Mindfulness Meditation With Tracy Cochran 05/11/2023

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 12:37.

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 Thursday 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 in-person practice.

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 P.

Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism.

And now,

Please enjoy your practice.

Good afternoon,

Everyone and Tashi Delek.

Welcome.

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

I'm Tashi Chodron and I'm so happy to be your host today.

I host Himalayan programs and I'm a community ambassador.

So welcome.

And so we are a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in New York City.

And we're so glad to have all of you join us for this weekly program where we combine art and meditation.

Inspired from a collection,

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

We will hear a brief talk from our teacher and we are so happy to have our teacher,

Tracy Cochran back.

And then we will have a short set,

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

Each month we have a theme.

And so this month's theme is change.

And this theme is inspired from our most newest exhibition called Death is Not the End.

This exhibition is a cross-cultural exhibition that explores the notions of death and afterlife through the art of Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity.

And the art connection for today's session is this beautiful work that is up on the sixth floor gallery.

And this is Lords of the Charnel Ground.

In Sanskrit,

It's known as Smashana Adipati.

In Tibetan,

It's referred to as Turdak.

And this is origin from Tibet.

It's a 19th century painted on terracotta,

Small,

About six and a half into five and a half inches.

And it's a beautiful sculpture.

So these skeleton lords often referred to as Lords of the Charnel Ground are animated by ecstatic dance and laughter.

Their festive demeanor expressing the joy of being free from attachment and said to inhabit in the cremation ground where tantric yogins were encouraged to meditate on impermanence and practice severance or cutting from attachment.

And they are often known as brother and sister.

And how you can identify which one is the male and the female figures can be distinguished only by their garlands and attributes.

So the male sports a garland of freshly severed heads and holds a skeleton club,

As you can see here.

And then the female,

In contrast,

Wears a garland of dried skulls and holds a staff and a golden vest.

They support the practice of the deity Chakrasambara and revered as powerful protectors.

Thank you.

And now let's bring on our teacher for today.

Our teacher is Tracy Cochran.

Tracy has taught mindfulness meditation and mindful writing at the Rubin Museum of Art and the New York Insight Meditation,

As well as in schools,

Corporations and other venues worldwide.

She's also a writer and the editorial director of Parabola,

An acclaimed quarterly magazine that seeks to bring timeless spiritual wisdom to the burning questions of the day.

Her writings,

Podcasts and other details can be found on her website and on parabola.

Org.

Tracy,

Thank you so much for being here.

Please help me in welcoming Tracy.

I chose this beautiful artwork of these gleefully dancing skeletons because they look so free.

They look so happy.

They're having the time of their lives.

So regardless of what tradition we grew up with,

And we might still have very little understanding or have read anything about Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism,

But still we get that they're free of fear.

One thing that comes up is,

Well,

Of course they're free of fear.

The worst has happened.

You know,

They're skeletons.

The deed is done.

You're not carrying that fear anymore.

But another thought or question to entertain is maybe they're showing us that it's not so bad.

Maybe our projection about death,

That it's dark,

That it's something we do alone,

Is not what really happens.

Maybe as Ram Dass once said,

Death is perfectly safe.

Not just our final physical death,

But any number of other deaths that we go through connected to age and connected to change.

Another impression that comes up is maybe they're not alone.

Maybe we discover when we die that we have a lot of company,

That the greatest beings who ever lived have also died.

And another interesting thing to consider is that the Buddha could be dancing with them,

Very much alive,

Because in his lifetime what he discovered is a way to be free of fear.

Fear of death,

Fear of change.

And the great story of his awakening begins with his leaving the palace his father had constructed to shield him from reality.

And this is a weird little insight I had this week.

We all have been raised in similar palaces.

I can't see your faces clearly,

And I know some of you might be looking askance,

But even if you grew up in a tiny little apartment,

What I mean is a palace of beliefs,

Assumptions,

Expectations,

Family histories.

Does anyone have one of those?

That are like weird snaking corridors,

Full of shadows,

Full of strange ancestors,

With fates we fear will befall us?

And this practice that we're about to do is a way to escape that thought palace.

The Buddha snuck out of his palace compound,

And most of us know what happened next.

He saw four sights.

He saw a sick person.

He saw an aging person.

He saw a corpse.

