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 Children. Every Thursday we offer a
meditation session at New York Inside Meditation Centre that
draws inspiration from an artwork from the Reuben's
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 Inside 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 de Lake. Welcome, welcome.
To the Reuben Museum of Himalayan Arts mindfulness
meditation program here. At New York.
Inside Meditation Center, I'm Tashi Chardan, Himalayan
Programs and Communities Ambassador and I'm delighted to
be a host today. The Ruben is a global museum
dedicated to Himalayan art and it's insights and we're so glad
to have all of you join us in person and online for this
weekly program where we combine art and meditation.
Inspired by our collection, we will first take a deep look at
work of art we've chosen today. We will.
Hear a brief talk from our teacher Kimberly Brown and then
we will have a short set 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation
guided by her. Let's take a look at today's.
Theme and artwork The artwork for today's session is this
beautiful dancing Ganapati origin from Tibet dated 17th
century. It's gilded copper alloy with
mineral pigments and as you can see beautiful inlays of semi
precious stones like turquoise. The theme of the month in
September is change and Lord Ganesha is synonymous with new
beginnings and Ganapathi is a form of Ganesha, often also
referred to as Lord Ganesh. The dancing form of Ganapati
evokes the cosmic dance of existence.
Now. Ganapati or Ganesh or Ganesha if
you're familiar with is called Chogda ha.
In Tibetan word. The Lord Ganesha is also in
Tibetan Buddhism, is related to the Chakrasambara cycle of
Tantra and regarded also as the emanation of our Lokateswara.
Now in Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati and
often referred to as the Elephant headed God, removal of
obstacle and also known as the deity or the God of New
beginnings. Individuals often make offerings
to Ganesha at the beginning of new endeavours to express
appreciation and ensure a smooth path forward.
Now in the next slide, the Lord Ganapathi wields a various
ritual emblems. Sometimes they call it weapons
and has multiple arms with multiple ritual emblems that
he's holding along with different hand mudras or
gestures. Now.
These ritual emblems are associated with his role as the
removal of obstacles. Ganapati is also perpetually in
motion in dancing movements, embracing the ebb and flow of
life. As we behold the majesty of
Ganapati, let's reflect on our response to change and how it
can be perceived as an opportunity depending on how we
look at it. So in the Buddhist teaching of
having pure perception is for one's own benefit and leads to
wisdom and happiness. So let's.
Bring on our. Teacher for today, our teacher
is Kimberly Brown. Kimberly.
Is a meditation teacher and author.
She leads classes and retreats that emphasize the power of
compassion and kindness meditation to reconnect us to
ourselves and others. She studies in both the Tibetan
and inside schools of Buddhism and as a certified mindfulness
instructor, her latest book, Happy Relationships, 25 Buddhist
Practices to Transform Your Connection.
With your. Partner, family and friends were
released this year. You can learn more about
Kimberly on her website, Meditation With.
Heart.com. Kimberly, thank you so much for
being here and please help me in welcoming Kimberly Brown.
Hello everyone. So you know, usually I just
start talking, but maybe let's take a moment just to notice
that we're here. You could close your eyes and
you don't have to meditate or not meditate.
If you're here today, it likely means you're looking for
something, probably freedom from suffering and Buddhism.
We call this dukkha. So taking a moment to thank
yourself, you're choosing a healing path, a wisdom path, and
bringing your attention back to our group for a moment.
So with this theme of change, you know, it's funny.
Everybody knows the change is always happening.
It's not like I have students and they say, no, Kim, things
aren't changing. Everybody says, yeah, I know
everything changes. You know, baby grows to a
toddler, grows into a person, right?
And yet on some level, we don't really know it.
We really depending what the change is.
We resist it, don't like it. It's terrifying, right?
Nobody wants to have a loss. So we have this intellectual
knowledge, but then on a deeper level we have this ignorance in
the tradition. This ignorance is the root of a
lot of suffering. Avidia, it's a Sanskrit word for
it, Avidia. And this is a probably our most
common obstacle, right? We're talking about Ganapati and
who's in emanation of Ganesh and Ganesha is associated with
removing obstacles. Obstacles to what?
Obstacles to what's true. Change in permanence, cause and
effect are real. Our actions have outcomes.
Everybody has suffering, and this self that we hold on to so
tightly is actually a very dynamic, not so fixed.
And these obstacles are what causes suffering, and they
prevent us from seeing clearly and wisely.
And most importantly, they prevent us from accessing our
inherent clarity and wisdom. You'll hear this called Buddha
nature in the tradition. You'll sometimes hear it called
presence or openness or awareness with a capital A.
Some Tibetan teachers just call it mind with a capital M.
And with change, the obstacles generally are fear, grasping,
like I really want that to change.
I want this new job, right? This.
That's a desire or clinging. There's also delusion when
change happens, unwanted change or wishing.
Wishing is a form of delusion. I wish he were less angry.
We've all had those thoughts. So how do we how do we overcome
obstacles or cut through obstacles?
Now we noticed here Ganesh has many arms and many quote UN
quote weapons in his many hands. The Buddhist tradition talks
about in the early tradition they say 84,000 doors to
awakening, later they say 84,000 teachings to awakening.
And that is pointing at everybody's mind is a little
different. So it isn't one-size-fits-all
and there are certain practices all of us can use and paths that
we can follow to help us. I hate the word overcome our
obstacles, but to see them clearly and free them.
