Mindfulness Meditation · Community
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Community. The guided meditation begins at 14:20.
Lama Performing a Long-Life Ritual; Kham Province, Eastern Tibet; 19th century; Pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.421
This thangka painting is a 19th-century work from Tibet. It depicts a lama performing a ritual intended to bring long life, a common practice throughout the Himalayas. He sits holding a vajra scepter and a long-life vase with a table of offerings in front of him. As holders of the Buddhist tradition, lamas are traditionally at the center of their communities, with their work often extending beyond religion into all matters of community life.
Tracy Cochran has taught meditation and spiritual practice for many years. She is a speaker and author whose most recent book, Presence: The Art of Being At Home in Yourself, was published by Shambhala Publications in 2024. Tracy is the founder and leading teacher of the Hudson River Sangha and has taught mindfulness and mindful writing at New York Insight, the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, and many other venues. In addition to serving as the editorial director of the acclaimed spiritual quarterly Parabola, her writings have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, The Best Spiritual Writing series, Parabola, and many other publications and anthologies. For more about Tracy, please visit tracycochran.org and parabola.org.
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