Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lama Aria Drolma 10/05/2020

Episode Date: October 6, 2020

Theme: Growth Artwork: Lotus Goddess, Lakshmi [therubin.org/301]; 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. Hello, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation Online here with the Rubin Museum of Art. Nice to have you join us today. My name is Dawn Eshelman and as many of you know, we are a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in New York City. And here we are in our weekly program that pairs art and meditation practice. So yes, we'll take a look at an artwork from our collection, we'll hear a brief talk

and then we'll have a short sit together, just 15 to 20 minutes. So happy October. We're talking about growth this month. And throughout our entire year, we've been exploring this theme of impermanence that many of us have throughout the year experienced in ways that we did not expect. And growth is a type of change, a type of impermanence that, while may offer some discomfort, right? Often we have to get a little uncomfortable in order to grow, but it is often an optimistic aspect of this idea of impermanence, this sense that growth is part of our nature. And so we're looking today at a beautiful sculpture made of wood from 1600s Nepal. This is Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. And if you're looking at this sculpture through a Buddhist lens, you may

identify this goddess here as Tara. And in fact, it's unclear which deity this was meant to depict, but they're often referred to together and are, you know, this is this interesting interconnectivity between cultures and religions, right? So as Lakshmi here, she is the daughter of the mother goddess Durga and the wife of Vishnu. And she is unequivocally this goddess of wealth, of bounty, of the harvest, and not just physical and monetary wealth, but spiritual bounty. So both worldly and spiritual. And we see that her abundance and her bounty is depicted here in the ornaments that she is wearing all over her body.

We see a crown and earrings, necklaces, a belt. We see bracelets and a beautiful multi-colored cloth and clothing. And this is a wooden sculpture, as I mentioned, but it is painted here and also gilt. And we're seeing her seated on a lotus throne. We've talked so much about the lotus and what it represents, and here also we're seeing these lotuses that are blooming everywhere around her, over her shoulders, underneath her. And this also refers to this sense of bounty, of beauty. So this is also a time of year where Lakshmi is celebrated. And so it's great to be able to spend a little time here looking at her together. I'd love to hear a little bit from our teacher today about this idea of growth and how it relates to meditation, but also the beautiful Lakshmi. So delighted to

have here with us today, Lama Arya Droma. Are you there? Hello. Hello. How are you today? Welcome everyone. Thank you all for joining in today from all around the world. I want to thank Dawn and her team, and thank you, Ruben Museum, for hosting us in this virtual platform, and so we could all come together. I'm so absolutely delighted to connect with you all. Although I can't see you all, I hope you can feel my love. So here's this beautiful artwork, Goddess Lakshmi, a very popular Hindu from the Indian tradition, from the Hindu tradition.

Indian tradition, from the Hindu tradition. She's the goddess of wealth, fortune, love, beauty, joy, and prosperity. And the lotus in her hand symbolizes the spiritual aspect, which is self-realization and spiritual liberation. So she's the goddess of wealth and prosperity. And during the Hindu New Year, which falls in October or November every year, and this year it's in November 14th, the devotee, all the Hindu devotees from all around the world perform Lakshmi Puja, which is a ritual during Diwali, the Festival of Lights. And according to the legend, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, will visit her devotees and bestow gifts and blessings to welcome the goddess. So to welcome the goddess, we perform ceremonial pujas, rituals, and the devotees all light their house with lamps to show her the path.

So she can come and bless the house with wealth and prosperity. It's about new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. And it's all about new growth. So every year the devotees celebrate Lakshmi in the form of rituals. And she's always prayed daily. of rituals and she's always prayed daily. There are prayers offered to her daily in all these Hindu households. So she bestows wealth and prosperity. So I was originally born in India and practiced the Hindu tradition and I'm familiar with all these Hindu deities and enjoyed all these wonderful festivals associated with all these deities. So it was praying to Lakshmi, to Saraswati, to Lord Ganesh, to Lord Shiva. And during my school and college years, I studied Christianity.

And over a decade ago, I formally studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism and also learned Zoroastrian and the Islam tradition. I feel so very blessed and so enriched to have the opportunity to study from these diverse religious and spiritual traditions. traditions, in all these diverse multicultural, spiritual and religious traditions, there's one important factor that connects them all. And that is the practice of meditation and with the intention to transform oneself and to grow spiritually. And now the artwork from the Buddhist tradition, the deity is known as Tara and my name Drolma is from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition which also means Tara, the liberator and Tara, the deity Tara, is known as the mother of all Buddhas.

Tara is the most popular deity in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Every Tibetan, whether you are in the monastery or you are outside the monastery, does the practice of Tara. And every Tibetan monastery all around the world will chant Tara's praise daily to invoke her blessings especially monastics like me who are in the spiritual path we pray to mother Tara for her protections and blessings so and for her guidance So we will always be in the path and to lead us to enlightenment. So Tara is a very, very beloved deity.

