Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 02/27/2019 with Kimberly Brown

Episode Date: March 5, 2019

The Rubin Museum of Art presents a weekly meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area, with each session focusing on a specific work of art. This podcast is recorded in front of a live audience, and includes an opening talk, a 20-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion. The guided meditation begins at 17:00. If you would like to attend Mindfulness Meditation sessions in person or learn more, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation. This program is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine. Kimberly Brown led this meditation session on February 27, 2019. To view a related artwork for this week's session, please visit: rubinmuseum.org/events/event/Kimberly-Brown-02-27-2019

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast. I'm your host, Dawn Eshelman. Every Wednesday at the Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea, we present a meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of our weekly practice. If you would like to join us in person, please visit our website at rubinmuseum.org meditation. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center. In the description for each episode, you will find information about the theme for that week's session,

including an image of a related artwork chosen from the Rubin Museum's permanent collection. And now, please enjoy your practice. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome. Welcome to the Rubin Museum of Art and to our weekly mindfulness meditation practice. My name is Donna Schulman. Great to have you all here. And also, welcome to folks listening on our podcast. We do podcasts, all of these for free. You can find them on our website. If you ever miss a session or you just need a quick little free meditation, they're there. So we've been talking all month about power. And we are having actually a year-long conversation about power here at the museum

through the lens of our collection and some really interesting exhibitions upstairs. And power that we're kind of defining here is something that is within us and between us. And that's our jumping off point. So this month we've taken a look at a lot of different expressions of power through our collection and different artworks and also different perspectives on what power means to a meditation practice. And today we'll hear another perspective from Kimberly Brown, who's here with us. But first, we'll take a little bit of a closer look here at this figure that has been looming in front of you as you have entered. And this is a really interesting one artistically, which I'll get into in a second. This figure is Kakamora Karma Mahakala. Mahakala is a wrathful protector deity, a wrathful emanation of Shiva from Hinduism.

And we've talked about wrathful protectors many times here. The fact that they are just as important as peaceful emanations and that they have a really important purpose. a really important purpose. And that protective energy is fierce and incisive and really useful as a form of power when it is intentional and not reactive. Mahakala, I think, is so interesting as this emanation of Shiva, who is really the creator and transformer of the universe. You know, a little bit of power there for you. But from a just a visual and artistic point of view here, we're looking at what is known as a black painting. So this is a black background. And on it, we have very many colors for traditionally what a black painting usually looks like. It's usually a little bit more monochromatic or a couple of different shades. But here we have all kinds of colors and all kinds of detail and symbolism to unpack.

So we'll just look at a couple things here. But then, of course, you know that you can join Jeremy outside of the theater when we are finished here, and he'll take you up to the galleries for a closer and a more in-depth look. And there's just so much coding and symbolism to unpack. So we see the central figure, Mahakala. He actually has a raven's head and a red hat. And this and some other elements here let us know that in fact, this is a Bhutanese painting. Mahakala was very popular in Bhutanese practices of Buddhism. And the red hat notes that he is of the Drukpa Kagyu tradition. And there is above him a teacher, it's hard to see right now, who also has that red hat.

So just some symbolism there. I think the ring of skulls around his neck here is echoed here on either side by figures that have similar beautiful necklaces. And of course there's this consort that's right in the middle here, this bright red figure. And then we have the raven's wings kind of coming out on either side. And this is all surrounded by this red and yellow flickering flame. So it's just an unusually wide palette of colors and very vibrant to see and gives this kind of palpable sense and experience of visual power so kimberly brown is here with us today

and it's great to have you back kimberly she's the executive director of the interdependence project and a graduate of its meditation teacher training program. She leads mindfulness and compassion classes, workshops, and retreats, and she studied American and Tibetan Buddhism and practices loving-kindness meditation. Her teaching methods integrate depth psychology, compassion training, and traditional Buddhist techniques as a means to help everyone reconnect to their inherent clarity and openness. Please welcome her back, Kimberly Brown. Hi, everyone.

Thanks for coming out on such a cold afternoon. Before we begin, it's possible that some of you are a little disappointed that Sharon Salzberg is not here today. And I have to tell you, I too am a little disappointed that Sharon Salzberg is not here today. She's a dear benefactor and mentor to me and one of my main teachers. So today at the end of our practice, we'll dedicate our efforts here today to her recovery. So this raven-headed Mahakala. I'm not familiar with the kind with ravens on their head, but I've seen many times the Mahakalas that look like fierce monsters and they have six or eight arms. I was upstairs in the shrine room, the Tibetan shrine room last month, and there's at least one, maybe two, big, black, scary Mahakalas.

My friend said, are those evil demons? I said, well, they're beneficial demons, right? They have the same power and the same fierceness and the same strength as what maybe here in the West we would consider evil. And yet they're great bodhisattvas, and so their intention is to benefit us. And there, as John said, there are manifestations of theiteshvara, and Chenrezig is the Tibetan name for the god of compassion and wisdom. And these are kind of the other side of the coin, if you will, the head and the tail, the wisdom and the compassion of these same qualities.

