Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Gegye Yongyal Tulku Rinpoche 08/08/2024

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

The Rubin Museum 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 20:43. Teacher: Gegye Yongyal Tulku RinpocheTheme: InterconnectednessArtwork: Avalokiteshavara; Tibet; 15th century; copper alloy; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald RubinThis program 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.Learn more about the Rubin Museum’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org.

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Art. We are a museum in Chelsea, New York City that connects visitors to the art and ideas of the Himalayas and serves as a space for reflection and personal transformation. I'm your host, Tashi Chodron. Every Thursday, we present a meditation session inspired by a different artwork from the Rubin Museum's collection and led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area. This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice. In the description for each episode, you will find information about the theme for that week's session, including an image of the

related artwork. Our mindfulness meditation Podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Inside 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. Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. Please enjoy your practice. Hello, everybody.

Good afternoon. Tashi Delek. And welcome to Mindfulness Meditation at the Rubin Museum of Art. I am Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador. And I'm delighted to be your host today. So today is a very auspicious day. It is called Tukpa Tseji in Tibetan word, which means sixth month, fourth day. In fact, this is the third Tukpa Tseji that happened just this year. Because in Tibetan lunar calendar, there is actually 13th month this year.

And this is the sixth month is repeated. And in fact, the first sixth month, there was two sixth month, repeated and in fact the first sixth month there was two sixth month fourth day and so therefore there has been three to kvatsheji which is very auspicious because on this day if you do any meritorious virtuous good karma then it's multiplied so many more times. So I always say it is for us to have more opportunity to do good. So on this day, it is the day that Buddha taught the first teaching in Deer Park in India. He taught the Four Noble Truths. This goes back 2,600 years ago, and it's so auspicious to be with all of you on this very special day with Rinpoche. Despite the weather, the theater is full. It's so wonderful. So those of you who

are new, we are a global hub for Himalayan art with Homebase in Chelsea, New York City, and we're so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection, we will first take a look at work of art. We will then hear a brief talk from our teacher, Gege Yongel Tuku Rimpoche and then we will have a short sit, 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by him. Now let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. The artwork that is hand-picked by Rinpoche is this beautiful Avalokiteshvara, origin Tibet, dated 15th century. It's a copper alloy and it's about 18 5 8 into 6 and⁄2 into 6 1⁄2 inches. And this is a beautiful sculpture gifted by Donald and Shelley Rubin. And the theme this month, we are exploring on the interdependence and interconnectedness.

And the Avalokiteshvara is the embodiment of boundless compassion and aims to further develop practitioners recognize the interconnectedness of all sentient beings. When we can recognize the interdependence and the interconnectedness, then we will all be so much happier. And when I talk about this interdependence and interconnectedness of the all beings, it reminds me of in the late 1990s, His Holiness Dalai Lama was going to appear at Central Park to give a talk on developed true and lasting compassion. And I was flying in from San Francisco to attend that. And it was raining so hard that the flights took me somewhere else. And then that the day of

the event, I managed to get on the first plane and to, on timely to Central Park. And at that time, I recall Holiness appearing on the stage and saying that even the weather is cooperating with us today because it was beautiful day, even though we were walking in the slushy, you know, ground. And at that time, holiness said, when there is some problem in some part of the world, we cannot just sit, do nothing, because the whole world is like one's body. This interdependent and interconnectedness brings me to that memory. Now, Avalokiteshvara is also known as Chandrakzik in Tibetan word, the bodhisattva of compassion. He is the principal patron deity of Tibet. He sits on a lotus throne upon a lunar disk. And the meaning of Avalokiteshvara or Chandrakshik is the Lord who gazes down with compassion,

also known as Lokeshvara, Lord of the World. He's the bodhisattva associated with great compassion, Mahakaruna, who has vowed to remain in the cycle of rebirth throughout time to work for the benefit of all sentient beings to remove suffering. Avalokiteshvara is depicted in many forms and styles, including four arms, six arms, 1,000 arms and eyes and hands, 11-headed peaceful and wrathful head. And Avalokiteshvara was depicted as male in India and in Tibetan Buddhism. But in East Asian Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara, most often depicted as female figure, known in various languages as

Kuan Yin in Chinese, Kanon in Japanese, and Guanyin in Korean, and Kuan Yin in Vietnamese. Avalokiteshvara's very popular six-syllable mantra is Om Mani Padme Hum, and sometimes Ari is added in certain Tantra texts as well. And then in this beautiful Avalokiteshvara here, it appears in his simplest form, adorned with a crown, with two arms. His graceful pose evokes his kind and loving nature. And now, let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Gege Yongel Tukur Rinpoche.