And he also saw a monastic,

Someone who is gliding through all this free,

At ease,

At peace,

Right in the midst of it.

And this is the practice,

Not to escape,

Not to deny.

He didn't become numb,

But to be right in the midst of it,

With a sense of peace,

With strength,

With hope.

And it's extraordinary to begin to discover that the freedom this practice promises doesn't come from a vertical movement,

Solitary.

I used to think so.

I would meditate,

Meditate,

Meditate.

It's horizontal.

And it's beginning to soften.

We can do it right now.

Just let yourself relax and soften,

And know that everybody else in this room,

Including me,

Has suffered while you suffer,

Has gotten shocking news of the death of someone beloved.

You have company right here.

Everyone in this room,

Including me,

Knows what it's like to be sick,

Or to get news of the illness,

Sometimes fatal,

Of a loved one or a friend.

Every single person in this room is there relaxing,

Knows what it's like to lose something,

A job,

A relationship,

A hope.

And this,

It turns out,

Is not something that's just,

Oh,

Aren't we a real fun party.

You know,

When I walked in here and we saw the tables,

A number of people wondered if there would be cocktails.

Right?

Yes,

I'm seeing,

And for good reason,

You know.

But it's not really a little club of misery and closing down.

It's an invitation to soften and open to the possibility that there's more than what we fear to lose,

And that there's more.

Isn't something far away?

It's right here.

There's something inside us,

Each of us,

Right now,

Today,

An awareness that doesn't perish with change.

It can be with change,

Vibrant,

Compassionate,

And free.

So let's sit together and see for ourselves instead of just listening to me.

We take a comfortable seat.

We've already begun,

But really feel what it's like to grant yourself welcome,

To feel your feet on the floor,

To let yourself be upright so that you can better feel your body,

Your heart,

Your mind,

All together.

And notice what it's like to bring this attention that's already here to this body,

To this state.

And notice how it feels to allow this to be a very gentle movement,

Allowing yourself to be exactly as you are.

And notice that this awareness,

This sky-like,

Open awareness,

Can touch everything that's here with great kindness and without words.

It may be shock,

Pain,

Uncertainty.

Notice that whatever we're thinking in our minds,

We can sink down into the body and experience as sensation,

Letting yourself rest in this stillness.

That doesn't mean silence,

But softness,

Not resisting,

Allowing yourself to be held in awareness,

An awareness that doesn't cling or push away or correct,

That draws close,

Not with words,

But with attention.

And notice that when you find yourself thinking that this is perfectly natural and that you can bring the attention back to the body,

To the feet on the floor,

To the experience of the present moment.

Noticing how alive you are inside,

Inside the body,

Open to the life outside,

To breath,

To temperature,

To sensations and impressions of all kinds.

As we settle down and open up,

We discover we are continuous with the life outside.

We don't stop with our skin.

And notice that there is an awareness here that's inside you,

But also outside,

That you are more than thinking,

More than stories,

That you are also an awareness that is vast and kind.

Notice that there's a presence here that is compassionate,

Non-judging,

That holds us,

Sees us with openness and caring.

Just rest in this stillness,

This presence.

No striving.

Noticing how it feels to be completely acceptable,

Just like this.

Noticing that you can begin again at any time,

Just come back to the body,

To this sensation of the feet on the floor,

To the weight of the body and the rhythm of the breath.

And notice that this movement of return opens you to an awareness that's as vast as the sky and also close inside.

As we relax and settle down,

We notice that this stillness is benevolent,

Nourishing,

Not separate from us.

Noticing that there's something very alive here in this presence.

It's nourishing,

Supporting.

Just rest in awareness,

Experiencing how it feels to have everything seen with kindness,

Compassion,

Acceptance.

Completely welcome to be here.

Noticing how it feels to be at home in the cosmos,

Not separate from it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

That concludes this week's practice.

To support The Rubin and this meditation series,

We invite you to become a member at rubinmuseum.

Org membership.

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 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.

And to stay up to date with The Rubin Museum's virtual and in-person offerings,

Sign up for a monthly newsletter at rubinmuseum.

Org slash e-news.

I am Tashi Chodron.

Thank you so much for listening.

Have a mindful day.

Reviews

Always so interesting and valuable to listen to TC, thank you 🙏

Absolutely stunning thank you :)