Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lama Aria Drolma 09/25/2020

Episode Date: September 24, 2020

Theme:Change Artwork:Shiva Vishavarupa, Universal Form with Consort; Nepal: http://therubin.org/2-v Teacher: Lama Aria Drolma The 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 18:22. 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. Hi, everyone. Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation Online with us here at the Rubin Museum of Art. So my name is Dawn Eshelman. And in case you are new to the Rubin Museum, we're a museum of Himalayan art and ideas here in New York City. And we gather weekly here on Zoom to meditate together.

Today, well, this month, actually, is a month of looking at this idea of change, right? It is fall. It is, we just had the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. We are, I think, one day away, technically, from autumn in our hemisphere here. And it is a time of change. There's a lot of change in the air. And so we're looking at that this month. And one of the main figures and gods in, in Hindu art, we, uh, we'll look at today is Shiva. And let's take a look at Shiva if we haven't already. So Shiva is one of Hindu, Hinduism's major gods and Shiva holds this power to create and destroy, right? So both sides of

change. Sometimes destruction is, it can be explained through this perspective as a way of space for positive change, and also represents the destruction of the illusions of the universe within our own minds, and this allowance for making space for constructive, compassionate change. And Shiva is also known as a deep meditator and also a dancer and in fact we can see that Shiva is in this really amazing pose right there with this warrior's pose right with one leg out and now we're seeing this detail of Shiva and as we zoom in, we can see that actually there are two figures. Shiva has a white face and body. And in front of Shiva, in an embrace with him, is his consort, who has a red face and body. So you can see her silhouette is kind of blocking his out and her head is leaning back in this kind of pose of ecstasy. And both of them have multiple heads on their own main heads. And you can see in back of Shiva here is a kind of halo that

is what it first looks like, but in fact you can see it's made up of thousands and thousands of arms and eyes. And in Shiva's hands, and the consort's hands, you can see that they're holding these orbs that represent the moon and the sun. So in this painting we really get the sense that this deity is taking up just all the space on the canvas, all the space of the universe, and is seeing everything. It has a very clear sense of many perspectives of what is around. You can see all the change that is being created and being let go of. And for now, I am so pleased to have Lama Arya Droma joining us. Thank you so much for being back with us, Lama Arya Droma. And it's going to be very nice to meditate here with you in just a moment.

Lama Arya Droma is a formerly authorized Buddhist teacher trained in the Karmakagyu tradition. And she's a graduate of three-year, three-month traditional Tibetan Buddhist retreat and training program at Palpong Thubten Choling Monastery. So she teaches worldwide. I think she has a retreat or a resource to tell us about, actually. Lama Arijoma, welcome, and thank you so much for being here. Hello and welcome, everyone, and thank you all for joining in for Ruben's live mindfulness meditation session, and thank you, Dawn, for the lovely introduction i also want to thank ruben museum for giving this wonderful platform to connect with everyone who has joined

in today even though i can't see you all i feel your connection and I hope you can feel my love. So the theme of this month is change and the artwork I've selected is Shiva, Vishwarupa. Lord Shiva is the most supreme and powerful deity in Hinduism. He is known by many different names and different forms. It's impossible for one as a human to explain the attributes of Lord Shiva like it's impossible to explain the universe. But to bring into some context today's topic, Lord Shiva is also called Brahman, the Supreme Universe Consciousness, the Ultimate Truth with infinite love and compassion. In this artwork, as probably Don must have explained, Lord Shiva is called Vishwaropa, which means the entire universe is his form. He is the most revered supreme deity in India, who seeks his blessings to, we all seek our blessings to attain the ultimate, the enlightenment.

His mantra is Om Namah Shivaya meaning I bow to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is also known as one who creates, protects and transforms the universe. He is known as the warrior

and the transformer from evil to good. I intentionally selected the artwork of Lord Shiva this month because this month's theme is change and transformation. Lord Shiva is known to bring about the transformation of the universe or change in the universe. The power of transformation of Lord Shiva opens the path for new creations, new opportunities for mankind. And here, during the time of change and struggle that we all are facing, we too can transform ourselves and we are all called to step it up and do our part because we are all interconnected. We live in an interconnected world.

We can make this a better place for ourselves and others. So how can we bring about this universal change for the better of mankind? It is by living with integrity and bringing forward our true innate nature, the positive qualities we all possess. The positive qualities are love, generosity, patience, gratitude, compassion, and loving kindness. So today's mindfulness meditation, we will focus on an ancient Buddhist practice of loving kindness and compassion to oneself and to others. Before I start, let's all take a minute to settle in.

Some of you all have just probably joined in. And so let's all settle in. You can keep your eyes closed or you can open your eyes if you wish. So let's all take three deep breaths. Breathe in deeply. And as you exhale out,

exhale out slowly. And just let all your negative emotions, just let go of it. You don't have to hold on to it anymore. So, and bring to your mind's attention to the present moment, being here present, and here and now. So, the first breath, inhale deeply and slowly breathe out, letting out all your negative emotions out, like so. Breathe in deeply and exhale slowly letting go of all your negative emotions. Let go of all your negative emotions of stress, anger, fear, anxiety. Now you can slowly open your eyes, if you have closed your eyes, and now very important, please breathe normally in your own rhythm space.

own rhythm space. So the theme of the month is change. And the ancient Buddhist teachings, understanding impermanence and change is the fundamental teachings. Change is happening all the time. Moments come and go, days pass by, turning into weeks, the months, the years, your life, your lead are constantly changing. Nothing is permanent. And the only permanent thing is change. So everything in nature changes. Day changes to night, night changes to day, summer to winter, winter to summer. But just like nature, our lives also go through changes.

