Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Kimberly Brown 05/09/2024

Episode Date: May 31, 2024

Theme: Balance Artwork: Pair of Cymbals; Mongolia; 18th–19th century; metal alloy, silk; Rubin Museum of Art; gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin;http://therubin.org/38eTeacher: Kimberly BrownThe 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 09:45. 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. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome Tashi Delek. 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. This month is a very holy month in the Tibetan calendar called Sakadawa, which is the fourth month in the Tibetan Buddhist calendar, calendar called Sakadawa, which is the fourth month in the Tibetan Buddhist calendar. And it's very auspicious to visit sacred places and go for pilgrimage. So for me, coming to the museum today, I felt like going for a pilgrimage, as I call this place a modern day pilgrimage. So those of you who are first time, we are a museum of Himalayan art and a global hub for Himalayan art with a home base in New York City. 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 look at work of art. We will then hear a brief talk from our teacher, Kimberly Brown. And then we will have a short sit, 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. Let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. The artwork for today's session is this beautiful pair of symbols, origin from Mongolia, dated 18th to 19th century, and it's metal alloy with silk, about five and a half into four and a half into four inches, a ritual object. The connection to the theme, our theme for the month

of May is balance or equanimity. This month, we invite all of you to reflect on how we can create a greater sense of harmony in our lives through mindfulness practices. By cultivating balance, we move forward on the path towards peace and contentment. This beautiful symbol called Rolmo, there are several types of Tibetan symbols distinguished by size and shape, which may be used in different rituals, the bigger shape of the dome is often called rolmo. Associates more with the fierce or wrathful deity practice, but also used for other practices as well.

And this smaller dome, there's another smaller dome shape, and that's called silnyin, the gentle or the peaceful symbol. And then there's a very small, tiny shape that some of you may be familiar with called tingsha, a very small kind of dome and a flat looking. That's tingsha, which is often used for rituals to perform sur, like a smoke kind of a ritual, especially making offerings to the deceased people, you know, that kind of practice, sur practice. In Tibetan tantric ritual, the rolmo and the silnyan are used by the chant leader or the chant master, often known as omze, to direct the other musicians in the assembly, just like a conductor does in an orchestra. So depending on what kind of practice

or depending on the different sections of the ritual practice, either the rolmo or the silnyan is used. And this is one of the very skillful way considered to magnetize the blessing and invoking the deities when this ritual instrument is used. Now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is 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 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 the 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 and please help me in welcoming

Kimberly Brown. The theme this month here at the Rubin is balance. And what do we mean by balance? In the Buddhist tradition, what we're talking about is having a balanced mind, a steady mind. And as you probably already know, it's very easy to be steady when things are going your way, when everything is going smoothly. But when something goes wrong, and for some of us, even if a little mistake happens, we really can lose our steadiness and our balance. And we can tell that we've lost our balance when we feel anger or frustration arising, when we notice aversion and greediness or neediness. And all of these point to our attachments to the way we want things to be. And if you've strolled through the Rubens collection and looked at the artwork, so many of the images are talking about breaking attachments.

And you might think that means being indifferent, but that's not what it means. Breaking attachments, it means to not grip something too tightly. Plans, our desires, what we want, our old resentments. In order to have balance and have a balanced life is to be able to be, wow, it's not going the way I planned and it's okay. It doesn't mean you don't care. It means that you know it's not all up to you and you can keep your mind steady, you can keep yourself calm, and you don't have to freak out. So of course, some challenges are bigger than others, right? And it's good to start practicing with small ones, like your kid is late getting ready again this morning, or your boss didn't give you a raise or something like that. These are very good places to practice balance.

And in fact, all of the Buddhist practices that we use and we teach here, they're designed for us to use our mindfulness so that we can tell where are we placing our attention and we can tell where we're attached and we can develop the wisdom of impermanence, of the wisdom that we have struggles and that we can see that our thoughts and our words and our actions have outcomes and effects. So if you have a balanced mind, it says, well, I'm going to do my best. I'm going to work hard to bring about the most auspicious conditions for me and the people I care about, but it's not all up to me. Okay. Things won't always go my way. And when they don't, I'm still going to stay balanced and steady and compassionate and kind.

