Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Sharon Salzberg 12/26/24

Episode Date: January 3, 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  10:26.Teacher: Sharon SalzbergTheme: Illumination Artwork: Vajrasattva; central Tibet; 13th century; copper alloy with gold and blue pigment; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2009.13Learn 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 Chodron. Every Thursday, we offer a meditation session at New York Inside Meditation Center that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubens 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 Delek. Welcome. Welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts Mindfulness Meditation Program here at the New York Inside Meditation Center. I am Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador. I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday season. Yesterday was Christmas Day and the start of Hanukkah, as well as it was a celebration of Ganden Ngamche, lighting millions of candles and butter lamps all over the world for Tibetan Buddhists, because it's the Parinirvana of the founder of Gelugpa school, Jetsongkhapa. And then it was also the Dakini Day, because on the 10th month of Tibetan calendar,

and the 25th day each month is always the Dakini day. So there was a lot of celebration going on yesterday, lighting butter lamps and candles. I hope it has illuminated and brought us all much needed peace and blessing. So the Rubin is a global hub for Himalayan art. And we are so glad to have all of you join us for this weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection, we will first take a look at work of art. We will hear a brief talk from our teacher. And today, our teacher is Sharon Salzberg, who will be joining us live on virtually. And you will have a short sit with Sharon, guided by Sharon, for 15 to 20 minutes.

Let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. The theme this month is illumination. And the artwork that is handpicked by Sharon is Vajrasattva. Vajrasattva is a Sanskrit word and in Tibetan he's known as Dorje Sempa or sometimes often referred to as Dorsim. Origin, Tibet. It's a 13th century copper alloy with gold and blue pigment. It's about 13 and a half into eight and a half into five, almost six inches sculpture. The connection to the theme is Vajrasattva is known for guiding practitioners to remove obstacles and to purify all of our negative karmas from past life and this life, therefore the illumination. And this sculpture depicts Vajrasattva who is sitting on a lotus throne in a Vajra position, that is lotus position, as you see here. And Vajrasattva, in the left hand, you will often find him holding a bell resting on his hip area. But this is a very special one, whereas you see him holding a lotus stem,

and then the right hand is holding a Vajra to his heart. And he's also known as the Yidam, a meditation deity, and the primary bodhisattva of the Vajra family, practice of purification and healing. This is an early example of Central Tibetan art. It dates from the 13th century. There are many characteristic features of work of art from this period in time. The figures are portrayed in a very graceful posture, as you see with the sitting gesture, and there is a very minimal sense of movement. They tend to have disproportionately large hands and feet and massive head. To practice Vajrasattva, there is 100-syllable mantras that practitioners recite, but there is also a condensed of the hundred-syllable mantra,

which is a six-syllable mantra, OM BENZHA SATO HUNG. So often, you know, at my colleagues at the Rubin Museum in the past, when I hear somebody swearing or saying anything negative, I often recite the OM BENZHA SATO Hva Hong and often my colleagues know that mantra. And sometimes they would come and ask me, hey, what's that mantra? Because I need to purify some verbal, you know, negative karma sort of stuff. So it's a very important deity. So as we gaze upon Vajrasattva, may we be inspired to raise our awareness for the benefit of all beings. Now let's bring on our teacher for today.

Our teacher is Sharon Salzberg. Sharon, co-founder of the Inside Meditation Society in Barrie, Massachusetts, has guided meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Her latest books are Real Life, The Journey from Isolation to Openness, and Freedom and Finding Your Way, Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life. She's weekly columnist for On Being, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, and the author of several other books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, The Power of Meditation, Real Change, Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, Faith, Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, and Loving Kindness, The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Sharon, thank you so much for being here. Please help me in welcoming Sharon Salzberg.

