Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Elaine Retholtz 01/16/25

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art presents a weekly meditation for beginners and skilled meditators alike. Each episode is inspired by a different work of art from the Museum’s collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher.The episode begins with an opening talk followed by a 20-minute meditation. In this episode, the guided meditation begins at 13:25.Teacher: Elaine RetholtzTheme: Intention Artwork: Page of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) Sutra Manuscript; Tibet; ca. 13th–14th century; pigments, gold and silver inks on paper; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2006.66.669Learn more about the Rubin’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org. 

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, a global museum dedicated to bringing greater awareness and understanding of Himalayan art to people around the world. I'm your host, Tashi Churden. Every Thursday, we offer a meditation session at New York Insight Meditation Center that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubin's collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher. This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice.

The description of each episode includes information about the theme for that week's session and an image of the related artwork. Our Mindfulness Meditation podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, The Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. And now, please enjoy your practice. Good afternoon, everyone.

Tashi Delek and welcome. Welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts, Mindfulness Meditation here at the New York Insight Meditation Center. I'm Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm delighted to be your host today. So the Rubin is a global hub for Himalayan art and we're so glad to have all of you join us for this afternoon session where we combine art and meditation. I personally wanted to share that we are so thankful to have this wonderful space

where we could come together every week on Thursdays when we all know how much suffering is going on all around the world with the elemental disaster, fire, earthquake, and then there's also so much good happening in the world as well so that we would have some hope. disaster, fire, earthquake. And then there's also so much good happening in the world as well, so that we would have some hope. I understand that in India, they are actually celebrating the Mahakumbha Mela,

which is where Hindu disciples and all go to visit this one place. And there are about 400 millions of disciples coming together to dip in the Ganges River only to cleanse and to reach enlightenment. So all of this let's you know send this session's energy towards well-being of all because at the Rubin this year we are following the theme of interdependence and the monthly theme here at the meditation with the intention. So we are all connected. When one place is going through certain situations, we are all connected. So it's very important for us to send the blessing and the energy

towards, especially where the sufferings are happening. So inspired by our collection, we will first take a look at work of art from our collection. We will hear a brief talk from our teacher, Elaine Rethals. So thankful to have you back again and again with us. We will have a short sit, about 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. And as I mentioned, we are following the theme of intention as this year, the month of January, where we set so many resolutions.

And in the Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhist teaching, your intention is one of the key towards your well-being. So having a good intention when we wake up in the morning to be thankful and when we go to bed having gratitude, all of that is the wisdom that is within each of us and we are just awakening, right? And so the art connection for today's session is handpicked by our teacher, this beautiful manuscript. And so this is the page of perfection of wisdom, which is known as Shirchin or Sherab Ke Paro Tu Chimpa in Tibetan word. or share up the parotu chimpa in Tibetan word. The connection to the theme,

the practice of reciting sutras helps practitioner foster a stronger mindset of good intention or pure intention. And the scriptures are known to be the Buddha's speech, the blessing. So this is about 13th to 14th century texts, mineral pigment on cloth and about 27 and a half into 36 and a half into two and a half inches. Manuscript. So here are the two figures that you see on the side of the text. Often on the Buddhist text you will see some figures on each side.

So this is the Buddha looks like giving a teaching gesture. And I understand this is the Prajnaparamita herself, the female bodhisattva. In this forearm often seems to symbolize the four truth or the teachings of the Buddha. And now, besides this, Prajnaparamita is, Buddha gave many teachings. So the first teaching was under the Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya. And then the second teaching is the Prajnaparamita, which was taught at Rajagri in Vulture's Peak. So in Tibetan it's known as Chagyapumpuri near Bodh Gaya.

And now let's bring on a teacher for today. Our teacher is Elaine Rethold. Elaine has been studying and practicing the Dharma since 1988. In addition to teaching Dharma at New York Insight, she's a certified mindfulness-based stress reduction MBSR teacher and a certified MBSR teacher trainer. She's deeply interested in helping students integrate mindfulness into daily life.

Elaine is committed to deepening her own understanding of issues of diversity and the way racial conditioning in the United States affects all of us, both as individuals and in relation to the institutions we are a part of, including New York Insight. Elaine, thank you so much for being here and please help me in welcoming Elaine Rethols. So January is such a great time to talk about intention. And here, what we have is, you know, what the Buddha said in the Theravadan tradition, is that there are three levels of learning.

He was like a learning scientist. And the first level is to hear the teachings. So here, this is a big big step because it went from an oral tradition to actually writing it on a parchment to make it available throughout time and space. So you hear the teachings and you see if there's some kind of intellectual agreement that you have with the teachings or if it's like even if we're not at a space of intellectual agreement, we're at a space of, oh, this is interesting. I want to know more. So that's the first level, but that's not where it stops. The next level is to reflect on the teachings.