Malakala is, as a bodhisattva, what he brings and what Dharma protectors bring is a balance. They balance out compassion and patience and calm abiding with energy, with fierceness, with power, with mindfulness, right? Persistence. These are all very powerful qualities, and they're necessary for our practice. And they're necessary for our practice. If you study in the Tibetan tradition, you'll be given different deities sometimes to practice with. They're called yidams, Y-I-D-A-M, yidam.

Mahakala is a type of yidam and all of the deities I just mentioned. And it's very important to remember for each of us that all of these qualities that we talk about, they're not outside of you. Each one of us have all of these qualities. And to look upon these paintings, these artworks as metaphors for our own mindstream, right? And each one of us need to have confidence and energy, diligence, right, to practice, to practice cutting through what are called obscurations to our clear mind. Those obscurations are anger, hatred, ignorance, greediness.

And another aspect of using these deities and using these powers that we have is to cultivate our intentions, which we talked about here last month. And these intentions lead us to manifest our own power, the human power that each one of us have. That power is for us to orient our actions, our words, our behaviors in ways that benefit ourselves and others and ways that don't harm ourselves and others. The Rubin Museum has a theme of power within and between. And the power that each one of us have is compassion and wisdom and love. They're really the same.

You can't separate any of those qualities. And each of us have the ability to cultivate that and practice that. When I first came to study Buddhism, in a lot of the texts, they talk about the wish-fulfilling gem. If you go upstairs in the galleries, you'll probably see some Buddhas,

and they hold this, it looks like a big egg or a big round vase or something. They hold it in their hands right above their belly, between their heart and their belly. And that's the wish-fulfilling gem. And when I first learned of it, it seemed sort of contradictory to what I knew of Buddhism. There's not a lot of greed in Buddhism, and there's an idea that we want what we have, what we are mindful of.

So it puzzled me until I understood and learned that the wish-fulfilling gem is a metaphor for our own hearts, our own heart minds, and that each one of us actually possess this. I don't call myself a spiritual teacher, and I actually have no belief in any sort of God or anything outside of us. I have a deep faith and a deep belief that each human being has these qualities that we can cultivate and develop. And part of my work is helping and encouraging people to manifest their own power. manifest their own power because in spiritual communities, religious communities, there's a tendency for people to want to give up their power to other people, people who seem smarter or more special or idealized, right? And maybe we give up our power by wanting other people to tell us what's right and wrong, what's ethical, instead of using our own wisdom.

We also go to special people to offer prayers and blessings. prayers and blessings. And all of us, each person here, has enough power and wisdom and compassion to use these tools and develop them and be your own moral authority. Also offer blessings to yourself and everyone that you come in contact with to cultivate your intention

and to create auspicious actions. There was a story I was told a long time ago, I guess by, I think it's a Zen story. An ordinary woman goes to visit her very wealthy friend. She stays at her enormously wonderful estate. While she's there, her wealthy friend gives her servant a precious emerald. She says, please, a precious emerald.

She says, please, sew this jewel into my friend's clothing. And the wealthy woman wanted to do this because she knew her friend would never accept such a valuable gift. So the servant did this and sewed it into the ordinary woman's clothes. The ordinary woman left after a few days, and as what happens sometimes in life,

they lost touch, and they didn't see each other for a long time, these two friends. One day in the marketplace, the wealthy woman saw her friend, and she was begging and destitute. And she ran to her and said, Don't you know you have a priceless jewel in your clothes, on you? You possess it. Of course, the woman checked her clothes, and she did have it.

And that's each one of us. So we are going to today practice this power of loving kindness, of compassion, and we're going to also bring our confidence, our own mahakala into our practice, right? The confidence to, you know, we tell people, sit up straight, stand up. That's what we're saying in your practice, too. The great teacher, Tenzin Palmo, she says that we are gods acting like monkeys. Gods acting like monkeys.

So these edams encourage us to remember our wish-fulfilling gem, our potential, and manifest it through practice, through energy. So today in practicing love and kindness, we're going to practice just for three beings. We're going to practice for ourselves, someone dear to us, and we'll also then practice for this group. As many of us will practice with our eyes closed before we take our meditation seat, I encourage all of you to take a look around you.

Take a look at all the faces in this room, different ages and genders and colors, okay? And take everyone into your practice with you. So you can go ahead and take a position that's comfortable. If you're feeling sleepy today, I suggest you keep your eyes open, or you can stand up, okay? Okay. Or you can stand up. Okay.

You can go ahead and just take a few conscious breaths. Maybe three... Noticing where you are. You're here at the Rubin Museum. You may have come here from home or work, school, responsibilities. Just letting yourself be here, noticing your feet, your seat, your belly, allowing sound to enter your ears. Enter your ears. Taking a moment to allow your intention to arise.

