Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Kimberly Brown 11/14/2022

Episode Date: November 18, 2022

Theme: Awakening Artwork: Lords of the Charnel Ground, Smashana Adipati; Tibet; 18th century; painted terracotta; Rubin Museum of Art;  http://therubin.org/361Teacher: Kimberly Brown  The Rubin Museum presents a weekly online 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 a recording of the live online session and includes an opening talk and 20-minute sitting session. The guided meditation begins at 12:17.  This meditation is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg, teachers from the NY Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine.  To attend a Mindfulness Meditation online session in the future 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 Monday, 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 practice currently held virtually. 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 Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project and Parabola Magazine and supported by the Frederick Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. And now, please enjoy your practice. Hello everybody, Tashi Delik and welcome to Mindfulness Meditation Online with the Rubin Museum of Art. I am Tashi Chodron and I'm happy to be your host today. For those of you who are new, the Rubin is a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in 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 online. I see here so many of you joining from all over Northern Ontario, Brooklyn, Ship Shed Bay, Jackson Heights, Northern Ontario, Brooklyn, Sheepshed Bay, Jackson Heights, Georgia, Flagstaff, Arizona,

Staten Island, Seattle, San Francisco, Manhattan, New Jersey, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Thank you all for joining, and it's so wonderful to practice together here virtually, making best use of our online platform. Inspired from our collection, we will take a look at a work of art from our collection. We will hear a brief talk from our teacher and then we will have a short sit, 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by our teacher. And today it's our wonderful teacher, Kimberly Brown. Now let's look at the theme and artwork for today's session. This month, we are still exploring on the theme awakening and the artwork for today's session. This month, we are still exploring on the theme awakening. And the artwork for today is Lords of the Channel Ground,

Smarshana Adipati, also known as Chitipati in Sanskrit. And in Tibetan, they are known as Turdak Yab Yum, Lord and Lady of Channel Ground, origin from Tibet, 18th century. The medium is painted tarakota about six and a half into five and a half into one and a half inches this very beautiful sculpture as you see here the connection to the theme is to deliver the awakening message the practice of propitiating chittipati arises from the secret essence wheel tantra. This tantra is closely

associated with the Chakra Samaritantra, the scriptural source of the Vajrayogini practice. Chittipati is regarded as the emanation of Heruka and Vajrayogini, therefore they are in essence enlightened wisdom protectors. These skeleton lords of the channel ground are animated by ecstatic dance and laughter, their festive demeanor expressing the joy of being free from attachment. They are often addressed as the brother and sister. The male and female figure can be distinguished only by their garlands and attributes. The male sports a garland of freshly severed heads and holds a skeleton club and a skull bowl. The female in contrast wears a garland of dry skulls and holds a staff and a golden vase. They support the practice of

the deity Chakrasambhara and are revered as powerful protectors. Now on the flip side of this small sculpture, the text on the back of this sculpture written on cloth and attached to the piece begins with the specific mantra of the Lords of the Sharm El-Ground and then evokes the protective functions of the Chittipattis. and then evokes the protective functions of the Chittipattis. I can read the Tibetan text, but some of the scripts look, the ink is very fainted. But what I see on the top is Om Ah Hum. You know, Om Ah Hum can stand for the Buddha's body, speech, and mind. And here, the prayer actually translates to eliminate misery from harmful spirits, fire, water and lightning. The perseverance of ill will, robbery and harmful underground and earth spirits. In short, protect from outer, inner and secret adverse conditions from today until attaining great awakening.

Now let's bring on our teacher for today, Kimberly Brown. Kimberly Brown 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. 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. Her new book, Navigating Grief and Lost, 25 Buddhist Practices to Keep Your Heart Open to Yourself and Others, is now published and available at Rubens Gift Shop. An updated edition of Steady, Calm and Brave will be released in January 2023. Both are published by Pramathir's Books. You can learn more about Kimberly on her website. Kimberly, thanks so much for being

here. Rashi Children, thank you so much, and it was such a pleasure to actually meet you. If anyone has an opportunity to go to the museum in person, it was really a treat to be there two weeks ago and to, you know, be part of a community again. So thanks to everyone who was there. So yes, we have this artwork of these dancing skeletons at the charnel grounds. And, you know, in a way, they're a metaphor, right, for the freedom of lessening our attachment, as Tashi Chodron explained to us. And there also, that is an actual practice. It goes back to the historical Buddha, and I believe it's in all the Buddhist traditions that some monastics and lay people will go to the charnel grounds, to the places where people are buried

or being prepared for burial or being prepared for cremation or having been cremated. And they go there to remind themselves of the truth. And the truth is that we will all get older, get sick and one day die, okay? How is this relate to awakening? Well, that's what we awaken to. We awaken to the truth of our lives and everyone else's lives. We awaken to the nature of what it means to be human. And in so doing, we lessen our suffering. That's number one.