Here in this artwork, the deity Tara, she's seated upon the lotus flower. And the lotus flower is a very sacred symbol associated with purity, enlightenment, compassion, transformation, and growth. And while she's seated on the lotus, it's symbolic that she's fully enlightened. And when you're fully enlightened, you have the most compassionate and loving kindness. That's what your heart is all about. So her right hand is facing outward in the mudra of supreme generosity,

indicating her ability to provide beings with whatever they desire. And she's also seated in a very distinctive posture. Her right leg is extended out to show that she's always ready and comes swiftly to anyone who immediately asks to assist anyone who calls for their help or anyone who prays to her with devotion. Her compassion for all being is stronger than the mother's love for her children. So her mantra is Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha, which means praise to the Tara Hail. More importantly, as a spiritual practitioner, you and I, the

ultimate purpose we pray to Mother Tara is to develop the same qualities she possesses such as peacefulness, loving-kindness, generosity, compassion, and wisdom. And all the while, the ultimate goal is to seek enlightenment. Most of us, often, we think negatively about ourselves. We have a lot of self-doubt, fear, anxiety. And if we think negatively about ourselves every day, gradually it becomes a habit and these negative aspects become stronger and stronger. Example, when we become very angry or fearful, we find it very hard to calm ourselves. So the ideas, especially during these challenging days, you know, there's so much uncertainty, there's so much hopelessness, and there's fear, and, you know, you're wondering, what is going to happen to my future? And so each day, when you have this fear and anxiousness,

day when you have this fear and anxiousness, you tend to make it into a habit and that's what you're giving your attention to. But whereas here, when we pray to Mother Tara or pray to Lakshmi, we are really asking their blessings to, you know, elevate us from this anxiety and fear. And also they are symbolic of their beautiful qualities, which is our own innate nature, the qualities of peacefulness, loving kindness and compassion. And through them, we try to acquire those qualities by chanting prayers to them or, know visualizing them or with our spiritual practice or and with meditation and so the reason we invoke mother tara's blessings and pray to her is so we can transform our own minds and become more peaceful and compassionate person which is our true innate nature, our Buddha nature, which we cannot see right now. All this, the Buddha nature that we have within us, we cannot see it because our minds have so many obstacles and it's like a mirror covered by the dust where we can't see our own reflection. And Tara, the deity Tara is the manifestation of what each of us can become.

As such, she shows us the good qualities we can cultivate, like loving kindness, generosity, compassion, peacefulness. And all the Dharma practices, such as meditation, chantings are designed to transform our minds and purify our minds to experience our true selves, our human potential becoming the best and attaining the qualities of Tara which is our true nature. So why am I emphasizing on these deities and their characteristics? What is so important about them? It's because during these challenging times, many of us feel, like I said before, anxiety, fear, and stress. And we're concerned and worried about our health, our financial situation. And all this lead to grief and the loss of normalcy. You know, nothing is normal today.

Everything has changed. And these emotions can become overwhelming and we can get anxious and we may feel all alone facing the world. And during these times, it's very important to know that you're not alone you have mother tara lakshmi and all these beautiful deities buddha whoever you choose to pray to to call on them to help you to protect. And whoever you are familiar with,

you don't need to be a Buddhist to receive Mother Tara's blessings. Anyone can pray to Mother Tara and she will bestow her blessings. And why is it so? Because she is enlightened and there is no distinction from her that whoever prays to her, she will bestow the blessing.

She'll protect them. And Tara is known to protect people. And during these challenging times, we can practice mindfulness. We can learn to deal better with negative thoughts rather than reacting unconsciously. We can learn to be calm and peaceful during these adverse times. And when you're calm and peaceful, your mind is more spacious to make the right decisions. You can take the right actions. So mindful meditation can be defined as learning to bring our attention to the present moment by focusing our breath and simply seeing whatever comes up without any judgment

so what what do we do normally we live in the past or we live in the future and that is why there are so many fears so when your attention wanders off to the future and that is why there are so many fears. So when your attention wanders off to the future or to the past your mind is constantly you know anxious and stressful and with meditation we bring our mind constantly to the present moment we learn to cultivate peace and calmness and by returning to the present moment, we can actually cut through all this accumulation of stress and anxiety and develop clarity, strength and stability in everyday life.

Meditation is not just about peacefulness and calmness, although it's very simple, it's really about, it's very simple it's really about it's very very profound and with every day when you practice meditation your intuition will only progress and learn through meditation the path to enlightenment so let's start the meditation today and today we'll use the breath as an anchor to focus our minds this is very popular method because we breathe all the time and it's very easy to put our attention on our breath and i'll give you a guided meditation when we start the meditation there are two essential points the first essential point is your posture. So in this meditation,

we will sit upright and keep your spine as upright as you can, but also be very comfortable. I know there may be people who may have some pain at the back. So do your best, but sit upright and keep your spine straight. And now the second essential point. The second essential point is your mind. So the mind is what actually does the meditation. So the mind should be relaxed in the present moment of awareness. This means if your mind is still in the office or at home or somewhere else, you bring your mind's attention to your body. And how do we do that? By putting attention on our breath. So the mind is like a monkey mind. It jumps from one thought

