Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lama Aria Drolma, Rebecca Li, and Tracy Cochran 12/18/2025

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art 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  33:33.Teacher: Lama Aria Drolma, Rebecca Li, and Tracy CochranTheme: Wisdom Buddha Shakyamuni; Bhutan; 19th century; silk textile appliqué with embroidery; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2006.30.1Learn more about the Rubin’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org.

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, a global museum dedicated to bringing greater awareness and understanding of Himalayan art to people around the world. I'm your host, Tashi Children. Every Thursday, we offer a meditation session at New York Inside Meditation Center that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubin's collection. and is led by a prominent meditation teacher. This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice. The description of each episode includes information about the theme for that week's session and 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. Hello, everybody. Good afternoon and Tashi Delake. Welcome. Welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts Mindfulness Meditation Program here at this beautiful space at New York Inside Meditation Center. I'm Tashi Churdan, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador.

and I'm delighted to be a host today. The Rubin is a global museum dedicated to Himalayan art and its insights, 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 deep look at the work of art that is chosen for today, and then we will hear a brief talk from our teachers, Lama Aria Doma, Rebecca Lee, and Tracy Cochran. The theme for this month is wisdom and the artwork that is selected for today's session is this beautiful tanker, very different from many of the tankas that we've been looking at, which is mineral pigments on cloth.

But this one is a textile, applique in fact. And this is Buddha Shakyamuni, known as Sanjay Shachatupa in Tibetan word. Kiamuni in Sanskrit is translated as the same. sage of the Shaka clan or Shakias. And this is origin from Bhutan, dated 19th century, silk textile applica with embroidery. And this is about 58 into 30 to 7-8 into 1 inches. And this is a Drukpa-Kajuk-Kajuk lineage. I may have mentioned that there are four major schools, including the Bern is 5th. And then in the Kajukpa school, there's Drukpa Kajukkah and how you can identify that this is a Dupakajuk is the iconography

where you see a figure right below the Buddha in the center with a very elaborate hat. Now, the connection to the theme of wisdom, Buddha's serene presence suggests that wisdom arises from within. In fact, Buddha known as Awaken, which is basically wisdom that is within each of us. And so may we awaken that Buddha nature, that is within each of us.

And now this remarkable textile from the 19th century Bhutan depicts Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha who lived, to be exact now, almost 2,600 years ago. And Shakyamuni Buddha is portrayed in an ascetic manner to demonstrate how he renounced all attachment to the material world. There are so many Buddhas and how you can identify that this is the historical Shackamuni Buddha is you look at the hand gestures or the mudras. And this particular one in the center sitting in a full lotus position and then right palm facing the knees, fingers facing towards the earth. This particular gesture is known as earth touching gesture when he sat under the

body tree in both Gaia in India and calls the earth to bear witness to his awakened moment. And let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Lama Ariadoma, Rebecca Lee and Tracy Cochran. Lama Aridoma is the ordained Buddhist teacher in the Karma Khadju tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, who has completed over a decade of monastic study and meditation training. She emphasizes Vajuriana 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. And Dr. Rebecca Lee is a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Shan Yan. She's the founder and guiding teacher of Jan Dharma community.

She teaches meditation and Dharma classes, gives public lectures and leads retreats in North America and Europe. Rebecca is the author of Allow Joy Into Our Hearts, Chan Practice in Uncertain Times, and her latest book, titled Illumination, A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No Methods. was published by Shambala Publications in 2023. She's a sociology professor and lives with her husband in New Jersey. Her talk and writings can be found at rebeccalee.org. And then Tracy Cochran has taught meditation and spiritual practice for many years. She's a speaker and author whose most recent book presents,

The Art of Being at Home in Yourself, was published by Shambala Publications in 2024. Tracy is the founder and leading teacher of the Hudson River Sanga and has taught mindfulness and mindful writing at New York Inside, the Rubin Museum, and many other venues. In addition to serving as the editorial director of the acclaimed spiritual quarterly Parabola, her writings have appeared in New York Times, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, the best spiritual writing series Parabola magazine and many other publications and anthologies. So please give everyone a big hand. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome. Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for joining us here. It's lovely to see all these lovely faces. So today, the theme for the month of December is wisdom. and as Thashe mentioned, that Buddha means an enlightened one. So in Buddhism, wisdom is known in Sanskrit prajana. And prajana is the precise meaning of prajana, which is wisdom. It's not someone who's gotten a PhD, that kind of a wisdom, or someone who's got knowledge through books and so on.

