Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Kimberly Brown 04/03/25

Episode Date: April 11, 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 6:56.Teacher: Kimberly Brown Theme: RenewalWrathful Activity, Fierce Energy; Shezad Dawood; 2018; neon on black painted board; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2020.1.1Learn 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, and Tashi Dele.

Welcome, and welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts Mindfulness Meditation Program here at New York Insight Meditation Center. I'm Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm delighted to be your host today. How's everyone doing? Wonderful. So we are a global hub for Himalayan art,

and we're so glad to have all of you join us for this weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection, we will first take a deep look at work of art that is handpicked by our teacher, Kimberly Brown, and then she will lead us meditation and a talk instruction for 10 to 15 minutes. Let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. The artwork for today's session is this beautiful, different from what we usually see is this contemporary art.

It's a wrathful activity, fierce energy. The artist is Shaza Davoud, dated 2018. And this is neon on painted board about... Wow! I didn't realize it's this big. 112 x 66 x 16 inches roughly. So our theme for this month is renewal. This contemporary work of art features wrathful deities. The purpose of wrathful deities is to protect practitioners from any harm or negative forces in order to remove the obstacle on the path to enlightenment or awakening. Their ability to transcend negativity fosters a spirit of renewal. Now this beautiful work buzzing with energy,

this abstracted fierce figure is a contemporary twist on depictions of Tibetan Buddhist wrathful deities or fierce form who help practitioners transcend obstacles. The contemporary artist Shaza Davood, born in London in 1974, blends cultural heritage with reference to popular visual culture and materials, like the neon of this culture, to re-examine how we tell and perceive history. Now, since 2018, I recall having this at the entry of the Rubin Museum's physical space. Some of you, I see your head nodding because you remember this.

And this has been so popular. We have seen people walking by and just so awed of this sculpture that is just glaring in front of the building and they would walk in and then, you know, the treasure is revealed that this is a beautiful museum. How you can say that this is a fierce, wrathful deity is you see bulging eyes. If we go back here, fangs coming out. So these are some of the, and the flames, some of the, you know, features that you can identify. It's a fierce, wrathful deity. And the skull crowns often adorn the heads of wrathful

deities. There are actually six small skulls, as you see here, enveloping flames above the central figure's elongated face. The glowing neon gives the sculpture a playful quality and reveals the goodwill beneath the figure's tough exterior. So the wrathful deity is to help us remove obstacles to reach the awakening. And let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Kimberly Brown.

Kimberly is a meditation teacher and author. She leads classes and retreats that emphasize the power of compassion and kindness meditation to reconnect us to ourselves and others. She studies in both the Tibetan and Insight School of Buddhism and is a certified mindfulness instructor. Her latest book, Happy Relationships, 25 Buddhist Practice to Transform Your Connection with Your Partner, Family and Friends was released this week.

You can learn more about Kimberly on her website meditationwithheart.com. Kimberly Brown. Hi everybody, nice to see you. So I am familiar with these wrathful deities from the Rubin Museum. Visiting you'll see big tankas with these, they look like monsters, you know, to a Westerner, that's what it looks like, a monster. And, you know, through my studies and with different Tibetan teachers. It's why I chose that artwork, because there's an idea sometimes that we come to these practices,

the Dharma, the path, meditation, mindfulness, simply to not feel so bad, to not feel so stressed out, to relax a little bit. And that is true and that's really useful. And the purpose of these teachings is to really wake up, okay? Wake up. What does that mean? I used to think, oh that means I'm gonna turn into a being of love and light. I'm not gonna be Kim anymore with all my Kim problems. It's not what it means. It means really realizing impermanence. Everything's changing. Everything is ending.

Everything's beginning, right? It really means that all of my actions have outcomes. It really means that I have suffering. So do all of you. We all have a lot of ignorance. Waking up really means that we're interdependent and not intellectually interdependent and no one would argue with me, right? But that we really know it, that we really realize it. So these Dharma Pallas, Dharma Protectors, Monsters, Wrathful Deities,

what they do is encourage us with this very powerful energy to remember what's important, to come back to what we really value and what these practices can offer us. So with this theme of renewal you'll often hear I think every Buddhist teacher I've ever had will say something like start again, let go and start again, come back to your seat okay and that's what we can talk about here with renewal.

It's a letting go. What are we letting go of? Well, Tashi children called them obstacles. What are those obstacles? Ignorance, delusion. So these are stories and beliefs and ideas about ourselves, about the world that aren't really true.

They're conditioned. We learn them. They're also stories we're holding onto, resentments, anger, frustrations, self-loathing, judgment. self-loathing, judgment. So these dharmapalas, we can use this kind of really fierce energy to stop, to let go, and to begin again. So sometimes, you know, in this tradition, like I said, you know, there is an emphasis on compassion, and there is an emphasis on kindness.

