Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Rebecca Li 08/21/2025

Episode Date: August 29, 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 21:17.Teacher: Rebecca Li  Theme: SerenityShakyamuni Buddha; Amdo Province, eastern Tibet; 16th century; pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; gift of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation; F1997.1.5Learn 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 Delak. Welcome. Welcome to the Ruben Museum of Himalayan Arts Mindfulness Meditation Program here at this beautiful space at New York Inside Meditation Center. I'm Tashi Children, Himalayan Programs and Community.

ambassador and I'm delighted to be your host today. So the Rubin is a global museum dedicated to Himalayan art and its insights and we are so glad to have all of you join us in person and online 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 we have chosen today and then we will hear a brief talk from our teacher Rebecca Lee. And then we will have a short sit, about 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. Let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. We are still exploring on the theme of serenity. And the artwork for today's session is this beautiful Thanka of Shakyamuni Buddha. And this is origin from Amdo province, eastern Tibet, dated 16th century.

and this is a mineral pigment on cloth. And this is about 46 3-4th into 36 3-4 inches. And it's classified as painting mineral pigment on cloth. And in Tibetan, it's called Thanka. The theme for the month of August, serenity, this painting conveys serenity through the Buddha's meditative gaze. The Buddha's calm presence suggests that serenity arises from a an inner state of balance.

Shakamuni Buddha is portrayed as an ascetic manner to demonstrate how he renounced all attachment to the material samsaric world. And you can see here in the center, the Shakyamuni Buddha sitting in full lotus position, the legs fully crossed, and it's known as wajara position, and his left hand open meditation gesture,

and the right palm facing the knee. these fingers touching the earth. So this particular hand mudra is known as the awakening gesture. When Buddha sat under the body tree and meditated, and when he reached enlightenment, he calls the earth to bear witness to his awakening. Then, in surrounding the Buddha, as you see the mountains, so this is very much a snow-capped mountains,

that shows that Buddha is very much in Tibet. And above Buddha's right shoulder, the figure is the founder of Galupah School, which started in the 14th century, and that is Jetsong Kappa, or often referred to as Lamattsong Kappa, wearing a yellow hat. And then below him are his two important students. And then it flanked on a white collar. cloud sort of right. So right below that is a flying monk. Now, here is the bigger picture of that particular scene. So Jetson Kappa is sitting in a full lotus position and his hand in teaching gesture.

Now, below the throne, you see the protector, wrathful deities, the Bekze and Tamchen Gawai Naqbo, the two protectors, and right in the middle, you see a beautiful offering table filled with offerings in the center. And here's a full picture. Now, as we gaze upon him, let us open our hearts to serenity. And then I just wanted to say that Shakyamuni Buddha is known as Sanjay Shachatupa in Tibetan word, Sanghae means liberated or awakened one. And the mantra for Shakyamune Buddha is Om Mune Maneh, Mahamanea soha. So with that, now let's bring on our teacher for today.

Our teacher is Rebecca Lee. So wonderful to have you back. Dr. Rebecca Lee is a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Shenyan. She's also the founder and guiding teacher. 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. Jan practice in uncertain times and method of no method was published by Shambala publications in October of 2023. Dr. Rebecca Lee is also a sociology professor and lives with her husband.

been in New Jersey. Her talks and writings can be found at Rebecca Lee.org. Dr. Rebecca Lee, thank you so much for being here. Please help me in welcoming Rebecca Lee. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for being here. And thank you, Tashi, for the lovely introduction and sharing the living tradition. The theme of this month's serenity, it's a great opportunity for us to reflect on perhaps the various ways we think about this. Oftentimes when we think about serenity, we may have the assumptions that we have created in our mind, which in turn affects and shapes the way we go about trying to attain serenity, especially after looking at Tanca like what we have just been looking at. Oh, I want to.

have that, you know, serenity that Shokamuni Buddha seems to be emanating. So perhaps as we look at what we assume serenity to be about, we may notice that we're assuming that it's about being in a serene environment. It's quite common to think that. So for those of us who live in the city, we're like, oh, I want to feel serene. that means I need to get out of the city to go to some, you know, serene place to get away from this crowded, noisy place.

And for those of us who can't do it very often, even at all, it can make us feel a little hopeless or feel like serenity seems like something quite distant, unattainable. And perhaps believing that the only way to be serene is to finally decide to move somewhere, move away, move somewhere remote. And some of you may have tried that. Go and spend some time in a peaceful, serene environment for some peace and quiet to experience serenity.

