Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lama Aria Drolma 05/02/2022

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

Theme: Harmony Artwork: Maitreya, The Future Buddha; Tibet; ca. Second quarter of the 15th century; Pigments on Cloth; Rubin Museum of Art, Gift of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; F1998.17.2(HAR 664);[http://therubin.org/349] Teacher: Lama Aria DrolmaThe 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 14:31.  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, Dawn Eshelman. 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 now, please enjoy your practice. Hello, everybody. Welcome, welcome. Welcome to the Rubin Museum of Art and to our weekly mindfulness meditation practice. So nice to be here with you for this program that we offer every week as a way of contemplating a work of art from our collection and using that as inspiration for a meditation practice together. So for those of you who are new to us here,

we are a museum of Himalayan art in New York City, and it's great to have you all join. And here, inspired from our collection, we'll take a look at a work of art together, and then we'll sit, we'll have a brief talk from our teacher. And today we have the wonderful Lama Arya Drolma. She'll talk with us for a little bit, and then we'll sit for a meditation,

15 to 20 minutes, guided by her. So this month, we're in the month of May. And last month, if you remember, we were talking a lot about healing, inspired by the exhibition Healing Practices, and talking about how healing means so many different things to so many people, and all the different ways that we go about supporting our healing. In fact, healing comes in many expressions. And the kind of question coming out of that is that, and then what's next? And if healing is an ongoing process, but for what? For what next step? And so this month, we are exploring the theme of harmony. Harmony as a kind of expression of how we relate to ourselves in the

world around us from this kind of locus, this point of reference of our whole self, our healed self. And so harmony calls for an openness. Harmony kind of welcomes this understanding of interconnectedness. So I welcome you to think about the ways in which you experience harmony in your life, in your practice, and what that means to you. let's go ahead and take a look at our artwork for today. So look at this example of harmony. This is such openness and balance of all of these kind of colors and figures moving through this visually together. The figure here is Maitreya, the future Buddha. This is from Tibet, 15th century.

The Future Buddha. This is from Tibet, 15th century. This is pigments on cloth, so a tanka painting, which is a painting that is meant to be rolled up and carried so that it's easy to move about. A scroll painting. And it's just a very luminous painting, isn't it? And this shows Maitreya sitting on his celestial throne, radiating light. He sits with his legs extended as if he's ready to kind of descend to earth and take up his ministry as the Buddha. But he hasn't yet done that. He's in this sort of before time. And so he's adorned here actually not as the next Buddha when he would probably be depicted in monk's robes like the current Buddha of our age, but here he is with his princely jewels and the dress of Bodhisattva, very beautiful and bejeweled here. His throne is supported, you can see this beautiful multicolored throne here at the bottom, red and green, and it's supported by those lotus

blossoms, those red and green blossoms that are kind of coming up from that skinny green stem and then shooting outwards, holding his throne up there. And the branches of that form this subtle scroll that frames all of the secondary figures. And it indicates that this painting refers to the five treatises of Maitreya, the five commentaries on Buddha Shakyamuni's teachings attributed to Maitreya. So we will bring on our teacher today, Lama Aryadroma. She is an ordained Buddhist teacher in the Karmakagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism who has completed over a decade of monastic study and meditation training. She's a graduate of the traditional Tibetan Buddhist retreat program spanning three years and three months. training. She's a graduate of the traditional Tibetan Buddhist retreat program spanning three years and three months. And this is an advanced cloistered meditation training

program at the Phabong Thubten Choling Monastery in New York. And she teaches all over the world and emphasizes Vajrayana Buddhism and Buddhist principles. So making those relevant in everyday life, helping us to cultivate love and kindness, compassion, and a bringing about of transformation of contentment and a genuine sense of well-being. Lama Arijola, so nice to have you here. Welcome. Welcome, everyone, and greetings. Thank you all for joining in today. I'm so happy to be here with you all. And thank you, Dawn, for your kind introduction. So the theme this month is harmony, as Dawn mentioned, which is so very crucial in today's world. When there's harmony in the family,

