of Tibetan Buddhism,

Who has completed over a decade of monastic study and meditation training.

She is a graduate of the traditional Tibetan Buddhist retreat program spanning three years and three months,

An advanced meditation training program at Phalpong Thubten Choling Monastery in upstate New York.

Lama Arya Droma teaches worldwide leading retreats,

Workshops,

And corporate meditation programs,

And is 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 loving-kindness and compassion,

And bringing about a transformation of contentment and a genuine sense of well-being.

Thank you so much,

Lama Arya Droma,

For being here.

Hello,

Hello,

And thank you,

Tashi,

For that wonderful introduction,

And thank you for that,

For the team at Rubin Museum,

For putting together this mindful session.

I'm so delighted to be here with all of you all.

And hello and welcome,

Everyone.

Thank you all for joining us today.

And if anyone is following the lunar calendar,

Wishing you all a very,

Very happy new year.

I know the Chinese New Year just passed,

And then we had the Tibetan New Year Lhosa coming up soon.

So,

Wishing you all a very,

Very happy new year.

So,

Today's object as the art object,

As Tashi mentioned,

Is the Vajra and the bell.

The bell and Vajra is very important and significant ritual objects for the monastic.

In Tibetan Buddhism,

The bell and the Vajra are believed to represent the ultimate nature of reality,

Which is known as the emptiness or shunyata.

The bell represents the emptiness of sound,

Which is said to be the empty,

Inherited existence.

Just as all phenomena are empty of the inherited existence,

The Vajra represents the emptiness of form,

Which is also said to be the empty of inherited existence.

So,

Together,

The bell and Vajra symbolizes the fact that all phenomena are interdependent and lack true or inherited existence.

This is extremely meaningful,

And this is something what we practice here in the monasteries to really understand the nature of our mind,

Our existence.

So,

The bell and Vajra is,

We use it in our ritual practices,

And the bell being an object that produces sound has no inherited sound.

You know,

If you just hold the bell,

It doesn't have any sound.

It is the action of striking it that creates the sound.

So,

Similarly,

All things in the universe are dependent upon cause and condition and lack that inherited existence,

The empty of any inherited or independent existence.

The Dorje being a symbol of,

Sorry,

In Tibetan,

We call it Dorje,

And the Vajra being the symbol of that indestructible nature of the mind represents the fact that the mind too is empty of inherited existence.

And that true enlightenment can only be achieved by realizing this emptiness.

So,

I as well have this bell and Vajra,

And I use this during all our practices,

And this is something I hold very dear in my ritual practices.

So,

The theme this month is Interconnectedness,

A fundamental belief of Buddhism that we and everything in the universe is interconnected.

Example,

Just take our breath.

We're all connected with the air we breathe.

On a universal level,

The sun,

The moon,

And gravity interconnects us all.

We're all interconnected with the earth and with its life forms.

We could never sustain ourselves without the abundance of Mother Nature.

And quantum physicists are providing today that we and everything is ultimately a ball of vibrating energy.

And on a spiritual level,

We're all interconnected by karma.

The Buddhist belief is that all of us,

We have all been each other's mothers countless times.

And so,

In the Buddhist tradition,

Because everyone has been our mothers in countless lifetime,

That's why we want to show compassion and loving kindness to every sentient being.

So,

On a spiritual level,

We are interconnected through prayer.

Prayers connects us all.

People from all faiths join together to pray for each other in the time of need.

And likewise,

Meditation connects us all.

All the people from all the faiths to practice meditation to the monastic's goal is to reach enlightenment.

But meditation by itself brings a sense of calm and peace and a deeper state of mindfulness connects us with the divine.

So,

We're all interconnected even by communities.

People from all faiths come together in community to share their faith,

To share ideas,

To take care of each other in some smaller communities,

In the villages,

Even in the cities.

We connect also our innate nature to connect to the divine.

So,

It is so important to understand this interconnectedness because we all,

Most of us believe we live as individuals,

Especially in modern cities and so on.

We hardly consider how interconnected we all are.

Every object you can see in your room,

You're sitting,

You know,

Where you're sitting right now has passed through so many hands to get to us.

Example,

Even a simple cup of coffee or tea,

You know,

You just drink it without any thought.

But can you imagine that coffee or tea,

So many human hands has touched it.

It's crossed countries,

The sun,

The rain,

The air,

The insects,

Etc.

All are interconnected to make the coffee or tea and bring it to us wherever we are.

So,

With that in mind,

I want to start this meditation session so that we can have positive energy of peace and compassion,

Not only to benefit us,

But to benefit all beings all over the universe.

Since we are all interdependent and we're all interconnected,

We can practice mindful meditation by sending out positive energy.

And this meditation technique is called Tonglin in Tibetan.

It's a very,

Very ancient practice.

There are different ways of meditation and there are different ways to practice this meditation called Tonglin.

And Tonglin literally means sending and receive,

I think.

And there are many ways to practice it.

And I'm going to keep it really simple.

And we can practice this type of meditation,

Tonglin meditation,

All the time.

Whenever you have,

When you want to have a positive energy,

When you want to send out positive energy,

You know,

We all interconnected.

We are all literally a vibrating energy field.

So,

For today's meditation session,

We will focus our mind's attention on our breath,

Combined with the feeling of unconditional loving kindness and compassion.

