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,
Hello everybody.
Welcome to mindfulness meditation online with the Rubin Museum of Art.
I'm Dawn Eshelman.
So happy to be here with you today.
We are a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in New York City.
And so glad to have you all join us for our weekly program.
This is where we combine art and meditation online.
And we look at a work of art from our collection that our teacher has helped us select.
And today our teacher is the fantastic Tracy Cochran.
We'll bring her on in just a little bit.
And we look at a work of art together.
We'll hear a brief talk from our teacher.
And then we'll sit together for a short sit,
15 to 20 minutes guided by Tracy.
So we'll look now at the artwork that we have chosen for today.
And if you are wondering,
Yes,
This is the icon,
The second Buddha himself,
Padmasambhava.
And that is why it's kind of an auspicious moment here that Tracy actually selected this artwork for today.
Guru Rinpoche Day.
So wise.
So this is Padmasambhava.
This is from Tibet,
15th century.
Silver and gilt copper alloy with inlays of turquoise and coral.
And let's take a look here a little bit closer.
You can see the turquoise on this hat that we can associate with Padmasambhava.
It's a distinctive hat.
And of course the turquoise inlay also in his earrings there.
And just the beautiful,
Beautiful detail and expression on this face here.
So this is also Padmasambhava is sometimes considered a reincarnation of the Medicine Buddha.
So that's interesting to know.
There's this connection in the healing realm there.
And of course Padmasambhava is an Indian teacher that it has been said was miraculously born inside of a lotus flower.
So lotus born is what that name means and is revered,
Absolutely revered in all of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet.
So the second Buddha name and doing so by riding on a divine horse or a lion,
Even it is said,
Coming into Tibet to grapple with and tame these adversarial forces to be able to bring the light of Buddhism into the land and really to negotiate with them and transform them into Buddhist protectors.
So he is really one of the founders of Buddhism in Tibet.
And you can look at the beautiful detail in the sculpture.
The clothing I think is a particular note,
The collar of detail here,
Again that distinctive hat and all of the inlay work of coral and turquoise.
And then the sleeve that just cascades down so beautifully,
A slight sway in the body posture here brings us kind of into this immediate moment sculpture.
And it's just a beautiful example of Tibetan metal craftsmanship at its best.
Now I'd like to bring on our teacher today,
The wonderful Tracy Cochran.
And Tracy has been a student and teacher of meditation and spiritual practice for many decades.
She is the founder of the Hudson River Sangha,
Which is virtual and open to all.
So you can find out all about her weekly meditations and all about her work at TracyCochran.
Org.
And she also has taught mindfulness meditation and mindful writing at the New York Insight Meditation Center and many other settings.
She's the writer and editorial director of Parabola,
A beautiful acclaimed quarterly magazine that seeks to bring timeless spiritual wisdom to the burning questions of the day.
You can find out all about that and Tracy's writings and podcasts at parabola.
Org.
And also it's available in our shop.
Tracy,
It's wonderful to have you here today.
Welcome.
Thank you.
I'm delighted to be here today and I'm delighted to discover that it's Guru Rinpoche's day and Tashi attributed me with wisdom and so did Don.
And this is a perfect example of being wiser than we know.
Because I didn't consciously know when I picked this beautiful image that today was the day Guru Rinpoche's day.
I picked the image because among other things that are attributed to this great figure is his capacity to face wild and difficult forces.
And as Don said,
He rode into Tibet from India in the 8th century historically it's believed and faced all kinds of wild unexpected deities as they're portrayed and demons sometimes.
And we can relate to this as difficult feelings,
Difficult reactions.
Things welling up from the deep past.
And he found a way to be with this that quelled them,
That brought them peace,
Healing.
The root of the word healing in English means to make whole.
And I think of it as bringing the parts of ourselves that are in shadow or in exile into the light,
Into our kind of awareness.
So the other thing that he's known for and of course there's much more to the story but just in terms of this brief talk and sitting is that he planted teachings called termas and he hid them so that they would be found far in the future.
And again this is something that we can begin to relate to today in our own experience.
And yesterday and as Don said spring is breaking out here but April in New York is very much like TS Eliot's line April is the cruelest month because today it's beautiful and balmy yesterday very raw.