to another. And so what does that mind need? A mind needs anchor and the anchor is the breath. There are many ways to anchor your mind. You can do it, anchor your mind on an object, on sound, on tactile sensations. But today we will put our mind's attention on our breath, okay? So today we are focusing on our breath. So let's put our mind's attention on our breath okay so today we are focusing on our breath so let's put our minds attention on a breath and just to all come together and settle in let's all take three deep breaths and when you exhale just gently breathe out all your tensions and negative thoughts okay so let's do one inhale deeply exhale out the second breath inhale deeply

deeply. Exhale out all your stress and negative emotions and the third breath Fantastic. That's three breaths together we took. Now, please breathe normally and breathe at your own pace and rhythm because we all have different rhythms and paces. So please breathe normally, okay? And I will give you a guided meditation again please sit upright and you can put your gaze downward you can close your eyes if you want or you can keep them open whatever you prefer so so inhale and exhale breathe in breathe in normally and see your breath go all the way into your abdomen and as you breathe out breathe out to the front of

your front of the space in front of you just rest in that present moment of awareness and we will sit together, putting our attention on our breath, breathing normally, and keeping our mind in the present moment of awareness. Thank you. Inhale and exhale. And as you exhale, just breathe out into the space in front of you. And just rest in that present moment of awareness. Thank you. and somewhere around now your mind probably has wandered off, and when you notice your mind has wandered off, it's okay. That's what the mind does. It wanders off into a thought, and the thought becomes another story, and the narrative starts continuing, and then the emotions will rise. starts continuing and then the emotions will rise. The moment you notice your mind has wandered off just say acknowledge your thoughts, don't push

away your thoughts, acknowledge them, say thinking and just drop it, let it go don't follow your thoughts don't engage in it and return back to your breath putting your mind's attention on your breath put your mind's attention very firmly on your breath inhale and exhale and as you exhale breathe out to the front of you to the space in front of you and just bring your mind to the present moment of awareness and just rest in that present moment of awareness let's sit in this meditation for a few minutes inhale and exhale and as you exhale breathe out to the space in front of you and just rest in that present moment of awareness. Thank you. Thank you. do not follow the past the past is finished do not think of the future i must do this or i have to do that and especially when you start to meditate you know when you have that calm and peaceful mind

you will have a lot of lists you'll start making so this is the time to meditate and you can do the list later you will remember so when you're meditating your mind will wander off and follow the past and the past is finished. Do not think of the future, I must do this or that because the future is not here yet. And rest your mind in that present moment of awareness without any distractions. And in the beginning, you will be distracted because that's the nature of your mind. It goes from one thought to the other. And slowly, slowly with practice, you will see you'll become very efficient.

And if you wonder, how long should I meditate? You can always start for one minute, two minutes and extend it as much as long as you like. As much, as long as you like. So again, let's bring our mind's attention to our breath. Inhale and exhale. Breathe normally. Breathe gently. And as you exhale, let your breath go all the way into the space in front of you.

And just rest in that present moment of awareness. Дякую. um so Meditation allows you to look inward. So when you meditate, you will see a lot of thoughts, list of things to do, like I mentioned before, thoughts coming and going, even more thoughts. And depending on the thoughts, the emotion arises. But as soon as you realize these thoughts coming in and out just say thinking and gently let go and then tell yourself this is your time to meditate and little by little you will begin to enjoy looking inward it feels so peaceful and feels so spacious you'll have more clarity and focus. Milarepa he was one of the most

famous Tibetan yogis he would say when mind looks at mind it's very blissful and I really advise you all to call on these deities Lakshmi, Arthara, Saraswati, Ganesh, Buddha, Muhammad, Zarashtrian, or anyone whom you favor. Call on them to help you because they are enlightened beings. They are like angels, like even Mother Mary. Call on them to help you, to guide you, to protect you. And as I mentioned, meditation really makes you peaceful and calm. And you'll understand when you start practicing meditation, in this moment of spaciousness, there's going to be growth. spaciousness there's going to be growth there'll be answers to a lot of your questions and this is the collective interconnectedness that we can all come together and meditate and what happens is that spills over to other people and

remember when thoughts or emotions or a sensation arises as soon as you recognize it simply say that's a thought that's an emotion and let it go gently don't follow after that but the the important aspect is don't block your thoughts. When you push away your thoughts or block your thoughts, more thoughts will come. It's like the waterfall you see, you can never stop it. And your thoughts are like that. That's the nature of the mind. So don't ever try to block your thoughts. Instead, when you're meditating, when you see thoughts come and go, just acknowledge it and say thoughts. You just have to give a label like thinking and let go and bring your mind's attention to your breath.

Feeling your breath go all the way in. And as it comes out, let it breathe out to the space in front of you and just rest in that present moment of awareness and let's do one more minute and we can take in some questions so inhale and exhale breathe normally breathe gently and as you exhale let your breath go into the space in front of you and rest in that present moment of awareness. Thank you. your thoughts are like the clouds in the sky the sky the is like your mind and the clouds just come and go. They don't leave any trace, but we tend to grab onto the thoughts to make it into a narrative.

So I hope this meditation was helpful. Thank you so much for that. Thank you. That concludes this week's practice. If you would like to support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member of the Rubin. If you would like to support the Reuben and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member of the Reuben. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.