Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Rebecca Li 10/25/2021

Episode Date: October 27, 2021

Theme: Mandala Artwork: Mandala Chakrasavara and Vajravarahi; Ngor Ewam Choden Monastery, Tsang Province, Central Tibet; ca. 1505–1514; pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Art; [http://therubin.org/32u] Teacher: Rebecca Li 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 18:38. 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. 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. Hi, everyone. Good afternoon and welcome to Mindfulness Meditation Online with the Rubin Museum of Art. And I'm Dawn Eshelman, great to be here with you as always. And thanks for chiming in on the chat and saying hi. It's a great way for us to just kind of stay connected with you and hear where you're coming in from and what you're thinking about and your practice and all of that. So great to see that. And thank you so much for joining us for our weekly program that features mindfulness meditation and combines it with art from our collection here online.

Also, just want to, as always, invite you to come on down to the museum if you're in the area. That's Chelsea, New York City. Come and take a look at our new installation called the Mandala Lab. We've been taking our inspiration over the last month from the Mandala Lab in our exploration of mandalas here in this weekly program. And today is no exception. I will take a peek at that mandala again with you in just a moment. And let's take a look at this beautiful mandala. This is from Central Tibet.

This is the mandala Chakrasavara and Vajra Varahi. This is the mandala Chakrasavara and Vajravarahi. Chakrasavara is the blue figure at the center of this deep, deep kind of red color that occupies so much of this mandala. And Vajravarahi is his partner consort in red right in front of him there. This is pigments on cloth from about 1505 to 1514, in that range. And this painting, this Tonka, which again is this interplay between two main colors, this deep, deep blood red, and then this bright lapis blue, even a little bit of kind of a navy feel to it. And this painting is depicting, of course, at the center, this deity, Chakrasamvara. He's one of the most popular deities in Tantric Buddhism. And this is a very Nepali painting in terms of style, in terms of this kind of favoring of this strong red color. It's very

typical of this 15th, 16th century kind of Sakya and Noor paintings and wall murals. And let me just zoom in a little bit closer on this central figure here, Chakra Samvara, blue in color, three faces, six hands. And this is a meditational deity. So practitioners at a certain level would utilize this mandala and this deity in their meditation practice. We won't be doing that today, but just to give you the sense and the context for this. At the center, really here and around the deities, is this lotus flower, right? And we can see conch shells and other deities here in the petals of the flower. And there they are, Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi in an embrace in the center. In one, the first pair of hands crossed at the heart, Chakrasambhara holds a

vajra and a bell. And this couple is surrounded by red flames. And the flames represent pristine awareness. The goal, the aim here, pristine awareness. So with that, let's bring on our teacher today, the wonderful Rebecca Lee. Dr. Rebecca Lee is a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen. She's the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma community. And she started practicing with Master Sheng Yen in the 90s and served as his translator until his passing in 2009. She later trained with and received full Dharma transmission from one of his Dharma heirs, Dr. Simon Child, in 2009. She later trained with and received full Dharma transmission from one of his Dharma heirs, Dr. Simon Child, in 2016. And she's currently teaching and lecturing throughout

North America and the UK. And you can find out all about her at RebeccaLee.org. She is also a sociology professor at the College of New Jersey, where she also serves as the faculty director of the Alan Doy Center for the Study of Social Justice. And her new book, which was spurred on by her students there, is called Allow Joy into Our Hearts, Chan Practice in Uncertain Times. Hi, Rebecca, how are you? Wonderful. Good to be with everyone today.

Thanks so much for being here Thank you, thank you Dawn for your introduction of today's beautiful artwork And also thank you everyone for being here And yes, I really appreciate this opportunity to be thinking about Mandala Which I know very little about. I do love looking at them. I was mesmerized by the image that Don shared with us just a moment ago. And whenever I get a chance to really take a close look at mandala, I noticed how the manifestation of the mind represented visually for us to experience directly. As I was thinking about today's workshop, it really reminds me of a verse that Mahayana Buddhists, especially in Chan meditation retreats, would recite every evening.