So I happened to pass this little beach on a lake where I live and I saw a person dressed up like an Easter bunny spreading Easter eggs all over the beach.
They were really quite visible and for an Easter egg hunt for very little kids you know and I know this was true of me when I was very young I needed those eggs to be visible to find them but it reminded me that of course I knew it was Easter week.
And there's an aspect of this practice that has to do with noticing that things change over time and that things even things that seem so painful or so mortifying in the moment over time and reveal what we can truly think of as an inner teaching a secret teaching.
And if only noticing if only actually this is something very profound that when we face something that feels like extraordinary misfortune or the end of the line whether it's illness or betrayal or a breakup or the end of a job or a home or a family member in the moment it feels like this is it and we tend to think that way.
And we discover looking back sometimes that there was something else present there was an awareness there that somehow helped us get through the storm and that awareness isn't it turns out some lofty escape from our humanity it's a knowing a capacity to be with to know that's very close to the body and the moment we glimpse and literally sometimes it's not even for a moment but just for the briefest glimpse that there is a presence in us that doesn't depend on everything going well there is a presence in us that's more than the story we tell in the moment.
So as John said there are all these different holidays going on this week and I won't it's extraordinary that there's so many this year at once but just to mention two pass over an easter because most of us here are from the west there's something in this reminder that a moment can be larger than we think there can be moments that open us do a deeper reality and these hints and pass over putting out a cup of wine for a stranger who might come or saving a seat for something unknown and wonderful that might appear or an easter of course this great story that something that seemed absolutely the end and not just the end but the very worst and lowest and most painful and humiliating events turned out to give way to new life new life to what the Buddhist would call the deathless and what we can know in the city that we're about to experience as also the unconditioned that there's something in each of us as intricately conditioned as we are as wounded as we are and we all have wounds we all have parts of our lives that are like bruises they're so vulnerable and we spend so much effort and time to conceal them or to fix them or to transcend them that even when those wounds are exposed if only to the light of our own attention we discover something something extraordinary that when we sink into our own humanity our own living experience without seeking to escape we're met not just with pain but with a presence in us and also around us that reminds us we're more we're more than that pain we're more than that story we're more than what happened to us we are also filled with love and compassion and an openness to the unknown so let's sit together and see for ourselves for 15 or 20 minutes we take a comfortable seat and let our eyes close some people are not comfortable with closed eyes in which case you can just gaze down but if you can close your eyes it's a wonderful way to just check in with yourself with your own experience and just notice how it feels to be here today and just allow yourself to notice in the simplest way without thinking about it without striving for a better state or a better seeing even just let yourself be just like this and notice that you can let everything happen to you the thoughts you're having sensations even discomfort just let it happen to you and notice that you can notice this with an intention that's kind that's spacious that's gentle notice how it feels to welcome yourself to be just like this just resting in stillness a stillness that means being soft not striving letting everything be and notice that there's a vibrancy inside you and aliveness that has nothing to do with your thinking with controlling the striving and notice that when you get carried away by thought or you start to dream or sleep you can notice this with great gentleness and come home to the body to the sensation of sitting here just that noticing that when you come home to sensation you also open to life life inside and the life outside beginning to remember that we're not alone that we're part of life breathing in and breathing out sensing receiving living and that there is inside and surrounding us a presence that sees with kindness and spaciousness noticing that this presence is healing in the deepest sense allowing us to be whole allowing every part every feeling to be present without comment without judgment rejecting nothing understanding how it feels to be open to a presence and awareness that sees with compassion with loving acceptance with great spaciousness you notice how it feels to be completely accepted every part of you every impulse or sub personality however you think about it to be met by an attention that's completely welcoming compassionate oh Nothing to be fixed,
To be rejected,
To hide.
You Just come home to the body,
To the sensation of being present.
You You you Notice how it feels to open to an unknown that includes healing.
The connection is your spine and your spine is your body.
Notice how it feels to be still in the sense of being at ease.
Nothing to hide,
Nothing to flee,
Nothing to fix,
Nothing to fear.
Just here.
Surrounded by an awareness that's compassionate and vast.
Completely accepting.
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Notice how it feels to welcome the whole of yourself into the light of an awareness that rejects nothing.
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Noticing how still you are,
Soft and yet open.
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