Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Sharon Salzberg 08/24/2020

Episode Date: August 26, 2020

Theme: Awakening Artwork: Manjushri (From Situ's Set of Eight Great Bodhisattvas);[http://therubin.org/2-k] Teacher: Sharon Salzberg 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 12:48. 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. 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. Welcome everyone to Mindfulness Meditation Online with the Rubin Museum of Art. I'm Elise Rodriguez-Alemann. We at the Rubin, we're a museum of Himalayan art and ideas in New York City, and we're so glad to have all of you join us for our weekly program where we combine art and meditation online.

We are delighted to have as our teacher today Sharon Salzberg who I will introduce in just a moment. So for today's session we'll take a look at a work of art in our collection. We'll hear a brief talk from our teacher and then we'll have a short sit 15 to 20 minutes. Thank you for joining from across the states and I see some international visitors here as well. Thanks to all of those that are joining new today and those that have joined us for the month of August. This whole month we've been completely free to anyone that wants to join and thereafter it's free to our member community as usual. So this month in mindfulness meditation we are thinking about the symbolism of the lotus as represented in some of the beautiful Buddhist and Hindu art in our collection.

We're talking about one of the ideas that the lotus represents, which is awakening. So let's take a look at the work of art for today. So here we are looking at this beautiful depiction of Manjushri. This piece is part of a set of eight, which depicts the eight great Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings. Manjushri here is known as the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. And you can see not only is he on a beautiful lotus throne, but to our left and his right, you can see a small blue lotus that is holding a flaming sword. And that is one of the telltale signs that we're looking at Manjushri. He has the

sword here to help cut through ignorance, which is why he's known as the Bodhisattva of wisdom. So now to bring on our teacher for today, we are so happy to have back Sharon Salzberg. Thank you for being back with us today, Sharon. Sharon is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barrie, Massachusetts. She has guided meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. And her forthcoming book, Real Change, Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, is released on September 1st. So it's currently available for pre-order. We'll celebrate that book launch with Sharon when she returns to mindfulness meditation on September 14th. And thank you for being back. I'll hand this over to you.

Thank you so much. I just had a moment. Sitting here realizing the last in-person group i did anywhere was at the rubin museum uh before i left new york city for barry massachusetts which is where i am right now so uh it was such a moment of of that presence and i'm just so delighted to have the chance to be able to do this as well you know and i've also been looking at the chat and seeing people from all over the world, which is very exciting coming together. The sword is in his hand, and it's a very fierce image of cutting through ignorance and cutting through conventional belief and misguided notions. And this is really a peaceful depiction, so it's quite intriguing. intriguing. I would also say just in terms of mindfulness, which is such a popular word these days, that so much of what is presented is very important. It's like healing. It's coming back into our lives. It's drinking a cup of tea and feeling the warmth of the teacup and smelling the tea and tasting the tea and not having that kind of vacancy or

inability to really live fully. There's some quotation from the Buddha who said something like one who is heedful or one who is mindful is on the path to the deathless. One who is heedless or one who is mindless is as if dead already. You know, we're just not present for so much. And it's very important that we get present because that's a fully lived life. And we can see life is very fragile and it goes by actually quite quickly. And so why not be really present? And at the same time, in a classical sense, the chief purpose or the main thrust of mindfulness,

even though that sense of inhabiting our lives is very much appreciated, the main, main point is to understand our lives it's the it's the development of wisdom or insight much more than an experience of serenity or bliss or transcendence or anything it's wisdom it's really being able to see for ourselves that maybe the things we've been taught about ourselves, the story we've been told about who we are and what we're capable of and how alone we are and so on, maybe that was myth without a lot of truth behind it. Or maybe the things we were taught to be afraid of,

being too generous or something like that or uh caring things like that maybe they're not so fearsome that there's another way of understanding them that maybe is more balanced and more powerful the things that we were taught were splendid you know like endless commitment to vengeance or something like that really sometimes when we look we see oh that takes a toll that's really uh that's devastating or debilitating why why promote it in that way and so it's it's what's known as self-witness truth it's not believing the stuff somebody else tells you or how to live how how to behave, what to see, what to avoid. It's from the power of our own awareness that we get to see for ourselves.

How alone are we is one good example, because really it's not very alone, although it can feel so isolated sometimes, and especially now in these current conditions, of course. But the truth is that our lives are all connected. And so the more we pay attention, the more we're mindful, the more we see how things actually are. And there's this tremendous sense of connection to ourselves in a much deeper way. And to others, we kind of see the larger pattern of life and that we are very much all a part of it. So it's wisdom that is really our goal and all the other benefits of, you know,

enjoying your cup of tea and living life more fully, they're wonderful. But I would say that in terms of how I was educated in Asia studying meditation, there was such a premium placed on the development of wisdom because that is really awakening. That is really what liberates us. And we can keep the orientation, the direction, the dedication of our, that there's a beautiful, wondrous side of change. Emergence, renewal, creativity, beginnings, kind of resilience. And we can see that much more deeply and cultivate it. We also see the other side of change, the poignancy. I mean, I can sit here and think, I was at the Rubin Museum, and I can feel what it was like, and it was so long ago.