Here, Prajana, wisdom, means wisdom is a direct insight into the true nature of reality, gained not through intellectual knowledge, but clearly seeing what reality is through meditation, mindful awareness. So wisdom begins by recognizing. three fundamental truths. One is everything is impermanent. And the second is clinging or attachments

lead to suffering. And then there is no fixed permanent self to protect. So just like the law of gravity, this wisdom is also very precise. It's what reality in the Buddhist senses. So what does it mean

everything is impermanent? So this is one of the laws just like gravity in the Buddhist tradition, in the wisdom tradition. So in Buddhism, all physical, mental, and emotional are impermanent. Recognizing this is foundational wisdom.

This is one of the most important foundational wisdom. Klinging to things as if they are permanent causes frustration and suffering. So meditation trains the mind to observe change directly,

seeing that all experiences arise and pass. And just to give you an example that everything is impermanent, you know, when you look at ourselves, we often identify, like when we are three years old, if someone, you know, if you went to school and they called out your name and then you'll put your hand up and say, that's me.

And so what about when you became a teenager, you went to college and then, you know, when someone calls your name, you'll say that that's me. In fact, as a three years old and as a 17 years old, everything about you has changed. The cells in your body has changed. You've got new cells, apparently even the bone structures has changed. But you always talk about it as, you know, the self. That's me. Like as though you've never changed. So the other example is, you know, perhaps there's a waterfall, you know,

lovely waterfall near the area where you stay. And then you're bringing your friends there and saying, oh, here's this wonderful waterfall I want to take you. I used to go there as a child, you know, and it's a beautiful side. So you take them there to the waterfall, and you think that the waterfall is the same as you used to go as a child, but nothing about the waterfall is same. Everything has changed. So this understanding about everything is impermanent is really one of the most important teachings.

The reason being is when you understand this reality, that everything is impermanent, then you don't cling to things, you know? Like today when you came, it was morning, and now it's afternoon, and then soon it'll be night. And so everything around us changes, the nature, our human bodies, everything. So everything is impermanent.

That's one of the truths. And then clinging to things, Buddhism teaches us that suffering arises, when we grasp at transient things, whether material possessions, relationships, or ideas. Through mindful awareness, we learn to notice attachment as it arises, understanding its consequences and loosening the grip of craving which reduces suffering. So how many of us, you know, probably bought a new house, a new car,

a new, you know, wonderful suit or a dress and then, you know, you're like, oh, my God, this is the best thing I have. I'm, you know, I got this through, my dress is beautiful. You know, I got it through a wonderful sale. I love this designer and so on. And then one year later, you may not fit in. You probably become too small. Normally it's not the other way, right? And then what sadness? And, you know, this is a designer dress. You paid so much. You went to sacks and you looked at that dress and then so much suffering.

What about the new car? Oh, my God, I got this brand new, lovely car. And then you go and park it somewhere and then there's a small scratch when you come back. And then, you know, of course, you know, you feel so sad that your car scratched. And, you know, there's a, that suffering always. So that's what it means. know, not to cling on, attachment to things gives us suffering. So if you have this clarity, you know, that dress, that shoe, that doesn't fit you,

you're like, okay, I'll get a tailor and make it fit, you know, or the car that's scratched, that's okay, that's what happens. And you walk, you know, if you were to step out, and if it's snowing, that's okay. So this is what it means by not grasping. This is a, and then there is no. fixed permanent self. This is really very hard to understand, but then I will just put a seed in your minds so that one day there may be a great teaching.

The Buddhist insight of non-self reveals that what we consider I or me is just a collection of thoughts, sensations and perceptions. It's a thought that you had as a child. You know, it's me, I'm Sarah. and then 14 years later, oh, I'm Sarah, but everything inside your body has changed, but you still believe that's, you know, you, Sarah. So understanding that non-self frees us from fear, defensiveness, and illusions that bind us are loving us for a greater freedom.

So what it means is maybe as a three-year-old, you know, a cat probably jumped on you and you were so fearful, right? you know, you're 16, 17, you've gotten over that fear. And when you see a cat as you're 17 years old, you can let go of that fear. You don't have to carry that on. So that's what it means your self is no self. It's actually a very, very deep teaching. But I will leave it to you.

