Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation 9/9/15 with Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso

Episode Date: September 9, 2015

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. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and the teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center. This week’s session will be led by Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso. To view a related artwork from the Rubin Museum's permanent collection, please visit: http://rma.cm/bm

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 to learn more. We are proud to be partnering with Sharon Salzberg and the 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. So this is today talking about mindfulness meditation. So it is just kind of, of course, how it has been taught by Buddha. It's very extensive and profound subject but now this modern world try to you know condense everything and try to do everything very fast so talk will be only 10 minutes and meditation will be 20 minutes and then everybody got liberated. So that is good news. So anyhow, mindfulness in Tibetan, Genpa, where there is mind and full and thenness. So mind, the general mind, it is just a mind.

Then when it was the English mind full. So that full is the samsaric relative ordinary mind. Full of all sorts of concepts and thoughts and emotions and discursive thoughts. You know like how much as you know your own mind and your own brain and your own life. That what it is kind of fullness. Full. Mindful. Then now, ness. So ness helps to just kind of like a get into mindfulness. That the, you know, all everything just kind of like a comes down

where you have some sense of you know kind of like awareness so that one aspect of that kind of mindfulness, in a way, you know, just without mindfulness, in the sense of being, having carefulness or awareness, no matter whatever we are doing in our day-to-day lifetime, you know, just you will always get mess up so that a mindfulness is the most important thing that we need to establish in our being in our day-to-day lifetime to get success in everything whatever, daily, our routines and job and including spiritual, you know, kind of like a practice. So based on that mindfulness, there is an external mindfulness in relation with your body and speech. and speech that when you walk or when you sit or when you do anything in relation with the physical kind of activity, you just need to have that mindfulness. And that the physical body mindfulness controls by your mind or you know according to science maybe brain you know brain that you know kind of governed by the mind and that need to just kind of be aware of how you walk or how you sit and how you move your body and so forth and that way one need to have mindfulness in physical body and at the same time

you know that second thing is speech then you know in speech is also just become so important in our day-to-day lifetime including all the jobs and everything we need to communicate. So for that also, you know, kind of important where you need to have mindfulness speech that which is again governed by your mind, that what you talk and how you talk and how you express things and for about all those. So in all those, in one word, that when we don't have that mindfulness

in relation with our physical body and then the verbal speech, then there are so many problems can be, you know, kind of created. So that is why if you have mindfulness you know just uh how and which way that which is you know kind of not really causing any problem to other and not disturbing you know others you know kind of feelings and not just kind of like a end up with the messing up things you know with, with your just physical, you know, if you are not aware,

just you walk, you know, kind of in a kind of without mindfulness, then you cause, you know, kind of like you fall down or hit something and problem. And similarly, when we speak, if we are not very mindful, then we say things that can cause you know kind of like a so much problem besides all you know which maybe become just very negative which is you know kind of like a known as non-veracious non-veracious anything that which is physical verbally non-veracious action can be, you know, cause and condition for negative result, suffering, problem, difficulties. So those are just based on its reality, not

depending upon any kind of belief system or any kind of religion or any kind of, you know, culture or tradition. what it is the nature and common sense so based on that then a mind you know mindfulness the mind to you know kind of have that a sense of awareness in your day to day lifetime that need mindfulness in meditation. So in meditation, in meditation that which you know kind of means in Sanskrit you know samadhi in Tibetan called sam ten. So sam means the mind and ten means firm mind or stabilized mind so that a stabilized mind which means you know like a where your mind not getting distracted with the five sense objects, that is one thing. And then second is not distracted with the mental thoughts. That how even you are not talking or you are not doing anything, even you try to do.

Like even just mindful meditation you know sitting down but still how your minds you know kind of all sorts of thought arise and started you know kind of talking itself and you know your body may be on the cushion but your mind may be on the street or meeting with somebody or you know kind of or meeting with somebody or you know kind of so it is almost all over the in the kind of place so so to calm down that sorts of in a kind of like a mind the very active mind then need to just kind of like a apply into practice that you know kind of meditation. So meditation in generally there is a shamatha meditation which is you know kind of triangulated meditation and then the vipassana meditation which is you know insight meditation. So without shamatha, the tranquility, which means where you could have some sense of concentration, your mind concentrated. feel that all the conceptual thoughts or whatsoever all the mental activity in a kind of like a slowly you know just come down and then where you could do in

