Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Tracy Cohran 11/30/2023

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

Theme: AppreciationArtwork: Stupa, Tibet; ca.13th century or 14th century; Copper alloy inset with turquoise; Rubin Museum of Art, C2003.21.1, HAR65233http://therubin.org/37oTeacher: Tracy Cochran  The Rubin Museum of Art presents a weekly 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 recorded in front of a live audience, and includes an opening talk, a 20-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion.The guided meditation begins at 11:51. This meditation is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg, teachers from the NY Insight Meditation Center, the Interdependence Project, and Parabola Magazine.  If you would like to attend Mindfulness Meditation sessions in person 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, 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. Good afternoon and Tashi Delek! Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation at the Rubin Museum of Art. Please enjoy your practice. Good afternoon and Tashi Delek. Welcome to Mindfulness Meditation at the Rubin Museum of Art.

I am Tashi Chodron, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm so happy to be your host today. We are a global hub for Himalayan art with a home base 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 work of art and we will then hear a brief talk from our teacher Tracy Cochran and then we will have a short sit 15 to 20 minutes for the meditation guided by her. Now let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. The artwork for today's session, which is handpicked by our teacher, is this beautiful stupa. It's origin Tibet, dated 13th

century. Copper alloy with inlays of semi-precious stones, about 70 into 27 into 27 inches. And this is a beautiful sculpture. As you see here, on the top most, you see that beautiful gem shape, which is a jewel, Norbu, wish-fulfilling jewel, which symbolizes enlightenment. And right below that, you see moon moon shape like a crescent moon shape and around on top of that which symbolizes the sun and the moon. The sun symbolizes the wisdom which is feminine principle and the moon symbolizes compassion and masculine principle and then below that is kind of the parasol kind of shape, which is symbolizing compassion. And if you look further down here, the 13th disc. And these are the 13 discs, the powers of the Buddha, which means awaken or enlightenment. And that is the 13 levels of accomplishment of bodhisattvas up to the awakening, the enlightenment. And the description of the stupa, stupa is known as churtan in Tibetan word,

a reliquary monument symbolizing the enlightened mind of the Buddha. The stupa symbolizes the Buddha's enlightened mind, and the Buddhist textbook symbolizes the Buddha's speech, and then the sculptures, the statues of the Buddha's and bodhisattvas symbolizes Buddha's body, so that is body, speech, and mind. The stupas ranges in sizes and shape, but often have a wide square base, a rounded middle, a tall conical section at the top. And Buddhist practitioners circumambulate the stupa on a daily basis. And they are found in the monasteries and Buddhist centers of countries such as India, and Buddhist centers of countries such as India, Tibet, Bhutan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand.

Now, let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Tracy Cochran. Tracy has taught mindfulness meditation and mindful writing at the Rubin Museum of Art and the New York Insight Meditation Center, as well as in schools, corporations, and other venues worldwide. Tracy is the author of the forthcoming book, Presence, The Art of Being at Home in Yourself, which is available for pre-order via Amazon and Shambhala Publications. Tracy serves as the editorial director of Parabola, an acclaimed quarterly magazine that seeks to bring timeless spiritual wisdom to the burning questions of the day. The Parabola magazine can be found at the Rubin Museum gift shop as well. Her writings, podcasts, and other

details can be found on her website and on parabola.org. Tracy, thanks so much for being here. Please help me in welcoming Tracy Cochran. So happy to be back. And as Tashi said, I've just come back from a long pilgrimage to Nepal and to India. And it was important to me to go because I think often we think of mindfulness meditation as a technique, and it is. And it's completely timeless, but it's also part of a story, an incredible story. And something in me wanted to touch the earth of the story. And the soup behind me looks like a hill. It's called Ramagrama and it's in Nepal. And what's special about this stupa. It's buried under a hill.

And when the Buddha died, the historical Buddha, the wish he expressed is that his ashes, his relics, be distributed to eight kingdoms, and so they were. But only this stupa contains an eighth of the relics. All the others were opened and redistributed. And what's significant about this place is that it's the homeland of his mother.