And yes, Rebecca. Thank you, Lama, Aria, for sharing this teaching about wisdom and wisdom is also doing that which does not generate suffering. And when we have a chance to listen and learn the Buddha's teaching, like what we have just heard, one aspect of wisdom is to remember it, remember it and practice remembering to make use of it in our daily life whatever is happening so the few things to remember about the Buddha's teaching

is suffering what is suffering the teaching of the second noble truth suffering is the coming together of whatever is happening in the present moment, whatever it is. There's a traffic jam. There's a headache. Kids are not getting along at home. Whatever is happening. That is the present moment. But that is not suffering itself. Suffering is the coming together of that with our very entrenched habits of reacting with the vexations. Vaxations, our most favorite one, is aversion. What is happening is not what I want. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I want something other than what is. That is what suffering is. Whatever is happening, that is not what is supposed to be.

Dukha, Dukha. So practicing to remember this very important teaching by the Buddha and apply it in whatever situation we're in is itself wisdom. In our daily life, we can practice staying. with the present moment, maintaining clear awareness, and see and ask ourselves, is what I'm doing generating suffering? If I am, let's stop it,

so that I'm not making a situation worse by generating suffering. So I'm going to share an experience by, shared with me by a student recently. She's someone who suffered a lot, and she shared this story with me because she realized that, oh, I'm finally understanding how to practice. She said, one of the things that really got her suffering a lot

is being in traffic. So she just drives her nuts, frustrates her into no end. And so this time, she was driving, and that was a traffic jam. And then she realized she was just getting very frustrated and getting suffering a great deal. And then she caught herself noticing that I am generating suffering

by getting frustrated, by giving rise to aversion, and realizing that, well, there's a traffic jam, is the coming together of causes and conditions. My getting frustrated is not making the traffic going faster. It's not making anything better. Actually, it makes my experience worse. is not helping with anything. How about I drop this frustration

and just be with the traffic jam as it is? And not being agitated, she realized, actually, I'm pretty comfortable. My car is nice. It is air-conditioned. It's not unpleasant at all. There's no problem. So her minds begin to relax and become less agitated.

And it also reminded her this other part of the Buddha's teaching that we are all interconnected, that our actions have effect to be mindful of the effect of our action, meaning to really pay attention to what I'm doing and how my actions might affect others. So you probably notice sometimes when we're in a traffic jam, some people are very agitated and they're like switching. lane, constantly trying to gain an inch when they are really not moving anywhere.

But meanwhile, they are causing a lot of dangerous moves. People are like suddenly having to step on a brick and causing a lot of additional stress and agitation in everyone's mind. So by recognizing that, okay, we're all in this together. My action affects everyone. Let me just be with the traffic. as it is and not engage in any of these sudden move trying to gain an inch which is really not picking us

anywhere faster so that she can just stay in this move with this very slow moving traffic in a relaxed body and mind without having more suffering herself she's also not generating more agitation for everyone in this traffic and recognizing that when we are not making things worse for anyone

we ourselves are benefiting from it. That in itself is wisdom by not engaging in action that cause harm to others. And how we do that? By not engaging in action, reacting to a situation that causes suffering to ourselves

that cause us to be agitated and tense and block us from seeing how our actions affect everyone. So, wisdom is about remembering the Buddha's teachings and remembering to make use of it. Every moment, regardless of the situation, I talked about the situation of a traffic jam, but actually there are many, many opportunities in our life to practice. How about difficulty at home? not getting along with our partner or our children's not getting along.

Work is situation. Things being quite chaotic or challenging or the world situation. Things not going the way we think is shit. We have a lot of opportunity to put into use the Buddha's teachings. So to not give rise to more suffering, to cultivate wisdom, And when we are not consumed by suffering, we are less prone to act in a way that cause harm. And that in itself is compassion. Thank you so much for your teaching.

I'm very honored to be sitting here with these two fine teachers. And I grew up with Christmas. I grew up in New York State. And I thought it would be delightful to share a very short version of a great Buddhist story called The Christmas Carol with Ebenezer Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge hated Christmas. He hated most people. We know the story. He's described deliciously as grasping and greedy.

and solitary as an oyster. You can just picture him. He hated this time of year. And the podcast will be coming out the day after Christmas. Same thing. Such an annoying, annoying time of year. So he went home and he locked his door thinking he was very wise. He's a wise man.