Your intention is that which brought you here. You could be doing anything here in New York City, but you've chosen on a very cold afternoon to join a group of people and practice kindness, clarity, mindfulness. And really thank yourself. Appreciate that very special intention. Bringing your attention to your feet, your seat, your belly, relaxing your shoulder blades, relaxing the back of your head,

relaxing your forehead, your cheeks, and your jaw, allowing sound to enter your ears. Noticing your feet, your seat, your belly, bringing your attention to your shoulder blades, the back of your head, your forehead, your cheeks, your jaw, allowing sound to enter your ears, ears. Resting your attention on your heart center, the center of your chest. And allowing a sense of yourself to arise. Now you could visualize looking at yourself in the mirror. arise. Now you could visualize looking at yourself in the mirror. You could see yourself as a child.

You could just have a sense of your presence and offering loving kindness. May I be filled with loving kindness. May I be free from fear. May I be safe, may I be healthy. May I be filled with loving kindness, may I be free from fear. May I be safe, may I be healthy. May I be filled with loving kindness, may I be free from fear. May I be safe, may I be healthy. And taking a moment to continue silently offering these phrases to yourself so you're giving yourself a gift. Thank you. So so noticing where your mind is if you've strayed from these phrases

coming back using your energy your black maha kala come back begin again Thank you. Thank you. May I be filled with loving kindness. May I be free from fear. May I be safe, may I be healthy, moving your attention away from this sense of yourself, feeling your feet, noticing your seat, your belly,

feeling your shoulder blades in the back of your head, relaxing your forehead and your cheeks and your jaw. Allowing sound to enter your ears. If you're feeling sleepy, use this energy. Sit up a little straighter. You can open your eyes and let them gaze softly at the ground. and open your eyes and let them gaze softly at the ground. And now bringing to your mind, your heart, a dear one.

This means someone that you have a loving relationship with that's very easy. It could be a dear old friend, a teacher, a pet. And bringing them to your heart, to your mind, you might have an image of them, their smell, just their presence, and offering loving-kindness to them. May you be filled with loving-kindness. May you be free from fear. May you be safe. May you be filled with loving kindness. May you be free from fear. May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you be filled with loving kindness. May you be free from fear.

May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you be filled with loving kindness. May you be free from fear. May you be safe. May you be healthy. Continuing on your own, so you're giving a gift to this dear one. Thank you. noticing where you are if your mind is wandering and you're planning or remembering calling on your own fierce protector coming back starting again Thank you. Thank you. May you be filled with loving kindness.

May you be free from fear. May you be safe. May you be healthy. Moving your attention away from this dear one. Feeling your feet. Noticing your seat and your belly. Bringing your attention to your shoulder blades and the back of your head, relaxing your forehead and your cheeks and your jaw, and allowing now allowing all of us

everyone here to arise in your heart in your mind and offering us loving kindness may we be filled with loving kindness. May we be free from fear. May we be safe.

May we be healthy. May we be filled with loving kindness. May we be free from fear. May we be safe. May we be healthy. May we be filled with loving kindness. May we be free from fear. May we be healthy. May we be filled with loving kindness. May we be free from fear. May we be safe. May we be healthy. Continuing on your own. Thank you. Thank you.... May we be filled with love and kindness. May we be free from fear.

May we be safe. May we be healthy. Moving your attention away from these phrases. Feeling your feet. Experiencing your seat, your belly, relaxing your shoulder blades, relaxing the back of your head, gently feeling your forehead, your cheeks, and your jaw, allowing sound to enter your ears, bringing your attention to your heart center, and tapping into your power, your intention, your effort, your mindfulness, your compassion, and allowing the qualities of loving-kindness to radiate from your heart center,

in front of you, to all the beings in front of you. Other people, lots of insects, all across New York City, the next state, across the world. And the beings behind you, the beings to your right, the beings to your left, the beings above and below. So now you're radiating like a little sun of loving kindness. Animals, humans, fish, birds, may you have safety.

May you be free from danger. May you be healthy. May you be free from danger. May you be healthy. May you be happy. May all beings live with ease and comfort. People you like, people you don't like. Whales in the ocean and horrible little centipedes, Republicans and Democrats, people that speak English, people that don't speak English. May you be happy. May you have freedom from suffering.

May you live with joy. May you have safety and freedom from danger. May you have good health. May you thrive. The qualities of loving kindness of wisdom are boundless immeasurable

they're also indiscriminate so like a sun our qualities fall on everyone around us, all beings, including ourselves, those who deserve it and those who don't. The Buddhist suttas, the early texts, tell us that we can radiate like a great trumpeter Tell us that we can radiate like a great trumpeter plays his music in all directions. May all beings be safe and happy and healthy. So you can bring your attention back to your feet, to your seat and your belly,

feeling your forehead and your cheeks and your jaw. When you're ready, you can bring your attention back to this group and our conversation. Everyone can open your eyes whenever you're ready. Thank you, everyone. Pleasure seeing you again. That concludes this week's practice. If you'd like to attend in person, please check out our website, rubinmuseum.org slash meditation to learn more.

Sessions are free to Rubin Museum members, just one of the many benefits of membership. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.