in today's world. When there's harmony in the family, the family thrives. When there's harmony in the community, the community thrives. When there's harmony in the world, mankind thrives. So harmony is so crucial for the well-being of mankind. And so last month, it was healing. mankind. And so last month, it was healing. And after healing, it's harmony to have a harmonious life is I think, is one of the best gifts that we can have. And the artwork I selected is the painting the Thangka of the future Buddha Maitreya. I chose this artwork because I have a very special bond to Maitreya Buddha because here in the monastery where I live we have a huge statue of Maitreya Buddha and it's absolutely beautiful. Our teacher, R. M. Puche, in honor of the Buddha Maitreya's rebirth on earth, wanted to have a karmic bond, a connection. So he chose to have Maitreya Buddha statue in a monastery, so we can chant and offer prayers and have a karmic connection. So the idea is when he's born in the future, that we will have that karmic connection now.

So we can also be there when he's born through our rebirths and listen to all his teachings and attain enlightenment, which is all the monastics' goal. So according to the Buddhist tradition, Maitreya Buddha, who's a Bodhisattva. What is a Bodhisattva? A Bodhisattva refers to anyone who has this innate compassion to help mankind. They have realized that that is the ultimate potential of a human being to have compassion for human beings to become enlightened to benefit all sentient beings so that is a bodhisattva and as a bodhisattva there are many many steps and then from bodhisattva they become a buddha so maitriya buddha is currently residing in a pure realm known as tushita and is waiting his time to take birth on earth to become the future buddha so pure realm what is pure realm

so you know there are many galaxies there are so many universes and so pure realm, Tushita, is in the Buddhist tradition. It is also a place where there's Buddha's teachings and the Bodhisattvas are there because of their merit. They go there to have higher and higher realizations. in Tushita to be the future Buddha and once reborn he will be born on earth and he will achieve complete and perfect enlightenment and will teach the pure Dharma as Shakyamuni Buddha. So the arrival of Maitreya Buddha is prophesied to occur during the era when all the dharma is forgotten, and the world and mankind is in the dark ages. So during these degenerative times in the world, mankind will be at war, and everything will be in the dark age, like in the dark ages. The name Maitriya is taken from the ancient Indian language Sanskrit and the word Maitreya means loving kindness. So the name itself Maitreya means the embodiment of all encompassing love. So the story goes that Buddha Maitreya who as ahisattva, specialized in this meditation on great love,

on loving kindness. He not only taught this path to others, but also meditated upon it deeply on loving kindness. This meditation was so powerful that people passing by, close enough to touch his feet, would themselves receive the realization of great love of loving kindness so this greatly pleased all the buddhas there are many millions of buddhas in many universes and they all rejoiced in his action and predicted that in all his future lives as a bodhisattva and as a Buddha, he would be known as great love. This is how he received his name as Maitreya. Maitreya Buddha will manifest in the form of a great spiritual leader, just like Shakyamuni Buddha. More importantly, he will spread the teachings on loving kindness specifically and teach the pure dharma on earth.

And as a result, with his arrival on earth, Maitreya Buddha will bring about peace, harmony, healing, teaching us loving kindness and compassion. and compassion and all the sentient beings in the world will greatly benefit and they will come out of that darkness and they you know the dark ages and there will be love and light again so what is this meditation practice on loving kindness and compassion it's there are different ways to do this meditation in different spiritual traditions. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, it's called Tonglen meditation. It's a very ancient Buddhist practice and the word Tonglen literally means taking and sending. It refers to being willing to take in the pain and suffering of oneself and others and to send out happiness to all this is a very very profound practice that you know here in the monastery we continuously do this so that our we can realize this potential in us of you know having this loving kindness and it radiates and you can

see people many spiritual masters you know when you go near them they you feel you know you automatically cry because you have you feel that essence of loving compassion, you know, like great leaders, like Mother Teresa, she was one of them, Mahatma Gandhi, and so many others, when you are next to them, you feel that. And a lot of us, when I first went to meet my teacher, and I'm not a person who cries a lot, but when I saw him, the tears welled up and just came pouring because I could feel his loving compassion. And he was a great practitioner of this meditation. It's a mindfulness practice of cultivating compassion, benevolence, harmony, friendship, unconditional love for all beings. When we practice compassion and loving kindness, we are in

harmony with ourselves and in the world. This is a positive state of being. In this state, we can manifest whatever we want. So anytime when you feel disharmony with yourself, with everything around, it's so essential to practice this meditation. And I'm going to simplify this. And anyone can practice this very easily. So let's start the meditation. And I'll do a guided meditation. So you can all sit upright.

