Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 4/11/2018 with Tracy Cochran

Episode Date: April 12, 2018

Every Wednesday, the Rubin Museum of Art presents a meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of the weekly practice. If you would like to attend in person, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation to learn more. This program is supported in part by the Hemera Foundation with thanks to our presenting partners Sharon Salzberg, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine. Tracy Cochran led this meditation session on April 11, 2018. To view a related artwork for this week's session, please visit: http://rubinmuseum.org/events/event/tracy-cochran-04-11-2018

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. The series is supported in part by the Hemera Foundation.

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. And now, please enjoy your practice. We are talking about transforming obstacles this month. And today we're looking at a beautiful object that is actually a portable shrine. This is a Mani shrine, and it is of the Copper Palace of Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava is known as the second Buddha who brought Buddhism to Tibet.

And according to the legend, after Padmasambhava left Tibet, he went here to reside, to live in his pure land on top of a copper-colored mountain where he still resides today. So if you take a look at this object, at the very top, you can see this kind of lotus throne with a parasol on top, and that is Padmasambhava sitting there, that little figure at the top. And, you know, often when we look together at mandalas, I describe them to you as kind of a bird's eye view of a palace. And in fact, that is something that you can see here, if you'd like. You can imagine being a bird over this palace, looking above it. And in fact, you could draw kind of mandala shape. And from the architecture here that you see kind of the circle and squares coming in together into the very center. So this is from Bhutan. It is 18th, 19th century painted wood and clay. And this object is about two and a half to three feet tall, and it was likely carried through Bataan and used as a prop by traveling storytellers,

who would then use it to recount the great achievements of Padmasambhava. recount the great achievements of Padmasambhava. And as you open up all of the layers of the shrine, more and more detail is revealed to you. So perhaps we can use this today as a metaphor for carrying what's important to us wherever we go, and also how we can really transform something by looking closely at the details. Tracy Cochran is our teacher today, and it's so nice to have her kind of in residency here with us. We were joking earlier, she's our house band. She is a writer and editorial director of the quarterly magazine Parabola, which can be found online at parabola.org and also upstairs at the shop. She's been a student of meditation and other spiritual practices for decades.

She is currently teaching a mindful writing class, which drop-ins are welcome to. And there are four Mondays left of this mindful writing class. It's at New York Insight, if you want to join. And in addition to teaching here at the Rubin, she teaches at New York Insight and every Sunday at Hudson River Sangha in Tarrytown, New York. You can find her writing on Parabola, Facebook, Twitter, and TracyCochran.org. Please welcome her back, Tracy Cochran. Please welcome her back, Tracy Cochran. I'm delighted to be the house band, the house wine, take your pick, metaphor. And I was happy to pick this beautiful image of a traveling shrine. of a traveling shrine. Because I think the heart of this practice for us

is being able to take it anywhere, in the midst of any situation. And also because it reminds us that we really are on a journey. It's not just a worn out cliche to say that. We are. We're traveling. Whether we consent to this or not, we're in movement. And when I was preparing for this, I had to laugh because I read a blog post by the wonderful Anne Lamott about happening to see her reflection in a mirror in Target

under those horrible fluorescent lights. And much to her shock, she saw an ancient goat herd lurking back and instantly, instantly made a note to herself that she must never wear Icelandic knitwear with ear flaps because it would complete the look and you know what she's talking about this ancient man looking back at her and she had just recovered just soothed herself with

her great faith from the trauma of accidentally looking into a magnifying mirror in a hotel. Have you ever done that? Like in hotel bathrooms? And the magnification is like times 30. And she said, even God doesn't want to look at me that closely. And this is how it feels. We can feel that we've made such extraordinary efforts. And still, this is happening to us. Still, we're being carried along with our consent or without our consent on this bumpy journey. And it can be very, very rough some days. And what can accompany us? us? What can accompany us? And I was reading some of the earliest, earliest texts about the Buddha and his enlightenment. And it was fascinating to discover, first of all, in the earliest versions, when he makes his decision to go sit under the Bodhi tree, he makes his resolve, I'm going to wake up.

I'm going to wake up, and I won't stand up until I do. It seems like all of creation rejoices and joins him. There are these wonderful, extravagant, juicy passages about how even this old naga, this big snake king from the underworld wakes up to accompany him. And he's kind of grumpy at first, but recognizes that this bodhisattva means business. And he's going to join the bodhisattvas that have come before him

because there have been others. So the naga has a wife and the wife has attendants and they all join. And then the tree goddesses join in. And more and more and more and there's this lavish and wonderful procession to join the Buddha at the tree. And everyone's singing, everyone's delighted. And all over the world miracles start happening. People who are nervous calm down. And that is a miracle, don't you find? It's a small miracle. The blind can see. The sick are healed, even with the expectation that he's going to sit down. And the tree itself explodes into light and is dripping with jewels by some accounts. And of course the Buddha himself in all accounts is described as radiant. He glows. Even before he's awakened he glows. There's something special about him. But here's the interesting thing.