Really, you know, we're not going to go in and look at our
anger and beat it up, try to get rid of it, fight with it.
Going to experience anger or fear in the face of change and
allow it, integrate it, help transform it into clarity and
wisdom. And so the path that is most
common, the bodhisattva path in the Mahayana tradition, is the
path of practicing generosity, practicing ethical behavior,
patience, diligence, meditation, and practices of wisdom.
Diligence is sometimes translated as joyful effort.
So using these tools, maybe we could call them instead of
weapons. Using these tools, we can start
to 1st notice our obstacles, the things that prevent us from
seeing change clearly, the things that prevent us see.
Part of what happens with change is we don't want it so badly
that we can't see any other possibility, or we want it so
badly that we can't see other possibilities.
This is what Tashi children mentioned.
So how can we let go of that, go of these obstacles, fear,
desire, delusion, so we can work within change to see what's
possible and use our efforts in ways to benefit and not harm
ourselves and everybody else. So let's practice.
Those of you here in the room, you are welcome.
If you want, we have space on the right and in the back.
You can lie down, grab a couple cushions, as many as you'd like,
and make a little nest. You can sit as you are.
You can also do walking meditation.
The same for those of you at home.
Pick a posture that feels conducive to having some balance
of relaxation. And effort, tranquil and awake,
the tradition tells us. So take a minute to create this
little spot. Most importantly, not looking at
devices, giving yourself an opportunity just to be with your
own beautiful presence for these few minutes.
And choosing to place a hand on your heart and a hand on your
belly. This reminds you of your own
presence. You are here for you.
And it brings you closer to your body, away from your head maybe,
and all the thoughts that are swirling, all your plans, all
your memories, ideas, judgments. See if you can bring that energy
down to your heart, to your belly, receiving your breath,
receiving sound, receiving the sensation of your skin, contact
with your clothing, warmth, coolness.
And gathering all your attention to the feeling of your breath in
your belly or sound entering your ears.
Breath in your belly or sound entering your ears.
If you start chasing after a thought, a plan, choose to let
go and come back, you're coming back to your senses, your
breath, sound. Whatever you're doing right now,
see if you could do a little less because right now you're
just receiving. You're experiencing your breath.
You're receiving sound. Noticing where you are, if you
need to come back, return. Letting go of these obstacles of
mind, coming back. And you might know.
There are so many metaphors in Buddhism.
Many are very useful in our practice.
And perhaps today you can consider yourself like a Lotus
flower. So this plant, the blossom rides
on top of a pond. It's resilient with the wind and
the waves. And it's only able to do that
because it has such a strong stem and root system.
I'm so allowing yourself to stay grounded, to stay rooted in your
body and sensation in this moment.
And calling to your heart, to your mind, someone you know
who's struggling, perhaps struggling with change, could be
someone you know personally. It could be someone you know
from the news. And you can connect with them by
feeling their presence, by imagining them.
And saying to them, May you be open to the unfolding of life.
May you meet change with wisdom and courage.
May you be open to the unfolding of life.
May you meet change with wisdom and courage.
May you be open to the unfolding of life.
May you meet change with wisdom and courage.
And just taking a moment to repeat those phrases, give these
gifts to this struggling person. May you be open to the unfolding
of life. May you meet change with wisdom
and courage. You can keep in touch with this
being, Know that they're here beside you as you connect with
yourself as well. You might imagine yourself as
you look this morning in the mirror.
You might put your hand on your heart and feel your own
beautiful presence and saying to yourself, May I be open to the
unfolding of life. May I meet change with wisdom
and courage. May I be open to the unfolding
of life. May I meet change with wisdom
and courage. May I be open to the unfolding
of life. May I meet change with wisdom
and courage. And continuing to repeat these
phrases to yourself like you're giving yourself a gift.
Paying attention. Do you need to reconnect?
May I be open to the unfolding of life.
May I meet change with wisdom and courage.
And just for one more minute, saying these phrases to yourself
wholeheartedly. Knowing that all of us, all
humans, struggle with these obstacles, struggle with
ignorance, vidya offering this wisdom to all of us.
May everyone, may we be open to the unfolding of life.
May we meet change with wisdom and courage.
You could stop saying the phrases, bringing your attention
to your Lotus self, your resilience and strength, your
beautiful blossoming nature, your strong deep roots, thanking
yourself and thanking the Reuben and all of us for creating the
conditions for being here today. And whenever you're ready,
bringing your attention to our group and you can move, you can
stretch, whatever seems appropriate for you right now.
Thank you so much for that beautiful teaching on change.
I especially like the meeting, the change with wisdom and
courage that is so needed when you look around in the world,
what's happening now and then, it's so wonderful.
And always look at, you know, gratitude and thankful to this
beautiful space where we could all come together.
And I always think like, I wish more people could benefit and
more people could, you know, but thanks to the podcast, so you
know, this teaching is also benefited all over the world.
So that gives hope and encouragement and inspiration
that. Concludes this week's practice
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reubenmuseum.org. Friends, if you are looking for
more inspiring content, please check out our other podcasts,
Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic paths to
enlightenment and what it means to wake up.
Available wherever you listen to podcasts and to learn more about
the Reuben Museum's work around the world.
Visit Ruben. Museum org Thank you for
listening. Have a mindful day.