Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lama Aria Drolma 08/31/2023

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

Theme: Mandala Artwork: Green Tara; Tibet; Tenth Karmapa, Choying Dorje (1604–1674); 17th century; brass with pigments; Rubin Museum of Art; http://therubin.org/378 Teacher: 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 19:23. 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. Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation at the Rubin Museum of Art. I'm Jacqueline Smith, Manager of School and Family Programs, and I'm delighted to be your host today. We are a global hub for Himalayan art with a home base here in New York City,

and we are so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection, we will first take a look at a work of art. We will then hear a brief talk from our teacher, Lama Arya Droma, 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. Green Tara on view on the fifth floor of the museum. Our theme for this month is acceptance. Green Tara is associated with acceptance as she embodies compassionate action and the willingness to embrace all beings without judgment. This work of art was created by Choing Dorja, the 10th Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. Not only was the 10th Karmapa a revered spiritual leader,

he was also a remarkable artist. The Karmapa's love of animals is often subtly incorporated into his works. Here, a pair of birds can be found nestled in a leafy bower above Tara's head. From a young age, the Karmapa demonstrated a proclivity for both painting and sculpting. He was particularly drawn to metalwork from Kashmir and Svat. These stylistic influences are evident in this sculpture of the goddess Tara. Tara is a completely enlightened Buddha who typically appears in the form of a radiant young woman. The green form of Tara is known for bestowing protection from the eight fears. She helps us to overcome internal and

external states of turmoil. Tara is beloved in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Now, let's bring on our teacher for today, Lama Arya Droma. Lama Arya Droma is an ordained Buddhist teacher in the Karmakagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. She has completed over a decade of monastic study and meditation training. She emphasizes Vajrayana Buddhism and Buddhist principles, making them relevant to 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, thank you so much for being here with us today.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this wonderful mindfulness meditation program. to this wonderful mindfulness meditation program and thank you Jacqueline for the introduction. It's always a pleasure to be here and this month the theme is acceptance and the artwork as you all saw was Green Tara, the mother of all Buddhas. Today I'd like to share with you the profound wisdom of acceptance. From the Buddhist perspective, acceptance is a concept that lies at the heart of all Buddhist teaching. And its significance lies in the journey towards understanding life and finding inner peace. So in the Buddhist perspective, acceptance doesn't mean being passive, but rather a profound acknowledgement of the present moment. So most often, if we check our thoughts, we are never in the present moment. If we check our thoughts, our thoughts are often in the past or in the future.

The past thoughts are always of regret, and the thoughts of the future are always of fear. or the future are always of fear. So being in the present moment without resistance or judgment, with an open heart and accepting the present moment, however it presents itself. And in doing so, there's a lot of courage. So let's explore this Buddhist perspective. And here I want to talk about the four noble truths that Buddha thought after he became enlightened. These four thoughts are the foundation of all the Buddhist teachings.

So basically, these four thoughts gives us a roadmap how to live our life. So the first noble truth that Buddha teaches is that life is, he uses the word dukkha in Pali. And what does dukkha mean in this context? Dukkha means unsatisfactory, dissatisfaction. So this is not to look at this view in a negative way. He gives you a roadmap as to what life really is. So dissatisfaction is an inherent part of life. But this teaching should be used as like a knowledge, a roadmap, because nobody gives us a manual, you know, what life is all about. But this is the first teaching. Life is dukkha. The word dukkha is from a Sanskrit word and the opposite of dukkha is sukha. So if anyone speaks Hindi here, you probably understand the

word suk. So that means at ease, happy, you know, being outside in the beach, you know, basking in sunshine. It's called sukha. Sukha is kind of happiness, joyous. And dukkha, in this context, although it's translated like suffering, it means dissatisfaction. For example, how many of you all must have just come to the room and everyone must have wanted a, you know, they probably had a preference, a seat that you wanted to sit in. And you're like, damn, that seat is taken. And you know, why is, I don't want to sit next to this person. Or is that person okay to sit, you know? So all these moment to moment, this anxiety, this anguish, you know, is the AC on? And, you know, someone is like, the AC is blasting, I can't sit there, let me sit somewhere else. And how many of you all, as you got, you know, as you had this thought

to come into this mindfulness meditation session, you know, you probably had to take a subway, you know. Imagine from the moment to moment all the thought process that you had to go through, and I don't know if all your thought process was positive. So this is what the context is. Life is dissatisfaction, okay? So the thought process when you went into the subway, you had to push in to get there, or as you walked, you know, the sun hit you too hard, you didn't have your sunglasses, or so and so and so on. Okay? So this is the first noble truth that Buddha teaches you.

