Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lama Aria Drolma 06/06/2024

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Theme: Self-Discovery Artwork: White Tara; Tibet; 15th century; brass; Rubin Museum of Art; http://therubin.org/38jTeacher: Lama Aria Drolma  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 20:08. 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, everyone. Tashi delek, and welcome. Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation at the Rubin Museum of Art.

I'm Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm so happy to be your host today. We were just sharing with each other earlier while we were doing soundcheck that today is I heard D-Day and my godmother in Maine, she texted me and said, it is also T-Day. So I won't tell you what it is. And today is actually the Namgang in Tibetan lunar calendar, which means it's the last day of the fourth month, the holiest or the virtuous month, the month that Buddha was born. Also, many years after, he reached enlightenment.

And then many, many, many years after, he also passed away. So it's considered very meritorious or virtuous or auspicious to do any good deed because one good deed is multiplied millions of times. So who doesn't want that, right? And so coming here together, you know, weekly for this session is trying to invoke that basic goodness that is within each of us. And I'm always so thankful to all of you who come and support this program. And some of you I've been seeing pretty much every Thursdays. And it's so beautiful that we all come together,

especially on a very auspicious day like today and some of the other days that coincides on the auspicious day. And I always say it is not a coincidence. We may have known each other in the many past lifetime to come together like this for such a special occasion. So we are a global hub for Himalayan art with a home base in New York City. And we are 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, Lama Aryadroma. So auspicious to have you on this auspicious day. And we will have a short set, about 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. So let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. So this is the beginning of the month, June, and it's our first Thursday. Each month we select a theme to make it more meaningful. And then we send a list of beautiful art from the gallery to our teachers. And the art connection for today's session is this beautiful white Tara that is handpicked by our teacher. And the theme for this month is self-discovery. Self-discovering what? Self-discovering the true nature, the basic goodness, the compassion, the wisdom that is within each of us.

So coming together like this is to awaken that. And who else than this divine feminine, often referred to as the female Buddha. Tara means star, or in Tibetan, she's referred to as dolma, which lights in the dark, right? A lamp. And Tara emanates in 21 different forms. Out of the 21 forms, two of the most popular or the common Taras are white Tara and green Tara that some of you may be familiar. How you can differentiate between the two besides the color is you look at how she's sitting and

there are certain hand gestures and the ritual objects that they are holding. So that being said, green tara in the painting, you can see the green color, but in the sculpture, they are always coming in this kind of tone, right? And so green Tara sits in a royal ease position, left leg folded, right leg extended. So this one that you're looking at, white Tara sits in a full lotus position or Vajra position, sitting in this meditative full lotus. And her left hand in holding the stem of the lotus, often referred to as Utpala flower, which is sprouted on the left shoulder, and right hand in the open palm,

fingers kind of facing the hand. So this gesture is known as supreme generosity, offering, giving. So she's often referred to as growing up as a child. The Tara's praises is about four or five pages long. Even illiterate, our elders, grandparents, everyone knows the prayer memorized. Even fortunately, I can recite the whole four pages too. But the short prayer for Tara is 10-syllable mantra, Om Tare Tu Tare Ture Swaha, which even a child beginning to speak also remembers or knows that.

So by reciting these, it's not only to awaken one's true nature, the wisdom, but it is also dedicating for all sentient beings benefit and for the world peace. So this is the Waitara, origin Tibet, dated 19th century. It's a brass, the size is about 13 into 6 and 1⁄2 inches, a beautiful sculpture from Tibet. Now you can have a close-up look of the Utpala flower sprouting on the left shoulder and the left hand folded half to her refuge gesture to her heart. And an elaborate beautiful, you know, necklaces, crown, omelet, anklet.

Although female Buddha Tara appears in enlightened, fully enlightened, she also appears in bodhisattva, which is where coming to help all sentient beings reach that level. And she's sitting on the full lotus throne here. And now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Lama Aryadroma. Lama Arya Doma is an ordained Buddhist teacher in the Karmakarju tradition of Tibetan Buddhism who has completed over a decade of monastic study and meditation training. She emphasizes Vajrayana Buddhism and Buddhist principles, making them relevant in our everyday

lives, helping us to cultivate loving-kindness and compassion, and bringing about a transformation of contentment and a genuine sense of well-being. Lama Arya Doma, thank you so much for being here, and please help me in welcoming Lama Arya Doma. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. Thank you all for coming today to this mindfulness meditation session. I'm so happy to be here. And thank you, Tashi, for the introduction. So it's the end of Sakadava Day.

