Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 06/05/2019 with Tracy Cochran

Episode Date: June 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 19:45. 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 June 5, 2019. To view a related artwork for this week's session, please visit: https://rubinmuseum.org/mediacenter/tracy-cochran-06-05-2019-podcast

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. Welcome all of you. Welcome those who are listening to our podcast. It's great to have you all here, to be with you and share this practice together. We are having a year-long conversation all about power here at the museum. As many of you know, the power within us, the power between us, what the nature of true power really is. And we're talking this month here in our mindfulness practice about the idea of empowerment, empowerment. And from a secular point of view, this idea of empowerment, point of view, this idea of empowerment, I think is something that we can apply to an experience in our everyday lives, right? That feeling of being empowered by someone else or by ourselves,

or the feeling that we can empower ourselves by sitting down and meditating once in a while. And in the Buddhist practice, this term empowerment has a very specific meaning, particularly in Tibetan Buddhism and Tantric Buddhism, Vajrayana. This term is something that actually is a ritualized experience that practitioners engage in with their teachers, their gurus, and it is a way of developing and furthering one's practice, right? So to receive an empowerment would mean to gather with your guru and or others in a group or not, and to receive a particular teaching in a very ritualized way. So where there are offerings provided and objects are used, there's chanting, there are mudras or symbols

with the hands, and many other elements involved here in this type of ritualized learning. But I think what's so interesting about that is this idea that really it's not about the guru giving something to the student. It is about the student waking up to potential that is already within themselves through this kind of relational experience. So we'll look at a couple of ritual objects that are used in this kind of empowerment experience. This is the two that are the most common ritual implements used in Tibetan Buddhism in the practice, and not just in empowerments, but throughout the practice. And these symbols are, of course, the vajra, which is a type of scepter here. Let's see it. There we go. The vajra, this scepter, which is on your left, and looks kind of like a lightning bolt.

And it symbolizes compassion, but not just any kind of compassion, compassion that has some action kind of embedded in it. And it is, again, that energy of the lightning bolt that we can think of here, you know, this power of a scepter to kind of point towards something. And the other, the bell, represents the wisdom. And wisdom in this case, in this context, is very closely related to emptiness, right?

This idea that we can find a kind of truth in the knowledge that emptiness, and in the knowledge, that emptiness. And in other words, our interconnectedness is everything. So when the Vajra and the bell are used in an empowerment ritual, their combined compassion and wisdom are a means to liberation. Compassion and wisdom are the kind of the two keys to liberation in Buddhist thinking. So today, as we consider this idea of empowerment, I just invite you to

think of a time where you were lifted up by someone in a relational way, or even just, you know, with yourself, whether that was in a kind of ritualized experience or not. Just kind of call that to mind, empowerment. So Tracy Cochran is back with us. It's so nice to have you here, Tracy. She is a writer and the editorial director of the quarterly magazine Parabola. Here's the new one. It's called The Wild. So you can find that upstairs in the shop if you like or in many other places, including parabola.org. And in addition to teaching here at the Rubin, she currently teaches at New York Insight,

where on June 22nd she'll be giving a workshop on writing and meditation. And stay tuned. She'll be giving a workshop on writing and meditation. And stay tuned. She'll be giving a similar workshop here in August as well, and we'll be sure to let you know about that. It'll be on a Saturday. And she also teaches every Sunday at the Hudson River Sangha in Tarrytown, New York. And you can find her writings and teaching schedule online at Parabola

or on Facebook and Twitter and TracyCochran.org. Please welcome her back, Tracy Cochran. I'm so happy to be back. And I have to admit, I picked these two ritual objects because something inside me said, Who says these objects have some kind of special power? Because in the description that was sent to me, in the description that was sent to me, it said that this ritual involving this Vajra and bell is necessary for me, for you, for others to access their inner compassion and wisdom.

inner compassion and wisdom. So the first response we might have is, is that so? Is that so? It's quite emphatic. It says to not have this is to be like a boatman without oars. And I thought, well, this will be really interesting to begin a talk on a note of strong objection. But really, it's not just objection, but questioning. Who says? Who makes these rituals? And deeper than that, who empowers these people who do these rituals? Do they empower us? What is going on here? You know, the skeptical part of me would say,

it sounds a little bit like hierarchy, that certain people have power and they dispense it to other people. But I learned something very interesting. Years ago, Parabola did an issue called Power. And within it, there was a very interesting piece about horses and being with horses and wild horses. And it was interesting to know that among other great horsemen was the Buddha. Before he woke up, he was raised as a prince,

and he was gifted, according to some stories, in taming wild stallions. And so were many other great leaders. Alexander the Great, for example, there's a famous story where there was a horse that nobody, nobody could approach. And Alexander, still a boy, noticed that the horse was afraid of his shadow. So he turned the horse into the sun and slowly won the trust of the horse. And the person who wrote this story for Prabala described being with a wild, wild horse, very damaged, traumatized, tortured at one point. tortured at one point and she learned that what she had to do

was be fully present with the horse just for moments at a time to feel the fear that came up in her that the horse was giving to her and slowly, slowly, slowly, she and this horse became a team, became one, as Alexander did with his great horse who became his great friend, as the Buddha did with his horse who apparently cried and cried and cried after the Buddha left and by some accounts died of a heartbreak. It's so sad, except that he was reincarnated as a Brahma. And the point, and everything worked out eventually.

