Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Rebecca Li 08/22/2024

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

The Rubin Museum 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 15:27. Teacher: Rebecca LiTheme: InterconnectednessArtwork: Sarvavid Vairochana Mandala; Tibet; 17th century; Rubin Museum of Art, New York; Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin;This program is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism.Learn more about the Rubin Museum’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org. 

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. Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation at the Rubin Museum of Art. I'm Jacqueline Smith, Manager of Programs and Education, and I'm delighted to be your host today.

We are a global hub for Himalayan art with a home base here in New York City, and we are so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection, we will first take a look at a work of art. We will then hear a brief talk from our teacher, Rebecca Lee, and then we will have a short sit of 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. Now let's take a look at the work of art that we have chosen for today. Today's work of art is the Vairachana Mandala, which is located on the fourth floor of the museum. And our theme for the month of August is interconnectedness.

The mandala is a microcosm of the universe. It reflects the interdependence of all elements and the intricate web of relationships between all beings. This particular mandala was created in Tibet in the 17th century. It's a tanka, so it is a scroll painting, and it is relatively large in scale. Now the term mandala means circle or center in Sanskrit. A mandala serves as a symbolic map of a universe. Each quadrant of a mandala is associated with a different cardinal direction, color, and element. Mandalas often depict heavenly palaces with a deity featured in the center. Mandalas are used during prayer and meditation

by advanced practitioners of Buddhism. The Sarvavidvairakana mandala features an outer circle surrounding a perfect square and four quadrants placed around an inner circle. The mandala depicts the palace of the Sarvavidvairakana deity. Sarvavidvairakana's retinue is around him. He is depicted with four faces. He is seated in a meditation posture, surrounded at the cardinal directions by four other Buddhas. These Buddhas sit at the tips of the triangular quadrants, and together with Vairagana, they represent the Buddhas of the five families, or the five wisdom Buddhas. These Buddhas help practitioners transform the five afflictive emotions of pride,

transformed the five afflictive emotions of pride, attachment, envy, anger, and ignorance that cloud our worldview into the wisdoms and skills necessary to reach enlightenment. Each emotion and its corresponding wisdom served as an inspiration for the mandala lab on view on the museum's third floor. Awareness of our emotions reminds us of the interdependence of all beings and the interconnectedness of all life. Now let's bring on our meditation teacher for today, Rebecca Lee. Dr. Rebecca Lee is a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan master Sheng Yen. Rebecca is the founder and guiding teacher of Chan 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 new book entitled Illumination, A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No Method was published by Shambhala Publications in October of last year, and we were honored to have Rebecca deliver a book talk here at the Rubin in February of this year. Rebecca is a sociology professor and she lives with her husband in New Jersey. Her talks and writings can be found at rebeccalee.org. Rebecca, thank you so much for being here.

Please join me in welcoming Rebecca Lee. Thank you, Jacqueline. Thank you, everyone, for being here. And I really enjoy your lovely description of today's artwork and indeed the mandala showing us the demonstration of the intricate interconnectedness of all beings. And indeed, in our tradition, in the Chan practice, really what we try to learn to practice realizing and recognizing is that every moment, every moment is brand new. It's not how we usually feel it, but indeed it is true that every moment is the coming together of many constantly changing causes and conditions.

And when we remember to practice and recognize this, it just allows us to realize and recognize how we are indeed truly interconnected. It is not an abstract idea. And if we allow ourselves to take a moment to recognize this, for example, this morning, I took the train from New Jersey to come here with my husband. And so we usually think like, I just buy the ticket, and then I get the train. But the fact that I made it here is a miracle. And it was the result of many causes and conditions coming together, not just the fact that today there's no flooding, no storm that made it impossible to travel, but also all the people in the many generations past involved in inventing the train, improving

the train, and also nowadays maintaining the train tracks, and also all the passengers who took the train that made us believe that it's a good idea to keep having trains. That's why we have trains. And all these causes and conditions made this moment possible because I got here. And if you too do the same thing of reflecting of all the causes and conditions that make this moment possible, you'll realize they are really, really innumerable.

