Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lama Aria Drolma 09/05/2024

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

The Rubin Museum presents a weekly meditation for beginners and skilled meditators alike. Each episode is inspired by a different work of art from the Museum’s collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher.The episode begins with an opening talk followed by a 20-minute meditation. In this episode, the guided meditation begins at 12:41. Teacher: Lama Aria DrolmaTheme: TransformationArtwork: Black Cloak Mahakala; Tibet; 19th century;pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Art;  gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.562 (HAR 1044)This program 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 P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism.Learn more about the Rubin Museum’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org.

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 thrilled and happy to be here with all of you. I'm kind of curious to know how many of you are first time to this session. Wow, that's amazing. And how many of you have been attending this on a regular basis? Wow, okay. And in between? Well, those of you who are first time, we are a Museum of Himalayan Art in Chelsea, New York City for now, because I think most of you know that this space is closing October 6th. And we're 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 ariyadroma so wonderful always to have lama back and then you will hear we will have a short sit about 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her each month as some of you who've been attending this regularly know that we have a theme and so this month's theme is transformation. Soon we will be transforming to a global and a wall-less, right? And then the art that is hand-picked by our teacher from a selection of arts that we send. And this is the thangka that our teacher selected, a beautiful thangka of black cloak maha color. In Tibetan, known as parnak chen.

And this is origin from Tibet, 19th century, medium mineral pigment on cloth. And it's about 35 one-fourth 18 1 4th into 3 8th inches. And this is called Thangka, a mineral pigment on cloth and beautifully framed in a silk frame as you see here. And the connection to the theme is as Mahakala guides practitioners to transform their inner obstacles into compassion and wisdom, which is a transformation to awaken the true nature that is within each of us. In Tibetan Buddhism, Mahakala, the Pranak Chhen, is referred as the Dharmapala, a wrathful protector. Now in wrathful deities there are oath-bound protectors as well as the fully enlightened wisdom protectors. So this one is the fully enlightened wisdom protector, and they are there to protect the dharma, the teachings, as well as to protect us from removing any obstacles in order for us to reach the awakening or enlightenment. is this beautiful 19th century Mahakala, is portrayed with his female counterpart,

Sri Devi Rangjung Jelmo. They are perched atop a donkey, as you can see right in the center right here, locked in union and surrounded by the flames of pristine awareness. So this is, here's another closer look of this. And Mahakala is a protector that every school of Tibetan Buddhism practices. And Mahakala seems to appear in many arms, six arms, in two arms, as you see here. With that, 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 Khaju 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 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. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm so delighted to be here with you all. And thank you so much for joining me today. And I see there are a lot of beginners.

I'm going to make sure the mindfulness meditation session is going to be so easy that you'll be practicing every day. And so we have this amazing thangka, this image, this wonderful black Mahakala deity that I selected. Although it looks so fierce, if you really see it in close quarters, the deity is with flames and he's got a third eye and he's got like a skull hat with five, you know, five skulls. And it is really scaring, you know, and most of you are like, the Buddhist I thought was really, you know, humble and, you know, peaceful, and you guys are praying to this. Yes, but guess what? Even though it appears in this fierce way, the emanation is Chandrasheep, the Lord lord of compassion. So there are many, many deities in the Buddhist context. And in this universe, there are many beings that we don't see, just like angels and fairies and so on.

I believe in all those. We have deities that we don't see, and they emanate as all the emanation, even the wrathful deities. Within them, they are these compassionate, peaceful deities, especially Mahakala. Even I live in a monastery upstate in Dutchess County, in a Tibetan monastery. in a Tibetan monastery. And in the morning, when we recite our prayers, it is for green Tara to protect us. And in the evening, we pray to Mahakala.

There are many different versions of Mahakala, two-armed, six-armed, there are furs. And this is the musical instrument that we play, you know, which is like almost the practices visualizing him to appear, and then the mantras, and all the practices. And it's very important to understand the concept of the symbols of these deities.

Back in the days, probably we didn't have videos. So in one thangka, it's like a video. Everything there symbolizes something. So I want to talk to you about the crown, although you may not be able to see it. It has like five skulls on his head, like a crown. What do they symbolize? They symbolize. They symbolize the five poisons in the Buddhist context. We call it five poisons, anger, desire, ignorance, jealousy, and pride. And the idea is, the theme, transformation, transformation, he has transformed all these mental afflictions to wisdom, you know, to compassion, to loving kindness. And that is what Buddhist tradition is known for. It is a transformation of our mind. When I went to the three and a half year retreat program, it is extremely intense. It's all about the ancient practices. But all these practices had the, in short, it was called mind training

to transform all these afflictions, which is anger, pride, jealousy. And so this is really, really important to understand. And so in the early Buddhist text, which is called the Dhammapada, and it is verses of what Buddha said, the sayings of Buddha, there's a verse from there that is considered to be one of the most well-known and widely, Dhammapada's widely read Buddhist scriptures. And it states that happiness and suffering is ultimately

the function from the state of your own mind. Whether your mind is disciplined or undisciplined, the key to happiness really lies in transforming your mind. Your mind, when it is disciplined, when you can, you know, have compassion, kindness, instead of anger, jealousy, and pride, that's a disciplined mind. So nothing can trigger you. So there's a stance in Dhammapada, the Buddha saying, the mind is fickle and flighty. It seizes on whatever it fancies.