You know, the Buddha, in one teaching, many of the villagers came to him, and it's so true today also, and said, you know, everybody's coming through telling us one thing or another. One person says to do this, another person says to do that, and we're confused. We don't know what to do. And he said, you shouldn't believe what anybody says, even what I say. You should, there's this term, ehipasiko, see for yourself. Take it on and practice it. So you hear the teaching, you have some curiosity about it,

or you have some intellectual agreement about it. But it doesn't stop there. We have a reflection. And we investigate, and we practice, and we see how it is for ourselves, how it manifests in our lives, what's the truth as we know it based on what the teaching was and what we're learning from our own practice and investigation. And then the third level of learning is when we begin to embody the teachings. There's not doubt anymore because we're

living a life from the inside out where the teachings are made manifest. So of course, all of us are in varying stages of this and embodying the teachings is a lifelong aspiration. But to me, this relates to the theme of intention because in the New Year, I mean I don't do it anymore but I certainly as you know up until actually I started practicing there's this whole hype about New Year's resolutions which often have to do with like self-improvement, right? You know, making a better self. And those resolutions often don't have any foundation except willpower,

right? There's nothing internally to support it except willpower and some idea of, you know, I'm generalizing a better me. Even when people make resolutions about meditation, you know, not just gym memberships or I'm giving up this or giving up that. But the Buddha said that intention is important. He said that the whole of the path rests on the head of the pin of intentions. And that's what you were mentioning, Tashi,

that it takes us, when we have some devotion to intention, it takes us out of our habits and our impulses and more into the realm of what is it that we're committed to, what is it that we value. And so this is something that we can reflect on, always. Are we living a life, am I living a life that's in alignment with my deepest understanding of what I value and what is good in the world, right? Or what makes for good in the world

or what aligns me with this awareness of interdependence. And we can get quite lost in that, but in some ways the Buddha made it very simple. He said that there were really actually only three wise intentions. The intention of loving kindness, friendliness, universal friendliness, metta, and the intention of compassion. Compassion meaning really, Tashi, as you were saying,

feeling the suffering in the world, recognizing that there's suffering in the world, and allowing our hearts to vibrate to that and to ask, how can I help? Is there something that I can do to help? And sometimes just holding in our hearts and not turning away is the first step. So I feel like these two things are really interrelated,

taking something on that we want to investigate and see for ourselves and reflect on and begin to, as we practice, embody and learn what's true for ourselves, and that being infused with these three wise intentions of renunciation, i.e. giving up greed, giving up hatred, giving up delusion, ignorance, and instead cultivating generosity, cultivating compassion, cultivating friendliness.

So I think that's all I want to say about that. It doesn't mean, for example, that if you have a New Year's resolution to walk more or exercise more, that that's a bad thing. But the chances are that it will stick more if you can go underneath. And will stick more if you can go underneath and you know what is the intention for this. You know, maybe I want to be healthy so I can serve more, I could show up with my family, I can, you know, whatever it is. But not just, oh, I'm gonna do it because for whatever reasons we do things. So I hope that piece is useful for you. So I'll guide a little practice and as we begin, it could be really fruitful always to have like a little pause before a practice period and to ask, well, what's my intention in this practice period? Or what is my intention for what do I want to cultivate in this practice period? It may be that we want to cultivate calm, so we're focusing on a particular meditation object, and when the mind wanders we come back to settle the mind. It may be that we want to do,

if you know, you know, metta practice or compassion practice, that that's what we're cultivating in a practice period. It may be that we, if the mind is calm and there's a particular aspect of Dharma that we, of the teachings that we've been interested in, that we could just drop that in and see what's here now. So I'm just going to pause for a minute and allow a moment for reflection of even what brought you here to this practice today. Could be that it was just something to do on a Thursday. Maybe you wanted to see friends. Not doing a scale, you know, hierarchy, but here we are now. And so just in coming to a practice period there is a degree of renunciation because

we're renouncing our usual busyness, our usual engagement in outer activities or inner dialogue. And we can also check the temperature or the climate in our mind and heart because we can come bring to our practice attitudes of judgment and harshness, trying to corral our mind and heart in a rather harsh way. cultivate and recognize a friendliness, a curiosity, a real caring for the heart, the mind, for this body. And maybe just tasting the difference. Pausing, relaxing, cultivating some friendliness towards yourself and towards everyone who is gathered here. Perhaps really feeling this body sitting here, supporting us in so many ways, including through the breath. including through the breath. And if it's comfortable for you, just taking this time to rest

with the body as it sits here breathing. The attention can be resting in the touch points, feeling the soles of the feet, for example, or resting, really feeling what this means to rest and trust that we can place our attention with the sensations of breathing.. And perhaps as we rest in the sensations of the breath, this in-breath, this out-breath, and awareness of all those in this room breathing, how we breathe in the air that others breathe out, how others breathe in the air that we breathe out, and the plants and all the beings, how we share this all over the globe........ The sense of the body breathing itself. The sense of us connected and breathing with each other..... And in those moments when the mind is unruly, is wandering around, getting involved, can we meet it with kindness, friendliness, gentleness, firm but gentle. Oh, here's this mind coming home to the body, to this body breathing.. Taking a moment for appreciation, this for our body breathing, for the relative health

of the body that still breathes us alive, for this room, the center that is still structurally sound for the air that we breathe. appreciation for our relative safety in this moment. And if it feels right to you, sharing our wish for all beings to be safe, protected from harm, protected from danger, or even to be safe within whatever circumstances they're facing. Wishing that we can care about each other and care for each other. not turn away not look for blame or just how can we help to keep our hearts open in the midst of And taking this intention out of our meditation practice into all the encounters we have in our daily lives. And we might quickly see that whatever our intention is for our practice in our life isn't truth and intention for all beings everywhere.

So may it be so. Thank you for your practice. Thank you. Thank you so much for that, Elaine. That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a friend of the Rubin at rubinmuseum.org slash friends. If you are looking for more inspiring content, please check out our other podcast, Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic paths to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. Season 4, hosted by Isabella Rossellini, delves into the Buddhist

concept of attachment and explores how the practice of letting go can transform our experience of the world, available wherever you listen to podcasts. And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work around the world, visit rubinmuseum.org. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.