Sharon Salzberg

A meditation session led by Sharon Salzberg. If you missed this program, check out the podcast, now live in the Rubin Media Center.

For centuries Himalayan practitioners have used meditation to quiet the mind, open the heart, calm the nervous system, and increase focus. Now Western scientists, business leaders, and the secular world have embraced meditation as a vital tool for brain health.

Whether you’re a beginner, a dabbler, or a skilled meditator seeking the company of others, join expert teachers in a forty-five-minute weekly program designed to fit into your lunch break. Each session will be inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection and will include an opening talk, a twenty-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion. Chairs will be provided.

Presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg, the New York Insight Meditation Center, and the Interdependence Project.

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Theme: Mantra

This 19th-century painting from Tibet or Nepal depicts a red Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva, standing with his right hand extended in a gift-giving gesture while holding a lotus flower that blooms above his shoulder. His mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum,” which is said to contain all the teachings of Buddha, is the most written, recited, and repeated prayer in all of the Himalayas. It is often chanted several times every day and is inscribed on walls and stones along trails. It is believed that simply seeing these walls and stones, or “mani,” allows anyone traveling these paths to gain good merit.

About the Speaker

Sharon Salzberg, cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, has guided meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Sharon’s latest book is Real Happiness at Work: Meditations for Accomplishment, Achievement, and Peace. She is weekly columnist for On Being, a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, and the author of several other books including the New York Times best-seller Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Sharon has been a regular participant in the Rubin’s many on-stage conversations.