And paradoxically, that can contain an energy of discipline and vigor, an energy of no. That's not useful. Okay? And that's, I think, what this is pointing at. Tashi Children always brings us some living tradition, you know, videos and images from people that are practicing this today. And it's really important because sometimes, especially because the Rupin is, you know, an art museum, there's an idea that these are just like artifacts, but they're useful tools.

They are useful tools for us. And that one in neon, I think the reason it was so popular and people were drawn to it is because it's archetypal for everyone, this fierce energy that we all have and how do we harness it? How do we use it? So we're gonna do a little practice. I'm gonna ask everybody to get in touch with this energy, you know, this fierce energy. And just one note, you might think that that fierce energy is the voice that says, Kim, that's so stupid. Why did you do that again? Kim, you're so lazy. Okay, that is not fierce wisdom. Okay, that's old

conditioned obstacles. This fierce energy is an energy that propels you to maybe sit up a little straighter. It's an energy that says, hey, Kim, what do you value? Kim, what's true? It's an energy that says, hey, Kim, you don't have all the time in the world. So let's really see what's important here. So taking that in as we begin our meditation. And for all of you, you can find a comfortable seat. Take your time in finding the seat. Use your wisdom. You can roll your neck and

your shoulders if you are stiff. And for today's practice, being very mindful, very mindful. If you're feeling daydreamy, I'd like you to open your eyes and just gaze down. Keep your eyes open, let them gaze down. Don't let them move around. And as we begin this practice, asking yourself what's motivating you to do it. You don't have to do this. You made this choice. It's probably related to what you value. So take a moment to recognize what brings you here.. Recognizing that such an intention is valuable, it has power. It has energy It affects you and everyone you encounter

Thanking yourself for such an intention such a motivation Bringing your attention to your belly. So we're moving the energy down from your head and all that brain activity and thinking, thinking. Slowly, slowly bring that down to your belly you can put a hand on your belly you can feel your breath here in your belly if you're wearing pants you could feel your waistband And in so doing, you are letting go of something. You're letting go of your planning, of your complaining, of your excitement, of the story, of the movie you watched yesterday. If you slow down enough you'll see that you can, that it's possible to choose where you want your attention. So letting go of these thoughts, bringing

your attention to this sensation of your breath in your belly... Some of you may have moved your attention away, gotten swept into thoughts or plans. It's okay. That's not bad. And this is where your dharmapala, your fierce energy, can be useful. You can imagine a hand saying stop. You can imagine your own dharmapala making a fierce grin at you as you return your attention to the sensation of your breath in your belly... Some of you may be experiencing a lot of torpor, the mind sort of getting dull. In that case, sharpen your attention, refine it, placing it on your breath and your belly, using that dharmapala energy, that

determination......... If you're remembering or planning or figuring something out, stop. Maybe call up your own Dharmapala. Maybe see that stop sign. Choosing with bravery, with power and energy to let go. Begin again, feeling your breath, your belly. This moment.. And taking a moment to connect with someone, it could be one of these Dharmapalas, you know, with one of these deities. If you are familiar with them, you know what they look like. You could imagine they're here with you.

You can imagine someone who you find courageous, someone who has a lot of energy and power toward the good. You might know them personally. It might be someone in history. Bring that being to your heart, to your mind. Imagine they are saying to you, may you meet this moment with courage and wisdom. They'll say your name. I hear them say Kim. May you meet this moment with courage and wisdom.

May you meet this moment with courage and wisdom. Allowing yourself to receive this just for a minute or so. Hearing this being say this to you.. Hearing this being say this to you one more time, may you meet this moment with courage and wisdom. Connecting with yourself now. Maybe imagining yourself in a moment of stress. Imagining you're just looking at yourself in the mirror and saying to yourself, May I meet this moment with courage and wisdom. May I meet this moment with courage and wisdom.

May I meet this moment with courage and wisdom. Just repeating that for a minute.. And including all of us here, everyone you care about, may we meet this moment with courage and wisdom. Including people you disagree with, people causing harm. May we meet this moment with courage and wisdom, all beings. In a moment I will ring the bell. Please stay still until you can no longer hear it, at which time if you'd like you can no longer hear it, at which time, if you'd like, you can join me in offering yourself a bow of gratitude for your wisdom today. Aung.. Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much for that wonderful session, Kimberly, and all the more now with all the

chaos and stuff we need to meet courage and wisdom. Send the wisdom everywhere, especially certain directions. So I always say we're so thankful to this weekly mandala where we could try to awaken a little wisdom and bring some of that energy and dedicate to all. 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 four, 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.