And relax your body. Sit comfortably. You may gently close your eyes or keep them open. And if you choose to keep your eyes open, just keep them at a downward gaze so you won't have much distraction. them at a downward gaze so you won't have much distraction. Relax your body and be free of all tension. Relax your shoulders, keep them down, let all the tension go. Now relax your mind by letting go of all your thoughts, thoughts of the past, thoughts of the future, thoughts of your work, all your worries and just be in that present moment of awareness. The best way to be in the present moment of awareness is to gently focus your attention on your breath.

Just simply put your attention on your breath. Pay attention as your breath goes in. And pay attention as your breath goes out. Important, you breathe naturally at your own pace. And as we start the meditation, let's give rise to good intention and motivation for doing this meditation. It's always important to have the right intention and motivation as a practitioner. And the intention and motivation can be by this meditation practice on loving kindness may I and all beings

be purified of all pain and suffering and may we all attain perfect enlightenment to help all beings so let's sit for a moment contemplating on this

now here's the main meditation. Again, please sit upright and sit comfortably. And now gently put our mind's attention on our breath, feeling each breath as it goes in. And as it comes out, let the breath just be as it is without trying to change or regulate it in any way. Allowing it to flow easily and naturally with its own rhythm and pace. So let's sit for a moment, just putting our attention on our breath. breathe in and as you exhale

just rest in that present moment of awareness Now, visualize, imagine in the space in front of you, a beautiful sphere or a ball of radiant light, radiant white light. This light is transparent and radiant and beautiful. So this light in front of you is the embodiment of absolute purity, harmony, goodness, peace, universal love, loving kindness and compassion. The important thing is to feel that it's really there, this beautiful radiant ball of light, that you're sitting in the presence of this white light, which is the essence of all goodness, perfection, purity, universal loving kindness and compassion. Now visualize the light filling your whole body from your head to your toes. every cell atom of your body and instantly this light purifies you completely everything negative in your body and mind is completely cleansed and this blissful, radiant light is so blissful.

And rest your mind becomes calm and clear and your body is filled with this white radiant light and you're free of all your worries and problems and all your suffering is instantly transformed and you're filled with happiness and joy just rest your mind in this experience for a few moments Just rest your mind in this experience for a few moments. Inhale and exhale. Inhale, breathe normally. And as you breathe in, bring to your mind's attention the feeling of unconditional love and compassion into your mind stream.

unconditional love and compassion into your mind stream. Perhaps you may have loved your mother, your father, your grandparents, your brother, someone you loved. And so that feeling of unconditional love you can bring into your mind stream. love you can bring into your mind stream. As you breathe out, just imagine from your heart center, this light which is filled your body from your head to toe, from your heart center, the light goes out in all directions like rays of light emanating from the sun to the whole universe and all the people all the beings become filled with this energy

of loving kindness and compassion and just rest your mind in this present moment of awareness for a few moments. and now just imagine the minds of all the beings everywhere in this universe and in all the zillions of galaxies and universes. They become free of all the negative thoughts and filled with loving thoughts. And in an instant, there's peace and harmony everywhere. there's peace and harmony everywhere just visualize that everyone is at peace and in harmony at this very moment

and rest your mind in that perfect awareness Thank you. What we think and what we say is so important. We don't often pay much attention to our thoughts, but they have the power to shift the field of the collective consciousness. Like for instance, when you go to a football match, you see so much of excitement out there, you know, it's the collective consciousness. Likewise, when you go to a When you go to a show, say, your favorite singer, and there it's filled with excitement and, you know, you want to dance to the music. And it's collectively, everybody feels that kind of excitement.