Excellent is the one who has calmed the disciplined mind, which leads to happiness. So disciplining your mind, observing your mind, and guarding your mind. So these are the key things to transform your mind. So how do we do that? Guarding our mind, observing our mind. How do we discipline our mind? And one of the easiest way is through meditation. And this is where we can observe the mind. We can guard this mind. So notice when you see that one person who walks in and you can just see that person from the corner of the eyes and there rises anger, right? Or you see someone fabulous wearing, you know, the latest designs and so on. And then immediately, oh, I wish I had that handbag.

Why does she have it? You know, like the jealousy arise. The Jones who have their new houses, you know, and you're like passing by, they have their new car. Again, jealousy arise. The Jones who have their new houses, and you're passing by, they have their new car. Again, jealousy arises. But all this can be transformed. And so this is the key. In the Buddhist tradition,

it's all about transforming the mind, disciplining your mind. You know, the undisciplined mind is like a monkey mind going from one thought to another. What happens when you have those thoughts going from one thought to another? Emotion arises and then you just get led by the emotions. So all the beginners and all the ones who are advanced practitioners, I'm going to give you a very simple practice. So when you start to do this mindfulness meditation, there are two important steps.

One is your posture. The second one is your mind. Now do know that different teachers here teach you different forms of meditation. And that's all right. I'm teaching you the mindfulness meditation that my master taught us from the Tibetan tradition. So this mindfulness meditation which is called Shamatha is practiced by Dalai Lama and all the greatest teachers. It's very simple.

So when you sit to practice, if you're sitting on a cushion like me, or if you're sitting on the chair, that's perfectly all right. So try to have your back straight. That's the important key. If you are leaning on your chair, maybe come a little bit forward. And if your back hurts, it's okay to be relaxed and comfortable. Now your feet can be parallel to the ground like so, you know, it's better not to be crossed and what do you do with your hands? You can just place it on your knees like so

with your palms down, just place it like this. Now your face, your head, your chin can be slightly tucked like this, lower your gaze or you can keep it closed. So there are other postures as well but this is the key to when you sit to meditate. So now you just listen to me, it'll be a guided meditation. So just for explanation today, I want to give you a little bit of more elaborate mindfulness meditation, which is really, really helpful when your mind is jumping from one thought to another. So here's the instruction. When you inhale, just mentally think Aum. And then't have to say it loudly when you're breathing in. HUNG. There's a small pause before you breathe out and then HUNG. And you just have to do this mentally okay. So let's all sit upright and we'll

start the mindfulness meditation inhale and exhale at your own pace and as you exhale mentally think Aum and you don't have to say it loudly and then there's a little pause and you can think A, mentally say A and as you breathe out just say HUNG. So it'll be something like OM AH HUNG and you all you have to do this mentally. And let's do to start for seven breaths we'll all count mentally. mentally as you inhale oh and there's a small pause ah and then as you breathe out, HUNG. Keep your mind's attention on your breath. Just observe your breath, inhaling, going in all the way to your abdomen and exhaling. Om. Ah.

You exhale. Hung. as you exhale hung Your mind may wander off into a thought, and that's okay. The minute you catch your mind, that it has wandered off to a thought, just say thinking and drop that thought, the storyline, and bring your mind's attention to breathing, observing your breath. Inhale and exhale. And as you inhale, just mentally say oh there's a slight pause before you take the other breath and just say ah

and as you exhale it'll be a hung SINCREDITING Om, ah, hung with your breath. Inhale will be om. A small pause, ah, and hung as you exhale. And if you've completed your seven breaths, just continue breathing, observing your breath and synchronizing with the OM AH HUNG mantra Thank you. All you need to do and just observe that breath. Keep your mind's attention on the breath. And if your mind wanders off to a thought, a story, observe it. Drop that thought. Don't follow the story. Just say thinking and come back to you inhale, there's a small pause and you'll say ah and then as you exhale just say Thank you. Om Ah

Ong Your mind is like a spacious, like the sky itself. And your thoughts are like clouds. They come and they go. Or like the birds, but they don't leave a mark. And so visualize your mind as spacious as the sky itself. And your thoughts are just coming and going as you inhale mentally think oh there's a slight pause before you exhale and that'll be AH and then as you exhale it'll be HUNG. It's all synchronized. So, slowly open your eyes now.

And you can roll your shoulders a little bit like this, and your head, if you want, gently like this, to come back again to the present moment. Thank you so much, Lamariduma. That was so beautiful. 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 rubinmuseum.org slash enews. I am Tashi Chodron. Thank you so much for listening. Have a mindful day.