And you may notice that, yeah, you will feel that calmness and peace for a little while. And then, not so much, because we are very good at generating suffering regardless of what is happening. So this reminds me of this experience early in the summer. I was in a national park standing by this beautiful, peaceful space, surrounded by forests. and there's a river in front of me. There were a number of people sitting, relaxing beside the river. And I overheard someone saying that, wow, this like rushing river, the sound of this drive me nuts.

And I prefer the kind of river that just sort of like flow slowly. So there you go. even in that beautiful, peaceful environment, we managed to generate suffering and get irritated. So when we think about it, we realize that maybe serenity is not about our surrounding. And indeed, serenity is about inner peace, pointing to the fact that even when we are in a tumult,

to a very difficult, challenging situation or in an environment that's quite busy, you know, a lot going on with noisies, like in the city. It is possible to touch serenity, to be serene. Now, of course, many of us had experience that it is usually a little easier when we are in a sort of calm or more peaceful environment. That's why most retreat centers are in kind of more countryside, remote area,

like the retreat center that I'm going to teach a retreat tomorrow, actually, in upstate New York, because usually we find it a little easier to touch our, to connect with our inner peace. But it does not mean that's the only place where we can experience serenity. What is pointing to is the fact that it is possible for us. to train our mind, not to be affected or moved by what's going on in the environment regardless of what's going on. Now, it's important to understand that cultivation of inner peace of serenity does not mean shutting down the mind or our senses from the environment and pretend that nothing is happening.

I want to point this out because it is quite common, quite common to misunderstand the practice as doing that. I have encountered a lot of practitioners when they engage in meditation practice. What they do is they use the meditation method, perhaps counting or following the breath or reciting the Buddha's name or mantra, and use the meditation method to suppress the thoughts and feelings. And work really hard to quote-unquote meditate, to make the mind serene. In fact, recently, a few weeks ago when I was leading a six-day silent illumination retreat in the Vancouver area in Canada, I encounter a practitioner who's been doing that. he's been using the breath method and then go to the recitation method

to suppress these painful feelings that he's been experiencing since he was a little kid when he lost his mother at a young age and had been kind of just not really having a home being pushed around in different homes, different countries, over his teenage years. And recently, dealing with the visa issue that caused him to have to leave Canada and lose his job,

all these very difficult, challenging things happening. And he's been using his meditation method to suppress all these feelings. While pretending that it's all fine, he has, quote-unquote, accepted it. instead of really allowing himself to experience what's going on. If not using the method to suppress our thoughts and feelings, another common things that practitioners do because of their misunderstanding

is to use Dharma concepts like impermanence. Everyone here probably heard of like, everything is impermanent. Yes, everything is impermanent. So we tell us that it's impermanent, that's impermanent, so it's impermanent. But we are new doing that as a way to substitute for experiencing directly our thoughts and feelings moment to moment. Meanwhile, we're trying to convince ourselves that we are not bothered by what's going on. I have achieved serenity when, again, we are really obscuring what's going on. So serendity is not a mind of nothing going on.

There may be thoughts and feelings. There may be sadness, frustration, heartbrokenness, anger. And some of you who are more perceptive may notice that, but I thought you just said earlier that serenity is about training our mind not to be moved or affected by anything. But it's important to remember that we are not engaging in the practice to turn ourselves into a piece of rock, an inanimate object, where things happen and we don't feel anything.

That is not what we are trying to do. We are practicing to be fully human, to reconnect with all aspects of our being, recognizing the part of us that we have been silencing, blocking out, disconnecting ourselves from. That is what is very painful and the suffering that we are causing ourselves. So the training here is that whatever happens,

does mind-body interacting with whatever is going on in the environment now surrounding in our world, we allow all parts of that to be experienced as the coming together of constantly changing causes and conditions. In other words, this is the practice of silent illumination that I talked about in my book, Illumination, Buddhist Guide to the Method of a No Method.

So it's pointing to the practice that whatever happens in the present moment, whatever it is, allow these thoughts and feelings to be felt and seen and heard as they are moment to moment. Or as I often cite the words of Master Hong Zhi, the Chan master from the 12th century that articulated the practice of silence illumination. Stay with this, just as this. moment after moment without judging, rejecting, clinging. Now, even when we notice our very entrenched habits of judging, clinging, rejecting, grasping,

and you may feel alarmed, that's not what I'm supposed to be doing, and I'm doing it wrong. Not a problem. Not a problem. This is when I would like to share one of my favorite quotes from my master, Master Shen Yan, where he said, it's normal to discover vexations, vexations of aversion and craving in the course of our practice. He said, in fact, when we do not notice any vexation, there is a problem. What he is saying is that, in fact, when we put up, practice when we notice vexations like the habit of aversion and craving, that means we are