He's not going to waste time or money wasted on other people. And into the room came the ghost of his old business partner, Marley, wrapped in chains. And the first thing Scrooge thought was that he had indigestion. This isn't something real. And of course, Marley is going, Scrooge, and shaking his chains. And Scrooge goes, why are you fettered? a Buddhist term and Marley goes

I'm wearing the chains that were forged by my life and Scrooge said I don't understand you were a good man of business and Marley shakes his chains

and terrifies Scrooge and said business the common welfare was my business other people were my business but bah humbug that famous phrase he's now buying it he goes to sleep and he's visited in the buddiscence by three great insights three spirits the first spirit shows him his past the ghost of christmas has and it actually is profoundly buddhist because it shows Scrooge that his greed, who's grasping, his attachment, was conditioned.

His suffering was created by loneliness and rejection and the fear. And he protected himself. He formed offenses. All of us do. All of us sitting here do this. But the other interesting thing about this story, and I just realized that preparing to be with you today is that the ghost of Christmas past also showed Scrooge moments of joy and connection. He had a wonderful girlfriend. He loved her.

She loved him. He had a wonderful boss. He was kind. He forgot about those moments. This is another way to understand no self. He made we make, I make an identity. A lot of times based on my suffering. The things that have really hurt me

and all the things I've done to defend myself against getting hurt again, that's what I take myself to be. But the ghost, of Christmas past showed him there's always also joy and he felt the poignancy

of that that he's just been attached to his suffering and he let joy slip through his fingers then came the ghost of Christmas present in came the ghost

he's always portrayed as big and jolly and ready to party. And he takes Scrooge to see Bob Cratchett, his employee. This man Scrooge starved his employees, or as close to it as he could get away with. And this spirit exists in our world, in our country, in this city today. And he went to Bob Cratchett's house.

And they had such a meager feast. And he saw what the harm he had caused, his own stinginess, his own greed, and something that confounded him. In the midst of all that stinginess and the skinny little bird they were trying to make into a Christmas feast, there was also love and connection. And famously, we see Tiny Tim. I looked into it because he had both a crutch and respiratory issues. And so he probably had tuberculosis, which was rampant, especially among the poor in London, and Ricketts, which is a deficiency disease. I mean, I can't say for sure. But Scrooge's heart broke open.

because he realized that he helped create that suffering. We just heard about that by depriving Cratchett of a decent wage and compassion broke open in Scourge's heart. And we see here that in all of us, we're learning about a wisdom that deep and our deep in our hearts we know that the Buddhist tradition preserved and brought to us. Wisdom isn't an abstract knowing. It's not conceptual.

It's a shift in perception. It's an opening of the heart. And it always comes with compassion. Never separate. Scroote felt his inner connection to those family. There were other sites. it's that night, too. He felt the possibility

of happiness and freedom and connection and the suffering he'd caused. He went home to bed. And in came the ghost of Christmas future, teacher of impermanence.

The ghost of Christmas future showed Scrooge his death his lonely, miserable, isolated death all alone

know when to mourn him and he just points we've seen this specter of the ghost of Christmas future we are all going to die every one of us and Scrooge is going, tell me it's not too late.

Tell me it's not too late. And he wakes up. He realizes it with the ghost of Christmas future, the truth of what Marley's ghost had told him. Karma, our future, depends on how we are in the present. Like Rebecca was saying, how are we? When we settle down, open our hearts, we can feel each other. We may not know each other long, so we just had the pleasure of meeting.