a kind of experience just your mind be very calm and then clear and then relax and then kind of like a peaceful. So to happen that, then one need to do this, you know, kind of shamatha meditation practice. So for that day, you know, to do that shamatha meditation practice, of course there are so many different kind of techniques where you can concentrate on your breath or where you can concentrate that you can just put in front like a piece of flower or just a kind of you know any kind of seeds level or just merely you know kind of in front where your eyes you know kind of focus and then where your eyes focus on that you know kind of your mind be just in account of there and that way you know just you continue to you know just focus on that object and for that to carry through that a consistency of that shamatha meditation practice that without much you know disturbance then that need you know three things which is called

ten bar she she and by it so if a timber means the mindfulness timber so this mindfulness is which means that the the sense of concentration and then the aspects of the meditation what is being kind of instructed to oneself. So that instruction should not be forgotten. So forgetfulness kind of loses many things. So antidote for the forgetfulness or forgettable is mindfulness. So whatever that instruction is given to oneself to carry through this kind of shamatha meditation practice, you know, first one have to remember the, you know,

kind of like instruction instruction where to focus and what aspects of your mind focusing that one have to have mindfulness. the kind of like object, then the second, you know, shishin, which means conscientiousness. Conscientiousness? Yeah. So which means, you know, kind of as you concentrate, then anytime, while you are just trying to do meditation anytime Your mind all these thoughts never stop You know, it is still continuously all sorts of thought can just you know continuously arrive so that way if you just follow with that thought and making stories then There is no meditation. There is no single-pointedness. Mind is just wandering. Then, you know, just only physically sitting there, it does not help at all when your mind is wandering. So for that, need this shishin, the conscientiousness or vigilance,

like a watcher, you know, like somebody watching you. Like, you know, sometimes the kids play in the playground, and then mama watches, you know. And when anything kind of dangerous thing happening, mama just, you know, kind of like say something, or just pick up or guide so similarly this conscientiousness is like a watcher whether your mind is still you know continuously concentrating or not so that the second thing which is you know kind of like important that one aspect of your mind, whether it's just every time when some thought arises and it is wondering,

immediately remember with that mindfulness and that consciousness to bring back, to bring back to concentrate back to in my kind of concentrate on the object and then after that in your kind of day-to-day lifetime a sense of you know mindfulness and mindfulness meditation then need this in account of like a buggy which means you know like a awareness or carefulness. Carefulness in your physical body, just in your physical all action. And then verbally, as I said earlier,

being just very careful what you really say or what you are not supposed to say, where you have to be always careful. And that careful or awareness both need mindfulness. If your mind is not there, then again it may kind of create, you know, problem. So that what it is in your day-to-day lifetime, know just whatever oneself doing so in this way your body speech mind you know what we really have in our you know kind of life the most important thing whether we can get successful in our any kind of activity or not or any meditation or not is completely dependent upon guarding one's body, speech, mind.

So according to that, just out of body, speech, mind, Mind is the most important. So now to carry through that meditation, then one of the great Indian scholars in seventh century, Ajayashantar Deva, he said, ཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅཅ� meditation practice that through that shamatha meditation practice through that tranquility nature of mind where you experience serenity in your being and that will lead you to you know just a vipassana the inside meditation and that vipassana, the inside meditation. And that vipassana, the inside meditation,

is actually, you know, kind of, in general, a little bit, you know, kind of harder, which means where you are concentrating into the emptiness aspects of mind. That, you know, just according to the absolute truth, our mind is, you mind is emptiness in nature. Similarly, our body is also emptiness in nature. Similarly, all these existence of phenomena is also emptiness in nature.

That emptiness has to be experienced during that kind of meditation. So, with this union of the shamatha meditation practice and the vipassana meditation, the tranquility, serenity of mind which you have as single-pointedness, and then the vipassana, the insight where you are experiencing the emptiness aspect of the mind when it is in union. Then that helps to purify all sorts of these afflictive emotions hatred, anger, desire, pride, ignorance, jealousy, besides all sorts of discriminating thoughts and conceptual thoughts, all this mental activity will not just only calm down,

but it does kind of like purify. As the, for exampleaya berbeza, kemudian kegelapan seperti hilang. Sama seperti itu, ketika cahaya penuh dengan kebijaksanaan, perhubungan meditasi samatha dan vipasyana meditation arise in your being or shine in your being, then the darkness of this afflictive emotion, discursive thoughts and the conceptual thoughts that which is constantly disturbing will be immediately just kind of immediately just kind of clear out and that clearing out you know is actually if you have that direct perception of that absolute nature of mind through this you know shamatha and vivashana meditation then those afflictive emotions which is cleared out or which is been got rid of it, is just gone forever.