The whole month has been very auspicious. So thank you all for coming in here. And I'm so happy to be here with you all as well. And so this month, the theme is self-discovery, as Tashi mentioned. And I specially picked this artwork of Mother White Tara. And why did I pick White Tara? And why did I pick Vaitara? Because even when we see a statue of the benevolent mother Vaitara, there's blessings. And all these statues are consecrated to make them alive. Under the lotus throne, there are mantras, there are sacred objects to liven them. So the

understanding was, when you look at them, they give you blessings. Because by default, they are enlightened beings. And the only thing in their heart is to help us. And, you know, and we don't know in our past lives if we've prayed to Mother Tara or we've seen a picture. So most often, you know, we sometimes have this connection with certain paintings or, you know, when we hear a bell, something rings within us. And this is all our past life connections. And another reason I chose Mother Tara was I just came back from a holiday from Bali in Indonesia. And Bali is known as the land of gods. And it is such a sacred place. And the place is so beautiful. And it is such a sacred place.

And the place is so beautiful. And the Balinese culture, they are, you know, they spend their days with so many rituals, ceremonies. And they have daily rituals that they do. And, you know, when you're in Bali, when you go outside on the street, you see in front of every home and businesses, you know, little palm made out of palm leaves, like little bowls. And then there are, there's food, there's incense, there's flowers as an offering to all the deities, you know, the house, in front of the house, so it can be prosperous, the businesses to be prosperous, peaceful. And then I also saw some cigarettes as an offering. I said, oh, so, you know, these are for the gods.

And I also went there to attend my friend's son's wedding. It was a three-day affair, like the monsoon wedding, if you've seen that movie. And it was such a special moment. seen that movie. And it was such a special moment. It were, you know, my friend's son was Indian, and his wife was British. So two cultures coming together, and everyone dancing, and all the places they had held their wedding was in this open place. And they were just stunning and gorgeous. open place and they were just stunning and gorgeous. And three days before the wedding, it had poured and rained and everything was happening with the rain. And guess what the wedding planner did? She had hired a rain stopper, a priest. I mean, can you believe this? You know, there are people like this, spiritual people who have the ability to control weather.

And so the, you know, the priest came, prayed because, you know, all of us were decked to the tea with all the jewelry, you know, and all the fabulous saris and the bride. Everything was in the open air. So that was in Bali. And I think we have somebody from Indonesia who probably knows about these customs and tradition. So it's really the land of gods. And there are so many divine human beings. And I was also lucky. I had a friend there and his wife was Balinese. So she took me to her ancestral home. And there was a high priest who was so kind to give me a spiritual cleansing purification bath from the from nine the waters from the nine sacred rivers and they you know requested me do you want this purification bath and I'm like absolutely nine sacred rivers Give me the bath. So, you know, the bath happened, and oh my God, I could really feel the cleansing.

You know, everything in Balinese, the earth, the water, the mountains, the rivers, everything has energy, and they pray to it. And in our culture, we rarely see these things. And in Bali, there's also divine humans, you know, one of this is like the spiritual person who was the rain stopper. On the third day of the wedding, I tell you, the clouds were all like, we have to rain. And then, you know, we were all in this area, and then it rained on the other side. And here was a spiritual master, you know, going around and praying because everything was in the open. And today, apparently, I believe that there are some divine human beings amongst us and they are here, special teachers.

So we have some visiting teachers here with us and I really want to give grace and bow to you. And I want to say thank you to all the teachers who are present here. You are our divine humans. You know, I remember when I heard that the teachers are going to be here, my heart was so happy. The reason being is when I was young, my teacher, her name was Sundari. And Sundari means beautiful. And she was such a lovely teacher. She inspired me so much. And every day, my mother would give me some jasmine flowers to give it to my teacher.

You know, some of you all must have given some apples or cookies. And so I would give my teacher some jasmine flowers, and she would put it behind her hair. So thank you to your divine humans who are in the forms of teachers. And thank you for being here. So after that wonderful purification bath, and after meeting my friends who I hadn't met for around 40 years I realized something so important to cherish friendship I live in the monastery and we just got a call of one of our devotees who had become a little bit older and he was by himself and he had fallen and injured himself and nobody was there to help him

and there was no family and then of course you know after a few days all of them came together but in our life we hardly cherish friends our teachers we normally don't even go back and thank them when we've become athletes or whoever you, we are in this high profile job. And so I want to take this moment to cherish our friends, to cherish our teachers, to cherish all these divine people who are here. And today, I had such a beautiful gift. You know, I came in early, gift. You know, I came in early and one of the person who's attending this place just came up to me and said, thank you. You know, I learned so much from your teachings and I want to thank you for thanking me because it's really, you know, we need words like this of encouragement. You know, today I nearly missed my train by one second and I was dashing in and I made it and I was so happy. And then, you know, to have this gift when I came here