But we are connected. We're connected. Scrooge is so overjoyed, waking up on Christmas morning, it's not too late. it's not too late and he runs to the window and there's a little boy we've all seen some version of this my personal favorite is the Muppet

Christmas Carol has got such hard such hard watch it those Muppets are so wonderful and Michael Kane and little boys down there and he's like go to the shop and buy the biggest turkey you can carry

and throws him a hefty gift Donna for getting the turkey and has it delivered to Bob Cratchett's house and vows then and there that he's going to make everyday Christmas and that doesn't mean go out and buy a lot of stuff and it means he's going to dedicate himself to compassion to generosity to interconnection to living in a different way in the process. moment. And he does. And a new world opens up. That's what's so extraordinary about the Dahmer. It's not something that's in the distant future. It's right here in the present

moment when we can sit down and be present and let our hearts open, realizing our interconnection, realizing we don't have to live in a state of lonely isolation, shoring up money, locking our door. I'm not telling you not to lock you doors, and not to make a living, but that there's something beyond attachment, grasping, and aversion, and it's not in the distant future, it's in those moments of joy and connection. And so I'm inviting us. I don't know if I went over my time, but I'm inviting us to really make ourselves comfortable right now

in our seats to really remember that this body and this heart and this mind in itself is a gift. a gift from the past. And being in the space together, also a gift. And this teaching, this wonderful teaching a gift. And that there's something deep inside us, Buddha Nature, that's innately good, kind, compassionate, wise, wise.

So let's take a moment to relax our body and mind into the present moment. Starting with the top of our head directly experienced subtle sensations are to scalp relaxing As we allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread to the forehead.

Check to see if we hold tension in the area between our eyebrows by habits. Perhaps from worrying, and allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread to the eyeballs and eyed muscles. we often hold a lot of tension in these muscles from all the judging, comparing, analyzing and right here, right now we can give them a rest and allow

a loud attention to melt away and feel the relaxation spread to the facial muscles check to see if we hold tension in some part of our face by habit perhaps to hold a certain facial expression for the world to see right here right now

there is no need to do that we can allow the tension to melt away And feel the relaxation spread to the entire head. And feel the relaxation spread to the neck and shoulder muscles. directly experience the subtle sensations of these muscles

softening like melting butter as we allow the tension to melt away and feel the relaxation spread down the arms to the forearms and all the way down to the fingertips. Feel the relaxation spread to the chest area. Check to see if we hold tension in this area by habit.

Perhaps from anxiety, sadness, grief, fear. And right here right now we can give them a rest and allow a love with attention to melt away and feel the relaxation spread down the torso

all the way down to the lower abdomen where we often hold a lot of tension by habit trust that the skeletal structure can hold up the body and these muscles do not need to work so hard we can allow the tension to melt away and feel the relaxation spread to the upper back, directly experience the subtle sensations of these muscles softening, like melting butter. as we allow

the tension to melt away and feel the relaxation spread down the back to the lower back and all way down to the buttocks where we feel the sensations of the body's weight on our seats and feel the relaxation spread down to the thigh muscles and down to the thigh muscles and down

the legs and all the way down to the toes and feel the relaxation of the entire body sitting right here, right now. with this weakful, clear mind, moment after moment. And when we do so, we notice the subtle changing sensations of the body breathing. and we can rest our attention gently and the subtle changing sensations of the body breathing to gently anchor the mind to each emerging present moment. There's no need to hold to the breath tightly.

Just this gentle contact moment, after moment, allowing the body to breathe on its own. And from time to time, when we notice our mind drifting off, drifting off, Losing contact with the direct experience of the changing sensations of the body breathing. Not a problem. And use that as an opportunity to practice remembering to come back. To reconnect with the direct experience of the changing. sensations of the body breathing. It doesn't matter how often the mind drift off.

As long as we find our way back, we are practicing well. And from time to time, we may notice thoughts and feelings in the form of memory, fragments of conversations or other forms coming by to visit. And when they do, allow them through. They're already part of the present moment, chasing them away blocking them all only tenses up

and agitates the mind allow them through and allow them to be directly experienced felt and seen and hurt as they are There's no need to explain or analyze them

just directly experienced as they are and when they are ready to move on allow them to move on moment

of the moment, maintain this total clear awareness of the body mind sitting in this space. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Maintain this clear. awareness as we transition from stillness to motion.

As we rotate our body from small circle into bigger and bigger circles in one direction, stay with the changing sensations as the body moves. Notice the urge to allow the mind to scatter just because the formal sitting meditation period has ended. The practice continues. Just changing form. We change direction.

Thank you so much for such a wonderful teaching on wisdom. That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a friend of the Rubin at Rubin Museum.org slash friends. If you are looking for more inspiring content, please check out our other podcasts, Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic paths to enlightenment

and what it means to wake up. available wherever you listen to podcasts. And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work around the world, visit Ruben Museum.org. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.