But why does he emphasize this, the first teaching? And then he gives you a roadmap, what to do, how to live your life joyously, contently. And so the second noble truth is, what is the origin of this dissatisfaction? What is the origin of all this suffering? It is our craving. It is our clinging. suffering. It is our craving. It is our clinging. In the sense, we cling to certain rules and some of the personality we have built. Like example, walking in here, you know, you didn't want to sit perhaps in the last row. You're like, you know, as you're probably waiting in line, you're like, I hope I get a seat. I hope I get a good seat, you know. So if you examine your mind,

it all, you know, builds up to a little bit of anxiety. So, and it's clinging to these things. It's not like, you know, you walked in and said, I don't mind. I'll sit in any seat that I have. You know, I'm going to be really open about it. It's very rare we think this way. But now you're going to take this home with you. You're going to live life without clinging to your concepts, with having a more open and spacious heart. So we often struggle because we desire things to be different from how they are. Acceptance helps us recognize that change is constant. And by letting go of our fixation on the outcome, we can find peace amidst the impermanent nature of existence. So what is the only constant thing that appears all the time? It's change.

And all of us, we are really, really not happy with this change. But change happens all the time, from sunset to sunrise, from day to night, from young, youthful, youth to old age. So we are witnessing change all the time. But most of us, we can't relate to change very well. So that is the second truth, noble truth. Where does the origin of suffering come from? And the third noble truth is, how do we get rid of the suffering? So here, acceptance plays an important role by helping us cultivate the ability to live in the present moment.

So, you know, because we are not aware of the present moment, we're constantly thinking of the future. Right now, we're probably making all kinds of plans for the Labor Day weekend. You know, if I'm going to have a barbecue, where am I going to go? Am I going to the family? And so on. But we forget the present moment, this very moment where everything is so peaceful, so beautiful, so quiet, and you have come here to have some peace in your mind. And what does peace do? It gives you inner happiness. So when we fully

embrace the present, we can find joy and contentment regardless of all the external circumstances. And you'll notice this, you know, you'll notice in little things when you probably are doing gardening and you're fully attentive and you don't mind what has happened, you know, how your garden is growing as long as you know how to trim it. So there are moments you witness this,

being in the present moment and all the inner happiness you find. So what was the fourth noble truth that Buddha taught? The fourth noble truth Buddha taught was the path. And this is why it's so important, the four noble truths. Because the fourth one, he shows you the roadmap. This is what you can do to have inner peace and inner happiness. So most often, you may see a Buddhist monk up in the mountains, cold weather, he probably has nothing to eat, but he has cultivated the path and this inner happiness. He's so joyous, he or she. And as a monastic, this is what we do constantly. We practice the path

in the monasteries. Like for instance, yesterday I had an incident. I had just brewed a cup of coffee and I was sitting there and, you know, I was like, oh, I can watch the sunset from my window. And I picked up my coffee and at that moment the coffee cup just crashed and on the floor there was coffee everywhere and the broken cup and I could see the gamut of emotions you know the diss at the upsetness the anger everything oh, I'm going to miss that sunset. I have to go and clean all this. All the, you know, from that one moment of enjoying the cup of coffee to absolute chaos and anxiety and I have to do this, I have to clean this and all these thoughts of dissatisfaction.

And I use this method of saying, relax. It'll just take you a few minutes to clean that up. And the minute I said, relax, and accepted that situation at that moment, and even my body, I just looked, and it was all tensed up, you know, with all this anger and all the things that I told myself, you're so clumsy and so on. And then the minute I accepted that situation and I said, that's all right, relax, you can clean it up in a few minutes. And my whole body went into a moment of peace. And then I got up and cleaned that and then brewed myself another cup of coffee.

And there I was watching the sunset. You know, I didn't let that moment, you know, of all the thoughts and feelings that came affect my other moments. So this is what I mean by, you know, making each moment, accepting it. And that's what will lead you in this path, the practice. So the fourth noble truth, what Buddha thought was the path, acceptance becomes the foundation of this path. Through mindfulness and meditation, we develop the ability to observe our thoughts and emotions,

to observe, like when emotions, to observe. Like when that coffee fell, I observed what the thoughts were coming out. And I said, relax. It's okay. You can clean it up. So that's what I mean, you know, looking at our thoughts. And how can you look at our thoughts through practicing mindfulness meditation? practicing mindfulness meditation.