Just gone forever. It will never ever arise back, any of those afflictive emotions. And that is how you gain that path of insight and liberation and then actualizing what is called enlightenment. The physical body is also very important aspects, body, speech, mind. Did you show that? Berotana. Yeah. So, where in this instruction it says, Temde lulat inna tobasam na shar. So, when all the auspicious cause and condition assembled in our physical body. Then the experience and realization happen in one's being. So according to that, the physical position is very important. Because when our physical body, when it is in a kind of like

a geometrically, when it is in a kind of very correct position, correct position, then our just channels, the nervous system, the whole complete nervous system sits into its kind of like a natural state, correct position. And when the nervous system, the channels are in its, you know, correct position, in its natural, then within those nervous system, whatever these bloods and waters, whatever it is flowing, it just flows very naturally. And at the same time, that the water and blood, whatever it is flowing, is the wind, the breathing system.

So wherever that kind of the physical body, straight, correct, natural, and then channels natural, then flowing, and then kind of the vital energy or this breathing air very natural. energy or this breathing air very natural and that vital energy or the breathing air is the support of the mind so when that is you know in a kind of like correct position then mind also you know kind of abides in its kind of natural state so that's why anyway here you all are sitting on a kind of chair but you can just anyway. So the Buddha Bedosana's position with the seven position which means leg, full cross leg or half cross leg. Full cross leg then you have to sit this in this way, you know like this. Lepas itu, anda mesti duduk seperti ini. Jika anda tidak pernah berlatih atau tidak biasa makan, anda boleh cuba dengan kaki sepuluh. Jika anda tidak berlatih, anda tidak perlu risau. If you are not having any kind of this training, you don't have to worry.

Just you can sit on chair or whatever. And then the thing is like meditation hand in the kind of this position. Like the right hand over the left and then this connected. And that little bit below the navel. Little bit below the navel. And then touching. And then elbows stretch out. And then most important is the backbone.

Your backbone need to be, you know, very straight. And straight. And then your neck, you know, kind of just straight, but the head little bit, you know, kind of bend down. And then your eye just kind of that, you know, kind of like see little bit above the forefinger level of you know kind of nose and then just kind of relax you don't have to open wide or not too close in a very natural state your mind and then eyes the kind of flow straight in front any object and what they would you see doesn't matter whatever whatever you see just kind of focus on it. And then tongue touching the upper jaw close to the kind of teeth. Because this what is called seven positions of the Buddha Vajrasana and this have all is auspicious technique and purpose how everything just kind of like a

what's a corrects into is you know kind of like a natural state so that mind can be you know in naturally abide. So, in that way, then we start the meditation. Relax. Relax. Perasaan relaks, badan anda merasa sepenuhnya relaks dan bernafas sangat relaks. Kemudian, nafas melalui mulut. Jangan sentuh telinga dan jari. Cukup sedikit.. Eyes not to blink here even though there is two ways like closing eye and open eyes here we open eyes Thank you for watching! Takk for ating med. Jangan ikuti kepercayaan. Wherever your eyes fall, and then your mind be concentrated on that. Thank you. Another obstacle of mindfulness and meditation, as you feel relaxed your body, mind, then that come to sleepy. So don't sleep. Sleepy, sluggish, dullness is not the meditation.

So one should not let it happen, you know, anytime. Otherwise, it will become a habit. And every time when you do meditation, you feel sleepy and you have a very good sleep, you know. Thank you. Takk for ating med. Jangan bingung dengan fikiran anda, hanya perlu membawa kembali dan berfokus dan kemudian mempunyai Don't wonder with your thoughts. Just have to bring back and concentrate and then have a sense of awareness. Feeling your whole body, you know, sense of that awareness. Thank you.. Apabila mata anda rasa letih, Thank you. Sekarang, berdiam selama dua minit. After that we will do meditation focusing on breath. So relax a little bit. Breathing is here you can just in that same way even you don't want to feel this, not what they're sitting meditation, you could put position feel uncomfortable, then you can also sit like that.

