Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lama Aria Drolma 06/27/2024

Episode Date: July 5, 2024

Theme: Self-Discovery Artwork: Kalachakra Cosmology Illustration; Tibet; 16th century; pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Arthttp://therubin.org/38m Teacher: Lama Aria DrolmaThe 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 and includes an opening talk and a 20-minute meditation session.The guided meditation begins at 10:02. 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, and Tashi Delek. How's everyone doing? Wow, so wonderful to see such a wonderful crowd here

coming together to give rise to the basic goodness that is within each of us. Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation with the Rubin Museum of Art. I'm Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm so delighted to be here with all of you. Those of you who are first time, we are a global hub for Himalayan art with a home base in Chelsea, 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 a collection, we will first take a look at work of art. We will then hear a brief talk from our teacher Lama Arya Dromela and then we will have a short sit 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. So let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. So this month our theme is self-discovery. And the art connection for today's session, which is handpicked by our teacher

amongst a selection of few others, is this beautiful scroll painting of Kalachakra Cosmology Illustration. And this is origin from Tibet. It's a 16th century beautiful painting, mineral pigment on cloth. This is about 31 and a half into 84 length into 22, roughly around that measurement.

And the connection to the theme is our theme for the month of June, as I mentioned, self-discovery. The Kala Chakra cosmology illustration helps practitioners to discover the interconnectedness of the cosmos and their inner world, fostering a journey of self-discovery. Now the Kala Chakra in Tibetan word it's called Ducchi Korla and in Hindi or Sanskrit is wheel of time or time cycle. This beautiful painting is the illustration of the Kala Chakra cosmology and it's a double-sided scroll although we can only see one side here with four of these images. The other image was very blurry, so not very clear. And this image presents diagrams exploring various aspects of the cosmos

as described in a Buddhist text called the Wheel of Time, the Kala Chakra Tantra. This tantra emphasizes the correlations between the outward appearance of the universe and the human body. So on the scroll, there is a human figure depicting the cosmic man right here, branching off from the central channel of this cosmic man. There are six centers or chakras right around here, which associates with the six elements, the space, which is located at the crown of this figure, associates with the crown, of course, the space. And then there is water at the forehead,

fire at the throat, wind at the heart, and so on and so forth with the six chakras. And then in addition to these primary chakras, the painting also depicts the chakra at the main joints, main joints that are in the body, which correlates to the 12 signs of the zodiac. So this image is also used for astrology, for the well-being. And now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Lama Arya Doma. Lama Arya Doma is an ordained Buddhist teacher in the Karma Kaju 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 Aryadroma, thank you so much for being here and please help me in welcoming Lama. please help me in welcoming Amma. Good afternoon everyone and welcome to today's mindfulness meditation session. I'm so delighted to be here with you all. I see we have some beginners here and I just want to assure you it's going to be the meditation is very easy to follow and thank you Tashi for the introduction and thank you so much for showing us these clips of these videos of Dalai Lama and it is believed in Buddhist belief that even looking at Dalai Lama's face even one time it just is a great connection for you to have that in your heart and there are many thoughts about just having a glimpse of Dalai Lama you go to the higher realm and so on in the Buddhist tradition if you have that devotion.

realm and so on in the Buddhist tradition if you have that devotion. So today I did choose this artwork very very specifically. We are normally given about five artworks but I chose this specifically because even as I just mentioned even a glimpse of Dalai Lama gives you that devotion, a connection to Dharma, and then to enlightenment, the path. That is the reason I chose this, because even having a glimpse of this, it'll be in your heart connection. You know, one day when there's another teaching of this Kala Chakra teachings you would probably go and visit it or you would be interested in the teachings. And I really want to, because I have a short moment to explain this very, very profound teaching. When you go home, do look up Kala Chakra and read a little bit about it. It is one of the most profound

and the highest tantra practice in Tibetan Buddhism. It originated, historically it originated in India by Buddha himself, and it is believed when he did teach the Kala Chakra teachings he simultaneously appeared in southern India and another part of India in north

and gave the teachings and now this very Kala Chakra teachings is done by the Dalai Lama lineages so Dal Dalai Lama, when he does, he's done over 30 Kala Chakra teachings, probably close to 34. And it's a very, very intense practice. It takes more than 12 highly qualified Lamas for all the setup, the rituals and everything and Tashi just mentioned that the Kala Chakra, all those images you see is connected to the