Hi. So I'm so delighted to be Zooming in with you. I'm in Barry, Massachusetts right now, not in New York City. And I'm really happy seeing Vajrasattva, who's been an important figure for me in my life. Vajrasattva does represent purification. And so many of my early teachers, though not of the Tibetan tradition, of Burmese tradition, really emphasized the practice of mindfulness on a purification model. In other words, if you went and described to them your meditation experience and you said, I feel a lot of anger, I feel a lot of sleepiness, I feel regret, whatever it might be, they would tend to say, oh, good. You know, These things are arising. You have the opportunity to relate

to them differently, which is the transformative element, not just the sheer experience of them, but relating to those states with more presence, more balance, more compassion, et cetera. So they would say, good. you know, and I would think that's weird, isn't it? Like having that kind of reaction to somebody complaining about their meditation experience. But of course, over time, I came to appreciate kind of the nature of a purification model in which anything may arise and it's okay because those ordinary standards of what's good meditation in our minds and what's bad meditation, they don't really apply. That's not what it's about.

And even since this month's theme is illumination, rather than craving for the light, for wisdom, than craving for the light, for wisdom, for understanding, we relate differently to the obstacles, and that's the purification model. So that it's almost like this jewel, which is naturally embedded in layers of dirt or confusion or misunderstanding. And if we can peel away those layers, the light will shine forth all by itself. We don't have to chase after anything or feel that our experience is not good enough. It is good enough, whatever it is. Everything is going to depend on how we

relate to it. And that is the essence of mindfulness practice. That's why mindfulness is like a purifying practice. You don't have to fret because you think you're not having the right experience. Whatever you're experiencing is fine, truly. We say that mindfulness doesn't take the shape of what it's watching, that it's not diminished, it's not distorted, because what it's looking at is something we never would have asked for to arise in our meditation practice. If it's what's arising, it's okay. And we make that work, we make that effort to be with it with as much presence and balance and loving kindness or compassion as we can. And that's sort of bringing that symbol of Vajrasattva to life.

So why don't we meditate some together? You can sit comfortably. As I keep using the word balance, which is such a principle of meditation practice, we say there's some balance right away in our posture. You want to have some energy in your body so your back is straight. But not like so much energy, you're really stiff and uptight. You also want to be at ease.

Not so much at ease that your waist slumped over. So you find your way into what feels like a balanced posture for you. Close your eyes or not, however you feel most comfortable. and start by listening to sound, the sound of my voice or other sounds, and see if you can just have the sound wash through you. Bring your attention to the feeling of your body sitting, whatever sensations you discover. Bring your attention to your hands and see if you can shift from the more conceptual level, like fingers to the world of direct sensation, picking up pulsing, warmth, coolness, whatever it is. You don't have to name these things, but feel them. And bring your attention to the feeling of your breath,

just the normal, natural breath, on this same level of picking up sensation. Maybe you feel it most predominantly at the nostrils or the chest or the abdomen. Confine that place, bring your attention there and just rest. See if you can feel one breath. Without concern for it's already gone by, without leaning forward for even the very next breath, just this one. Thank you. images or sounds or sensations or emotions should arise but they're not that strong you can stay connected to the feeling of the breath just let them flow on by your breathing just one breath If you can stay connected to the feeling of the breath, just let them flow on by.

You're breathing. Just one breath. But if something arises and it is strong, it pulls you away, see if you can notice, oh, this is what's happening right now. In a simple way, no judgment. There's joy, there's sorrow. There's anger. Whatever it might be, just to recognize this is what's happening right now. See if you can let go and bring your attention back to the feeling of the breath.

And for all those perhaps many times you are just gone, completely lost in thought, spun out in a fantasy or you fall asleep, truly don't worry about it. Once you realize you've been gone, that is the magic moment. You realize you've been distracted, see if you can let go gently and simply begin again. Bring your attention back to the feeling of the breath. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. When you feel ready, you can open your eyes or lift your gaze, and we'll end the meditation. Thank you, Sharon. Thank you so much for illuminating us, and you are our root connection to this partnership from the Rubin to this

transition applause applause applause 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 rubinmuseum.org slash friends. 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 4, hosted by Isabella Rossellini, delves into the Buddhist concept of attachment and explores how the practice of letting go can transform our experience of the world. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work around the world, visit rubinmuseum.org.

Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.