Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Kimberly Brown 04/25/2024

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Theme: Reimagine Artwork: Vajravarahi; Tibet; 19th century; embroidery on silk; Rubin Museum of Art;http://therubin.org/38cTeacher: Kimberly Brown  The Rubin Museum of Art presents a weekly meditation session led by a prominent meditation teacher from the New York area, with each session focusing on a specific work of art. This podcast is recorded in front of a live audience, and includes an opening talk, a 20-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion.The guided meditation begins at 10:01.This meditation is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg, teachers from the NY Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine.  If you would like to attend Mindfulness Meditation sessions in person or learn more, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation.If you would like to support the Rubin Museum and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member and always attend for free.  Have a mindful day!

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. Welcome, everyone, to Mindfulness Meditation at the Rubin Museum of Art. I'm Jacqueline Smith, Manager of Programs and Education, and I am delighted to be your host today. We are a global hub for Himalayan art with a home base here in New York City,

and we are 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 a work of art. We will then hear a brief talk from our teacher, Kimberly Brown, and then we will have a short sit of 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. Now let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. Our work of art for today is Vajra Varahi, and this work of art is not currently on view. Our theme for the month of April is Reimagine. This month, we invite all of you to reimagine your state of being. Let's reawaken our vision of our transcendent self and work towards actualizing

that being. This exquisite scroll is from 19th century Tibet and it's embroidered with silk thread. It depicts Vajra Varahi, the sow-faced goddess. She is one of the most well-known tantric goddesses in Tibetan Buddhism. Vajra Varahi derives her name from the small sow head atop her own. According to ancient Indic traditions, pigs are adept at uprooting things. Hence, Vajra Varahi is a meditational deity who assists practitioners with uprooting ego. Vajra Varahi is usually portrayed as red in color. The color of this silk thread may have faded over time. Vajra Varahi is both peaceful and wrathful. In her right hand, she grasps a knife for severing mental afflictions.

In her left hand, she holds a skull cup close to her heart. The relatively small scale of this sacred work of art indicates that it was intended for personal devotional use. Vajra Varahi is typically depicted dancing atop a corpse. This represents her defeat of the ego. She is surrounded by the flames of pristine awareness. As we gaze upon her, may we gain greater clarity regarding how we can rise above the trappings of our own ego. Now let's bring on our teacher for today, Kimberly Brown. Kimberly Brown is a meditation teacher and the author of Navigating Grief and Loss, 25 Buddhist Practices to Keep Your Heart Open

to Yourself and Others, and the author of Steady, Calm, and Brave. She leads classes and retreats that emphasize the power of compassion and kindness meditation to reconnect us to ourselves and others. Her teachings provide an approachable pathway to personal and collective well-being through effective and modern techniques based on traditional practices. She studies in both the Tibetan and Insight schools of Buddhism and is a certified mindfulness instructor. Kimberly, thank you so much for being here. Well, hello everyone.

Welcome to the Rubin Museum. I know we have a big group of visitors today and I'm excited for you to see the collection and experience all we have to offer here. So Jacqueline mentioned, I am a meditation teacher. I'm also a Buddhist student. And this theme of re-imagine that the museum is part of an exhibit here and it's also part of change. So what does it mean to re-imagine? Many of us, especially in this culture, my gosh, there's so much fantasy and ideas about who we should be and what we should be and how we're going to fix ourselves, how we're going to be different. And that's not what the Buddhist teachings are about.

They're not about, there's something wrong with everybody in this room, and if you just work really hard, you could fix it. It's a very different view. The view is that already each one of us are whole. Each one of us have all of the qualities that we need to be free from grasping and greed and be free from grasping and greed and annoyance, right? What are those qualities of love? We all have that. We all have compassion. We all have joy. We all have wisdom, okay? Now you might be thinking, well, I do, but my brother doesn't, right? Or I don't know if I do, you know. From a Buddhist view, we all have it. It's inherent. We're born with it, okay? The brain scientists now starting to agree with Buddhism because the research suggests that these qualities are something we're all born with and it's something

like compassion is fostered through our environment. Okay? So when we think about what it means to reimagine, we have to also include, well, maybe we can just use what we have right now. in order to be these more awake beings, we can simply let go of everything that is an obstacle to it, a hindrance to it. In the early Buddhist tradition, the Buddha says many times that holding on to fixed views will cause suffering. Holding on to fixed views will cause suffering.

We're all holding on to fixed views. The older you get, the more your views might get fixed, right? I know exactly what my husband's going to say when he walks in the room. That's a fixed view. I know exactly what my husband's going to say when he walks in the room. That's a fixed view. I know I'm right. I have this belief about myself and I'm going to believe it. I'm going to keep holding on to it, okay? So part of, if we want to have more possibility, we have to let go of these views, right? There was a great Japanese Zen teacher who came to the U.S., I think in the 60s, 50s or 60s. His name was Suzuki Roshi. He very famously said,

in the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities. And in the expert's mind, there are few. He even wrote a book. You may have read it, Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. His point is that when we have all these fixed views, when we become experts and we know so much, actually what's possible for us really, really, really narrows. Our vision gets very, very, very small, right? And so nothing seems new to us. Nothing seems fresh to us. And we're holding on so tight that we can't see, oh, maybe this would be interesting, or maybe if this doesn't work out, this could happen. So what the practice is of mindfulness, of compassion, of concentration,

what they're teaching us is how we can come back to this moment. And this moment means the light entering your eyes, smell and taste, everything that's happening that you can sense right now. That's now, that's reality. The rest are thoughts. The future is a thought. The past is a thought. So we want to get here and getting here helps us us let go so we can really see clearly all the possibilities. That's real reimagining. to be right here is also to access those qualities of love and compassion and kindness that you may not be sure you have or you only see in certain ways. Because not only are you seeing them, you're experiencing them for yourself.