I'd like to share that with you and talk about how it's relevant to our life and our practice. The set of verse goes like this. To know all the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, perceive that all Dhammadhatta nature is all created by the mind. So take a moment for this to sink in. It is pointing to the importance of cultivating clear awareness, or what Don mentioned, this pristine awareness of the fact that we create the world we live in. And this is quite a big idea, and also would take some thinking in. Now, it does not mean that things don't exist,

or they are not happening, that they are all just sort of imaginations. That's not what it's saying. that they are all just sort of imaginations. That's not what it's saying. So for example, you know, we often, we will, in the earlier part of the day, we might open our news app and look at what's happening. And so there are indeed all kinds of things happening in the world. So it's not denying that things are happening.

And the question is, what do we take in from what we are exposed to from the environment? How do we turn them into the world, our version of the world that we believe exists, that we live in? And this is what this set of verses is pointing to, how we create the world we live in. So again, we come back to sort of exposure to news, and many of us do that. And even though we read the same newspaper as the other person, chances are we're drawn to different stories published in it today. Even if we read the same story, we take different things from the same story

based on our own existing worldview and perspective and interest. And we take all the material and to build our world. And we've been doing that throughout our lifetime. Our causes and conditions put us in a certain location in our society that shapes our perspective and interest, really think about what is good, what is preferable. So for example, some of us may find our causes and conditions putting us in the location of maybe someone who is of a middle class, educated person, being in a profession, living in a cosmopolitan city. It's largely a bunch of description that applies to me.

And with these causes and conditions, we shape our world. So it reminds me of a story that happened a number of years ago. I myself have grown up in a very cosmopolitan international city of Hong Kong. And now I live near New York City and I've always lived on the coast. And so to sort of create this worldview. And many years ago, when my husband and I went to visit my in-law in the Midwest, we asked them to go shop for this cacao powder that's made in the Netherlands to make our chocolate pancake. And they came back empty-handed. And when they asked about that in the store, and the person, upon hearing that these are people traveling from New Jersey

requesting this, that person said, oh, those East Coast people. And it was an experience that I remember very vividly because that's the moment I realized how I have created this world and carry it to different places in the country and believe that's how everybody views the world and lives, that we have to have Dutch cacao powder to put in our chocolate pancake. And so also our circumstances put us in relationship and communities that expose us to certain ideas that in turn becomes part of our world and shape our perspective. So again, earlier talk about our social class, our profession, but there are many other things like the kind of people we encounter and become friends with, become neighbors with, even at workplace, who do we end up being friends with as common colleagues. So what happened is that we tend to pay attention only to the part of the world we encounter

that fits into our world, our version of the world, and pretty much ignore and oftentimes dismiss the rest of it. And you can take a look at it in your own experience. So for example, I live in this town with a pretty big shopping mall, and people from all over central Jersey come to this mall. But I often will say that there isn't anything to eat in shopping mall, and people from all over central Jersey come to this mall. But I often will say that there isn't anything to eat in this mall, which of course is not true. What I meant was that the kind of restaurants that are not chain restaurants, because I don't really go to chain restaurants, they don't really exist in this mall. So again, this is revealing this habitual tendency of only noticing that which fits into our version of the world.

And if they don't fit into a version of the world, like these chain restaurants, then they don't really exist. We sort of forget about it, ignore them. And until my nephew visiting from Hong Kong, their favorite restaurant is California Pizza, and told me that they thought that mall is the best place because it has their favorite restaurant. So the mall, they have a different mall in their mind

than the one I have. Now, if we really pay attention, we'll notice this is true for every aspect of our existence. So, for example, our idea of our family is not the one held by other members of the family. You'll notice that if you ever had a conversation with maybe your siblings about your family. Think about it in the workplace. So depending on which part of our company, I live in a university, so at the university or school, other kind of organization.

So marketing people, accounting people, production people, all view what the company or the university is about differently. And there is also this tendency to believe our world is the only or the most valid one and dismiss others. So we tend to believe the world we perceive is the one that objectively exists. And we either are unaware of the version of the world held by others, or if we are aware of other people's version that's different from ours, we believe that they are less important, less valid, and thus are dismissive or even hostile to them. So here we're talking about this quite entrenched habitual tendency to dismiss or disrespect others without being aware that we are doing so.