we lessen our suffering. That's number one. How do we lessen our suffering? Well, when we're very attached to things not changing, when we're very attached to the idea that no, no, no, no, I don't want to die. I don't want other people I know to die. I don't want anything to change. That causes us so much stress and so much upset and a lot of confusion, right? So to practice recognizing, you know, what is true in our lives and what isn't true in our lives. And I just want to read what are called the five reminders in the tradition. They are from the Upajahatana Sutta, from the early Sutta. But these five reminders you hear all the traditions talk about

and they are often recited by many Buddhist students daily. These are five truths of our lives. The first truth, I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing older. I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health. I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death. All that is dear to me and everyone that I love are of the nature

to change and there is no way to escape being separated from them. And finally, perhaps the most important reminder is that my actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. They are the ground on which I stand. So this is another truth of our lives, that every word that we speak, every behavior that we do, and action, they all matter because they have outcomes and consequences. They affect others, outcomes and consequences. They affect others. They affect ourselves. So although everything is impermanent and changing, we can count on the results of our actions to continue without us. And we all know that's true. We've all been affected by people who are no longer with us because what they've done through their words or their behaviors has continued to have outcomes and cause other conditions to occur.

And another thing that we awaken to, not only the nature of our lives that's, you know, impermanent and ever-changing, that we struggle and that we have, you know, struggle and suffering. Another truth that we awaken to when we recognize the brevity of life is we also, we start to have appreciation for life and we start to recognize we have what is called a precious human birth, okay. Precious human birth. When I first started studying in the Tibet tradition, I was studying with Kagyu teachers. And this was the first teaching, the very first teaching that we were taught to contemplate. The fact that we received this birth of being human, of having enough health to learn these practices, of having enough intelligence to learn these practices, that we live in a place

where the teachings are available to us, that we're living in a place that we have leisure time, that we don't have to constantly get water from a well and be working all the time to survive. And all of these conditions mean that we can wake up. It means, A, we're really lucky, and B, we have everything we need to see life clearly and to joyfully be free from clinging and attachment. Clinging and attachment to things that we can't change. And opening. Tashi Chodron also mentioned this.

Being open to life unfolding. With ease and with kindness. And in so doing, our actions become wiser and more beneficial both to ourselves and to each other. So today, we'll do a practice to, you know, just ground ourselves in the truth of life. Now, first, we're going to start with a little body mindfulness. And then we're going to rest our attention and sound for a few minutes.

And if you, I think many of you have been practicing for a while. If you practice mindfulness, even for a short amount of time, you will start to recognize impermanence. Simply sitting still here for 10 minutes, lots of things are going to come and go. The sound, the light's going to change. I'm going to have this feeling and that feeling. And maybe I'll have an itch or a pain or I'll be warm and then I'll be cold, right? So all of this practice is directed and designed for us to wake up to the truth of our lives.

What we don't want, what we want, and opening up to all of it allows us and enables us to develop compassion and wisdom for ourselves and each other so we can orient our actions in ways that outlive us, the outcomes of our actions. So everybody, you're all in different places. Find a way where you can be comfortable. If you're at home, you're welcome to lay down. If you're in the office, this is great. Sit in your chair. If you're in the office, this is great. Sit in your chair. Most importantly, move your gaze away from looking at me.