Birth, old age and death. And most often when it comes to our own life, we are unable to see our death. It can just be a breath away. But if you understand the Buddhist ancient teachings, the teachings that change and impermanence is a part of our life, then as life goes on and when we see impermanence and change in our lives, such as nothing is permanent in our life, like one's partner, children, job, financial status, or social status, everything can change in a heartbeat. But if we understand change and impermanence, we can accept it more gracefully. That's why when you see most of the Buddhist monks, they understand this important teaching called impermanence.

And most of us, when we do our practice, our practice is about not clinging on to, not being attached to all the things we feel we are attached to that gives us external joy. To understand change continues. Impermanence is the key factor in our life. So right now we see the impermanence and change happening all around the world. The world has been known, has changed, and most of us feel the anxiety, the fear, the uncertainty, the hopelessness. And we're all wondering, what is going to happen to me in the future? And that's another question.

happen to me in the future and that's a normal question. The good news is when we feel the goodness or when we feel the sight-biting, when we feel the fear, when we feel the stress, please know that we have everything within us to cope with. We have the courage, we have the strength, we have the determination and we have everything within us to cope with all life's problems, all the life's changes, all life's incontinences. And all we have to do is put our mind intentionally and have this time for us and have courage, have strength, have the determination to let it go, to acknowledge these fears and invite

the rest and let it go. First of all, know whatever you may be feeling, it's okay. And also know whatever you are feeling all the rest of the world

is feeling the same thing. And acknowledge that that everyone is feeling the same anxiety, pain, grief, hopelessness. It's a shared human experience and today's meditation

is about self-compassion because when we feel all these feelings of anxiety and fear and pain and stress we don't know what to do and this is also a very ancient practice, a practice called

self-compassion towards yourself and towards others. I'll give you a guided meditation. It's very easy to follow. All you have to do is sit up right and it's important to have this self-love and compassion to oneself.

So it shifts us from self-criticism and having judgment on oneself to having care and warmth and love for ourselves. Rather than judging ourselves with being upset and anxious, we can transform these negative thoughts into something more positive. And this is the transformation and this is the change that you can do so with meditation. So I've got the guided meditation. The instructions are very easy. It's simple to start. So just sit upright and bring to your mind stream someone or some person whom you feel absolutely love and joy and bring to your heart center

a brilliant light and just imagine your ordinary self sitting in front of you and facing you. If you can't visualize that, then it's alright. You can do this self-compassion on yourself. And so, importantly, when you meditate, sit upright and then also bring your mind's attention to your breath because the mind needs an anchor and you're doing a visualization meditation. So inhale and exhale,

breathe normally and as you breathe in, bring to your mind's attention the feeling of unconditional love, of love and compassion into your mind stream. And as you breathe out, just imagine you're sending out this pure loving kindness and compassion in a form of brilliant light from your heart center to the one in front of you. You're visualizing yourself in front of you.

So this beautiful light goes and fills you. You're facing yourself. And this loving compact kindness in the form of a brilliant light fills you and you're fully healed. And if that visualization is hard, then just bring that brilliant light on yourself from your mind stream, loving kindness and

compassion, filling you completely and you are filled with love and you're totally healed. So this is the transformation that you'll do when you have this negative feeling of anger or anxiety or stress or pain.

Transform that negative emotion into positive emotion. And all you have to do is, you know, just sit upright and you can do this wherever you want and just bring to your mind sleep, loving kindness and compassion. And from your heart, brilliant light fills you, fills your entire self and you're filled with love, kindness and compassion.

And let's rest in that present moment. Thank you. And as your mind wanders off again, inhale and exhale. Breathe normally. And bring into your mind's attention the feeling of unconditional love and compassion.

And from your heart center, visualize a brilliant light filling your body entirely with loving kindness and compassion. Just sit in that present moment of awareness. And then you have practiced this, you can then do it on yourself, the brilliant light filling you with loving kindness and compassion, and then you can even extend it to the whole universe, filling ten, twenty, 10 beings with loving kindness and compassion. And this is the practice, it's a very ancient Buddhist practice, and you need courage and determination and your intention to do so, and you become the collective healing of universe just like Shiva where his whole form

is the universe that is the transformation that is the collective transformation that you can do feel yourself loving kindness and compassion and wherever you go you have that aura of you

and that is the transformation from negative emotions to positive emotions wherever you go, you have that aura of you. And that is the transformation from negative emotions to positive emotions. And let's do it for one more minute. Inhale and exhale. And as you breathe in, bring to your mind's attention

the feeling of loving kindness and compassion. And from your heart center, a brilliant light serve your entire being with this loving kindness

and compassion. And then from your heart center, let the brilliant, wonderful, beautiful light go out to the whole universe. Just rest in that present moment of amen. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much, L thank you so much loma aridroma thank you

that concludes this week's practice if you would like to support the ruben and this meditation series we invite you to become a member of the ruben thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.