And I think this is a huge challenge, especially for modern people. You know, we're really accustomed to things going our own way. I mean, we can control the temperature in our homes. We expect the bus and the train to be on time. And when they don't, a lot of us, including me, get really upset. But balance means coming back again and again to right now, being open to the way things are, and continuing to orient our speech and our words in ways that can contribute to the future, contribute to creating harmony, peace, and an equitable world for everyone.

world for everyone. So let's do a little practice now. You can close your eyes if you like. And if you close your eyes and you feel very unsteady or maybe you're tired, you can keep your eyes open and just gaze down. open and just gaze down. But just know that either both open closed or closed eyes are correct ways that you can practice. And you can now put one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly and just begin to feel your breath. Just receive it. You don't have to breathe. Your body's always breathing. It does it for you. It's a gift. So just for a couple minutes here with your hand on your heart, your hand on your belly, your eyes closed or your gaze lowered. Just resting here, receiving your breath. Thank you. Thank you. And as you're sitting like this, you can feel your feet touching the floor, noticing that sound is entering your ears and light is entering through your eyes. And as you stay still and come to your senses like this,

this is how you stay balanced. This is how you stay steady no matter what is happening. It takes practice. I was an adult when I learned how to meditate, and this might be new to you too. But slowly, slowly, as you sit quietly, you can begin to create new habits. So even in moments that are challenging, my child did poorly at school. My husband forgot to pick up something. My wife is mad again. Even in those moments when anger or frustration or disappointment arises,

before you speak, you can put your hands on your heart, on your belly, feel your breath just like this, and take a pause to take care of yourself. So now I'd like you to think of someone who's struggling, someone you care about, who's just having a hard time, maybe in a big way or in a small way. If you're lucky enough not to know anyone personally who's struggling right now, you can certainly think of many, many people in the world that are, you can imagine they're sitting right next to you. So keep your hand on your heart and on your belly as you say these phrases to this struggling person. May you be open to the unfolding of life. May you be at ease.

May you be open to the unfolding of life. May you be at ease. May you be open to the unfolding of life, may you be at ease. May you be open to the unfolding of life. May you be at ease. And just for a couple of minutes, staying here, silently repeating this phrase as though you're offering a gift to this person. Thank you. Thank you. Just checking in with yourself. If you need to reconnect with this struggling being you can go ahead and do that gently begin again repeating the phrases may you be open to the unfolding of life may you be at ease and just for one more minute giving this gift to this being. Thank you. May you be open to the unfolding of life. May you be at peace.

And you can stop saying these phrases to this person who's struggling and now give them to yourself. Maybe imagine you're looking in the mirror, maybe just feeling your presence with your hand on your heart and saying to yourself, your hand on your heart, and saying to yourself, may I be open to the unfolding of life. May I be at ease. May I be open to the unfolding of life. May I be at ease. May I be open to the unfolding of life. May I be at ease.

And just repeat these phrases to yourself. Give them to you with generosity as an act of giving, just for a couple of minutes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And as you continue saying these phrases, you can bring in now everyone you care about, your friends, your family, your pets, include yourself. And offering these phrases to all of us, may we be open to the unfolding of life. May we be at ease. Repeating that just for a minute. Thank you. And now including everyone, even your enemies, all of the strangers, yourself, the people you care about. May we be open to the unfolding of life. May we be at ease.

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. And you can let go of these phrases of any kind of technique. Just feel your feet, your breath, the light entering your eyelids. Thank yourself for this practice. Thanking everyone here at the Rubin that made this possible. And you can open your eyes and stretch and move whenever you're ready as we conclude this meditation.

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 a monthly newsletter at rubinmuseum.org slash e-news. I am Tashi Chodron. Thank you so much for listening. Have a mindful day.