You know, either close your eyes or maybe you can turn your head and just gently gaze down. You don't have to watch. Just listen. And let's begin by, if you could take a hand and put it on your heart center, and also take a hand and put it on your belly. So you're actually feeling your own presence here. And notice that you're breathing. If you're putting your hands on your body, you will immediately feel your breath. And let's see if just for two minutes, you can rest your attention on your breath. Allow yourself to just receive it. You don't have to change it

or make anything happen. Just receiving your breath. Thank you. Just noticing where is your attention. If you've strayed from your breath, coming back, beginning again. And today, if your mind is very busy, if you're caught in anxiety or you're just planning a lot, I'd like you to count your breaths. Count one inhale, one exhale. That's one. The next inhale and exhale is two. And I'd like you to count to five and begin again at one. Okay, we'll just be here for about two minutes as you count your breath. If your mind is pretty steady today, then you're just resting your attention on your breath

and if you get pulled away from it gently coming back just for two minutes Thank you. And now we're going to open up a little bit and technically practice mindfulness. Mindfulness can anchor your attention in your breath and then opening up a little bit. Opening up first to the sounds. Just allowing sound to enter your ears. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to make anything happen. Just being with the comings and goings

of sound. And you may not hear anything except your own breath. And being with that, the lack of sound as well. Thank you. And beginning to notice other sensations, light entering your eyes, smell, taste, the feelings in your body, tightness or ease. There may be places of tension or coolness or warmth. You might feel your clothing on your skin, the weight of your body. And just allowing yourself to be with these moment-to-moment arisings. You'll also start to notice thoughts are arising

and feelings and do your best to rest and allow not getting caught not clinging to you can always come back to your breath

and begin again and open up. Thank you. Thank you.. Just noticing where is your attention. If you are grasping onto a plan or a thought or a memory or images, gently let go. Bring your attention back to your breath, to the light entering your eyes, smell, taste, sound, thought, feeling, the weight of your body. Thank you. Now choosing to bring your attention to your heart center, if you'd like. You can put your hand there if you've moved your hand. Put your hand there if you've moved your hand. And making a connection here with someone that you know who is struggling.

Making a connection with someone that you know who is struggling. Could be a family member, a friend, a colleague. If you don't know anyone struggling right now, there's likely someone in the news that you know of. And you can imagine, visualize this person is here with you, or just have a sense of their presence here. And I'd like you to give them these two phrases. May you care for yourself with ease. May you be undisturbed by the changes in life. May you care for yourself with ease.

May you be undisturbed by the changes in life. May you care for yourself with ease. May you be undisturbed by the changes in life. Continuing here, just for two minutes, repeating these phrases silently like you're giving a gift to this being. Thank you. Thank you. may you care for yourself with ease may you be undisturbed by the changes in life you can keep your connection with this person who's struggling and now also include yourself and maybe you imagine the two of you together maybe you just feel both of your presence here and give yourself the same wisdom may we care for ourselves with

ease may we be undisturbed by the changes in life may we care for ourselves with ease may we be undisturbed by the changes in life. May we care for ourselves with ease. May we be undisturbed by the changes in life. And continuing, just for two minutes here, all you have to do is repeat the phrases like you're giving a gift to both of you. Thank you. Thank you. May we care for ourselves with ease. May we be undisturbed by the changes in life. Just taking a moment to include others, including all of us here today, everyone at the museum. May we care for ourselves with ease. May we be undisturbed by the changes in life,

and including everyone you are close to, your friends, your family, your pets. May we care for ourselves with ease. May we be undisturbed by the changes in life, including everyone that you don't know and all the beings and people we are not going to meet, strangers. May we care for ourselves with ease. May we be undisturbed by the changes in life, including people that you are in conflict with or find frustrating or don't like. May we care for ourselves with ease. May we be undisturbed by the changes in life,

including all beings. Sabe sata. May we care for ourselves with ease. May we be undisturbed by the changes in life. You can let go of this technique, bringing your attention to what's arising right now, the light entering your eyes, smell, taste, sound, your breath, the weight of your body. Taking a moment to thank yourself for practicing here today,

thanking each other for being here, thanking everyone at the Rubin that makes this possible. And whenever you're ready, you can bring your attention back to our conversation. Move or stretch as you'd like. Thank you. Thank you so much for that beautiful session, Kimberly. That concludes this week's practice.

If you would like to support the Ruben and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member of the Rubin. 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 2, hosted by Raveena Arora, is out now and explores the transformative power of emotions using a mandala as a guide.

Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day. transformative power of emotions using a mandala as a guide available wherever you listen to podcast thank you for listening have a mindful day