But you know, kind of physically, you know, kind of very backbone, everything is straight. And then for this meditation, you can just close your lips, it's okay. And then you breathe through the nose. So as you breathe in and out, you just, not to put any effort, just try to feel very natural, naturallyakin jelas dan jauh. Jadi, perlahan-lahan, perlahan-lahan, biarkan ia berjalan sendiri. Kemudian, di sini, keadaan fikiran adalah

ketika anda berlahan-lahan dan kemudian berlahan-lahan, kemudian anda mengira satu, kemudian berlahan-lahan dan berlahan-lahan, exhale and then inhale then you count one and then exhale and inhale then count two, exhale and inhale two so that way one have to count till you know ten in the beginning just count up to ten. And then when it is just done ten, then relax for a few seconds. Then again start, you know, kind of exhalation, inhalation one and two. That way until two, you know, kind of ten and so you cannot you are not supposed to mess up your counting number and also your mind concentrating on the breathing that the air which is flowing through your you know kind of nostril and fill over your

tip of your lips how it goes in and and out, your mind have to be there and then concentrating on number and also be mindful about that how the air goes in, you know, fills up your just kind of body and then, you know, exhalation just, you know, kind of goes, you know, kind of externally and that way where your mind not just only concentration but also having some sense of awareness with the you know kind of the breathing air you know externally and internally your whole body and that way as one do you know over time then after some time can count until 20 after some time can count until 50 so that way as one do after some time the breathing ear as you inhale you can just feel that within your brain and your body and just parts of your body, how the breathing air is just kind of flowing almost like a sensation. One can just kind of feel. So now we start on this breathing meditation. So you count yourself quietly, you know, until, you know, count to ten, and then again just another ten, you know, maybe, I think two sessions, maybe we can do that. Ding! Thank you. Takk for ating med. Thank you. Takk for ating med. Sekarang anda boleh relaks. two techniques that if you can continue to work on with your mindfulness and concentration of meditation, whichever feels more comfortable with oneself or more resonating with oneself. Because every individual body elements and its capabilities are just slightly different from each other. So those meditations also, there are so many different, you know, kind of techniques.

But these two are the most popular and most guided, you know, kind of like a meditation instruction. And moreover, it will just kind of bring that shamatha meditation practice or that single-pointedness. So then part of the vipassana or the inside meditation, anyway actually it is also very important. So but without the stability of the shamatha meditation practice, one cannot really have the vipassana or the insight meditation. So that is why in the beginning, it is very important to work to have that one's mind to focus on an object where you try to have that single-pointedness. And while you continue that meditation, then as I said earlier, those two, greatest obstacles.

One is, you know, kind of mental thought, you know, kind of carries away. And then two, three minutes, even five, ten minutes gone, and you don't know what you have been doing. You know, it's just gone. So, the moment you remember, oh, I'm supposed to do meditation, you know. And similarly, the other is kind of dullness your mind feels very dull sluggish and sleepy because when you sit you know so relaxed and quietly then you know naturally the body get relaxed and then mind also relaxed then immediately the sleepy or that is sleep dullness will just naturally come and then you just kind of feel sleepy so that one have to have mindful mindfulness

not to you know kind of taken away by these two obstacles? Yeah, the ultimate purpose for the meditation is to attain complete enlightenment and also to gain realization and also to end the cycle of rebirth in samsara, rebirths and then births and deaths, to end that, not to reborn anymore in the samsara, rebirths and then, you know, kind of births and deaths, to end that, not to reborn anymore in this samsara, then one must have to actualize the insight or the Vibhashana meditation practice where you are realizing your own primordial pure nature.

That your primordial pure nature, that which is being known as explained like Buddha nature or Christ nature or divine nature. So something that reaches that which is kind of like perfected, enlightened, with all the enlightened qualities are within ourselves. But that has been obscured by all these conceptual thoughts and day-to-day life and so many things. And it's obscured and one cannot recognize. So through this meditation inwardly abiding into the nature of mind then it will just one day you will be awakened so that the whole completely you know samsaric mind or this diluted mind or the ignorant mind with all the afflictive emotions,

everything just completely, you know, kind of disappear. And that what it is the ultimate purpose and main purpose in Buddhism. But at the same time, as you say in the West, it is just kind of, even just doing a shamatha meditation practice, just calm down your mind. It really helps to get rid of stress and the other emotions, you know, or disturbing, even that, you know, being relaxed in that way, your whole, as I said, the breathing air and all everything calm down into its natural state. So that, you know, even just some kind of pain and problems and disturbance of all sorts of emotions will also, you know,

kind of help to, you know, just pacify. Thank you so much. 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.