And the touching thing is that it led me, going back to who says, who says, who is empowered, really? I go back to that image of the Buddha facing his deepest terror and his greatest desires and anxieties in Mara, greatest desires and anxieties in Mara and he calmly and regally bends down and touches the earth. He takes his stand. He is taking a stand and yet he's open, he's compassionate, he's wise, he noticing. And Eureka, apparently these are the qualities you need to have to tame a wild horse. You can't be all nice and kind. I had a big black Labrador who used to push me around. I had to learn to take a stand and also be kind and open.

This quality of empowerment is a quality of taking a stand, being present, a quality of taking a stand, being present, daring to say, here I am, but also being in relationship with what confronts you, whether it's a horse or your own most tormented feelings or loved ones or big groups of people. You can transmit by your state, by your willingness to be open and not run and not shut down. You can convey strength and calm to others. This is the truth. Apparently, George Washington, my last horse story, another great, but it's very instructive. He had also a wonderful horse. And horses are very sensitive. They don't like loud sounds. They're very present.

They're very open. They're not grasping. They're not predators. They hate war. They hate the sounds. They scream. Except that Washington's horse, Washington was so calm, he took his seat and conveyed that to the horse so that eyewitness accounts, these soldiers who were starving and in rags and ready to run, touched the horse and took strength and held their ground.

This is empowerment. It's not self-enclosed. It's open. It's a willingness to be present to what comes. And going back to the objects, the rituals, I think I've been reflecting since I was invited to come that these special rituals sometimes invite us to see our own power, our own capacity to sense and respond in a new way, because it lifts us out of the ordinary.

because it lifts us out of the ordinary. But the secret is that it's always possible. The sacred is always in the bread and the wine. You can't separate it. But when something calls us to attention, sometimes we see that we're so much greater body, heart, and mind than we think. We are lifted out of memory and even our sensations are memories. And we expand to, when I look at those objects, they remind me of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.

She was given a scepter and a sphere. And in that moment, what was asked from her wasn't to be all puffed up, but complete humility, selflessness. I mean, we won't get into the British Empire right now, but she was taking a seat that allowed her to channel the wishes and welfare of beings more than herself. And when I see the Buddha touch the earth, I remember that he was raised to assume this kind of responsibility

or care for horses, for others. And I was touched, we just saw the queen, some of us, also a great horse woman, had her ability to be present with even a wild being, a demon, with a quiet dignity, a kind of serious, a regal. She had her purse, of course, which we know the purse is a signaling device. It's like when she puts the purse on the other side, it's like, get me the hell out of here. But even without the signaling device,

what she had inside her, what we all have inside us, was a capacity to take a seat in the center of life and to be open to the possibility that we're more than we think, we're more than we think, we're more than we remember. We have capacities for wisdom and compassion and love and participation that are completely unknown to us. that are completely unknown to us.

So why don't we sit and experience this? So notice how it feels to take a noble seat with your back straight and your feet planted firmly. And notice just how it feels to be here today. And grant yourself your full welcome. You're welcome here. With no judgment. And notice things are here, feelings, thoughts. With no comments, no judgments. And notice how the light of this attention begins to soften and calm you.

And as the softening begins to happen, let the attention come to the breath. Without seeking to change it, just let the attention ride the breath. Inner body breathing. And see that when you start to think or get taken by feeling, you can gently come home again and discover a light of attention that doesn't judge you, that waits for you to come home to it. And see as you begin to soften that there is a vibrancy inside you, a life that isn't from wisdom and compassion. Thank you. We begin to sense an energy inside and also between us. and also between us, we see that we can relax and open together, that there is something Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. See how it is to be in the sunlight of a kind attention, open and welcoming. Thank you. When you get lost, you just come home. Notice that stillness doesn't mean silence, it just means softness, not resisting, openness. Thank you. Thank you. As you practice coming home, you may begin to sense that there is a life inside you that to be present, naturally responsive, naturally kind. It wants to be here. Thank you.... We begin to see that there is a presence here inside, outside, a finer energy that isn't separate from seeing, not separate from compassion or wisdom. Thank you. Notice how it is to be seen by an attention that doesn't judge. And see that there is a willingness inside, a willingness to be seen, to be here. Thank you. Thank you. 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.