About the Meditation
Meditation session led by Sharon Salzberg.
The guided meditation begins at 17:25.
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
This program is supported with thanks to our presenting partners Sharon Salzberg, the Interdependence Project and Parabola Magazine.
Related Artwork
Theme: Awaken
This sculpture of the Buddha shows him wearing a crown and monk’s robes, a convention that became known as Vajrasana Buddha. It refers to an iconic image of the Buddha in Vajrasana (present-day Bodhgaya, India) that commemorates the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Here the Buddha sits in meditation with his left palm upright on his lap, while his right hand touches the earth. It is believed that Mara sent demonic forces to try and stop the Buddha from reaching enlightenment. When Mara demanded that the Buddha produce a witness to confirm his spiritual awakening, he simply touched the earth with his right hand, and the earth itself responded, “I am your witness.” Mara and his minions then vanished. This moment of supreme enlightenment is the central experience from which the Buddhist tradition unfolds.
Images of the crowned Buddha were popular and well known in all of Asia, including the Himalayas, and were among some of the earliest to come to Tibet.
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 Love: The Art of Mindful Connection. She is a 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, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Sharon has been a regular participant in many onstage conversations at the Rubin.