So,

Let's all sit upright,

Comfortable,

Be comfortable.

You can gaze your eyes low or you can keep your eyes closed,

Whatever is comfortable for you.

And then,

As we do the meditation,

Put your mind's attention on your breath,

Breathe normally.

Let,

You know,

Each one breathes differently.

Breathe at your own pace.

Don't change your breath and be comfortable and mindful,

Being the present moment.

And as you breathe out,

Bring to your mind's attention the feeling of unconditional love,

Kindness and compassion into your mind stream.

And just imagine you're sending out pure loving kindness and compassion in the form of brilliant light that goes out in all directions.

And all those sentient beings are filled with happiness and joy,

Including yourself.

And just rest in that present moment of awareness.

So,

I will give you this guided meditation.

So,

Let's just sit comfortably,

Sit upright.

You can keep low your gaze or you can close your eyes,

Whatever feels comfortable to you.

Just inhale.

And as you exhale,

Bring to your mind's attention the feeling of unconditional loving kindness and compassion into your mind stream.

And just imagine you're sending out this pure loving kindness and compassion in the form of brilliant light that goes out from your heart center or from your body and touches everything in the universe.

And there's joy and happiness.

And let's rest in that present moment of awareness for a while.

Do not follow the past.

The past is finished.

Do not think of the future,

That I must do this or I must do that.

Just rest with the present in the present moment of awareness,

Putting your mind's attention on your breath and sending out this white light of loving kindness in a form of white light to all the sentient beings,

To the universe.

And just rest.

You don't have to do it on every breath.

You just have to have that intense feeling of compassion and loving kindness.

And then send it out in a form of brilliant light.

Just rest,

Observing your breath.

If your mind wanders off and you catch yourself thinking,

That's okay.

Don't follow your thoughts.

Just label it as thinking and then bring your mind's attention back to your breath.

Inhale and exhale.

Breathe normally.

And as you exhale,

Bring to your mind's stream this beautiful,

Brilliant light from your heart center goes out,

Filled with loving kindness and compassion for all sentient beings.

And it permeates the universe.

And just rest in that present moment of awareness.

For any of you all who are beginners,

Meditation is not a marathon.

You can meditate for one minute.

You can even meditate for seven breaths or 21 breaths.

But it's the quality of the meditation that's important.

So again,

Inhale and exhale.

Breathe normally.

And as you breathe out,

Bring to your mind's attention the feeling of unconditional loving kindness and compassion into your mind stream.

And just imagine you're sending out this pure form of loving kindness and compassion in a form of brilliant white light that goes out in all direction and all beings are filled with happiness and joy.

This is a meditation with visualization.

And just rest in that present moment of awareness,

Breathing naturally and normally.

Anytime you want to relax or you want to move a little bit,

That's absolutely fine.

You can do so.

And then come back.

Sit comfortably.

Sit upright.

If it's possible,

Sit comfortably.

And again,

Just put your mind's attention on your breath.

Inhale and exhale.

Just observe your breath.

It's really natural for you to have thoughts.

The thoughts will come and go.

And then if you catch yourself thinking,

Just say thinking,

Label it.

Come back to your breath.

Come back,

Putting your mind's attention on your breath.

The idea is not to block your thoughts.

A lot of us get confused and think that we need to block our thoughts while meditating.

That's not so.

The thoughts are a part of our mind.

While you meditate,

Just don't pay attention.

And when you catch yourself thinking,

Just say thinking.

Let go of that thought.

Don't follow the storyline.

Again,

Bring your mind's attention back to your breath.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Breathe out naturally.

And bring to your mind's stream this unconditional thought of loving kindness and compassion.

And in a form of white light from your heart,

Let it fill the whole universe.

And it fills you as well.

Most often we forget about ourselves.

And it fills you with that unconditional loving kindness and compassion.

Just rest in that present moment of awareness.

You don't have to do this method every breath,

Sending out the light.

Just have to do it ever so often.

And then just sit in that present moment of awareness.

If you're distracted,

That's okay.

While you're meditating,

Be gentle with yourself.

There's no right and wrong.

All you need to do is just observe your breath.

Inhale normally and exhale normally.

You don't have to do any deep breathing.

And then again,

The practice is tonguing.

So bring into your mind's stream pure,

Unconditional loving kindness and compassion.

And from your heart center,

A brilliant white light goes out to all the whole universe and yourself.

And just rest in that moment of pristine awareness.

It's coming back to the present moment.

This practice tonguing,

Sending out this unconditional love and kindness to yourself and to others,

It's one of the briefest practice that can be,

And the practice is very beneficial.

It helps you deal with your own fears and pain.

It brings joy and positivity.

And you really,

The energy is vibrating in a way,

In a highest level.

And when you send out loving kindness and compassion and you're from your mind stream and this form of white light,

It comes back to you.

All your positive thoughts come back to you.

You're energized by that.

And so now we've reached the end of the meditation.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Thank you so much,

Lama Aryadhoma,

For that beautiful session,

Especially the Dong Len session.

That concludes this week's practice.

If you would like to support the Rubin and this meditation series,

We invite you to become a member of the Rubin.

If you're 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 two hosted by Raveena Arora is out now and explores the transformative power of emotions using a mandala as a guide.

Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thank you for listening.

Have a mindful day.

Reviews

Beautiful thank you 🙏🏼