Your pop star, your favorite star. And just like that, when you go to a church or a temple or a monastery, you can feel the peace. And that is the collective consciousness. It's what you put out there that can shift. And even one person, when you practice this meditation, you can make a shift,

which is you can take it home and all your family members can feel it. And when they go to work, it can spread that way. So this meditation on loving kindness and compassion is very, very profound. Anytime you feel not harmonious with yourself, anytime you feel a lot of anger, anytime you feel not well, instantly, wherever you are, you're standing, you're sitting, just center yourself. Put your attention on your breath, inhale and exhale,

and be in the present moment. And just visualize again, a beautiful ball of white radiant light, which is purity, love, benevolence, harmony, kindness. It fills your whole body, every cell and every atom with this mind stream of loving kindness and compassion. And just sit for a moment in that awareness. And then from your heart center, like rays of light, like the sun, let it instantly touch every being in the galaxies and in the universe and then feel that all this suffering is gone and they are at peace,

they are at harmony and they only have positive thoughts of happiness. So let's practice this meditation for a few moments in silence. Thank you. And at this moment, you may realize your mind has wandered off, and it's okay. Thoughts will keep coming, thoughts of work and what you have to do next. That's fine. That's what thoughts does. Again, come back to your center, does. Again, come back to your center. And if you have lost that visualization, that's okay.

Just visualize in the space in front of you, a beautiful sphere or a ball of radiant white light. That light is transparent and radiant and beautiful. This light is the embodiment of absolute purity, harmony, goodness, peace, universal love, loving kindness and compassion and genuinely feel that light and the important thing is to really feel these feelings the essence of all goodness, perfection, purity, loving kindness and compassion.

And visualize again, the light fills you from your head to your toes. Every cell, every atom feels this loving kindness and compassion. This light purifies you completely. Everything negative in your body and mind is completely cleansed. Even your health is in perfect condition. And you feel so blissful and radiant and alive. Feel the light. Imagine your mind is calm and clear. And feel that happiness within you.

And again, from your heart center, the light goes out to the whole universe and it instantly transforms every negative mind into a positive mind. Positive thoughts of unconditional love pervades in this essence of purity, love, unconditional love, loving kindness and compassion for a few moments. Our body is filled with this light. And you can clearly see all the beings having a positive mind. With great love. When I lived in Manhattan a long time ago, and I used to walk to work, and I had choices. I could look at everything, and my mind was constantly making judgments, or I would do this practice.

And by the time I got to work, I felt absolutely fantastic. I was energized and I was smiling. And this was the practice when I started my meditation practice. when I started my meditation practice, I practiced this meditation of loving kindness and I really saw results. You know, I would do to people who I was not in harmony with and they would in return start being friendly with me. And I said, oh, this meditation works.

And for me, this is one of the greatest meditation meditation on loving kindness and you can do it anywhere and it's so simple if you feel like you can even visualize buddha in front of you transparent you can visualize my three abuddha visualize Maitriya Buddha, this is how we meditate here in the monastery. We visualize Chandrasi, our Loke Teshwara, as this beautiful transparent filled with white light showering us with this brilliant radiant light. You can do it with Mother Mary, you can do it with Jesus, whatever you feel, a connection of holiness and love. And so now as we conclude this meditation, you know, we have done a very noble act. And it's very meritorious.

and it's very meritorious. So we can dedicate this merit and wish that all beings may ultimately attain enlightenment, the highest state of happiness. And so we dedicate this merit. And now relax. This practice is very powerful. It makes an internal shift from, you know, self-criticism, self-fixation to a larger awareness it shifts that from that victim role to one of love and compassion so i genuinely wish that this meditation was helpful and that you'll practice at home and that's what we do we practice here in the monastery we live here and every day it's a

practice of changing that mindset which is so reactionary that monkey mind thinking of all the nonsense so we take that mind and we practice just like my three buddha did like shakimani buddha did when they started and you know so all of us can one day be future Buddhas. Thank you so much. I'm so grateful to be here with you all. Have a blessed day. Thank you. Thank you so much, Lama Arya. That concludes this week's practice. If you'd like to support the Ruben and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member. If you're looking for more inspiring content, please check out our new podcast, Awaken, hosted by Laurie Anderson. The 10-part series features personal stories that explore the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up.

Now available wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening and thank you for practicing with us.