So this practice of meditation allows us to see the nature of reality and we can respond skillfully to the challenges rather than reacting impulsively. We can accept, we can let go of the burden of resistance, anger and frustration, and instead create space for compassion for myself. At that moment, I had to feel a little compassion for myself, a little bit of understanding. And then what happened? Inner peace. Now, how do we tie this in with this beautiful sculpture we saw, Mother Tara? in with this beautiful sculpture we saw, Mother Tara. So the artwork today is Green Tara, and she's also, I call her Mother Tara. And how does she tie into the theme of acceptance? Tara, as Jacqueline just mentioned, she's referred to as the wisdom goddess the goddess of universal compassion and the mother of all buddhas and green tara or mother tara is the embodiment of acceptance she is like a mother

she does not differentiate anyone and she accepts us all as we are, with all our faults and all our non-falls. And she loves us as her own child. So green Tara comes in many forms. And often green Tara, her right hand is extended in a gesture of generosity. And her left hand is in a gesture of generosity, and her left hand is in a gesture of refuge, symbolizing her acceptance of all that seek her help and guidance, regardless of all her past actions. Who we are, it doesn't matter. She loves us unconditionally as a mother does. And so this is very, very important to understand the essence of Green Tara because she accepts us absolutely fully. So why do I emphasize on Mother Tara?

Because in all the Buddhist monasteries, Mother Tara plays a very important role. We pray to her in the morning. We pray to her to guide us. We pray to her to remove all our obstacles. And she is my go-to deity for all aspects of my life. And I see her blessings. And when I saw the statue today, I just tears well down because I feel so much devotion and in return, I feel that love from her. So as we do our meditation today, we can even think of Mother Tara as just a universal goddess. We can think of her as Mother Mary. We can think

of her as a universal light. And today, even by just seeing her figure here, you invoke her blessings. And she's a very, very powerful deity. So let's start the mindfulness meditation today. And I will guide you and you just have to... So we can just sit upright and ease into this posture of sitting upright. And you can keep your legs parallel to the floor. your legs parallel to the floor. And just as we start, let's take in three deep breaths and as you exhale just breathe out all your worries, all your negative thoughts. And so let's do the three deep breaths. The first breath, inhale and just breathe out all your worries. And our second breath again, inhale deeply and deliberately. And now a third breath. Breathe in.

And now please continue to breathe at your own pace and breathe normally. So let's sit upright and it's okay if you want to move a little, if you want to cough, just as you are. And then just inhale and exhale, breathe in and breathe out at your own pace. And just bring your mind's going on in the room. All the sound, your own breath, just accepting everything from moment to moment. Breathe in and breathe out at your own pace. Breathe normally. And as you breathe out, let your breath fill this entire room and just rest in that present moment of awareness. Thank you. When you get caught up in a thought,

just let go of that thought, say thinking, and come back and just observe your breath going in and going out. Inhale and exhale, breathe normally. And as you exhale, just rest in that present moment of awareness. You can take your meditation to another level by invoking Mother Tara's blessing. Just visualize the most beautiful, brilliant light filling your whole body with absolute unconditional love from your head to your toes and just be in that present moment of awareness accepting the blessings. Breathe in and breathe out. and just observe your breath.

Put your mind's attention on your breath to anchor your mind. And when your mind wanders off to a thought, just say thinking, let go of that thought and again bring your mind's attention to observe your breath. Breathe in, breathe out. And as you breathe out, rest your mind in that present moment of awareness. Thank you. As we go out into the world today, let us understand and bring to mind this theme of acceptance. And I want to read a homage, a praise that we recite to Mother Tara.

It says, with the sound of the mantra, Tuthare, Tuthare is Mother Tara's mantra, the sound fills all the worlds, and she fills all the realms of desire. She fills all the space, the form, and the formless realms. All the universe pays with the sound of a mantra, fulfilling the wishes of beings. It is said that she tramps with her foot and all the obstacles within the three worlds. It says, homage to her to whom all the gods, they present her with offerings. Tara is referred to somebody who is paid homage to by all the gods like Indra, Brahma, Agni, all the Hindu gods, all the rishis, the Rudras, and all

the gods, born gods. She is praised by the spirit and Nagas and through the power of a mantra which is Om Tare Tu Tare Ture Soha All our wishes will be accomplished, all our disease and illness healed and she protects all beings and accepts us as

unconditionally as a mother does. And a mantra I recite again, Om Tare Ture Ture Soha. May you all be blessed and may you accept yourself and everyone around you. May you have a happy day today. Thank you, Lama Arya,

for sharing those profound teachings with all of us. 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. 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. 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.