They're so innumerable that we actually, there is a term in Chinese called which often is translated as inconceivable. And it literally means cannot be thought or talked about. And it may sound like it's being very mysterious, but really it is referring to the fact how it is, when we really try to think of all the causes and conditions, it exceeds our cognitive capacity. And when we allow ourselves to think of all the causes and conditions, it exceeds our cognitive capacity. And when we allow ourselves to hold it,

we can see how this truly is wondrous, wondrous existence that we are part of. And when we allow ourselves to recognize and remember this, then we can see how we have all the sentient beings in the past and in the present to be grateful for, for this moment of our life. And so when we are able to remember this in our practice, then this gratitude naturally arises. It's not the kind of like, I should be grateful kind of gratitude. It's like, it's, it's arises naturally.

Wow. It's really a miracle that this moment comes together. And, um, and some, even though like you might think, well, but there are these people that I disagree with, um, that I don't like, uh, in the past that, uh, two are a part of, uh, two that two did something to this world. But even though people who we disagree with, they in their own way motivated others to do things that we agree with. And all that come together to bring this moment, to make this moment possible. And if we allow us to see this, we feel actually loved and supported and connected.

Instead of feeling isolated or feeling that I'm dealing with this all by myself. And we are able to see how there are really a lot of invisible support around us. Think about this moment, all of us sitting here practicing mindfulness meditation this afternoon. This does not just happen, right? And I arrived a little earlier to start doing the sound check, and I had the kind of the inside view of how so many people you don't see work very hard to make this program possible. And not only the staff, including Jacqueline and Jason and everyone else, but also those who started the program and all the patrons who participated in this mindfulness meditation program over the years. And that includes all of you. If you didn't bother to show up, this program would not exist and would not continue.

And so we can think about this. We realize that the same applies for all the people in our life, co-workers, family members, even strangers in the street, everything that they do, make our life possible. And so when we're able to practice this way, whatever happens, we can feel blessed that instead of feeling, taking things for granted and getting grumpy, we do not fall into that habit of causing ourselves suffering. And instead, we can see how, wow, this is all coming together of wondrous causes and conditions that make this moment possible. And we feel the support and love and less suffering.

And actually, here in this moment, we are able to see these wonderful artwork and also encounter the precious teachings by the Buddha, the Dhamma. This opportunity to encounter the Buddha's teachings is very precious indeed. That's why whenever we have this moment of being able to practice together, I often call it a miracle. This moment may not have happened if things didn't happen the way they did. Think of what a miracle it was that we have someone like the Shakyamuni Buddha who went through the process of practice, finding the path and articulating the teaching. But that was just the beginning.

And all the generations of practitioners, his students and his students' students, who work very hard to preserve the teaching, but also all the practitioners like yourself who practice during their time so that they can preserve the practice. Because this practice that we are doing's a living practice. It's not something that just lives in words. If they only are preserved that way, we wouldn't really know the subtlety of the practice. It's through the generations of practitioners who actually put their time in, like in the past, practitioners, they didn't sit in air-conditioned spaces to meditate. There are bugs flying around them and maybe very hot, very humid, and they did it. And because of what they did, the practice is preserved to this day. And so when we think about it, what we are doing here, engaging in the practice,

we are also preserving the practice for people in the future so that they can encounter this wonderful practice. And when we are able to see that, that we will be able to realize that everyone, everything truly is interconnected. We are connected to the past and also connected to those in the present and those in the future, and thus the teaching of intricate connectivity. So when we practice remembering to be in the present moment, we're also remembering that we are all interconnected with all beings. that we are all interconnected with all beings.

Every moment we remember to practice, we remember that we are all interconnected. Then we allow this gratitude to naturally arise, allow our heart to be filled with joy, feeling so blessed and feeling connected to everyone. feeling so blessed and feeling connected to everyone. And also we can see clearly that benefiting others is no different from benefiting ourselves because we are interconnected. So when we bring benefit to others, they benefit.