and, you know, I reached Grand Central Station and then, you know, all the people and everything and got here. And it's such a good reminder that I want you to go home today and thank everyone who has played an important role in your heart, in your well-being, be it parents, be it teachers, be it friends, nourish them, cherish them, you know, go and have a coffee with them. It's really amazing. And, you know, when I came back, I realized that, you know, I walked into New York City and bombarded with all the situations that we, you know, we are, you know, in contrast to Bali, it was quite overwhelming what is happening economically, as to Bali, it was quite overwhelming what is happening economically, politically, and this is what we are seeing every day. But in other cultures, they're starting the day with generosity,

sacredness, they're having space for all this, and what a positive mindset to be. And here, we are bombarded with news of political issues and economical issues, inflation and everything, fear, anxiety and so on. And the question is, do we succumb to this negative mindset or is there something we can do to make our life, live our highest potential? And the answer is yes. You know, all we do have to do is live intentionally every morning to say, I'm going to make this a positive mindset. Gone are the days you'll wake up and say, oh, let the day roll. No, because we are bombarded with so many news which are not really positive. We have to make it positive, the mindset. The previous night when you go to sleep, you're going to say,

I'm going to wake up today, the next morning, with thoughts of gratitude, thoughts of thankfulness, and I'm going to have a mindset that I will be a giving person. And I'm going to have a mindset that I will be a giving person. I am. We are all divine spirits with human experiences. Don't forget this. This wonderful deity behind me, you know, the green version of Green Tara, there's a story that she was also born as a human. And she practiced

wisdom and goodness and she became a highest potential self, an enlightened being. And when you see this Mother Tara behind, or White Tara, you know, Tashi was very kind to give us all her attributes. And you also see she has seven eyes, one in her forehead, and then there are two eyes, and there are two in her hands, and then there are two in her legs. So what it is, is she's all seeing, all knowing, and all she does is send blessings. Anyone with devotion who pray to her the blessings are there and my go-to deity is always mother tara anytime and this white tara whoever has today has any form of illness she's all about you know health and longevity and you can just take her blessings because

all she does is give there's no conditions there's no barriers for her there's no choices she makes she just gives so the question is how do we you know have a positive mindset one of the ways to have positive mindsets is having mindfulness meditation, you know, thinking very mindfully and today's mindfulness meditation will be on Tonglen practice and Tongling is a practice of self-love. So let's all sit upright. And through these practices of visualization, meditation, mantras, mudras, we embody even her attributes. And we believe we can access her wisdom and blessings and become fully enlightened.

And let's sit with an open heart. And let's be relaxed. And just bring our mind's attention to her breath, and I'm going to recite her mantra three times, and in your heart, just be open to receiving her blessing, because she permeates all, every space in the world, and the mantra is OM TARE

TU TARE TU RE MAMA AYO PUNYA JANA PUSCHAM KURU SOHA So just be in peace. And so today, sit relaxed, as relaxed as you can be.

And the meditation today will be about self-love. And all you have to do is visualize yourself in front of you, facing you, and from your heart center, visualize a beautiful white light. And the feeling of that white light is absolute unconditional love. love and then just visualize that light coming to you who are who's facing yourself and filling you from head to toe so again let's set up right relaxed as relaxed as you can inhale and exhale and I'll ring the bell now and I'll ring the bell now. Inhale and exhale and visualize in front of you you are sitting

facing yourself and just reflect for some time. Whatever arises, any pain, suffering, watching yourself, and that's okay. And from your heart center, there's a beautiful white light. And that light fills you,

who's facing you from head to toe and just like that all your pain is gone you're filled with a beautiful light of unconditional love and rest in that present moment of awareness Inhale and exhale breathe normally at your own pace and bring to mind the feeling of unconditional love perhaps someone whom you loved

loved or someone who loved you, your parents, your grandparents, your cousins. And it's okay if you want to cough, if you want to shift, that's alright. so bring this energy of a feeling of loving unconditionally and from your heart center visualize this beautiful white light filling you who's facing yourself and you are transformed immediately and all your pain that you've been carrying on, let it go.

Heal. Heal. And keep your mind's attention on your breath. Inhale and exhale, and let's sit for a few moments like this. Thank you. Anytime your mind has wandered off somewhere, it's okay. Just label it as thinking. Bring your mind's attention to your breath. Just observe it going in, inhaling in, and exhaling it. And And again, bring to your mind stream the feeling of unconditional love for yourself. And then from your heart center, this wonderful, beautiful, peaceful light of love and unconditional love goes

towards you who's facing yourself. This is a visualization of you and fills you from your head to toe with this beautiful light of unconditional love. And that very moment, let go of all your pain and suffering. Just feel you're born again. And your heart is filled with love and joy and happiness. Okay, relax. And you can slowly open your eyes and move your shoulders and come back to the present moment.

Thank you so much for that wonderful session. 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 a monthly newsletter at rubinmuseum.org slash enews. I am Tashi Chodron. Thank you so much for listening. Have a mindful day.