And if we have ever experienced this, we'll know that being disrespected and dismissed, deemed invisible or inferior, is very painful. And if it happens in the workplace or at home, we find it very unhelpful, especially when we are trying to resolve any difficult situation. especially when we are trying to resolve any difficult situation. So the question is, well, that we can ask ourselves is, do we want to keep inflicting pain on others because we are unaware of our habits of being dismissive and maybe even disrespectful of their version of the world? Because when we do so, it is not in accordance with compassion. And also, this comes with the habitual tendency of believing that something's

wrong with the people who perceive the world differently from us. And when we feel that what's wrong with them, why can't they see the world the way I do? The mind is agitated with aversion, and that is suffering. So when we are not aware of this habit, we keep giving rise to suffering. And that is not in accordance with wisdom. and that is not in accordance with wisdom. So the meditative practice we engage in allows us to settle the mind and cultivate this clear awareness so that we can remember to recognize

that the world we see is one version of it. It's created from our causes and conditions. We're not talking about how it's the wrong one or a bad one. This is one version of it. And so that we can remember to recognize that it's not absolute and that to remember to recognize that other people, other people believe their world, they see just the way we do. And now we do not need to agree with their perspective.

That's not what we are talking about. But cultivating this awareness will help us remember to engage in the practice in the moment when we are about to fall into the habit of being dismissive and disrespectful. And recognize the fact that we all live in our own world created by the mind. And we are all quite convinced that it is the only valid one. And in that way, we will not fall into the habit of being dismissive or even bringing about conflict with other people because we have different perspective of the situation

of the world and be able to respect that they have their own view and connect with them by taking but by trying to see from their perspective and learn about a different perspective of the world. And very often in the family or the workplace, it will help us resolve difficult situation. So when we practice this way, we will be able to cultivate wisdom by not causing suffering to ourselves and cultivate compassion by not inflicting harm on others because we are not aware of our habits of being dismissive of perspective different from ours. So I'd like to invite you to practice some meditation with me And I'd like to invite you to settle your body in a comfortable posture, allowing the skeletal structure to do the work of holding up the body

so that you can minimize the use of the muscle. When you do not use the muscle so much, the body can relax and the mind can relax when the body relaxes. Check to see if the head, neck and the spine are aligned in a straight line, facilitated by tucking in the chin slightly. That also helps bring up a weakful spirit in the mind. Tip of the tongue lightly touching the root of the mouth behind the upper front teeth. Eyes relaxed and downcast. And if you close your eyes, remember not to shut them,

creating tension around the eyes. Allow some light into the eyes. It will help us stay awake as well. And we begin. Feel the relaxation of the top of the head. Check to see if we are holding tension in this area by habit.

And allow. Allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread to the forehead. to the forehead. Directly experience the subtle sensations of these muscles relaxing. And feel the relaxation spread to the eyeballs and eye muscles.

And feel the relaxation spread to the facial muscles. Check the scene. Spread to the facial muscles. Check to see if we're holding tension in some part of our face. Like in the jaw, around the ears. And allow, allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread to the entire head. And feel the relaxation spread down the neck muscles. Directly experience the subtle sensations of these muscles softening like melting butter.

As we allow, allow the tension to melt away. And feel the relaxation spread to the shoulder muscles. And 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 are holding 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, allow the tension to melt away. Relaxation spread down the torso all the way down to the lower abdomen. We often hold a lot of tension in this area by habit. by habit. Trust that the skeletal structure

can hold up the body. And these muscles do not need to work so hard. Allow. Allow. Allow the tension to melt away. Feel the relaxation spread to the upper back.

directly experience the subtle sensations of these muscles softening as we allow the tension to melt away. and feel the relaxation spread down to the lower back and down to the buttocks where we feel the sensations of the body sitting on a chair or cushion. And feel the relaxation spread 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. Moment after moment.

moment after moment. And we'll notice the subtle changing sensations of the body breathing. Moment after 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 Gently Stay with the changing sensations Of the body breathing And we may notice The mind drifting off Losing contact the mind drifting off, losing contact

with the changing sensations of the body breathing. It's not a problem. It's an opportunity to practice remembering, to come back, 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. And if you notice thoughts coming through, allow them to pass through and allow them to move on, on their own. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Undertekster av Amara.org-gemenskapen Maintain this clear awareness as we transition from stillness to motion. As we transition from stillness to motion,

as we begin to move our hand, our body, moving the body from small circle into bigger and bigger circles, stay with the changing sensations as the body moves. In this way, we can take the clarity and stability of mind cultivated in sitting meditation into our life lived in motion. Thank you, Rebecca. Lori Anderson. The 10-part series features personal stories that explore the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. Now available wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening and thank you for practicing with us.