Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Lavina Shamdasani 03/02/2023

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

Theme: Unity Artwork: Eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara; China; 18th century; Silk embroidery and gold thread; Rubin Museum of Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin;http://therubin.org/36eTeacher: Lavina Shamdasani  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 10:16.  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, 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. Welcome.

Welcome to the return of in-person mindfulness meditation with Rubin Museum of Art. I'm Tashi Chodron, and Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador. It's my great delight to be your host today. So we are a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in New York City, and we are so glad to have all of you join us for this weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired from our collection, we will take a look at work of art from our collection. We will hear a brief talk from our teacher, and we are so happy to have our teacher, Lavinaamdasani for the first time. It's so great. And then we will have a short sit, about 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. And so now let's

look at the theme and artwork. The theme is unity. And the beautiful art that our teacher Lavina handpicked is this beautiful thangka of Avalokiteshvara. Now, the thangka that we have often seen is the mineral pigment on cloth, but this one is a very unique and special one. It's, as you can see here, it's embroidery silk golden thread, and this is about 22 inches height and about 10 width. So this particular one, the figure is Avalokiteshvara. In Tibetan, he's known as Chandrik Zik. And Avalokiteshvara is the Buddha of compassion, or often referred to also as Bodhisattva, who aspired to achieve enlightenment, but take vow to keep coming back to the world to help all sentient beings reach that level and Avalokiteshvara also appears in many different forms two arms four arms six arms

eight arms and one thousand arms and this one is very unique because you see 11 headed here often appears with thousand arms and thousand eyes but But in this particular thangka, he's here with six arms, but 11 headed, manifesting in multiple forms in order to reach out to help many. So that's one of those. And he's also known to be the patron deity of Tibet, often appears white in color, as you can see here, white in color. The mantra for Avalokiteshvara is Om Mani Padme Hum. The more Om means more capacity or providing aid. More attributes means more power. And so this is a great Avalokiteshvara standing. Here's a closer look of the leaven-headed. And out of the leaven-head, one is a fierce, wrathful form,

and then peaceful, ten other forms here. And he's standing here on lotus throne, which stands for awakening and purity, a very important symbolic gesture. And then we have a living tradition. So this painting that we looked at is the 18th century. Okay, so now let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Lavina Shyamdasani, studied the neuroscience philosophy and pedagogy of compassion at the Compassion Institute. She has taught compassion cultivation training and self-compassion classes and led book club discussions and meditation at

Tibet House US and the Trinity School. Compassion cultivation training had a transformative impact on her and brought about a positive shift in the overall quality of her life and relationships that inspired her to teach within her community. So thank you so much, Lavina, for being here. And please help me in welcoming Lavina. Thank you so much, Tashi. And thank you to the Rubin Museum for welcoming me today. And thank you to all of you for being here. It's an honor to be practicing mindfulness meditation with you here in person

and Tashi thank you for sharing with us Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion. So as the Dalai Lama said, if you want others to be happy, practice compassion. And if you want to be happy, practice compassion. So what is compassion? In ancient classical Buddhist teachings, compassion is described as the heart that trembles in the face of suffering. According to emotion researchers, compassion is that feeling that arises when you are confronted by suffering, motivated by an action to want to relieve that suffering. So it's confrontation of suffering motivated by action to relieve the suffering. And you would ask, well, why would I want to engage in additional suffering?

I have plenty of my own dis-ease, plenty of my own suffering. Let me share with you an article recently published in the New York Times about small acts of kindness. Aaron Alexander, 57, was sitting in the parking lot of a Target in Fairfield, California. She was weeping. She was having a hard day. She just lost her sister-in-law. Inside the Target, a barista was also having a hard day. The coffee maker had stopped working. Erin Alexander had stopped crying and went inside to get herself some caffeine. And she noticed the barista who looked really stressed.

She smiled and said, hang in there, and ordered an iced green tea instead of her cappuccino. When Erin received her cup of iced green tea, she noticed a little heart and a message that said, Erin, your soul is golden. And she was really moved by this message. From a complete stranger who had no idea what she was going through. It really touched her deeply. So compassion, any act of kindness, brings joy not just to the receiver, but to the giver as well. We feel good about ourselves.

We have an improved self-perception when we're kind. In fact, research has shown that those who engage in small acts of kindness have an increased feeling of well-being and happiness. Engaging in others' suffering helps us realize we're not alone in our suffering, that suffering is the common human experience. We all suffer. And we can all connect with that warm glow inside when we've done an act of kindness, that feeling, that warm fuzzy feeling. It's been termed compassion joy. And the more compassion joy we have, the more likely we are to engage in additional acts

of compassion. And so therefore, compassion is a renewable resource. There's enough to go around. It doesn't get depleted, and neither is it depleting. It's one of the four immeasurables. It's one of the four immeasurables. And engaging in another's suffering might also lead us to understand that our suffering really isn't that great compared to many around us. We might be more willing to engage in gratitude practice. Compassion and acts of compassion lead to positive relationships, community building, something that we're so devoid of in this new age of technology. All the doers are like invisible elves.

