Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 04/03/2019 with Tracy Cochran

Episode Date: April 4, 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 14:20. 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. Tracy Cochran led this meditation session on April 3, 2019. To view a related artwork for this week's session, please visit: http://rubinmuseum.org/events/event/tracy-cochran-04-03-2019

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 to the Rubin Museum of Art and to our weekly mindfulness meditation practice. Great to have you all here. We are beginning this month of April with a new theme, and that is action. Something that we don't talk a ton about in our meditation practice. But as we've explored really this concept of power that we're having this year-long conversation about here at the Rubin Museum, we have also talked about intention,

sort of what leads up to action, and then reflection, the reflective practice that can come after action. So this month we're talking about the action itself. And you'll see behind me a figure that is really illustrative of action. This is Siddha Lakshmi, this is from Nepal. The inscription is 1796. And this is the patron deity of the Mala kings of the Kathmandu Valley and their descendants from about the 13th century to the 18th century. And her principal function is to turn back negative forces. to turn back negative forces. So, you know, in some traditions that's called evil or malicious spirits. And she is also associated with Durga,

another figure that is often depicted with these multiple limbs and brandishing multiple weapons. So multi-headed, multi-armed, she is white in color and peaceful in appearance. And she is gently supported by her consort, Shiva. So it's not often that we see a female deity supported by a female consort. It's interesting. that we see a female deity supported by a female consort. It's interesting. And so I'll just ask you as we're talking about action today to imagine if you had, you know, maybe 10 limbs and you're a busy New Yorker walking down the street, what would be in your hands? What would be your, quote, weapons of action? What would be the tools that you would most desire to have in your hands so that you could take action? And sure, we might dedicate one to a cup of coffee and one to a cell phone. But maybe beyond that,

But maybe beyond that, symbolic or practical, what would be in your hands? Tracy Cochran is with us today. Welcome back, Tracy. She is a writer and the editorial director of the quarterly magazine Parabola, which is beautiful and so rich and inspiring. And it can be found online at parabola.org and upstairs in the shop. She has been a student of meditation and other spiritual practices for decades. And in addition to the Rubin, she currently teaches at New York Insight and every Sunday at Hudson River Sangha in Tarrytown. And you can find her writings and teaching schedule on Parabola Facebook and Twitter and TracyCochran.org. Please welcome her back, Tracy Cochran. Hi. And I'm wondering if anybody here today might be carrying a little bit of stress or anxiety or heartache or feeling tired.

Does anyone feel a little tired? And I want to invite you in joining me in an experiment that I've been practicing since I got on the train to come here. Without, you don't even have to close your eyes, but it's nice sometimes to Invite yourself to imagine the women in your life who have helped you or supported you or cared for you. It can include your mother but it needn't be just your mother, it could be friends, co-workers, people who have inspired you. And think about the qualities they have that have helped you. And I would like to quote the writer Elizabeth Gilbert who offered that the women who inspired and helped her with their grace and their strength did not get that way because shit worked out.

They got that way because it didn't work out. And they handled it. In other words, the quality that attracts me anyway, That attracts me anyway. When the chips are down, isn't a relentless sense of a superiority. Or it's a quality of being available. For one thing, available.

Open to you. When I see that goddess with all her arms, I think of how wonderful it would be to get a hug from her big warm hug. And it's interesting that we very often think of action as something big and obvious, but an action is also opening, opening to receive with no judgment. It's also seeing and listening, again, without judgment and with the kind of compassion that comes from having been there. Even if they don't have exactly the same details that you have, they have an intention to be with you. And many times these very qualities of openness and compassion and even wisdom are equated with the feminine.

In many traditions, even in the Christian tradition, wisdom is feminine. Sophia, Sophia, that which sees, which receives. And it's interesting, one of the things that's exciting about Buddhism is that it's still growing. It's still, texts are even now being discovered and translated for the first time. And what is beginning to emerge in the past few decades are the women in the Buddha's life. in the Buddha's life. And it begins to emerge that the Buddha wasn't just surrounded by women.