When he sits down and Mara, the devil, the demon of his deepest fears, appears. Mara starts live streaming. Maybe you know this experience. His deepest fears. Pictures of what's happening at home while he's sitting there, all kinds of things, anxieties of all kinds. Suddenly the Buddha is alone, all alone. And this is how it feels when we face obstacles,

regardless of what that obstacle is. Maybe it's unwelcome news from the doctor, or maybe a lawsuit. Maybe you found out you've been hurt, or somebody's stabbed you in the back. Oh, so many things can happen that create hurt and anxiety and torment. And the very first thing that happens is that we can feel quite alone. It's like the world goes dark.

It's unfriendly. Where's the naga now? He is nowhere. So the interesting thing is the Buddha is standing up to Mara with his mind, but then he goes a step further And he starts to open his heart and remember, remember, this echoes what I was trying to convey last week. If my mother's not here, then truth is my mother. My aspiration to truth, that's what we say, he could say, my realization of truth. And wisdom is my father. My wish to become wise is my father. And my aspiration to understand the Dharma is my brother. And kindness are my friends.

And my faith and my possibilities are my family. Like that. And still Mara tries to terrify him with the size of his mighty armies. And he lies about all his accomplishments and abilities. Don't you just hate it when world leaders do that? He brags and brags and brags and brags about all his missiles and all his might. And the Buddha looks at him,

and of course we know I've repeated it many times, he touches the earth. But before he touches the earth, he says, Mara, you can't stand up against the family I bring, against my armies, my armies of remembering kindness and truth and wisdom and possibility. And he touches the earth, and the earth, he says, is impartial. She supports everybody, and she will bear witness to my truth and my intention.

And we know what happens next. But in this version, I was reading this early version, some scholars shared with me, the whole earth shakes. It's the whole earth quakes and shakes and rejoices. And he awakens. And there's a feeling that doing this, he does it for everybody. And there's a feeling that doing this, he does it for everybody.

And so back to Anne Lamott, the ancient goat herd. And she writes this on the occasion of the shocking discovery that she's turned 64, older than she's ever been. before, older than she's ever been. And everything can start to feel like it's slipping away. Glasses, the memory of what you read last night or what you ate for lunch. But this doesn't need to be construed as something to fear. We remind ourselves of the goodness in the world, those moments of kindness, and not just in the world, but in ourselves. In order to come here today, in order to make it to this room, there were innumerable seconds, moments, instants of compassion in you, generosity in you, I invite all of us to realize that this is our traveling shrine.

No matter what we're going through, no matter what, we can remember. Even if you can't access some beautiful act of goodness that you perform, maybe if you're feeling you've done harm and that's weighing heavy on you, you can open to what you're doing right in that instant, which is turning your attention to yourself with kindness and with a wish to open to truth, to wisdom, to the Dharma, to the faith that there's more than darkness,

that more will come, a light will come, a wisdom. So why don't we practice? Don't just take my word for it. So we plant our feet firmly on the floor and we let our back be straight, our head be free, and know that we're really taking our place on the earth, we're taking our seat knowing that we have a right to be sitting here, that we have earned our space in a very real sense with our interest and our intention to turn towards ourselves with an attention that is not judging, that is kind. And notice how the body responds when we turn this attention to it. It begins to relax and to wake up. We notice the vibrancy inside. And as you notice it softening just a bit, bring the attention to the breathing, noticing

the in-breath and the out-breath without trying to alter it in any way. Just notice the rhythm of the in and out or the sensation of the air entering and leaving the nostrils picking one focus for today. And instantly we notice all kinds of sensations, tensions, and thoughts. and thoughts. And we let everything be exactly as it is, without judgment, with an attitude of kind acceptance.

And when we notice we are carried by thinking or images or feelings, we gently come back body in this moment.... Noticing that as we let ourselves make this movement of return, of sati, of remembering the present moment, we begin to relax. Thank you. Noticing that coming home to the breath in the moment opens us. We remember there is a light of awareness inside us that doesn't judge. Thank you. When we get lost in thinking or dreaming or remembering in the past, remembering the present. Thank you. Noticing that we can welcome ourselves home. happening or what feeling is arising. We can gently come back to the moment without judgment, without rejection. Thank you. Noticing that as we continue to make this movement of return to the breathing and the body in this moment, to life. Thank you.. Noticing that there is a stillness, it doesn't mean silence, it means softness, it means It means non-judgment. Allowing what is. Thank you. Thank you. Noticing as we continue to come home how it feels to bask in the light of an intention that is kind, that doesn't judge, that is open to life. Thank you. Diolch yn fawr. Thank you. When we get lost in thought, knowing that we can come back anytime and find welcome here in the present moment. Thank you. As we approach the end of the sitting, remembering that we're not alone, that we're part of life, supported and sustained by forces, truth, wisdom, kindness, faith, life, inside and Life. Inside and outside. Diolch yn fawr iawn am wylio'r fideo. 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.