We hardly see them. We don't engage in eye contact or conversation. But don't hesitate to practice acts of compassion. We might think people might perceive us as needy, maybe even strange. My teenage daughter and son often lament me when I start talking to strangers in elevators and, you know, people I don't know in Uber drives. and Uber drives. Mom, that's weird, they say. But don't let that stop you. The effects and well-meaningness is not a notice of your kind acts of generosity. And so compassion is something we have within us, but sometimes life can shut down access to compassion. Life can put up barriers. But the good news is we can cultivate compassion by bringing it into our awareness.

So I'll invite you now to practice a compassion meditation with me. And I invite you to find a comfortable position. Maybe lower your gaze or close your eyes. Whatever feels good to you. And make a conscious placement of your hands, either fold them in your lap, rest them by your side. Ideally, your feet should be firmly rooted on the ground. And welcome to this practice of cultivating compassion, both for yourself and for others. Begin by taking three deep diaphragmatic breaths,

inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth, releasing any residual tension and again inhaling through your nose and a complete relaxation on the exhale and use this transition to arrive more fully to the present moment. Now let your breath relax into its own natural rhythm, breathing as you normally would in and out through your nostrils.

Notice what comes up for you. Bring relaxation to your forehead, to your jaw. Maybe the gentlest of smile to your lips to open up the energy of the heart. Relax your shoulders, your torso, your hips, your legs, your feet. And let your body enjoy in this very natural process of breathing in and breathing out.

If your mind wanders, chases a story, a thought, ever so gently, honor the thought with loving-kindness without judgment and release the thought

coming back to awareness of the breath. Notice what might be coming up for you today. Notice what you might need. Receiving without judgment whatever comes up for you. Now bring to mind a compassionate image. Anything that for you represents unconditional love, strength, courage, wisdom, compassion.

It could be a firmly rooted tree the sun shining without discrimination on all of us it could be Avalokiteshvara who embodies compassion or anyone that comes up for you. And just rest in this very warm, unconditional love from your compassionate image. In the presence of your compassionate image, you can be completely yourself. There is no judgment. Just unconditional love.

And resting here, receiving from your compassionate image, notice your own renewed compassion, your own source of strength, wisdom, courage, and kindness, courage and kindness and let it flow freely from your heart center and strengthened by your own source of compassion, bring to mind a time that you might have had some pain, something mild, maybe four on a scale of one to ten. And notice how you feel as you recall this moment of suffering.

Connect with your own aspiration to be happy, your legitimate aspiration to be free of suffering. And gently say in your mind, may I be free from suffering. May I find peace and joy. and enjoy this moment of self-compassion for just a minute or two. And now bring to mind somebody that you love, that you care for deeply. Maybe a friend, family member. Maybe a friend, family member. Recall a moment when your loved one had some suffering in their lives. Notice how this feels for you. Rest your mind on any tenderness that arises. and now connect with your wish to see your loved one be free of suffering

and gently say in your mind may you be free of suffering may you find peace and joy. And now bring to mind a neutral person, someone you recognize but don't know very well, perhaps your local Starbucks barista. And consider for a moment that this person too has legitimate aspirations for happiness. That just like you, this person wants to love and be loved, wants to protect themselves from suffering, and send the wish silently in your mind,

may you be free from suffering. May you find peace and joy. And now contemplate this thought for a moment. There are countless people that contribute in so many ways to my happiness. People I consider my friends and strangers. For all of us in this room, there are countless ways, some that we may never even know, in which people contribute to our happiness.

Maybe even in this room. And consider that you too, in ways that you will never know, contribute to the happiness of others. and just abide in a moment or two in this awareness of interconnectedness, of unity. Imagine for a moment this visualization. Rays of light emanating from all of our compassionate hearts in this room, alleviating suffering and spreading joy. and consider that if we all perform just one small act of kindness today, a smile,

a thank you. And if those acts of kindness were multiplied many-fold, We could indeed work our way towards global compassion, each of us spreading our joy and those we touch spreading their joy and abiding in this visualization just for one more minute of infinite compassion and unity. And bringing into our awareness all sentient beings. May all beings be free from suffering.

May all beings find peace and joy. Okay. and releasing the visualization, and just resting for one more minute or two with your breath. Noticing any spaciousness you may be feeling. And remembering. and remembering to bring the spaciousness with you for the rest of the day. Teksting av Nicolai Winther When you're ready, you can gently open your eyes. When you're ready, you can gently open your eyes. Thank you. Thank you so much for that most compassionate session. 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 two, 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.