His eminence, Yongel Tukur Rinpoche, is an ordained Buddhist teacher and a prominent leader in the Kajuk Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. and a prominent leader in the Khajuk Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He holds a master's degree in Buddhist philosophy and has completed extensive meditation training. As the third seed reincarnate Tuku of Gegye Tashi Choling Monastery in Ngari near Mount Kailash, he was enthroned as the Tuku of the second Gegye Yongel Tuku Rinpoche at Gegye Tashi Choling Monastery. His Holiness the 17th Jyawa Karmapa conducted his haircutting and name-giving ceremony in India. Rinpoche has mastered key areas of Buddhist philosophy including Prajnaparamita Sutra, Madhyamika Sutra, Abhidharma Sutra, and Vajrayana Tantra. He currently serves as the president of the Amala Center Nepal and the Himalayan Buddhist Center Australia. Since 2020, Rinpoche has been actively teaching Buddhist Dharma and contributing to society. He is revered Lama in Tibet and China,

focusing on the practical application of Sutrayana Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and modern Buddhist ethics. Rumbuche's teachings aim to cultivate loving-kindness and compassion, fostering personal transformation, and bringing individuals closer to the Buddha nature. Rinpoche, thank you so much for being here and please help me in welcoming Yongel Tuku Rinpoche. Tashi Delek to everyone. First of all I'd like to express my gratitude to Mr. Shoninla and the entire team of Re-Burman Museum for inviting me here. Now given our limited time I'd like to start by offering prayers and then today's main theme Avalokeshvara

mindfulness meditation session followed by the dedication История о том, как они были в Казахстане. omamangwa doiwa taday tenmen tenchime tobaan yishishiteni tsogwe sangye ma namke tambaate la chasa lu shinwe chono chapaaba. Ije lume rabdozo jiten seke mo tsa wachambe yang la chasa lu sangye chodang tsuki chonam la chanchu bardo dani kesamche. ཅཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱཱ� by the Rubin Museum. I'd like to express my genuine intention about what I feel about myself. Today I'm just a very simple monk who is here to repeat what Lord Buddha has already taught you 2600 years ago. So please do not expect anything new from me beyond what has already been taught to you by the great Buddhist masters and other religious figures who have stood on this very platform. Honestly speaking, I still feel like a student of Lord Buddha who is on his journey of learning and understanding life.

So I ask for your patience. Thank you. Now, since this month's topic is on interconnectedness, I will speak briefly on this concept before jumping into today's main theme of our Lokeshwara. So interconnectedness. Now, what is interconnectedness? Interconnectedness. Now, what is interconnectedness? Interconnectedness means the origin of interdepend to the largest of the mammal, everyone is linked in a vast web of interdependent relationships. It's like all the things that come in rise is in dependence upon multiple causes and conditions. For example, like the food

that we rely on. Although the food that we consume, it feels like it's just a participation of two people, the one who's providing it and the one we are consuming it. We never have this gratitude of how many people has put the effort on the food. The reality is like there are so many people who have put the effort collectively just so that food can be consumed by us. So if I have to break it down, like the food on the table,

it is being prepared by the cook who gets it from the market. From the market, it's dependent on the manufacturing company that does the production. That company itself is dependent on its workers and the raw materials provided by the farmers. So even the farmers here, even the farmers,

they are like relied on their own farm and cattle and they do the months of effort for the production. So this shows that how the chain of dependency, but that doesn't mean like we are only dependent on them because they are also dependent on us so this shows the interdependent relationship between us so that's why interconnectedness it teaches us to generate gratitude towards all those many people who has put so much effort for our one meal. Now another example would be this Rubin Museum right here.

If today only I was present here, I don't think this event would have been possible. Or if only you were here, then also it would not be possible. But this auspicious event here today has only been possible because we all are here. So that's why interconnectedness, I think it teaches us that our action, it ripples outwards, affecting people, the community and the world around us. So that's why harming others is in essence harming oneself. So interconnectedness, it teaches us not to harm others. Instead, it teaches us to open our heart, to be more humble, to be more kind to people.

Because in short, if I have to tell you what interconnectedness teaches us, it teaches us to value each other. It teaches us that we all are important to each other. We are interlinked. We are all from the same seven billion people. So, like in the Buddhist scriptures, it is said that if you work for the benefit of other people, then your own work will be accomplished by itself. So, living a life of gratitude, of compassion, of love with your community, with your people, with the world around you is as same, is as equal to living a life of happiness and peace to oneself. So now let's turn to our main topic Avalokiteshvara. And I'd like to start by reciting the mantra Om Mani Peme Hum. So the mantra Om Mani Peme Hum is the mantra of Avalokiteshvara.

So this mantra has many ways of explanation according to different sutras, tantra, schools. But the simplest one would be like homage to this divine Buddha Avalokiteshvara from your body, speech and mind for purification let me break it down so the first word Om it represents the body speech and mind

the Mani and Peme it means the jewel and lotus which represents, which symbolizes Avalokiteshvara's divine method and wisdom quality. And the hum, it means the unification of method and wisdom. So you see many people do the recitations of this mantra. People are always engaged in recitations. It's because doing this recitation is like making a call to someone.

