Mindfulness Meditation · Beginner's Mind
This week’s meditation session is led by Jon Aaron and the theme is Beginner’s Mind.
Buddha Shakyamuni; Tibet; 13th century; Gilt copper alloy with pigment; 13 1/4 × 10 3/4 × 7 in. (estimated); Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2005.16.31
Our featured artwork this week is a bronze sculpture of Buddha Shakyamuni dated to the 13th century from Tibet. Sitting with a calm face in full lotus pose, Buddha Shakyamuni calls the Earth to witness his enlightenment by touching the ground with his right hand. This gesture marks the beginning of Siddhartha’s perfected Buddha mind which fully understands wisdom and compassion. From here, the Buddha would start his most important mission: spreading what he had learned under the Bodhi tree to the rest of the world.
Jon Aaron teaches meditation, Buddhist dharma, and is a Somatic Experience Practitioner® in New York City. He is well known as a teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as a trainer of new teachers of this seminal eight-week curriculum. Among his primary interests are the use of meditation and somatic work in healing trauma and working with individuals with chronic pain and grief. He has been teaching for the New York Police Department in an eight-hour intervention called Cultivating Mindfulness: expanding the capacity of mind and body to work with stress, anxiety, and trauma. He is a cofounder of the MBSR Teacher Collaborative of Greater New York and a founding member of the Global Mindfulness Collaborative, and is a long-time teacher at New York Insight Meditation Center. When the pandemic hit, along with his partner he cofounded Space2Meditate, an online community of meditators that is still going strong six days a week.
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