Then in turn, what they will do will benefit us. So this may seem very abstract, but for example, when we think about it, the moment we remember to practice, then we are able to not fall into our unhelpful habits, not to react with our compulsive reactivity. For example, when we are frustrated or irritated or angry, that we can refrain from reacting in ways that cause harm to others. Think of those moments when you're very angry, you feel like saying some really critical or mean thing to someone. And in that moment, we remember to practice and refrain from doing that because we remember that we are all interconnected. And in that moment, when we

refrain from causing harm, and that person does not feel hurt and does not feel the need to take the hurt feeling, the suffering on others, and then that can go on and on and on. In that moment, we are already making the world a better place just by remembering to practice in that moment, we are already making the world a better place, just by remembering to practice in that moment. So wherever we are, whatever we are doing, every moment we remember to practice, remembering that every moment is the coming together of causes and conditions, that we are all interconnected,

then we are causing ourselves less suffering. We are also less prone to causing harm and suffering to others. And in this way, we are well on our way in cultivating more wisdom and compassion. So let's practice together. Learn how to practice remembering to be the present moment, that we are all interconnected. So I'd like to invite you to sit in a comfortable position. We go through the whole body relaxation.

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 to melt away. Allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread to the forehead. Check to see if we hold tension in this area by habit, perhaps from worrying.

And allow, allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread to the eyeballs and eye muscles. We often hold tension in this area in our daily life. All the comparing, analyzing, planning, judging. And right here, right now, we can take a break from that.

And allow, 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 a certain facial expression for the world to see. Right here, right now, there is no need to do that. And we can give these muscles a vacation and allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread to the entire head. spread to the entire head. Feel the relaxation spread down

to the neck and shoulder muscles. Directly experience the subtle sensations of these muscles softening like melting butter as we allow, allow the tension to melt away. 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. Right here, right now, we can give them a rest.

And allow, allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread down the torso all the way down to the lower abdomen. 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 in the low, a loud attention. We can give them a vacation too and allow the tension to melt away.

spread to the upper back. Directly experience the subtle sensations of these muscles softening like melting butter. And allow, allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread down the back. To the lower back all the way down to the buttocks where we feel the sensations of our bodies, weight on our seats.

And feel the relaxation spread down to the thigh muscles, down the legs, all the way down to the toes. of the entire body sitting right here, right now. Moment after moment, with this wakeful, clear mind. And as we do so, you'll notice the subtle changing sensations

of the body breathing. of the body breathing. We can rest our attention gently on the subtle changing sensations of the body breathing. We can gently anchor ourselves to each emerging present moment, allowing the body to breathe on its own. The body knows how to breathe.

It's been doing so since the moment we were born. Just allow the body to breathe. All we need to do is to gently rest our attention on the subtle changing sensations, the body breathing, moment after moment. If we notice the mind drifting off, losing contact with the subtle changing sensations of the body breathing. Not a problem. Use this as an opportunity to practice remembering, to come back, remembering to come back, to practice working 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 or how long the mind drifts off. As long as we find our way back, we are practicing well.

We are practicing well. And if we notice thoughts in the form of memories, stories, or any kind of thoughts and feelings coming to visit, allow them to come through. Trying to block them out or push them away only agitates the mind unnecessarily. They are already part of the present moment. Allow them through. And allow them to be fully felt and seen and heard

as they are, moment after moment. And when they are ready to move on, allow them to move on, on, allow them to move on. Moment after moment, cultivate this total clear awareness of the body-mind sitting in this space. Thank you. 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 begin to move our fingers one by one and our palms, rotate our body from small circle into bigger and bigger circles in one direction.

Stay with the changing sensations as the body moves. Change direction. And take good care of this transition so that we can take the clarity and stability cultivated in sitting meditation into our life-lifting motion. Thank you so much, Rebecca, for leading us in that serene meditation. That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series,

we invite you to become a member at rubinmuseum.org 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 e-news. I am Tashi Chodron. Thank you so much for listening. Have a mindful day.