So we're going to do meditation. I will lead us through it. Um, is anyone here brand new to meditation today? Anybody brand new? Okay. A few of you. Okay, great. Well, I'm glad so many people have practiced before. So I would like all of you to go ahead and close your eyes. And there may be some of you for whom that is very hard. Maybe it screws up your balance. Maybe it floods you with anxiety. Or maybe you're too tired. Those of you, just let your gaze gently fall.

You don't have to close your eyes entirely. You have this choice. Close your eyes, let your gaze gently fall. Before you start meditating or not meditating, just let yourself be here for 30 seconds. Let yourself be. be Thank you. Notice what's happening right now. Where is your attention? I'm going to ask everyone to put your hand on your heart and the other hand on your belly. One hand on your heart, one hand on your belly. I'd like you to feel your breath here. Notice how your body moves.

And you also notice you don't have to breathe. Your body's doing it for you. As you're sitting here, you might get swept away. Sound that turns into a thought or a memory, an idea, a judgment. That's okay. There's no problem. Notice that and bring your attention to your hands, to your breath. If you can rest here just for two minutes quietly.

Okay. Just for two minutes quietly. Thank you. Thank you. Whatever you're doing, you can do a little less. Relax in this practice. do a little less. Relax in this practice. Just experiencing your breath, experiencing your hands, experiencing your beautiful self. Thank you. And I'd like you all to imagine someone in your life who has been generous, kind, who's loved you in a very easy way. It's probably not your sister that annoys you for the last 30 years. It's someone else. It's someone like a teacher, an aunt, an uncle, an old friend, someone who encouraged or encourages you. When you think of this person, you can imagine they're here. Imagine they're sitting right here.

Maybe just feel their presence. And I'd like you to say to them, may you be gentle with yourself. May you be peaceful and at ease. May you be gentle with yourself. May you be peaceful and at ease. May you be gentle with yourself. May you be peaceful and at ease.

Keeping this connection, feeling this being, and repeating these phrases silently to them like you're giving them a gift, just for a couple minutes. Thank you. May you be gentle with yourself. May you be peaceful and at ease. You can keep this dear being, this loving person, keep them right here with you, feel them in your heart, knowing that they're encouraging you to do the same for yourself, to offer yourself these same beautiful qualities.

Saying to yourself, may I be gentle with myself, may I be peaceful and at ease. May I be peaceful and at ease. May I be gentle with myself. May I be peaceful and at ease. May I be gentle with myself. May I be peaceful and at ease. Just repeating this to yourself, just for a couple of minutes. You're giving a gift to you. Thank you. May we be gentle with each other.

May we be peaceful and at ease. May we be gentle with each other. May we be peaceful and at ease. Repeating that for a few moments, feeling the presence of nearly 100 other beings in this room. Thank you. Keeping your connection with yourself, with that loving being, with everyone here, I'd like you to bring in a few people that you don't like too much. They could be people in your family or that you know personally. They could be people that annoy you or frustrate you. You could also bring in people that have very different views from you people that you disagree with strongly maybe politically

just bringing those beings here too joining us, sharing in our beautiful qualities. May we be gentle with each other. May we be peaceful and at ease. May we be gentle with each other. May we be peaceful and at ease. Saying this silently, just for two minutes. Thank you. Taking a moment to share your qualities with everyone, all beings, flying creatures and creatures that live in the water,

mammals and those that walk the earth, the insects. Of course, all the humans all over the globe, different languages, ages, cultures. May we be gentle with each other. May we be peaceful and at ease. Taking, you know, a few seconds to give your particular blessing, perhaps, to all others. You can stop using this technique, but don't move. Don't open your eyes. Feeling your presence. Hearing the sounds around you.

Feeling your feet. The light entering your eyes. Might have feelings and judgments arising. It's okay. Let them come and go. Nothing you need to fix right now. Thank you. I'd like you all to take a moment to appreciate, appreciate your efforts, appreciate your willingness to be present for yourself, to connect with your beautiful qualities, to let go of all your opinions and judgments, if only for 20 minutes. I really appreciate it. It's valuable. It's valuable to you and everybody you encounter. I thank you to yourself and extending thanks and appreciation to everyone here today.

appreciation to everyone here today. You can take your time as you open your eyes, as you bring your attention back to our conversation. You can stretch or move whatever would feel useful to you right now. now. Thank you all so much for being here today, for your beautiful presence. Kimberly, we're deeply grateful to you for leading us in this practice. That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member at rubinmuseum.org 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.