So when we call someone, the intention is to connect with that person. Right? So similarly here, the recitations of the mantra is to connect with this divine Avalokiteshvara. That's why we see many Himalayan people always engage in the recitation of this mantra, Om Mani Pemehu, day and night. Now, you all must be wondering, who is Avalokiteshvara? As Tashunullah has also given a very nice introduction on Avalokiteshvara so as Tashunila has also given a very nice introduction on Avalokiteshvara now Avalokiteshvara is like he is the heart son of lord buddha

he is a bodhisattva of compassion in buddhism now to understand to grasp the you know like the idea of Avalokiteshvara to call to understand, to grasp the idea of our Lokeshwara, to understand the quality of our Lokeshwara, what makes our Lokeshwara so special, we need to grasp what Bodhicitta means. Bodhicitta, it means the genuine intention, genuine compassionate intention of attaining enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. And they are like many types of bodhicitta. Based on courage, we can classify into three types of bodhicitta. That is the king's way of bodhicitta, which means one attains enlightenment, one attains buddhahood and leads all sentient beings to it. The second one is the boatman's way of bodhicitta, which

means one attains, one achieves enlightenment simultaneously with all the sentient beings together. The third one is the shepherd's way of bodhicitta. It means bringing all sentient beings to Buddhahood ahead of oneself. So among these three, the shepherd's way of bodhicitta is the most courageous. It's like you're first bringing all the sentient beings to Buddhahood and then finally you're being enlightened. It's like first solving everyone's problem then finally working on your own problem. So this is the Bodhicitta of our Lokeshwara. Because in his previous life he took a vow to Lord Amitabha that he will postpone his

final Buddhahood until and unless he has liberated all sentient beings from Samsara. That is why I think we are all very very blessed to have such a divine Bodhisattva who is still working on our liberation from this samsara. So today I would like everyone else to recite the mantra of our Lokeshvara for three times. You can either recite along with me or after me. Then we will do the mindfulness meditation on our Lokeshvara. Okay, now let's start the mindfulness meditation on Avalokiteshvara. So everyone, whoever has done this meditation session before,

please prepare yourself with the seven basic postures. And the ones who are very new to this, beginner, I will guide you. The seven or eight basic postures. The first is your legs. Keep it comfortably, not too tight, not too close. Keep comfortably. If you're in home and you're physically fit, then the best posture for the leg would be the Vajra posture.

But right now, since we are already provided with this comfortable seat I think this posture is okay for the leg. The second your hand posture it can be either in this Vairacana position like this, right palm on top of the left one or any other Buddha's meditative posture like this or just this and then your shoulders not too drawn in or too drawn out just evenly balanced and your neck not too up or too down or not even straight, just slightly downwards, looking slightly downwards. And your eyes, it should be looking like four fingers away from your nose tip. It means that the object of visualization must be in this range, like in here. And then your mouth, don't bite it or like tight or keep it too loose just

just let it be how we keep it normally and if we are meditating for a longer period of time it's better if you're the tip of the tongue is touching the upper palate but since it is just a 15 minutes or a 10 to 15 minutes meditation session I think that is not necessary here right now. So why is this posture important? This posture is important because good posture helps in the flow of energy. All the chakras, it helps in the good flow of energy which enhances our concentration.

And so before I start the meditation session I want everyone of you to take three long breaths. Inhale Exhale Exhale. And the last one. Now as I say Namo to our Lokeshwara and ring the singing ball, we will start the meditation. For the ones who have already done this meditation before they can do the meditation and the ones who need the guidance, I will guide you through this session. The White Lotus

The White Lotus The White Lotus First visualize a white lotus. White beautiful lotus with beautiful petals is right in front of you, open. Dan di atasnya, perhatikan, ada bulan putih, sepatah, seperti disk. Warna-warna itu berwarna putih seperti tanah. white as snow. On top of that, there is Divine Avalokiteshvara seated with his legs in Vajra posture his first two arms holding a wish fulfilling jewel the second right arm

The second right arm holding a white rosary or holding a crystal lotus. God Avalokiteshvara is adorned with beautiful silk garment and jeweled ornaments. He is facing towards you and looking at you with the eyes of compassion. Meditate on this for few minutes. Thank you. you If you are getting tired and distracted meditating on the whole of Avalokiteshvara, Lotus jeweled ornaments Thank you. you can also meditate on the mantra of our Thank you. You are having difficulty visualizing the image of the mantra I will recite the mantra and you can meditate on the sound of the mantra Sous-titrage ST' 501. happy Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Okay, now you can end this meditation by three long breaths again. Hrm... Hrm... Hrm...

Hrm... Thank you so much for that wonderful teaching on interconnectedness and interdependence, that no one thing is independent, that we are all dependent on each other to give rise to the true compassion, loving kindness, the wisdom. Thank you. That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member at rubinmuseum.org

slash membership. And to stay up to date with the Rubin Museum's virtual and in-person offerings, sign up for our monthly newsletter at rubinmuseum.org slash enews. I am Tashi Chodron. Thank you so much for listening. Have a mindful day.