Theme: Reflection
About the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast
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 27:00.
If you would like to attend Mindfulness Meditation sessions in person or learn more, please visit our website at RubinMuseum.org/meditation.
This program is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg, the Interdependence Project and Parabola Magazine.
Related Artwork
Wutaishan (Five Terrace Mountain) is a group of mountains in northern China that are believed to be the abode of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom Manjushri. Wutaishan has been an important Buddhist pilgrimage site for more than 1,500 years; by the 6th century there were more than 200 temples, shrines, and stupas on the slopes of the mountains. Stone buddhapada, carved from a copy brought back from India by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, stand outside one of the main temples. In this artwork, winding paths with tiny travelers link one temple to another, suggesting possible pilgrimage routes. Pilgrims traveled to these sacred mountains to see divine visions, which took the form of miraculous light and cloud formations, a ubiquitous presence on this map. The most prominent monastery, Pusading (Bodhisattva Peak), appears much larger than the others in the center. A masked dance procession””the focus of ritual activity on the mountain””leads from the monastery down the center of the map.
Just as pilgrims contemplate religion and their lives, the viewer examining the artwork reflects on the many paths.
About the Speaker
Dr. Rebecca Li, a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen, started practicing meditation in 1995. She began her teacher’s training with Master Sheng Yen in 1999 to become a Dharma and meditation instructor. Later on, she trained with Simon Child to lead intensive retreats and received full Dharma transmission in 2016. Currently, she teaches meditation and Dharma classes, gives public lectures, and leads retreats in North America and the UK. Her talks and writings can be found at www.rebeccali.org. She is the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community and a sociology professor at The College of New Jersey, where she also serves as faculty director of the Alan Dawley Center for the Study of Social Justice.