And I came up here to Massachusetts March 14th with my snow boots, thinking I was here for two weeks, and I'm still here, and I'm going to go back to New York and it's going to be different and you know there's a poignancy to the recognition that everything changes all of the time and that life is very fragile and that we're not in control and they both exist the the beauty and the wondrousness of beginnings and the need to let go and understand that even that poignancy, that nature of change, that part of change, that can bring us closer together because that's true for everybody. Whatever the particular joys or sorrows of your own life are,

true for everybody whatever the particular joys or sorrows of your own life are that is what's true for everybody is that life is insecure it's uncertain it's moving it's changing gives us opportunity always to not feel stuck and it also brings us that that realization like can't hold on wish that i could but it actually doesn't work and so how can we take care of one another how can we help one another so wisdom is manjushri in its gentle form or its more fierce form being willing to sit with the truth of how things are that's like the very essence of meditation it's why it doesn't always feel good but it is good nonetheless because whatever we are looking at it's the way we're looking it's the atmosphere we're creating openness and kindness and

presence and balance that's sort of the point and everything else is just coming and going and coming and going so that is what helps us awaken is to be willing to be with anything the joys and the sorrows and everything in between whatever may arise and to understand you know it's not pass fail it's not a question of judging ourselves or feeling something else should be happening it's being willing to look into the heart of any of our experiences and seeing some universal truths like the truth of change and again this is not like superimposing someone else's vision on what our experience actually is. It's setting the stage so we can see for ourselves.

And that is really what I would call the biggest contributor to what we can call awakening. It's letting things be as they are in their own nature and paying attention. Because that learning is so deep. It's not just a cognitive understanding. I mean, any of us could have said, yeah, everything changes all the time. But to know that really deeply means we face life differently and letting go differently. And that's really the benefit of meditation.

So let's do some meditation together. If you want to sit comfortably, close your eyes or not, however you feel most at ease. And start. Let's take a few intentional breaths, some deep breaths. See if you can make your out breath longer than your in breath. It doesn't have to be a certain count, but just see if you can breathe in that way for a few moments.

And then allow your breath to become natural, however it's appearing. You can open up to listening to sound, the sounds of my voice or other sounds. It's a way of relaxing deep inside, allowing our experience to come and go. Of course, we like certain sounds and we don't like others. We don't have to chase after them to hold on or push away. Just let them come, let them go. Thank you. And bring your attention to the feeling of your body sitting, whatever sensations you discover. Thank you. bring your attention to your hands

and see if you can shift from the more conceptual level, fingers, to the world of direct sensation, picking up pulsing, throbbing, pressure, whatever it might be. You don't have to name the sensations, but feel them. This is where we rest our attention. Thank you. And bring your attention to the feeling of your breath.

Now the normal, natural breath. Wherever you feel it most distinctly. Maybe that's the nostrils or the chest or the abdomen. You can find that place. Bring your attention there and just rest. See if you can feel one breath. Without concern for what's already gone by, without leaning forward for even the very next breath.

Just this one. And if you like, you can use a quiet mental notation like in, out, or rising, falling to help support the awareness of the breath, but very quiet. So your attention is really going to feeling the breath, one breath at a time. Thank you. And if images or sounds or sensations or emotions should arise, they're not very strong. You can stay connected to the feeling of your breath and just let them flow on by. Notice them, but you don't have to follow after them and you don't have to fight them. This is the atmosphere, the internal environment you're creating. Spaciousness. Allowing things to arise and pass away, and being anchored

with the awareness of the breath. Thank you. Certainly your attention will leave the breath. But we can practice coming back gracefully with kindness toward ourselves. That's what I mean by anchored. It's that sense of coming back home. Go right. Here's the breath. And if you should get caught up in thought,

spun out in a fantasy, or fall asleep, truly don't worry about it. Because that moment of return is the most significant moment. We see we've been gone, we're disconnected. See if you can gently let go and come back. No blame, No judgment. No elaboration. Like, how in the world did I get to be thinking about this?

The process is one of practicing letting go and practicing beginning again. Simply come back to the feeling of the breath. Thank you. Thank you. No matter how many times you may have to let go and begin again, it's fine. That's part of the internal environment that we're creating and supporting. Recognizing our attention will wander, that's okay. It's the coming back that's really important. And when with our breath, it's very gentle. We're simply resting our attention. As we breathe, many things will arise and pass away.

That's okay too. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to make a Rekordverk. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, you can open your eyes or lift your gaze and we'll end the meditation. Thank you so much, Sharon. Thank you. That concludes this week's practice. If you would like to support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member of the Rubin. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.