practicing, that means we are cultivating clear awareness that allows us to notice these very subtle entrenched habits of the mind, which then gives us the opportunity to stop perpetuating them because we have been perpetuating them without our knowing when they're out of awareness and when we stop perpetuate them, we also can slowly unlearn them. And the second part of this favorite quote of mind from Master Shen Yan is that he said, let vexations be vexations. As long as we are not afflicted, they will fade away. It's pointing to the fact that when we feel sad in response to what's going on, stay with it moment to moment, so that we can see for ourselves that this experience of sadness

too is impermanent, but it's not a conceptual understanding. We allow ourselves to see it as so, and it's not who we are permanently. So maybe next moment there's joy if we allow it to be experienced. And when we notice that we give rise to aversion hating the feeling of sadness, noticing this habit, we can also see for ourselves that, huh, this moment of reacting to sadness with hatred is suffering. And it's not in accordance with wisdom if I keep doing that. keep perpetuating this aversion, this hatred. And yet we do not hate the suffering, not be afflicted by it.

Sometimes we do, we get frustrated, and if we get frustrated that we are frustrated, we pile it all on top of each other. As long as we're not afflicted by it, we do not hate the suffering. We notice the suffering ceases. and because we stop perpetuating this unhelpful habit of reacting with aversion and craving. This is pointing to the fact that when we are not blocked by the habitual reactivity of vexations

and allow ourselves to be with each moment, that's serenity, giving us the clarity of what is happening, and what needs to be done. Sometimes it's nothing. Sometimes it's something simple. Sometimes it's something quite difficult. And we can do it by working with the causes and conditions we have now. So here, we're pointing to the fact that serenity is not escapism.

It's about living a fully engaged life. Moment to moment. less suffering, and allowing us the clarity to respond in ways that can bring benefits to everyone in our life. So let's practice to learn how to train our mind, to cultivate serenity. I take you through a whole body relaxation, invite you to sit in a posture that is comfortable, And we begin. Feel the relaxation of the top of the head. Directly experience the subtle sensations of the scalp relaxing

as we allow the tension. and feel the relaxation spread to the forehead. Check to see if we hold tension in the area between our eyebrows by habit, perhaps from worrying. and allow the tension to melt away and feel the relaxation spread to the eyeballs and eye muscles Notice the tension we hold in these area by habits

from all the judging, comparing, analyzing. And right here, right now, we can give these muscles of vacation. Allow the tension 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 certain facial expression for the world to see and right here right now we don't need to do that

and we can give these muscles vacation and allow the tension to melt away and feel the relaxation spread to the entire head and feel the relaxation spread down the neck and shoulder muscles and 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 and 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 the tension 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 give them a vacation too and allow the tension to melt away and then feel the relaxation spread to the upper back directly experience the subtle sensations

of these muscles softening like melting butter as we alone allow the tension to melt away and feel the relaxation spread down the back to the lower back

and all the way down to the buttocks where we feel the sensations of the body's weight on our seat and feel the relaxation spread down to the thigh muscles and down the legs all the way down to the toes and feel the relaxation of the entire body. Sitting right here, right now. Moment, after moment, with this wakeful, clear mind.

And as we do so, we'll notice the subtle changing sensations of the body breathing. And we can rest our attention gently on the subtle changing sensations to gently anchor our mind to each emerging present moment, allowing the body to breathe on its own,

remembering that the body knows how to breathe, as it's been doing so since the moment we were born And from time to time we may notice the mind drifting off traveling far, far away, losing contact with the direct experience

of the subtle changing sensations of the body breathing when that happens not a problem use that as an opportunity to practice remembering to come back to work with ourselves gently

kindly to reconnect with the direct experience of the subtle changing sensations of the body breathing. It doesn't matter how often the mind

drifts off as long as we find our way back we are practicing well. And from time to time you may notice thoughts and feelings coming by to visit and when that happens

allow them through they already part of the present movement blocking them out chasing them away only agitates the mind allow them through if they're here there's no need to go looking for them and allow them to be felt

and seen and hurt as they are directly experienced moment after moment and when they are ready to move on allow them to go on their own. Moment after moment, maintain this clear awareness of the body mind,

sitting in this space. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Maintain this clear awareness as we transition from stillness to motion. As we move our fingers one by one, and move our palms and rotate our body from small circle into bigger and bigger circles in one direction. Stay with the changing sensations as the body moves moment after moment. Take good care of this transition so that we can take the clarity and stability cultivated in setting meditation into our life lived in motion. Thank you so much for that wonderful session. 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 Ruben Museum.org. 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 Rubenmuseum.org. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day. Thank you.