universe and the human body and the teachings takes, the empowerment takes about 12 days and all the ritual preparations. So what is an empowerment or an initiation? It is like if you want to become a navy seal, you would have to go through a lot of education, right? Like, you know, everything is, all the explanation and everything for you to become a navy seal is explained very, very carefully. And so that's how this Kala Chakra teachings is. The whole core of that teaching is for you to become fully enlightened. So the teachings applies to purify your mind, your speech, and your body. And which leads you then, the practice then leads you to a full enlightenment so this Kala chakra which is Kala as in Sanskrit Kala is time and

chakra is wheel so the wheel of time and it's, very important during this preparation of Kala Chakra, the teachings, the students are really purified because we carry, you know, mental afflictions, speech afflictions and body afflictions. purify all this. And so today's mindfulness meditation, I'm going to give you a very simple technique. And this is how the technique works. You know, please all sit up, sit up, and then be relaxed, be very relaxed. The most important thing is for you to be relaxed, sit upright, you can place your hands on your knees like this with your palms down, your legs can be parallel to the floor. And this is a meditation, a visualization as well. And it's a purification of body, speech and mind. And this is how the meditation will go. When we mentally say Aum, when you inhale, and before you exhale, naturally, we have a small pause, which will be R-A-H.

And then when you exhale, you say Aum mentally. So this is how it will go, just to show you an example of it like when you breathe in inhale which will be om and then ah and then hung in mentally in your mind ah is r and when you exhale it's hung h h u n g so this it'll be like this inhale oh in your mind and then ah a pause and then when you exhale it's hung and it's not like om ah hung it's not like that okay so all of us let's sit upright let's sit upright be comfortable and i'll give you a guided meditation so it's all well explained. Just observe your breath, inhale and exhale and just settle down. Be in the present moment. And for a few moments, we'll pay attention to the breath being here and now. Thank you. and mentally now just say om as you inhale

and there's a small pause which will be ah mentally you can say ah and as you exhale just say hung mentally so it'll be like om as you breathe in ah at the pause and hung when you exhale. All the while, just breathe through your nose as you inhale ah eh at the pause and hung when you exhale. H-U-N-G. If your mind has wandered off, it's okay. Just label it as thinking and bring your mind's attention to your breath. And bring your mind's attention to your breath. Just mentally, as you breathe in, say Aum. And the pause, Aum. And as you exhale, Aum.

So it's like Aum, Aum, Aum. Om Aung This is a meditation to purify your mind, body, speech. Om. Purify your mind, body, speech. Om Ah Ong And now we can do a visualization meditation with the same letters. You can visualize OM on your forehead and the letters R, A, H near your throat throat and hung in your heart center. The letter OM is in white color and in your throat center the letters RAH is in red color and in your heart center the letters HUNG H U N G is in blue blue color so just observe your breath breathe in and breathe out at your own pace and just visualize the letter OM on your forehead, RAH on your throat center and then HUNG, the letters are blue in your heart center. Om on your forehead in the letter white, O-M. R-A-H, on your throat center. The letters are red in color.

And hung is on your heart center, which is blue color. The letters are blue, H-U-N-G. the letters are blue H U N G inhale and exhale breathe at your own pace and just visualize these letters and rest in that present moment of awareness Awak boleh melihat You can visualize the letters OM first, and then H and then to your heart center visualize the letters HUNG in blue you can do it one by one or you can visualize all the letters together OM on your forehead, AH on your throat center, Ong at your heart center.

Breathe normally. Inhale and exhale. Thank you. And now just go back to the sound again. When you inhale, just mentally say Aum. And there's a slight pause and you say A. mentally, HUNG. So it'll be like OM, PA, HUNG. And this is a purification meditation for your mind body and speech and just rest in that present moment of awareness rest completely Om Ah Hong You can do any of the method. You can say mentally Aum, A, Hung. Or you can visualize on your forehead the letter Aum or M in white.

And then the letters A, H in the color red on your throat and in your heart center visualize HUNG and the letters are in blue H, U, N, G. Breathe in normally at your own pace and just rest in that present moment of awareness And now slowly open your eyes and you can relax. You can move your shoulders, stretch your legs thank you Tashi Thank you so much for that beautiful session. Thank you. 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 Rubin Museum dot org slash e-news. I am Tashi Chodron. Thank you so much for listening. Have a mindful day.