He didn't just have a mother and a stepmother and a wife, actually three wives, and according to some accounts, a harem of, wait for it, 60,000 women. I risk saying that this was probably an exaggeration. But the point is, he was surrounded by women women and he came of age in a culture that was actually matriarchal. His mother gave birth in a grove that was sacred to women and inhabited by a goddess who protected women in childbirth. And it's fascinating to know that when he left home, first of all, he laughed amidst enormous sorrow.

Everybody was crying, even his horse. The horse that carried him away was so sad. And his principal wife was so angry and sad she even yelled at the poor horse, who was like, why are you blaming me? At any rate, when the Buddha went forth, as it's called, he went forth carrying the love of all these women. And when he went into the forest, he sat beneath a tree that was inhabited by a goddess who nurtured and supported and protected him while he sat.

Isn't that interesting to consider? He wasn't alone. He wasn't alone. There was this ambient caring that women and mothers represent. He was cared about. His own mother died days after his birth, His own mother died days after his birth, and she watched over him as an angel, even as he sat.

And when he was enlightened, she rushed to the palace to tell his father and his stepmother, her sister. Taking the form of a servant, she appeared in the middle of the night and gave them the good news. And anyone here who has lain awake at night worrying about their children can relate to this impulse. But the point, and it's a rich point for our practice, is that the Buddha didn't go forth to disappear forever. to disappear forever. He went away saying, I will come back when I have found something

that I can share that will help us all be free. It kind of tilts everything, doesn't it? And think that when he left home and he was entirely alone, he was surrounded by those qualities of caring that I invited you to remember. to remember the tree and of course that famous moment

when he reaches down to touch the earth also portrayed as feminine who rises up to say yes you belong here.

I'm with you. Notice how it feels inside you right now, even if you're feeling stress or sorrow or anxiety or fatigue, to let yourself feel those qualities that have helped you and brought you comfort and support. It's interesting, isn't it? So we can all sit here together but feel less alone, less frightened. I tried this walking through the streets of New York City. It's amazing. I encourage you to try it, to walk with the love that you have received and let it buoy you up

and to think as a last thought after the Buddha achieved the state of enlightenment, the whole natural world, all the trees rejoiced. Even before, when he just sat down, they burst into bloom. So happy that he was going to dedicate himself to realizing his full potential as a human being. Imagine, allow yourself to feel that right now as we go into sitting, that this action that you're taking, That this action that you're taking, and it is an action of letting go of thinking and coming home, coming home to your experience in this body, in this heart, in this moment, is an action that can potentially help the entire world and all worlds.

So let yourself take your seat. Sitting up straight. Letting your back be straight, and let the attention come to the body exactly as you find it, without poking or prodding or judging. Just let the attention come to rest with kindness on the body. the body and everything that's happening inside it. And notice that attention itself is an action that brings softening, relaxing, opening.

And as you experience this beginning to happen, let the attention come to the breathing without seeking to change And the sensation of sitting here now. And notice how much life is inside you. Sensation, energy, and a light of attention that isn't thinking, it's receiving, seeing. And when you get taken by your thinking and planning and memories. Notice this with great gentleness, no judgment. And bring the attention home. Letting yourself feel welcomed here, really welcome, exactly as you are, with no exceptions, no exclusions. Thank you. Let yourself come home and notice how it feels to be allowed to be exactly as you are. Thank you. There is a stillness that is not silence. It's not eliminating but accepting everything. Thank you. Notice that there is an opening that begins to happen, a softening of borders. Thank you. As we come home, we begin to open to a presence that's inside us and also outside. No separation. Thank you. If you feel lost, come home noticing how it feels to belong to this moment, this life, to be welcome Thank you. Notice that there is a presence around us and inside that isn't separate from wisdom and compassion. Thank you. With each breath, notice that you are not separate from wisdom and compassion, that That there's a responsiveness in you that's kind. Thank you. Thank you. As we come home, we begin to notice that we're participating in something in life. We're not apart from it. We are part of it. And welcome to be a part. Thank you. Thank you. Notice that there is a presence inside you and outside that loves without judgment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you, everyone. 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.