His mother and the woman who raised him after his mother's death. Her sister. And all of his matrilineal lineage. of his matrilineal lineage. And so I was on a pilgrimage guided by the scholar Wendy Carlton and the great English-born Tibetan Buddhist nun, Tansen Palma, was also there. And nuns and other people like me, ordinary people. But what was remarkable about this place was the intimacy you felt.

It was so quiet and so powerful. It felt like visiting someone's grave. And it was. And also a great place of meditation. And growing on the hill was, it looks like a big tree, but it's actually four separate trees, four kinds. And it was so private that I had to go hug the tree and there was nobody else. It was incredible.

And I picked up a leaf from the ground. picked up a leaf from the ground. And I learned later that according to the tradition, the great king Ashoka, convert to Buddhism, came to this place and intended to open the stupa and redistribute so that 84,000 kingdoms had some of these ashes. But according to legend, a serpent king, the king of the serpents, the nakas, protected this place. And Ashoka had a vision of this and stopped and instead just worshipped.

So I came away from this place with a powerful sense of what this teaching is. And the tree itself, the four trees, felt like the unconditional love of a mother for all beings. And not just there, but here in all times. And the serpent, I was reflecting, it was chanted with this protective serpent thing. It's those moments when even in our instincts, our most ancient and primordial mind, reptile mind, we feel that something's true. And being in this place reminded me that pilgrimage brings us home to this place, this state,

that we can feel right here of being fully present, body, heart, mind, completely welcomed to be exactly as we are. The way we wish our mothers embraced us, we don't all have that experience. The Buddha did. His mother followed him and became ordained. And I took that trip too. And that trip too has the feeling of coming home, being here.

And I invite all of us right now to take a comfortable seat, to let yourself feel fully present, feet on the ground. Let yourself feel fully welcome to be here, not in some perfected other way, but just like you are. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome, welcome.

And notice how it feels to let yourself feel kinship with the people that lived in this place, Brahma, Brahma, the kingdom that gave rise to his mother, to the Buddha. Do know that the word kin in English is related to the word kind. Kind. Be kind to yourself right now. To let your eyes close. And notice.

Notice that there's an attention inside you. A knowing. That it's in words. an attention inside you, a knowing that isn't words, that's deeper, softer, that's present, And notice that its nature is kind. And just let yourself rest in this attention. Let the attention come to rest on the breath, the most ancient, primordial part of your mind. Just breathe. Just sense. Just be present. And notice that thinking happens and that's perfectly natural. Let the attention come back to the body, touching the earth of the present moment.

Just rest in stillness, in presence, and embodied attention. That's kind. Notice that you can start again any moment with the next breath. Come home, home to the present. And notice how it feels to be completely accepted. Just like this. Thank you. Notice how it feels to sink into sensation, the physical experience of presence. Notice that there is an attention that follows sensation, that opens to it, that's vast like the sky, seeing with kind eyes, Thank you. Notice how it feels to let yourself soften. Let attention soften you. Notice that this simple movement of returning, coming home to the body, to the moment,

opens us to the life around us and inside us. We begin to remember. Mindfulness means to remember. To remember our connection to life our sense of belonging Thank you. Notice that stillness is alive, attentive, and kind Thank you. Just soften. Just be still and notice that this opens you to life, to belonging. Thank you. When you start dreaming, thinking, just stop and notice what's here right now with kindness with acceptance Thank you. Thank you. And I would note that there is a presence here that's truer than any story. Thank you. Thank you. Notice how it feels to touch the earth,

to just be here. Opening to a truth that can't be thought, just lived, Sensed. Seen. Out. Thank you. Notice that this presence inside you and outside you is who you really are. Arr. Thank you. Just rest and come home. Thank you. Teksting av Nicolai Winther Thank you so much Tracy for that beautiful session That concludes this week's practice To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a member at rubinmuseum.org slash membership. 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 enews. I am Tashi Chodron.

Thank you so much for listening. Have a mindful day.